Belfast

So yesterday we woke up uncomfortably early and rode the coach up to the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland. When we arrived we were welcomed to an old fashioned candy factory by what looked like a jolly, rounder version of Willy Wonka (see below). We didn't stay long, but did get to taste strange, freshly made sweets like honeycomb and butter drops.  

Next we drove into downtown Belfast and took quite an uncensored "black cab" tour of the city. And by black cab apparently they meant multi-colored checkered cab. Our tour is the first from Ireland to delve this deep into Belfast's history and see the aftermath of what they call the "troubles", because the city has only recently become safe for tourism. The city has basically been divided into two groups since Northern Ireland gained independence in 1921(although the conflicts started long before then). They are the Nationalists, or Republicans who want to be under Irish rule, and the Unionists, or Loyalists who want to be under British rule. We toured the city in two parts: a strongly Loyalist (mostly Protestant) neighborhood and then a strongly Republican (Catholic) neighborhood. Ever since the 1960s, these groups have been in practically all out war against each other. Between 1969 and 1997 something like 3000 bombs were set off in Northern Ireland. For this reason, the groups now live in completely segregated neighborhoods, and the 48 gates surrounding the Catholic neighborhoods are closed from 6pm Friday to 6am Monday. The areas are also separated by a 45ft wall--taller than the Berlin Wall--that we got to sign! It was very insightful to here from the perspectives of our cabbies, because they lived through these troubles and the group was made up of members from both sides.

In the Protestant areas murals were painted on the sides of houses commemorating men who fought for their cause, and the Union flag was raised on every other lawn. In the Catholic area we saw a shrine to dozens of people killed on the street. Some of their houses had fence-like awnings on the back to protect them from objects thrown from beyond the wall. Even though it looks like Belfast has come a long way from what it was in the 90s (at least there are no armed guards on every corner), it still has a long way to go. The conversations sparked during the cab rides were also very eye-opening, as we learned more about life in South Africa from a couple who is on our tour. They told us that even though the fighting seemed shocking to us, they have become used to it similarly to the Irish.

In other news, COLLEEN ATE MEAT!!!!! Yes folks, for the first time in three years Colleen Anne Victor has eaten an animal. Last night we went to a pub downtown for what has to be the largest meal we've ever eaten. For those foodies out there, our appetizers were cream of vegetable soup and fried brie cheese with apple compote. Then Colleen tried cottage pie! It's a minced beef stew of sorts covered with mashed potatoes. But, she ended up sticking to her main course of vegetarian pasta. For dessert, we had plum-apple crumble and chocolate peanut butter mousse. If you see a picture on Facebook of us looking miserable, it's probably our stuffed-to-the-max faces.