St. Columb Cille's Cathedral
On the train ride there.
The walls
The group I traveled with, being touristy.
I figure that after two weeks of not posting anything, I would lose my audience completely unless I wrote something really interesting. So here is my attempt to remember everything I have done in the past two weeks and recount it in a tone that makes it sound more exciting than it really was.
Last weekend, the 21st of February, I went on my first "day trip" outside of Coleraine. A few friends planned a trip to Londonderry/Derry and invited me along, and of course I snatch up any opportunity to travel. So we dragged ourselves out of bed at 7 a.m. (unheard of at this school) to catch the early train to Londonderry. I'm going to be lazy and just call it Londonderry, even though being politically correct I should throw in the Derry too. Most people don't care what you call it, just those few extremists who continue the division between Catholics and Protestants.
I had a bit of caffiene so that I would actually stay awake on the train ride, which was class (a word I am picking up from these Northern Irelanders). Farms on one side, complete with sheep and newborn lambs, and the ocean on the other, the ride was definately worth it. We arrived in the city at around 9, walked to the tourist information center, and discovered that it didn't open until 10. Sarah and the kids from Hong Kong already had a map and headed off to explore, but Erin, Louise and I wanted to wait for our own map and information before we headed out. A man giving tours of the city kept us entertained with stories and questions about where we were from in the states, though.
Some things I have learned about people from Northern Ireland is that:
1) They are not Irish. They are closer to British, but really just their own entity.
2) They love to talk. About anything.
3) Just like we all claim some heritage from Ireland, they all know someone in the states. When you tell them where you're from, say Indiana for example, they will tell you that they know someone in Arizona and ask if that's anywhere close.
Anyway, just thought I would throw in my random observations. Back to my tale. The information center did eventually open and we got our map, along with brochures for many other places we might visit. You would be so proud, Mom. Then we headed out to the walls to do some sight-seeing.
We ran into the rest of our group almost immediately. They had been shopping a bit, so we timed it perfectly to meet up with them on the walls. Londonderry is the only city left in Northern Ireland with walls completely around the city. We took lots of very touristy photos and enjoyed the history of the perfectly intact walls. Stealing from Erin's blog (because she's a history major and I'm not) the walls of the city were built between 1613 and 1618, so they were very old. I found it really interesting that they are just integrated right into the city. You find that a lot here in Northern Ireland, and I'm sure in the rest of Europe. A very historical structure or building will be right next to a very modern-looking mall.
We found Saint Columb Cille's Cathedral and went inside. I learned about him in my Irish Literary History class, so it was very interesting to see the cathedral built in his honor. I love stained glass, and just seeing the details put into those structures is fascinating. The cathedral is still in use, and they even had an organist playing while we were there, which enhanced the tour.
After the cathedral, we all decided that lunch needed to be the next item on the agenda. We ate a Witherspoon's, and I don't remember if I mentioned this earlier, but it's a chain restraunt that takes historic buildings and turns the inside into a pub. We ate at the one in Coleraine earlier this year, and that used to be the courthouse. I really like it because it preserves history, but it's also not too expensive and the food is delicious. I got cottage pie, which was very good.
The group split again after lunch and Erin, Louise, and I found a little craft area. It was set back in an area of brick buildings and stone roads with brightly painted doors and window sills. Ivy grew all over the walls and made it feel like what I thought Ireland would be like. They probably keep the area intact for tourists, as they have touristy shops there, but it was very cool. I found an old-looking map of the Kingdom of Ireland and had to buy it. We also looked at a crystal shop because I have heard that Ireland makes nice crystal, but everything was really expensive.
We walked around for a long time, and eventually made our way back to one of the malls (they have 3) to rest for a bit. My feet were hurting after walking all day. Erin almost fell asleep while we were sitting, so we decided to take the earlier train back so we could have a break before the Ceilidh (pronounced KAY-lee) in the evening.
A Ceilidh is a traditional Irish dance, and the International Friends put it on for us in Coleraine. It was so much fun! We didn't do the river-dance type of thing you might think of when you think Irish dance, but we did get to see a girl do some of that which was neat. The dancing we did was group dancing and reminded me more of square dancing , except set to Irish music instead of country music. It was a lot of fun. By the time we got home that night, I slept like a log.
Well, I think this post is long enough. We went to Belfast this weekend, but I'm going to have to write about that in another post, hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday. I need to get some work done now, and tonight we're going over to a friend's house. I might also hold off on posting photos until I finish some work, so maybe I'll get those up tonight. So, Mom, if you're reading this, wait until I post photos to print it off so you don't waste printer ink. I know it's hard, but patience is a virtue.
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