The weekend was upon us. Well, a Friday, close enough. And after days of seeing multiple libraries and meeting with such good colleagues, we were treated to a weekend of being tourists. The trip organizers understood that, for as much as we valued the professional exchanges we were experiencing, we also wanted to get to know Ireland otherwise. So, stay tuned. This entry and ones that follow will show attractions, not libraries.
After two nights in Belfast, it was time to pack up and leave. But not without a quick survey of how The Troubles have marked the city. I didn't enjoy that part. I find tourism of strife, of incarceration, of tragedy to be distasteful for the most part. Tours whiz through areas that memorialize the conflict, people spill out of buses, they take photos, they move on. It's very surface, it doesn't provide space to breathe and reflect. It almost feels like a dishonour, to me, to many. Plus, it feels too near and still perhaps a bit raw in Northern Ireland. Maybe that's just me. Whatever the case may be, I didn't take any photos, and I watched the murals and walls and other things slide by the window without comment, or much comment. I wanted to be out of there, and, happily, we soon enough were. We left Belfast, and headed northwest.
First stop: the Seamus Heaney HomePlace museum.
No personalized tour, no. A cultural attraction based on the Nobel laureate who grew up nearby. I think it was my favourite museum we visited.
I loved that we could hear his words, but I shut off the audio device and read his words instead, and in doing so and connecting them to the displays, I found beauty in what he wrote. So no, as I said several entries ago, I am not one for poetry. But I bought a book of Heaney poetry and will sink into it one day soon.
Farther north with us. We climbed a pass and had lunch at the highest pub on the island,
something I have commented on previously. From there, we headed to the Giant's Causeway.
I've seen photos of this geologic formation many times. And, of course, great angles, superb photography, etc. In truth, the site was really cool but also somehow less than I had thought it would be. Also, other tourists. Not as many as, say, when we went to Sequioas National Park and folks were lined up to take a photo with a tree, but there were others, and finding good shots was conditional on how well a person could capture the place without folks cluttering the scene.
I managed alright. And the columnar basalt formations were pretty cool.
It was a chance to stretch our legs and appreciate what Ireland had to offer that wasn't man made. I appreciated it. We all splintered off according to our walking speeds and abilities, ambled and got photos,
and reconvened in the visitors center.
We drove on from there to the Magheracross View Point
with its awesome views of cliffs
and the ruins of Dunluce Castle
(also, cows!),
then headed on to Derry for one night there. Our hotel
was inside the city walls, and my room
looked out toward the Peace Bridge.
This was our last night for dining to ourselves, and as much as I enjoyed the company of my colleagues, I grabbed the chance to find a place with some better food. Browns in Town was my choice, a walk outside of the city walls and downhill. A starter of a white onion soup,
a delightful and pretty dish of cod for dinner,
and a buttermilk panna cotta
that may have been the best dessert I had on the trip. After that it was back to the room with a glass of wine to write postcards and then turn in. Two more days to go!
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