Trip to the North

This past weekend the Mary I international group took a trip to visit northern Ireland. We stayed two nights in Belfast and also took guided bus tour of other parts of the north. We visited the Giant's Causeway, the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, Dun Laois Castle, and the City of Derry where the Bloody Sunday incident took place.

I think Derry was one of my favorite spots, I have been there before but only briefly, this time i got to explore the city a bit more. We visited Bogside, the Catholic neighborhood in Derry, where the Bloody Sunday incident actually happened. Now there are a series of murals painted by local artists from the bogside commemorating what took place and calling for an end to the violence.
Also noted there were numerous marks of grafitti from the RIRA stenciled on the walls. This was a bit disturbing to see as they are the group claiming responsibility for the latest violence in Northern Ireland. Now its impossible to tell if the grafitti is new or if it has been there for years but if it is new grafitti then it really is a bit disturbing. In large letters on one rooftop there was written "RIRA Pride" which is scary if it is new.

The city of Belfast was a great spot as well. We saw the two sectarian neighborhoods and the political murals associated with each one along wiht the giant wall between the two neighborhoods still restriciting access.
We also walked throught the campus of Queens University Belfast which was gorgeous.