The Adventure: Sunday

Sunday was our 'exploration' day - the day where we did things I haven't ever done in Northern Ireland.

At St. George's Market on Saturday, we'd been told about 'The Old Inn' in Crawfordsburn, out towards Bangor (where C.S. Lewis was born). We slept in Sunday morning and then decided to head out that way for breakfast. It's this lovely 4-star hotel. The pub part of the hotel is in the oldest part of the building - dating back to 1614 and still topped with a thatched roof. We were a little concerned about the cost, but decided to go for it. Boy are we glad we did! They directed us to the library where they brought our three teas and scones - which were all wonderful. The owner happened to be walking through making sure everything was tidy for the 160 that would be coming for Sunday lunch that day - and stopped to say hi and chat with us a bit. The staff that helped us were incredibly helpful - Paul, the bar tender who first helped us, is actually a Queen's law student - small world. :-) While we were there, we found out that they have a 'couples deal' - two four-course meals for dinner, a night over at the hotel, and breakfast the next forming for £109! It's an incredible deal for a hotel that would easily charge $300 in the states for the same (if not more). So, it's now my top recommendation to couple's who come - that they should get away for a night to 'The Old Inn'. :-)

After a lovely morning in Crawfordburn, we headed back into town and West Belfast. West Belfast was the site of the most significant tension between Catholic's and Protestants in the 60s and 70s - so much so that a 16 (?) foot tall 'peace wall' has been erected between the two communities. On each side of the wall run two main roads - Falls Road (on the Catholic Side) and Shankhill (on the Protestant Side). We first headed to the Shankhill since I'd been there before with Billy Stevenson - who grew up there. You'll see some of the murals from this area up top. The murals focus on military groups and the legend of the 'red hand of ulster' - the Protestant claim to N. Ireland. Then we headed over to the Falls Road - where I'd never been - to see their murals. They focus more on political issues - including one mural that has Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King Jr. and place Bobby Sands (a key figure in the Catholic IRA movement in the 60s and 70s) alongside them - as one who fought for freedom. We also came upon a memorial garden to an IRA battalion (it's in the pictures above).

The long history of division and violence is hard to reconcile with Protestantism and Catholicism. A good friend of mine here, Stanley Gilmore, explains it to me this way. It's not Protestant's and Catholic's that are violent or the cause of this, nor the religions, but rather 'political Protestants' and 'political Catholics'. The faith is more a part of their political outlook and agenda - sort of like 'Christian Republican's' in the US who sometimes let their political views rule the day - rather than Scripture. It's perhaps too simplistic - but I think it's still a helpful perspective on it.

From there we headed into town to Queen's so Jenny and James could see the university and the Botanic Gardens that are attached to it. Unfortunately the bougainvillea (sp??) weren't out - a flower that Jenny and I grew up with in Kenya and brings back vivid memories - which was a bummer since I was hoping to show them to her. But, the flowers in the Palm House were incredible!! So James took lots of pictures for his grandmother who would have loved it. :-) From there, we headed off to a late lunch at Maggie May's - a travel book recommended spot. I'd been there before and really enjoyed it. However, an hour after ordering, the waiter came back to our table to tell us he had never gotten the order in the system and had forgotten what we ordered. We were starving and our blood sugar was really low - but we decided to persevere and had a good lunch.

From there it was back home for a bit of a rest before church, with a short stop at Tesco for some quick shopping of Irish tea and our dinner for that night.

Church that night was great with Derek sharing! I was so glad Jenny and James got to experience Saturday Night Live at Fisherwick - it's a wonderful setting and a wonderful group of people. I think they both really enjoyed it and I had the chance to introduce them to Derek afterwards, and a bunch of other friends at the church.

Well, rather than head home, we had one last stop for the evening - The Empire. A pub/music venue - The Empire hosts a Christian singer who plays popular cover songs every Sunday night and was supposed to be really good. I'd never been because it doesn't start until 10pm and the buses stop running at like 11pm on Sunday nights. Unfortunately the guy wasn't there, but we had a wonderful time sitting and listening to his 'sub' - a folksy, country kind of singer who did covers that were fun to sing along to. About 10 friends from church ended up coming along so Jenny and James got to spend more time with them - so that was GREAT!

About 11:30/midnight we decided to call it a night and headed home and to bed. We needed to get our sleep, because we needed to be at the car rental place when it opened the next morning at 8am, so that we could then head to Dublin for a day there before Jenny & James headed back to the states Tuesday morning. But, that's the next chapter in our adventure....