The Literacy Pub Crawl Day

 Today I began the day with my Belfast Black Taxi Tour. It was awesome and I'm so glad I did it! Really helped me get a sense of the city and its history, or at least some of it. the tour had to do with the Troubles, which I knew it included that but I thought it was of the whole city as well, but I was glad it was about The Troubles because I wanted to learn more about that. The driver told me that when Republic of Ireland got its independence from Great Britian, the British kept the providence of Ulter, since that is where the money was: the ships, the linen, etc. they then divided Ulster Providence into 6 counties. those 6 counties are Northern Ireland. I could go on and on about the tour but suffice it to say it was great learning what the Troubles were about. basically, the Catholics, which lived in Western Belfast and still do, wanted to be free of the British, a united Ireland. the protestants of course, wanted to stay in the U.K. and in the 60s, this tension pretty much exploded. Western Belfast is still, to this day, Catholic. you drive in, and you see the signs in English and Irish, you see the Irish flag. Elsewhere in Belfast you see the U.K flag. the picture above is the Peace Line, which is a pretty long wall, this is one tiny piece of it. It's almost like the Berlin Wall, the same idea. This wall divides Western Catholic Belfast and Western Protestant Ireland. some places, there is still a border crossing. these crossings open at 6am, and close at 6:30pm. crazy huh? during the Troubles, there was also a wall like this one all around City Center to search anyone coming in, and then once you were in, you were searched again before entering any and each store/building you went into. the wall around city center in Belfast came down in 1995. 1995. only 18 years ago. and someday, someday soon, maybe in 20 years or sooner, according to the driver doing the tour, this Peace Wall will come down as well. they started intergrating the schools as well, Catholics and Prostetants. 62 so far, which is a good start. when the Troubles started British Troops came in to control the "Catholics", and they had their HQ in the top 3 floors of a high rise building in Western Prostetant Belfast, and used the citizens living below as human sheilds kinda, but all of them would have been Prostestants of course.

 the last of the British troops left 8 years ago. people moved back into the top 3 floors 6 years ago. keep in mind, British Troops would have come late 60s or so. amazing huh? Much recent than I thought. the tour was great, really amazing, and I learned a lot. I kept wishing my friends who are in Seminary, like Brent or Kipp, were with me, since this would have right up their alley in a way. amazing how religion and politics were ...the same.

   The cab dropped me off at Belfast Central Station, where I got a 12:35 train to Dublin. I did not want to leave Belfast, and if I could have I probably would have stayed. I LOVED Belfast. it was a great city, I had a great time, and I want to come back. for good or for a longer period of time. I enjoyed the train ride to Dublin! it was great seeing the Irish countryside, very beautiful and relaxing! there is no border markings or anything, but i knew we were in Republic of Ireland when I started seeing the signs in Irish and English! during the Black Taxi Tour, my driver told me that to protestants, they are British, not Irish and you'll offend them if you call them Irish. the catholics are the opposite: to them, they are Irish.

  

I got to Dublin around 2:45pm, and found a cab to take me to my Hotel. cab it wasn't t expensive, less than 10 Euro, but walking would have been too far, mostly because of the luggage and no knowing my way around. my hotel here is nice! cute, and clean! love having my own bathroom in my room! nice luxury after a hostel for 5 days with shared shower and its warm! my hostel in Belfast was nice and I liked it, but the bathroom was cold! still, as I walked along after checking in and dropping off my stuff and freshening up, I am not getting that same....love that i got when I arrived in Belfast. Dublin is a much much bigger city than Belfast, and it does seem to have more of that city vibe. don't get me wrong: it seems to have plently of greenary, the archictecture is still the same on the outside as in the old days, and I love all the cafes around. Dublin is a beautiful city.Still first impression is that...nice to spend time here, but wouldn't want to live here. of course, maybe I should plan on visiting again someday, since during my time in Dublin I'll be doing day tours outside of Dublin. I didnt like London the first time either. I can't quite put my finger on what it is. It lacks the...charm that Belfast had.

I went to the Litercacy Pub Crawl Tour, and it was entertaining, food. enjoyed the performances but nothing that I can say I got anything deep or lots of knowledge out of. I did not like the fact that the perfomances would mostly be a bit outside the pub it curtailed to, and then afterwards we would just be set free in the pubs for 20 minutes or so. since I'm not a drinker or anything, and I was by myself, this part was not fun for me. I took some great pictures of the pubs, we went to four, and soem of the buildings around though. I wish there had been more of a guided tour around the pubs, instead of just being let loose in the pubs for 20 minutes at each pub, but I enjoyed the performances and they were beautiful pubs. very crowded since its a friday and St.Paddy's Weekend. So I was...slightly dissapointed, this tour was not what I thought it would be, but I would still give it a 7 out of 10. it was something very fun to do, very entertaining, and it helped me see some of the city.
  After the tour, I walked around trying to find a place to eat, as I was a bit hungry, ate some pizza and then came back to my hotel. pretty eventual day, though it doesnt feel like it.
  

While I was waiting for the Literacy Pub Crawl Tour to begin, I had some dinner/lunch at a pub/resturant called Bailey's, on the same street, Duke Street, as where the tour started from, The Duke Pub, and it was great! I had the Spanish Meatballs, and even though it was a small portion, it was a pub, it was good to last me through the tour and they were soo delicious! I also had some dessert, Chocolate Brownie with Cream. the cream was not to my liking, too sweet or something, but the brownie was amazing! when I get back to Texas, I'm making meatballs!

tomorrow is my day tour to NewGrange, and I'm way excited about that! it will be so amazing and I love seeing things like Old Tombs and stuff. I should be back early enough to still have plently of daylight left to do some walking/exploring around Dublin.