More of Derry and Belfast!

  

An explanation of Bloody Sunday at the monument in Bogside.

The Bloody Sunday memorial.

 A memorial for the H-Block hunger strikers.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Derry

Sheep on the way to Belfast!

The Prince Albert memorial clock in Belfast.

 The building where the Titanic plans were created.

The largest dry dock in the world, owned by Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries. One crane is named Samson, and the other is named Goliath.

The Parliament (Assembly)  building of Northern Ireland.

 A statue of Edward Carson, a famous Unionist, outside of the Parliament buildings.

Two murals, with Samson and Goliath in the background.

 A piece of art commemorating peace and reconciliation.

The smallest house in Belfast, with one door and two windows. The curator of the church next door used to live there with his wife and daughters.

A surefire way to know you're in a Unionist area. 

Belfast City Hall. That's a statue of Queen Victoria in front.

Queen's University of Belfast. The University of Ulster doesn't like to talk about them.

Poor juxtaposition.

We went to the Botanic(al) Gardens!

They had a tropical ravine!

I liked that plants were growing out of the wall.

They even had a rose garden!

Beautiful scenery on the ride back to Derry.

Settling Into Derry

The main building of my campus. The local students call it "The Harry Potter Building".

 Looking towards the river from campus.

More campus.

The Harry Potter building again.

The City Center of Derry. The wall in the back is a section of the original city walls that still surround the very center of Derry.

They kept the cannons, apparently.

This is a statue of Queen Victoria in the Guildhall (the city hall). During the Troubles, an IRA bomb blasted the statue and its pedestal out into the street. She's now missing her hands, and her base has shrapnel marks.

Graffiti on one of the gateways through the city walls.

The view from atop the wall.

The Guildhall.

The wall curving up the hill.

A super old church/cemetery. The oldest tombstone was from 1603, I think.

An old cannon pointing out over Bogside, the mainly Catholic portion of Derry. Bogside was the site of Bloody Sunday, and is also the home to the well known "Bogside Murals".

The oldest department store in the world. Our tour guide said that taking the elevator inside it was "an experience". 

The River Foyle.

Homestay Shenanigans

As part of our program, we stayed with a family in Gorey, County Wexford for four days. These are pictures of all the stuff we did while we were there!

 The beach in Courtown, right down the road from Gorey. This is the east coast of Ireland, facing England.

More beach.

We went to a seal sanctuary, where they nurse rescued seals back to health.

 They were adorable!

 We went for a walk through a random forest.

 It was quite pretty.

We went to an Irish Heritage Park. They had recreations of what life was like for Irish people back in the day.

Have I mentioned that Ireland is freaking gorgeous? Because it is.

 Yet another castle. We could walk up the steps to the base of this one!

A panoramic view from the outcropping where the castle was.

I was getting my vitamin D for the week. Don't be fooled: mere hours before this there was a torrential downpour of rain.

 We went to a local soccer match. I have never heard so much swearing in my life. They all would have been thrown out of the game in the US.

And now, especially for Kelsey Warren, two frog pictures:

The first is a hood on a jacket, and the second is a trashcan. I approve.