Belfast
Belfast has been incredible & intense. As soon as we arrived, we took the "Black Cab Ride", a personal tour of the city focusing on the conflict. I came to Belfast under the impression that the conflict had ended. While it has greatly lessened, what I did not know was that one condition of the peace agreement was that the media is no longer allowed to report any conflict news. The wall still exists, a mass of concrete, steel & barbed wire dividing Catholics & Protestants, and people are still fighting.
In the city center, however, tensions didn't seem to be too high. Nobody talked about which side of the fight they were on, and I wasn't asked anything about it once. A local told me that it is understood that you simply don't bring it up in mixed areas if you know what's best for everyone.
Belfast has two newspapers, a Republican (Catholic) paper and a Loyalist (Protestant) paper, which apparently report very different news. There are memorials, murals & political graffiti in the neighborhoods with very, very direct statements. I will post some pictures when I can.
The weight of the blood beneath one's feet here can be felt upon the heart. Thank God there is at least mostly peace. I pray it will remain so.
On a very different note, I visited the coast of Ireland at Giant's Causeway, a dumbfounding volcanic rock formation. You can't really see the rocks so well in the picture I put up so I'll add a couple other ones soon. The headlands were amazingly picturesque, with little paths along the cliffside, high winds and wayward sheep. I will venture so far as to say that I found it much more impressive than the headlands at Marin. It was the most peaceful place I have visited thus far in Europe.
I am catching the train back down to Dublin in a few hours. A day's rest, then running tomorrow morning. I'm quite nervous. For those who don't know, I pulled my achilles tendon about three weeks ago. I have been mostly off my feet since then, but there's no telling whether it will stand up to 26 miles. As a result I am not running for any particular time, but just hoping to finish. I am pretty confident I'll be able to do so, just hoping I don't end up walking the last fifteen miles...
I'll write the night of the race to say how it went. Wish me luck!
As a brief aside, I would like the world to know that "beer" is a verb here in Ireland, as in "Let's beer!" or "Do you want to go beering?" It's amazing.
In the city center, however, tensions didn't seem to be too high. Nobody talked about which side of the fight they were on, and I wasn't asked anything about it once. A local told me that it is understood that you simply don't bring it up in mixed areas if you know what's best for everyone.
Belfast has two newspapers, a Republican (Catholic) paper and a Loyalist (Protestant) paper, which apparently report very different news. There are memorials, murals & political graffiti in the neighborhoods with very, very direct statements. I will post some pictures when I can.
The weight of the blood beneath one's feet here can be felt upon the heart. Thank God there is at least mostly peace. I pray it will remain so.
On a very different note, I visited the coast of Ireland at Giant's Causeway, a dumbfounding volcanic rock formation. You can't really see the rocks so well in the picture I put up so I'll add a couple other ones soon. The headlands were amazingly picturesque, with little paths along the cliffside, high winds and wayward sheep. I will venture so far as to say that I found it much more impressive than the headlands at Marin. It was the most peaceful place I have visited thus far in Europe.
I am catching the train back down to Dublin in a few hours. A day's rest, then running tomorrow morning. I'm quite nervous. For those who don't know, I pulled my achilles tendon about three weeks ago. I have been mostly off my feet since then, but there's no telling whether it will stand up to 26 miles. As a result I am not running for any particular time, but just hoping to finish. I am pretty confident I'll be able to do so, just hoping I don't end up walking the last fifteen miles...
I'll write the night of the race to say how it went. Wish me luck!
As a brief aside, I would like the world to know that "beer" is a verb here in Ireland, as in "Let's beer!" or "Do you want to go beering?" It's amazing.
posted by Evan at 27.10.07
1 Comments:
Hi Evan! Glad to hear that you are having an awesome time overseas. Good luck with the marathon, take care of that Achilles and pace yourself.
Are you taking pictures?
Continue to have a great time and give Michael my greetings. Good luck to both of you on the run!
Love, Dad
Post a Comment
<< Home