Awesome.
Anyway, I'm going to write two separate posts for the two days, since otherwise this one would be offensively long. I'll start with yesterday.
Yesterday was a very.....American kind of day, in feel. It was cold and cloudy, so we had a slow start. (House swapping seems to be conducive to slow starts, incidentally. With a whole comfy house around you, as opposed to an uncomfortable hotel room, there isn't really the same compunction to get out).
We headed into Derry/Londonderry- the same city, called two different things, largely depending on religion and whether your from the Republic (which is right across the river) or the North.
Derry is largely famous for two things: 1) being the only city in Ireland that is completely walled in and 2) being the site of the Bloody Sunday Massacre, when peaceful protesters were shot down by the police (who claim they were returning fire, though evidence does not support the claim).
We thought following the signs that said "city centre" would take us to the walls, but they didn't. So we stopped at the Tourist Bureau, which directed us to the customer service desk inside a large mall...which then directed us back to the Tourist Bureau. We decided to eat in the mall before heading back out to the Tourist Bureau because it was late and we were trying to save money. Which permits me to tell you that N. Irish mall food is quite as greasy and disgusting as American mall food.
We finally got out on the wall, but it was rainy, and cold, and Tess and Kai were impatient. So we walked a bit and snapped some photos, and left. And I went to bed.
End of Day.
But before writing off the day entirely, it is worth noting that we were very aware of how tensions relating to the The Troubles still swirl around the city. We asked several of our neighbors what we should be sure to see in Derry, and to a person, none of them had ever been there. (It's only an hour away) One of them mentioned that it was so clearly associated with the history of The Troubles, that they probably all tried to avoid it.
And while we were there, we could see why it would be a hard place to visit for people who still carried the pain of The Troubles with them. The photo above is of the famous murals in the Bogside neighborhood, where the massacre took place. They are right behind a large sign you can't see that reads "You are now entering free Derry".
And in the photo right above this, if you can't read the sign, it says, "Londonderry West Bank Loyalists. Still under Siege. No Surrender." And the Red Hand of Ulster (which has an interesting myth around it, which I'll tell another time), painted next to the sign is used as a Loyalist symbol now (though it used to be a symbol for all of N. Ireland). And those men to the right of the hand? They are standing on top of an enormous stack of pallets for a bonfire, presumably for a bonfire tonight. Apparently there are bonfires all over tonight, in preparation for Marching Day tomorrow. Oh, and actually, I can hear music off in the distance as I write this post. Probably our Bushmills bonfire- we were warned by lots of folks to stay away, though I think more because of extreme public drunkenness and wildness than fear of violence.
Marching Day is the day every year when the Orangemen - a group loyal to the crown- march. The marches are traditionally associated with flareups of violence, and many around here consider the marches to be intentionally provocative, especially when they march through Catholic neighborhoods.
So there is the Loyalist "Never Surrender" sign on one side of the wall, and Bogside neighborhood, with it's murals and Bloody Sunday memories on the other.
And then there is this peace bridge, which opened just two weeks ago, spanning the North and the Republic, holding the hopes and prayers of I'm guessing nearly all of Ireland's people that the peace will hold and the violence is over.
And I add my prayer to theirs.
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