Derry: Day 2
Okay so this trip? = lots of posts, probably, because I want to remember it all. With a follow up post of pictures when you finally get to see what I'm on about.
Last night I headed out to a pub recommended by Seamus, the B&B owner. This turned out to be a FANTASTIC idea because I had a truly excellent time after the initial pint of sitting there going "uhhhh." I met some guys from Chicago who had come over for St. Pat's and were touring about, chatted with them off and on through the night and there was FANTASTIC live music. I mean, really fantastic. It was traditional Irish music and it was really, really good fun. Stayed there much longer than I thought I would and came back home around closing. And then had the most brilliant night's sleep.
Woke up just past 9 this morning and went across for a full cooked breakfast before going around the corner to the Free Derry museum. I amend my statement of yesterday of "right by the Bogside" to "IN the Bogside" now that I know exactly what that entails.
Okay this bit? Will make little sense if you don't know about Bloody Sunday. Click. Read. Be heartbroken. Because that's the major event of Free Derry. What kills me though is that the man that runs the museum? His brother was one of the Butcher's Dozen. The youngest one. And there is a photo of him SEVERAL PLACES in the museum, lying on the ground dying with two other people who are going to die (one within the next few seconds, the other 6 months later). And he came over to me and pointed at the pictures and said "There's my brother" and I'm just standing there wondering what on earth you SAY to that. Or THINK about it. It's seriously surreal.
There's also a "walking" tour attached to the museum. "Walking" because the area is actually really tiny and you can see all of it from well, standing still in a few choice locations. Which is what we did. And by "we" I mean me and the tour guide. Because that's all there was. Which is nice because it's really informative and personal and okay yeah it was just cool. Learned a ton about the area from him then went out after finishing in the museum and took pictures. Won't go too much into it because the pictures will really help here and I need to leave myself SOMETHING to talk about when I post pictures, right?
Heading up into the City in a few minutes. There's a definite difference. The most obvious being, oh, THE GIANT WALL THAT SURROUNDS THE CITY. They've been there for ages and have never fallen to siege. Kinda cool, really. Gonna tour those too. And there's a few more museums. And. Okay I'm just going to go do my stuff now. I just had to get the bit about the museum out so I can stop THINKING about it.
I feel a little...wrong. Touring the places such tragedies happened. Standing where people died. But it is nice to see how things have gotten better, and that's what makes it okay, I guess. And I'm helping things keep improving by being here as a tourist. I'm going to...go do my happier things now. Yep. Later!
Last night I headed out to a pub recommended by Seamus, the B&B owner. This turned out to be a FANTASTIC idea because I had a truly excellent time after the initial pint of sitting there going "uhhhh." I met some guys from Chicago who had come over for St. Pat's and were touring about, chatted with them off and on through the night and there was FANTASTIC live music. I mean, really fantastic. It was traditional Irish music and it was really, really good fun. Stayed there much longer than I thought I would and came back home around closing. And then had the most brilliant night's sleep.
Woke up just past 9 this morning and went across for a full cooked breakfast before going around the corner to the Free Derry museum. I amend my statement of yesterday of "right by the Bogside" to "IN the Bogside" now that I know exactly what that entails.
Okay this bit? Will make little sense if you don't know about Bloody Sunday. Click. Read. Be heartbroken. Because that's the major event of Free Derry. What kills me though is that the man that runs the museum? His brother was one of the Butcher's Dozen. The youngest one. And there is a photo of him SEVERAL PLACES in the museum, lying on the ground dying with two other people who are going to die (one within the next few seconds, the other 6 months later). And he came over to me and pointed at the pictures and said "There's my brother" and I'm just standing there wondering what on earth you SAY to that. Or THINK about it. It's seriously surreal.
There's also a "walking" tour attached to the museum. "Walking" because the area is actually really tiny and you can see all of it from well, standing still in a few choice locations. Which is what we did. And by "we" I mean me and the tour guide. Because that's all there was. Which is nice because it's really informative and personal and okay yeah it was just cool. Learned a ton about the area from him then went out after finishing in the museum and took pictures. Won't go too much into it because the pictures will really help here and I need to leave myself SOMETHING to talk about when I post pictures, right?
Heading up into the City in a few minutes. There's a definite difference. The most obvious being, oh, THE GIANT WALL THAT SURROUNDS THE CITY. They've been there for ages and have never fallen to siege. Kinda cool, really. Gonna tour those too. And there's a few more museums. And. Okay I'm just going to go do my stuff now. I just had to get the bit about the museum out so I can stop THINKING about it.
I feel a little...wrong. Touring the places such tragedies happened. Standing where people died. But it is nice to see how things have gotten better, and that's what makes it okay, I guess. And I'm helping things keep improving by being here as a tourist. I'm going to...go do my happier things now. Yep. Later!