On Tuesday, my dad was set to arrive so after work, I made my way to the bus station and caught the bus out to the airport to meet him. Once we had made it to his hotel, we were met by one of the Irish relatives, Brian and were taken to Luke’s house to meet some of the family. We had tea and some sandwiches out there and my dad told some stories of the last time he had been in Ireland with the family in the 80s. Brian drove me back to my house and then Dad to his hotel for I had to be up to work in the morning. At one, when I have my lunch break, Dad came in to the Dail and was given the royal treatment. He was able to meet my boss and then he, the secretary Margaret, and I were taken to the Member’s Dining Room for lunch paid for by John. I had never been in there so it was treat for both of us. We had a lovely time and the food was not too bad either. After lunch, Margaret set us up on a tour of Leinster House which I had already done with my UCD class, but was able to learn more the second time around. After the tour, Margaret let me go for the day so we did a few things around the city and then I took him to see my house. From there we went back to his hotel for a drink and then dinner at an obivously French restaurant. It made me miss speaking French, but also made me love the relaxed Irish lifestyle even more. After dinner I had to get back because it was my roommate’s 21st birthday and I had promised I would go out with her. Sadly I left my dad, but I knew that before both of us knew it, I would be walking through the arrivals terminal at O’Hare.
I had another day of work and then Friday brought another trip with UCD. It was another early morning and then we were off to Belfast for the day. I was extremely excited because I absolutely love Irish history especially learning about the Troubles. This was my second time to Belfast, but the first time I had only seen a football pitch and a restaurant when I went to watch the Maynooth football team play. This time, however, was going to be much more enriching. We stopped on the border for a traditional Irish breakfast and then we made our way to the city. The day was started with a tour of Stormont, the Northern Irish Assembly, which is the equivalent of where I work, but in the North. We actually had to go through a metal detector at Stormont, which was different from the Dail. Once we were inside and had received our visitor badges, we were met by our tour guide who was a little bit too casual for the day as her top was too short and the tattoos on her side were visible, I can’t imagine the ushers at Leinster House pulling off this look! She was nice enough and took us to the Senate chamber and the representative chamber and we learned that the whole estate is completely symmetrical and if it was folded, i would all align perfectly. Lunch was also served at Stormont with soup and light sandwiches, UCD loves to provide these “light” lunches, at my table we had a woman who worked for Gerry Adams’ party and was able to provide some interesting information.
After lunch we were taken back to the bus and we met our tour guide who was a gag—she knew the ins and outs of Belfast and took us around to look at the murals of the Troubles. First we saw some of the Protestant murals which were a bit aggressive and intimidating. The Protestant areas were also full of Union Jacks and Ulster flags with red, white and blue (not for America) in remembrance of the Battle of the Somme. Honestly, even though I am not an Irish citizen, as a Catholic, I found everything to be a bit harsh and extremely and threatening. I was happy to get out of that area and then we were taken to the Catholic area of Downs Road where we saw more murals which were less threatening and made tribute to the Hunger Strikers and different people. We also saw a school which was straight down the road from the blockade from the Protestant side where Protestants had gone through the blockade and taken machine guns against the school. Today there are still bullet holes on the building, serving as a permanent reminder of the past. The wall between the two sides is still also up and although it’s called a peace wall, it reminded me nothing of peace or anything of the sort, but rather terror and war. It stands nearly 50 feet and encircles the whole area. The Catholic side was a bit different from the Protestant in that no Union Jacks were seen, but rather the occassional tricolor. When we passed through one of the blockades, which is now permanently open, our tour guide told us that in March a poll was taken by those in the area about their thoughts on the wall. 25% wanted it taken down immediately, another 25% said they never wanted the wall down, and 50% said eventually, but not right now. Apparently there is greater communication between women and children from both sides and that a few even wanted a window or something put in the wall just so they could see what the other side looked like. Tensions are easing, but are still greatly present in the north.
After we left the Down and Shankill Road areas, we passed the City Hall, Titantic memorial and made our way down to the docklands to see where the Titantic had been built. Interestingly enough, the Titanic does not even make it into the Top 20 Maritime Disasters of all time and if the captain had hit the iceberg head on, it probably would have not sunk. It started to rain though and we headed back on the bus and made our way back to the Republic. On the way home we had another lovely dinner at the same place where we had had dinner and then made our way back to Dublin. It had been a long day, but for me, it was long from over. I quickly packed up some clothes and then my cousin Kevin, came to pick me up and we made our way to Mayo for a weekend with his family.
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