A LegenDERRY Weekend--Part IV

And so, the last installment of my LegenDerry weekend has finally arrived. The last day was pretty stress-free. We were all pretty sore and exhausted after the copious amounts of hiking we did the day prior, so we did some light walking, some eating, and some touring of the city.

We started out at the Free Derry Museum. See, Ireland and America have one thing in common--wars have been fought for freedom from Great Britain. The thing is, though, Ireland's revolutionary history is MUCH more recent than ours--as in less than 100 years. On Easter Monday, 1916, the first act of rebellion took place, and pretty much all the rebels were destroyed, and the leaders taken captive. The Rebellion didn't even get support until the captive leaders were publicly executed, effectively making them martyrs for Ireland. 

Northern Ireland is still a part of the UK, still linked to Great Britain politically. However, many citizens of Northern Ireland still fight for freedom from the British, and consider their nationality to be Irish, not English. The city is also divided by the river, one side being mainly Nationalist, one side mainly Unionist. 

The point is that even since Ireland became its own country, there have been incidents, like Bloody Sunday, that have taken place in the name of Irish freedom. On Bloody Sunday, also known as the Bogside Massacre, January 1972, 26 innocent civilians were shot by British Soldiers because they were peacefully protesting for civil rights in Northern Ireland. It really was a mess--seven of the men shot dead were just teenagers, and the soldiers were relentless. Even when a man came out waving a white handkerchief in surrender, he was shot on the spot. 

The Free Derry Museum was totally based around this event, featuring artifacts and memorabilia from the event and repercussions of it. We saw protest posters, banners, clothing, bullets, weapons, letters, photos, even hate mail from a British soldier to the family of one of the deceased. The museum was opened by the brother of a man who was one of the first to be shot on Bloody Sunday, and he was there with him. He recounted the day to us firsthand, or at least what he saw. It was a very powerful, moving experience.

After the museum, a man from our hostel gave us a walking tour of the city. Derry is a bit famous for its murals, painted by three men called the Bogside Artists. They are recreations of photos from Derry's history, including the famine, Bloody Sunday, and influential people. We then walked up the hill and into the walls of Derry, where the population was mainly Protestant Unionists--those who don't abbreviate the city's name and continue to call it "Londonderry." The view from the top of the wall was spectacular, and we dropped down the other side of the wall into the city centre to see that part of the town. 

We lunched on the top floor of a department store in a little restaurant, where, when I asked for the roasted chicken breast, I received half a bird and a thanksgiving dinner on my plate. It was absolutely delicious :)

Our day was concluded with probably the most boring museum visit I've ever experienced. Though, I must admit, one part I found very interesting. There was once a soldier named Robert Lundy, governor of Londonderry during the Siege of Derry, who was considered a traitor to the British citizens of Derry. During the siege, he turned away British ships which had come for reinforcements, and was planning to surrender the city. But the ships came anyway, and fought the battle, while Lundy quietly escaped. So now, every year I believe, they burn this giant comically represented figure of Lundy as he hangs from a noose. I think it's in poor taste, but it, apparently, is a huge part of Ulster Unionist culture. 

We headed home after this, to our warm beds and our high-water-pressure showers. It was a grand trip, and I'm grateful to have seen as much as I did. One of my favorite trips so far, I highly recommend seeing Northern Ireland and Derry when you're in Ireland.

I'm off to Italy this weekend, so look forward to those posts to come next week! Ciao! 

A LegenDERRY Weekend--Part III

Now, let's see… Where was I… Ah yes! And so we left the Giant's Causeway (so sad), and were on our way to the Old Bushmill's Whiskey Distillery. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take pictures on the tour… But I do have a few to show!

We took a guided tour around the distillery and saw how and where the whiskey is made. My gosh, this place is HUGE. They have more whiskey in storage than I could believe, plus the hundreds of thousands of litres that were being made while we were there! It was great to see all the different elements of the process, I was impressed for sure. So much so that I bought a bottle to bring home!

Our final stop before heading back to the hostels was the Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge, a bridge to a little fishing island that is now a lovely tourist attraction.

It was a long walk down to the bridge, up and down a hundred and eighty-comething steps and a bit of slope. It was positively exhausting, but positively deadly (awesome). I still can't believe I crossed this bridge. As someone who is very freaked out by heights, I thought it would be much worse than it was. However, I did it, confidently and excitedly. I wanted to stay on it longer! I felt very safe and secure, and I had a craic time snapping pictures of my friend while trying to walk across and view the scenery.

When we got back to the hostel after a long day of walking and climbing, we had a Derry pub crawl to look forward to!

Beforehand, though, we decided to go out for Mexican food for my friend Jessica's birthday. It was pretty good, but not as good as Chipotle. We headed to the first pub, where we got a free cocktail comprised of something sweet and red. At the second pub, we got nightclub-style dancing all to ourselves, plus sour apple shots, and the third pub provided me with my first-ever shot of Jäger! I also discovered a DELICIOUS new flavored cider called Kopparberg. I especially enjoyed the peach and mixed berry flavors. We also met a couple of really drunk guys, one of whom looked just like Neil Patrick Harris (all the way to the right in the picture). Very entertaining guys. I even got a bit of a taste of Irish karaoke! Not my best karaoke ever, but hey, it's been a while.

One more installment, friends! Until then :)

A LegenDERRY Weekend--Part II

We began Day 2 of my amazing trip to Derry with a stop at this lovely castle. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the castle, but I know it has a long history of going back and forth between Scottish and Irish families, and it has been changed and rebuilt several times. It was really cool to see how much of it was still standing, and to get to walk around and see what the different rooms would have been, including a watch tower.

After a quick stop at the coffee shop, it was back on the bus, and off to the Giant's Causeway. This was my absolute favorite stop on the trip, and I'll tell you why after you have a look at some of my favorite pictures.

The legend of the Causeway is this. Finn McCool was the biggest and fiercest giant in all of Ireland, and he liked to stroll along the coast of Northern Ireland and watch Scottish giant Benandonner. Finn McCool would yell across the water at Benandonner and make fun of him because there was no way he was as big and as fierce as he. But Benandonner would just ignore him. Finn McCool was getting impatient, so he started building a pathway out of rocks over to Scotland to challenge Benandonner to a fight. But as Finn McCool was getting closer, he started to notice how big Benandonner really was. There was no way he could beat him! So Finn McCool ran in fear! But Benandonner was fed up, so he chased him. When Finn McCool got home to his wife, he didn't know what to do--Benandonner was chasing him and was going to kill him! His wife told him to quickly lay down in the corner with a baby bonnet on. So Finn McCool did as his wife told him, laying in the corner dressed as a baby. When Benandonner knocked on the door, and told the wife he was looking for Finn McCool, she said, "Oh I'm sorry, he's not here, but he'll be back soon. Why don't you come in for some tea and you can wait with me and the baby…" Well Benandonner looked inside at the big "baby" in the corner of the room, and was surprised. He thought to himself, "If the baby is this big, how big is the father!?" And he ran back home away from Finn McCool, tearing up the stone pathway in his fear and haste. And so, Finn McCool remained the biggest and fiercest giant in all of Ireland.

I absolutely love this bedtime story. It's fun to tell and funny to listen to, and I'm sure the children of Ireland are totally in love with it. It's one of the many reasons I'm so in love with the Causeway. Another thing I love is that I can climb the rocks. It made it so much more interesting to see all the different formations when you can get up close and personal with it all. And it is endless--there's so much to see and do, you tire out doing just the first half. But it's completely worth it.

When we were there, since we were with a group, we got free audio tours, which were great to hear about the different rock formations and the legends of each one. There's things like the camel, Benandonner's boot, Finn's organ, and the chimney stacks. In all actuality, all of these rock formations came about from several volcanic eruptions, combined with the intense weathering of the wind and sea. But I much prefer the fictional stories.

I think that's enough for now, I'll be back with more in a couple of days! Until then...

A LegenDERRY Weekend--Part I

Last weekend I took a trip with the International Students' Society (ISS) up to Northern Ireland, specifically to the city of Londonderry, or as it is better known, Derry. Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom, so it's technically not part of Ireland at all. There's a good mix of Nationalists (pro-Ireland) and Unionists (pro-England), some more radical than others. But either way, the accent is odd and hard to understand, the roads go over rolling hills, it's freezing cold and very windy, and it is an absolutely gorgeous place to visit.

My trip was over the course of three days, and in those three days we did SO MUCH, if I put it all in one blog post, it would take four hours to read. So I will split it all into a series of LegenDERRY posts (hehe wordplay) and I hope you'll keep coming back to read more!

The first day, we got up bright and early to get to the bus for 8:30am. And we drove. We were partnering with Paddywagon tours, so we had a nice comfy bus and a super cool bus driver who shot interesting facts and stories at us now and then. (I highly recommend Paddywagon Tours if you come to Ireland.) We stopped in a city called Monaghan just below the "border" (there's not much of a formal border) to visit a cute little museum and eat lunch. I had met some girls on the way up, and we decided to get some lunch at a lovely little pub across the street from the museum.

The pub was called O'Hara's, and we were the only ones in there when we went. The manager and the waitress were so kind to us. They gave us two plates of seasoned chips with tartar sauce (first time ever trying tartar sauce--LOVED IT) for free (you know how I love free things) and brought everything to us promptly, making small talk with us and all that. It was a really good time, and I'd totally recommend it if you are ever in Monaghan.

We re-boarded the bus and kept on driving until we finally arrived in Derry around 4:00. We had a couple of hours to walk around the city on our own before we had to be back at the hostel for pizza at 6. 

I, of course, took more pictures, but these are some of my favorites. Derry is kind of in a valley, or at least the part we were in, and so there are lots of hills, and the buildings are modified to be on hills. The architecture of the city is very interesting. Especially considering this bottom picture is the city hall, and has always been the city hall, and has never been a church or cathedral, contrary to my initial belief.

We walked around the city centre and poked into some shoppes and boutiques, only to end up in, of course, a Halloween store. Lucky we did though, since there was a Halloween fashion show that night, and I still needed a wig.

The fashion show was an absolute blast. I helped my friends come up with costumes (we helped each other) and they convinced me to buy this AMAZING cave girl wig, which ended up being perfect for my costume. We saw some beautiful outfits by local designers, some of us got to walk the catwalk (myself included--so much fun), and afterwards we went to a pub and had a craic time! I even ran into some people from my home university, how weird is that!!

And that was just Friday. Stay tuned for more to come!