The weird Pringles machine at the hostel.
Chicken flavored snack food... I think I'll pass. (Also note the price)
Hostel common room.
The not-exactly-permitted pictures from the Yeats Exhibit at the National Library. An original of one of my favorite poems, “The Stolen Child.”
Note how Yeats won a trophy for running but his school report wasn't too great.
The crazy instrument, called a psaltery, a friend designed for Yeats so he could be more like a bard. Basically Yeats wanted a musical accompaniment.
A heavily-revised version of “Towards Byzantium.”
The Lapis Lazuli carving given to Yeats which formed the basis of the poem.
A view of Dublin and the River Liffey (I think).
The sunniest it was all day in Dublin. Typical Irish weather.
Trips to Philly & somewhere actually sunny were advertised all over Dublin. Note the completely false claim of “tax free shopping.”
A creepy statue that's a bit like ringwraiths. I think it has something to do with the Famine.
Cool rocks excavated by UCC with examples of an early Celtic alphabet on them. They apologize in the display from removing them from their original setting :)
The “quad.” You'll notice there are only three sides. Apparently, they planned on building a quad, but “in typical Irish fashion” (as our tour guide said), they ran out of money. Oops. Also, legend has it that if you walk on the grass of the quad you will fail. It's because originally the students lived on one side and the head of the college on the other, so if you were walking across it meant you were probably in a lot of trouble.
These green noticeboards used to be where the results of all the examinations were posted - yes, publicly. They only stopped doing this a decade or two ago. Apparently, quite a few people fail and get to re-sit their exams in August.
Dramatic clouds over the quad building, which probably has another name.
A view of UCC campus from a window. I hope you like pictures taken from behind windows, because I sure do.
The quad building again. It is very pretty.
So, the shield in the middle was chipped away at by some drunken Republican students who wanted to get rid of a symbol of Queen Victoria. The two pedestals on the side are empty because they were meant to be filled by graduates of UCC who went on to hold seats at Westminster. Unfortunately, none of their graduates ever accomplished this, in large part due to the War of Independence.
The River Lee, which flows through Cork and UCC. See how green the sidewalk is? That's because it rains all the time. When people tell you how green it is, just remember that it's the layer of moss on everything.
Once again, a green sidewalk.
One entrance to UCC (the less fancy one). Behind this picture, on the right, is one of the old Cork City Gaols (jails). UCC bought it because Cork no longer needed two.
Some wild berries. My friend just eats them when she walks; I think I would at least wash them first. They grow all over, though.
The time I went the entirely wrong way as I headed back from class. You can see St. Finbarr's Cathedral in the background, a place I haven't yet visited.
UCC's motto and crest. All the royal stuff is because the college was founded by Queen Victoria, I think.
Inside the chuch at UCC. Technically, it's not on campus since one of the rules of the college was that no religious institutions were allowed to be on its grounds. All the Celtic designs and astrological figures are pretty unusual for a Catholic church, but they look very cool.
Inside the church. This isn't a very good picture. Anyway, the stained glass is scenes from Irish Christian history. If you haven't already noticed, Irish history and Celtic things are very important here.
A delicious fruit salad I made for myself. The blackberries were very good, but the strawberries were tiny! Even the blackberries dwarf them.
A view of Cork city from the top of a hill. This is from my class' first field trip, to the Michael Collins Barracks museum.
Another picture of Cork. Look, there's sunlight!
At the barracks. Here are the personal possessions of Michael Collins, which include a rosary, compass, and brass knuckles?
The cross they originally put up to mark the site of Collins' assassination. They had to take it down because people kept stealing pieces of wood, “like it was the True Cross” (our tourguide). Basically, you either think he's a saint or the devil. This is a common theme in Irish history.
One of the (older?) uniforms for women in the Irish army. The skirt looks so practical! And I'm glad they provided a purse, as those soldiers would be totally lost without their lipstick... Anyway, the buttons on Irish military uniforms are awesome.
The parade grounds at the Cork barracks. They are the largest in Europe or something. Look how sunny it is!
A picture of Michael Collins.
A picture of JFK from when he visited Cork. He landed at these barracks just a few months before his assassination. This museum is basically just about assassinated heroes of the Irish...
And, in the main room, JFK's signature from his visit. Our tourguide reminisced about his memories of this event for a few minutes. Apparently, his first reaction was amazement that someone could be so tan.
The best thing about Ireland is they just let you climb around on things in museums. Although the tour guide/curator had a very awkward look on his face at this... Also, the curator looked exactly like Peter Pettigrew in the Harry Potter movies.
Clouds over the barracks.
Down Patrick's hill. It is so steep that the sidewalk is a staircase. Below you can see Cork city centre.
UCC and a bridge.
Cork Gaol (jail), and a cool reflection in the window.
There were far too many creepy wax figures in the museum. This was the guy that ran Cork Gaol.
More creepy figures. I especially like the expression on the woman's face as she is dragged into prison...
Inside the jail. The Irish (or really the British, I supposed) liked panopticons. Our teacher is in the red sweater.
Political graffiti from inside a jail cell. The prison scenes from The Wind That Shakes the Barley were filmed here.
Creepy wax figures patrolling the gaol.
View of Cork. Amazing how it gets sunny when we're inside...
You can see how quickly the city turns into farmland. Weird, right?
I really like window pictures.
A secret underground tunnel that the director of the prison built so he could sneak off to his house every night and chill with the family. The British got really mad when they discovered it and flooded it, so we couldn't go exploring.
Leaving Cork gaol.
Some church, and flowers.
Note how it looks sunny, but people are using umbrellas. That's because even when it's sunny it rains half the time! We're just getting off the Shakey Bridge.
Doesn't it look secure? But once you get to the middle of the Shakey Bridge, it wobbles a lot. Somewhat frightening. You can tell Cork is a small city by the fact that it has bridges like this in the middle.
At Blarney Castle! It was raining, of course.
Blarney Castle, the first castle I saw in real life.
Exploring some caves. They let you go into some really sketchy places here - very unlike the US.
A castle!
I have no idea what this random cubby was for - storage, maybe? Anyway I thought I should put in at least one picture of me.
An awesome staircase. All the staircases at Blarney are like this (stone, uneven, worn down) except in the castle they were also slippery from the rain and in narrow spirals. They provided a rope as a railing. It was like being an adventurer.
For whatever reason, the castle is ruined. Doesn't it look cool?
There's no roof, which is why it was so wet everywhere.
The grounds of Blarney. They were super cool too.
Picture time.
We're somewhere in the castle right now.
This is the great hall.
A floating fireplace! Actually, that used to be the second floor but the ceiling collapsed, so now it's just sitting up there.
Some birds flying. Enormous crows are all over the city.
Yeah, did I mention Blarney is only a few miles outside of Cork? Another window picture.
I think this was the dining room.
Very misty, as usual.
Apparently, there was great craic (pronounced “crack”) here. Craic is Irish for conversation, but they love to trick people into thinking that they're referring to the drug.
A crazy tree branch that is also a root. I don't know how that happened. Also, my very lovely aquamarine umbrella.
I'm not really sure who lived/lives here. But it looks pretty awesome.
Some flowers.
A garden. It's nice to encounter a color that isn't green or gray.
Some cows. We thought they were horses from a distance; clearly, I don't know very much about farming...
A waterfall.
A bridge.
A waterfall and lots of algae.
Even the rivers are green! Plants grow on the underwater rocks.
The Wishing Steps! You had to walk backwards up and down the stairs for your wish to come true. There is a waterfall on the other side.
Some cool rock formations. As you can see, it's getting a bit dark.
More exploring.
There are lots of rocks in Ireland.
Fairy Glade! I didn't see any fairies, but they were probably sick of the weather.
Some flowers at the fairy glade.
A cool little tunnel.
Still at Blarney.
Even the horses have to wear jackets, the weather is so miserable.
On the way back to Cork. You can see Blarney castle in the distance.
Field trip 2! We're at Beal na mBlath, the site of Michael Collins' assassination.
The exact spot where Michael Collins was shot. I'm not sure how they knew that.
The memorial to Collins. It's pretty small, considering he was one of, if not the, most important figures of the Irish War of Independence and Civil War. The reason is because this was where opposition to Collins was strongest (hence, he was murdered) and a more ostentatious memorial probably would've been vandalized.
We're in County Cork, also called the Rebel County. This is where the fiercest fighting against the British during the War of Independence occurred. With the hills and hedgerows, the IRA was able to wage a very effective guerrila campaign against the Black & Tans and the “Auxies” (Auxiliaries).
It is also where the Civil War went on the longest. Michael Collins helped negotiate and signed a treaty that ended the War of Independence and gave Ireland dominion status in the British Empire. Many who had fought opposed this limited measure of freedom, wanting to form a full Republic, and were thus known as “anti-treaty” forces. A civil war broke out between the new factions, with the IRA now fighting the Free State Army instead of the British.
You'll see the names of famous Irish figures in a more traditional Irish spelling much of the time. It is also growing more popular for ordinary people to spell their names like this.
The flag of “Corcaigh” flying over cows. A pretty good representation of Co. Cork. I apologize for this, and many of the following pictures, as they were taken on a moving bus.
More rolling countryside.
Bluest sky ever seen in Ireland.
There are a lot of cows here.
If you want to see more pictures of Irish countryside, there's plenty more. I just didn't want to bore you with them.
Bus and farmland.
The hedgerows made fighting a traditional war very difficult for the British.
It's getting cloudier again...
Very low clouds. Cork is one of the foggiest cities in Ireland.
In Clonakilty! This is where Michael Collins was raised and stuff.
A church. I think this is the one that wasn't turned into a bank.
An old mill, which is now a library. You can see the green plants in the water.
Clonakilty is very colorful. Apparently they won a cute town award a while back.
The river and mill.
As you can see, the roads are very narrow here.
Some woman scolding her child. That bit was unintentional.
The Catholic church. You can tell this one is Catholic because it's way bigger than the other one, and Ireland is very Catholic in the south.
Another view of the church. We were going to go inside but there was a wedding, so we decided against it.
This is, believe it or not, some sort of museum. It's just so cute and tiny!
The school attended by Michael Collins and a few other revolutionary figures. I think there should be more front doors that color!
Look how colorful the town is!
That pub on the left has a very convenient location right across the street from the bank.
Now we're at Michael Collins' birthplace. You can see cows in the background. Collins was a Cork boy, but still assassinated here... ouch.
The house the British didn't completely destroy.
This was Collins' house, burned to the foundation. The British really didn't like him as he was the director of intelligence for the IRA and kept assassinating British spies.
Trip number 3! On our way to Dublin in the early morning, we saw the sunrise in the fog.
Some mountains ahead.
Mountains again.
The General Post Office. This was the headquarters of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, where most of the leaders holed themselves up for a week. You can still see bullet holes around O'Connell Street from the fighting.
O'Connell Street, the main road in Dublin.
Some pretty building on O'Connell St. We're on our way to the Abbey Theatre to watch The Rivals.
Waiting outside of Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin. Lots of leaders of the 1916 Rising and of the Civil War were imprisoned and executed here.
Another panopticon. The gaol was designed for solitary confinement...
but they were always arresting too many people and so several would live in a tiny cell. Look at the ghostly hand in this picture.
The cell where Countess Markievicz, a leader of the 1916 Rising, was held. You might recognize her from Yeats' poem. The British decided that it would probably look really bad if they executed a woman who was also married to nobility, so they let her out. There was a huge celebration upon her release from Kilmainham.
I feel like this looks a lot like a high school gym.
Kilmainham lacked a heating system, so you can imagine that it got pretty cold here in winter.
A placard celebrating those executed in the Rising. Padraig Pearse (first on the list), was one of the main leaders of the Rising and a poet and educational reformer. William Pearse, executed a day later, was his little brother. William didn't actually play a big role in the Rising, but they executed him anyway because the British were total jerks. The ruthlessness of actions like these helped turn many Irish people away from the British, so it wasn't a very good idea in hindsight.
Visiting the Jameson Whiskey Distillery. Look at the fancy bar!
Part of the whiskey making process. I'm just jealous of the tv.
Two people conspiring to steal all the whiskey! Not really. Still, this room was really cool.
Come on, it has Dublin 1916 on it, of course I took a picture! Jameson Whiskey is now made in Midletown in Co. Cork, once again proving which county is the best.
Walking through Dublin. Remember how I told you about the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty?
There are lots of signs for yes and no. Personally, I think the no ones are more clever - you have to like that play on the Sex Pistols album.
Another cool building in the background.
O'Connell street again. There's a statue of some guy, Our weather was still amazing.
Crossing the River Liffey.
I wish I were on a carriage ride in the snow... It doesn't actually snow in Ireland. It just rains.
Other side of the bridge and the Liffey.
A very ornate street lamp. Also, there is a surprising amount of construction considering how bad the economy is. Unemployment is really high, and the housing crisis here is worse than in the US.
More pictures from the bus! We're heading to Belfast, about three hours away.
The cows are really lazy here.
We're now approaching the North. The clouds are gathering ominously...
And it did rain a bit at some point.
More mountains ahead.
More cows.
And we are at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. You can't even tell, except that there are pretty hills here. It was basically impossible to stop IRA movement with the mountains and everything.
Still around the border. This area of the North is still mostly Catholic, and was nearly given to back to Ireland at one point...
but in exchange, the North would get part of the Republic and they weren't having any of that. The Border Commission was then cancelled way back in 1925 and it has proved to be problematic ever since.
Belfast, from the hostel window. We're right on the border of the city centre and a hard line Protestant area - thus, the string of British flags.
Belfast city hall at night. There's a ferris wheel!
Inside Stormont, Northern Ireland's parliament building. The walls and floor are Italian marble.
The big central chandelier was actually a gift from the royal family in Germany to the British royal family. But when WWI broke out...
.... the king put the chandelier into storage, as the two countries were at war. I guess some Irish guy asked if Stormont could have it, so the king loaned it to them. The other chandeliers are replicas.
The statue is of the first leader of the NI parliament. I have no idea who he was except that he was a Unionist, obviously. The stair railing is really nice.
Supposedly the queen recently asked for the chandelier back and was told “no.” The ceiling paint is some super special kind mixed in Belfast, I think.
More window pictures. The scallop motif was very pretty.
View from Stormont. The building was set up on a hill and a mile away from anything else, so it was clearly meant to be really imposing.
The clouds were very cool today. You can see Belfast and the mountains below.
During WWII, this was the headquarters of the British Navy. They wanted to camouflage it so the Germans wouldn't bomb it and so painted it with a mixture of tar and cow manure. They hoped the tar would make it easy to remove (I reallly don't know what gave them that idea) and that the manure would turn green and thus blend into the landscape. Apparently it smelled horrific.
The six columns represent the six counties of Northern Ireland. Ulster traditionally was nine counties, but the other three were too Catholic & Nationalist for anyone to seriously propose they be a part of Northern Ireland.
Some very dramatic clouds, and my class fleeing up the stairs (not really).
More awesome clouds. I still haven't seen many rainbows, though.
Belfast City Hall and the ferris wheel in daylight.
The lawn of the city hall.
It really is a nice building, don't you think?
Some random buildings in Belfast. The city is incredibly brick, especially once you leave the center.
More construction. It's all over the place in the north. Also, a cool clock tower in the background.
Look how sunny! Just wandering through Belfast. We walked for about six hours straight.
At the ship yards where the Titanic was built. The Irish take no credit for its sinking. These are two enormous cranes known as Samson and Delilah.
An interesting sculpture along the river.
Lady Liberty is missing her scales, which represents the lack of justice in the North. Notice how leaves are already changing color...
Did we take a wrong turn? Cross over into Britain? No, we're on Shankill Road, a Protestant stronghold.
Anddd the scary part. The UVF was the Ulster Volunteer Force, a Unionist paramilitary group. This mural really freaks me out.
It's pretty easy to tell you're in a loyalist area.
Not all the murals are scary. Still, it's hard to miss the snide comment that “No Rebel Hate Will Harm The State.”
So you see how there's still a bit of work to be done on the whole reconciliation thing.
Subtlety is clearly not what they're aiming for. The “Republican Murder Gang” is, of course, the IRA (Irish Republican Army). Actually the IRA split multiple times and the functioning IRA at this point was the “provisional” IRA.
The whole monument.
But the monument really gets bad when you read this sign. Let's be fair - referring to the Troubles as a “genocide” is going a bit far, don't you think?
Some of the murals are a bit more subtle. The North, Unionists in particular, are proud of their service during WWII versus the Irish Free State's policy of neutrality.
Still on Shankill Road. There's a lot of disastifaction with the economy.
A protestant church with mountains in the background.
The end of Shankill Road, approaching Belfast city centre. We missed Falls Road, which is suprisingly close to Shankill, and so got lost for a while.
An old church transformed into a shopping center, I think.
And so we arrive at Falls Road, the Catholic stronghold. At least they make an effort to be welcoming (although you'll notice that the British flag isn't one of those at the bottom...).
Sign welcoming you to West Belfast.
A plaque and flowers. The RUC were the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the police force of Northern Ireland, which was heavily dominated by Protestants and hated by Catholics as they saw them as basically racist. Catholics wouldn't even report crimes to the police.
The nationalists obviously embrace their Celtic heritage strongly.
In the distance, St. Peter's Cathedral.
A whole string of political murals on Falls Road. For obvious reason, they're pretty supportive of revolution and independence movements.
The support for self-determination continues...
It's pretty scary that they're advertising a taxi driver as armed. However, taxi drivers were particularly vulnerable during the Troubles as anyone could call them - it was pretty obvious if they were Catholic or Protestant - and just shoot them upon arrival. Police faced the same threat.
A big mural to Frederick Douglass (cars kept getting in my way) and “Happy War, Christmas is Over.”
St. Peter's Cathedral.
Even the church has a fairly political memorial. Two priests were “shot dead” (as they like to say here) during the Troubles.
Inside St. Peter's. This really nice old man told us a lot about the church.
He was so nice I was suspicious... but he was just a nice guy.
Pretty stained glass.
It is very brightly colored inside.
More stained glass.
Hmm, I wonder what is inside here...
... what a surprise, it's dedicated to those in the IRA from Falls Road who died.
Clearly looking for the Celtic style..
I approve of the garden, though.
The hunger strikers are immortalized all over.
Quite a provacative pub name, don't you think?
A mural for the hunger strikers. The IRA used prisoner hunger strikes very effectively during the War of Independence to draw international attention and condemnation of the British. However, Margaret Thatcher refused to change her position despite how many hunger strikers died. Finally, the IRA called off this tactic.
And the most famous one of all - Bobby Sands. He was arrested, went on hunger strike, and while in jail was elected to Westminster. It was pretty embarrasing to have a member of parliament starving under that same government.
His mural is on the side of the Sinn Fein headquarters. Sinn Fein was basically the political branch of the IRA and today is the second-largest party in the Northern Ireland parliament.
Yet another placard, this one on the Sinn Fein headquarters.
Irish names are more common on Falls Road than they are in Cork.
I'm not really sure why it is dated until 2001... because the IRA decommissioned their weapons around that time? If so, this is a troubling message...
More Irish. The bright colors also remind me of the Republic.
Walking down Falls Road.
I bet this isn't a Protestant church...
Apparently there's a big push for Irish language instruction, judging by this mural and the multitude of signs for it on the road. Even the street sign here has both English and Irish. (Note: this is basically the biggest car you see in Ireland)
Although I'm sure they hate the UVF quite a bit, they're a bit less direct about it in their memorials.
But Republican murals can be quite scary too. Still, there's something about a balaclava that makes the Unionist murals seem a bit scarier to me.
Such as this one. This is actually the mural marking the beginning of the neighborhood we were on the outskirts of. Creepy. Note the red, white, & blue posts - the curbs in the neighborhood were also painted like this.
Inside the Crown Liquor Saloon. It is actually an historic landmark and isn't allowed to be altered. That marks the end of our Belfast trip!
