Sunday, 15 April 2007
April 1 - 15
Spring does exist here in England. Everything that can bloom has been going full blast for the last three weeks. It is quite beautiful and a real treat after the cold and rain.
Emily and I are settling in quite well at the new house. Cooking some great meals and being 'city people.' We have recently 'invested' in a espresso machine, due to my disruptive and early morning routine for work. We worked out the numbers and after a few weeks the machine will pay for itself! Mind you she was the economics major. . .so I have to believe her. It is a brilliant piece of machinery, really. It chambers these little 'bullets' of compressed coffee and spits out precious liquid crack in a matter of seconds. Sounds like a cheap cafeteria dispenser, but it is really quite good! Come over and see for yourself. It will help you through the jet lag.
The Brits take holidays very seriously here. So we decided to do a bit of travel ourselves. Like most people, we imagine far off places like Greece, Croatia, Turkey, Morocco and Northern Ireland. Well, actually easyjet made the decision for us. Flights to the 'exotic' locations were insanely marked up. Surprisingly, flights to Belfast were cheap. We soon found out why.
To say Northern Ireland is a vacation destination would be like saying "Iraq is a great place to take the kids to." I was wary after we booked our tickets and told the curious English natives where we would be going on holiday. They would respond with a face one would make if you just bit into the worst meal ever made, but it was prepared by your grandmother, so you have to be polite. I considered the English reaction to the location as if an American couple told you they were visiting all the Native American Reservations.
The Northern Irish are quite friendly, although it is hard to tell if they are actually saying friendly things to you. They speak fast, omit any and all pauses and periods that are usually present in normal sentence structure and the accent is thicker than a pint of Guinness on a moonless night.
Most of Belfast has been rebuilt or is a giant construction site aimed at modernization. No European narrows, cobblestones or fountains. We quickly adapted our minds from the traditional European history (Celts, Romans, Royalty) to the more contemporary stories of the 'troubles.' We ingested statements like, "The hotel EUROPA has been bombed 70 times--making it the most bombed hotel in Europe." GREAT! Drive faster please! The city's claim to fame is that they built the Titanic--but the locals are quick to add that it floated just fine leaving Belfast's harbour, and an English captain was at the helm when it sunk. Since we missed the 'troubles' by about 9+ years, there was not much 'action' going on. This is a good thing. There is a whole tourist business based on the 'troubles'. We took a "black cab" tour (ours was red) all around the city that showed us the history of the uprisings and conflicts that took place. Interesting stuff; Fenced in neighborhoods with still-abandoned and burnt out buildings that mark the edges of the communities. Lots of graffiti boasting pro IRA and pro England stances. Large, tall fences erected to prevent rocks or other debris from being thrown over at the opposing side. Giant, elaborate murals depicting painful scenes or faces of fallen 'heroes' are everywhere. They take on a macabre presence and begin to resemble tombstones for entire neighborhoods. Leaves you with the impression of a fragile peace being stitched together with an even more fragile hope. One good sign was a recent rugby game played at the site where "Bloody Sunday" occurred. The match was England vs. Ireland and miraculously, the English national anthem was not booed. So there you have it. Ireland won the match by a huge margin.
After a full day, a great meal and good nights sleep we visited the Giant's Causeway. Quite a unique and mythical site about a 2 hour drive along the coast from Belfast. A first-rate geological highlight in my book. Irish folklore says that it was here that the first kegs of mead were formed and stacked in a brilliant hexagonal pattern. . .until St.Patrick's evil cousin "Carl" made a deal with the devil and the kegs were turned to stone. . .and then there is something about basalt cooling at a certain rate from a volcanic eruption. I like the keg explanation better. We drove on to Slieve League, which boasts the tallest sea cliffs in Europe. Fortunately there have been zero bombings at these cliffs, so it made for rather dramatic scenery and no shrapnel.
The countryside is very pretty. And to paraphrase my Uncle Marc: "If the world ever had a shortage of rocks, Ireland would quickly become the richest nation." I would like to amend that statement and add sheep to it. Miles and miles of rock walls surrounding fields containing sheep. In between the sheep and rocks lay very small and sleepy towns. Our Ireland travel book had this to say about one particular shire, "According to the tourist literature, Cookstown's greatest attraction is convenient parking." Compared to the Republic of Ireland, the North is a bit run-down. Grim and working class. This has much to do with its economic isolation from the mainland of England and the 'troubles'. Overall, an interesting trip where we learned a lot. But not a destination to warrant a return trip. Great food and abundant parking though!
Now we are back to the 'grind' with Emily taking several day trips to Switzerland. We recently attended a 'costume party' but over here it is a 'fancy dress' party, for a 'costume' is a bathing suit. So we found our fancy dress-outfits at the "fancy dress shop"just down the street. The theme was water, and Emily and I attended as sailors. I was pushing for some kind of Iranian sailor vs. handcuffed British sailor, but we decided it was a bit inflammatory for the evening. We soaked up the sunshine along the river at a pub in Hammersmith and then partied inside at the local rowing club. The Sunday hangover was almost worth it.
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