Muchacho Polaco

Our friend Matt made this sweet photo video of our time in Belfast:

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We went to Belfast yesterday, departing Dublin by bus in the early morning. We arrived in Belfast in time for some yummy fish and chips, which reminded me a lot of my days in high school (especially with the brown gravy!) We toured throughout the city for most of the day – there are a lot of really neat things to see and do. We took a black cab tour (see picture below) which emphasized areas significant to the political/religious tension between the Protestants and Catholics. None of which is actually religious of course, but that is the category they like to use for some apparent reason.

We visited the Shankill area – a Protestant community which appears to be very poor and probably equally criminal. There were many interesting murals to see that related to the political/idealogical tensions. It was helpful to have the events explained to us and even more interesting to understand Northern Ireland’s relation to the Republic (NI is part of the UK, not the Republic of Ireland – Dublin is in the Republic). One immediate and obvious difference is that the police in the UK carry pistols whereas in the Republic (such as Dublin), they do not. The currency of course is another obvious difference – the pound is much stronger than the Euro. Nonetheless, prices weren’t too bad in Belfast and I suspect it will be similar in Scotland where we will be tomorrow.

We ended our evening in Belfast in a very traditional pub drinking Guiness! We played spades in the pub as well and it was nice to finally win! Though Matt and I just barely beat the ladies.

On Wedesday, we went to Christ Church, a beautiful Anglican cathedral in downtown Dublin for their Choral Evensong. The cathedral’s architecture is absolutely amazing providing for an incredible acoustic to listen to the choir sing psalms, readings, and canticles. We may get a chance to go back next Wednesday for another service!

Yun, Dana, and I went to Malahide Castle today – about an hour outside of Dublin. It was very green and very beautiful.

Matt and I will be going to a pub in Temple Bar later this evening in search of some fine ale.

Yun and I are jet-lag free today! We slept really great last night – probably in part due to the Gurkah ‘Castle Hall’ churchill (cigar) and the triple distilled Jameson whiskey. It is not exactly warm here though. Today we spent time downtown Dublin doing some shopping. We went to a great Anglican bookstore where I purchased a few books – including a nice compliment to my “Irish Puritans” entitled “English Puritans” (different author though). I bought some other Puritan works and the guy that worked at the store threw in a book of Thomas Boston’s for free! What a great place.

We also found a Zara – a clothing store we enjoy a great deal. We have been to Zara in Cancun, Bangkok, Panama, Vancouver, and now Dublin. I like their shirts a lot. We may be in Belfast on Thursday so perhaps we can stop at the one there as well.

After what seemed like endless of hours of shopping, Matt met up with us and we went to Trinity College. It was a beautiful campus. The school has a really fascinating past. I learned Bishop Usher attended Trinity the second year it began when he was 12-years-old.

We played spades last night which proved to be a disappointment due to my preference to not lose. Tonight we may have to switch the teams up as the Policans have not been doing so well in this arena.