This morning the 6 day tour left and us three-dayers stayed in Belfast. At 930 I went on a Black Taxi tour around Belfast. Our driver took us to both the Protestant and the Catholic side of Belfast and showed us various places where different events took place. We also stopped at the Peace Wall (which is kind of ironic because its not very peaceful at all- over a hundred people have died on either side of the wall in a relatively close proximity) The Peace Wall is something a kin the to wall in Berlin. (Visitors leave messages on the wall- our driver gave us a marker, so I left a message as well)- The major difference between the Berlin Wall and the Peace Wall is that people are afraid/don't want the wall to come down. Despite the peace agreements they want to remain separated. We also saw various murals on either side of the divide. Our guide also talk us about the history of the conflict, current issues and various other bits of information. Despite the “peace agreement” it is interesting (and sad) to hear about some of the things still taking place. Also, the fact that they are people who want to reconcile, but groups on either side are something mafia-esque which makes people fear being seen as sympathetic to the other side. (Our driver told us that currently Protestants aren’t really killing catholics and vice versa, its now Protestants killing Protestants and Catholics killing Catholics)
After our tour finished, our driver dropped us back at the hostel. I had about an hour and a half before the Paddywagon Bus would be around to pick us up. I decided to have a bit of a walk in search of a restaurant that was open. (Being Sunday and only 11am, it was going to be a bit of work) I ended up finding a place called Spuds. I had peppered chicken over chips. It looked disgusting, but was super tasty.
After lunch I headed back to the hostel to hang out for a bit and wait for my next tour.
What I thought would be a tour of the city really wasn't. our driver took us to the Titanic Quarter and we had about a half an hour to wander around and check out the place where the Titanic first sailed from. (It was built in Belfast for those of you who don't know.)
Then, our driver dropped us off by City Hall and we had an hour to wander the city. I decided to hit Victoria Square, which is a huge shopping complex that has a bog glass dome which you can take an elevator to the top and see the city. Cheap thrills, I took a ride up and checked it out despite the clouds from all the rain. The view of what I could see what quite nice.
I then just wandered a bit. There was a craft show in the mall and I ended up buying a piece of art. Its a cartoon little girl hugging a cupcake. It was only £20 and I thought it was super cute. (plus I like supporting local artists)
Continuing my wandering, I went in search of this old school candy shop, but to no avail. It wasn't where the brochure said it was... bummer.. I kind of was craving something sweet. Thus, I ran across the street to Cafe Nero and grabbed a carmel latte and a muffin. I had a bit of a chat with the barista. He was super friendly :D
I then power walked back to the meeting point to get in the van and head back to Dublin.
We actually got back to the city WAY early, but unfortunately I missed the 5pm bus by a few minutes and the next bus from the city wasn't until 645 (but still better than waiting around until 8)
I chilled in the hostel trying to figure out if there was another bus service that I could take back to Galway, but they were either booked or too expensive.
At about quarter to 6 I decided to walk towards where the bus stop was and try to find something to eat. When I got there, to my relief, there was a bus, so I was able to leave another hour earlier :D Not only that, it was the express bus back to Galway, so it was 30 minutes faster than the usual bus.
When I got on board I asked if I could use the ticket that I had booked for the later bus or if Id have to buy another one. (I didn't really mind buying another because the later one I had booked using an online special for only a euro so no real loss there) The driver asked if it would make me happy if I could use my ticket to which I replied yeah. He then said, well if it’ll make you happy, you can use the ticket you already have. SCORE!
On the bus I worked on reading for class. When I was putting my laptop away at one point I noticed the corner is bent. When the tour guide was loading my backpack on the bus he must have smashed my bag somehow, damaging my laptop. (It would have had to be pretty hard too, because I have a hard shell on my laptop which is supposed to protect it from damage) So, needless to say, Im pretty pissed, because its not something covered by my warranty so Im going to have to pay to have it fixed when Im back in the states. >.<>
When I got back into Galway, I hit a Centra, which is a sort of convenience store but bigger (not quite the size of a grocery store though) and grabbed some soup and a bagel for dinner. I then grabbed a cab back to the apartment because my legs are super sore from all the epic walking I did yesterday. It was actually cool, because I ended up talking with the driver about my trip, my stay in Galway, ect.
Back at the apartment, I had dinner, unpacked my stuff, talked a bit with my flatmates, had a normal hot shower (anyone who has ever stayed in a hostel knows what I mean by this) and worked on reading for class.
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