Ireland II

...The trip went smoothly and it wasn't long before we were able to drop off our luggage and start exploring the city that not only built the Titanic, but also earned the nickname "Linenopolis" by becoming a leading linen producer during the Industrial Revolution. We took a tour of the beautiful City Hall which is even more splendid inside than out thanks to the thousands of talented craftsmen drawn to the area by the shipbuilding industry. My proudest moment in Belfast may have been when we were reading the inscriptions beneath the statues in front of the City Hall; there was one for Queen Victoria, a few for particularly influential mayors and MPs...and one for an ENGINEER! It's about time we received some recognition.

The Palm House in the botanical gardens was built in 1840 and is one of the earliest examples of a curvilinear cast iron glasshouse. This is one of those places where you wish pictures could capture smells. Although it was raining most of the time we were in Derry, we had great whether in Belfast and were able to enjoy being outside in the park.

We also managed to visit Queen's College, the Belfast Museum, and the Riverwalk. Belfast experienced more damage than Derry during the Northern Ireland Conflict, losing at least 1,500 people to political violence from 1969 to 2001, but the feeling is less palpable because of relative peace in the last decade and the extensive efforts to revitalize the city center. Worn out from all of our wandering, we slept well and left the next morning for Dublin. 

Dublin is much bigger than Belfast or Derry (or all of Northern Ireland for that matter) so there was much more to see and do. 

This is Wellington Monument in Sphinx Park. I was amazed not only by the size of the park--one of the largest in the world--but by the number of people out playing games, riding bikes, and just enjoying the weather. The most memorable part of my time in the park was probably from when I sat at the base of the monument to do some reading. There was a great sitting area at the top of the angled base and a few people were even sitting on a ledge about five feet farther up (right below the large rectangular murals in the picture). A family near me was enjoying a picnic when the dad decided to climb the base and put his toddler up on the ledge for a picture. I was nervous at first, but the kid loved it. He loved it so much in fact that he didn't want to come down. So you can picture me sitting there trying to pretend like I'm reading while discretely watching this event unfold. Every minute or two I'd hear soft footsteps and a lot of giggling followed shortly after by much heavier footsteps and persistent demands to stop so that dad could take him down. I gave up on trying to read and just focused on trying to contain my laughter. I'm not sure who ended up tiring first, but the dad eventually coaxed him into coming down. Either way, it was absolutely priceless.

Another great part of the trip was visiting the Dublin Castle. Dublin was first invaded by vikings, who beat the indigenous population and established a prosperous city. Eventually the Normans came over and after swiftly defeating the vikings, began building a castle to consolidate and protect their new territory. Norman rule was short-lived however and the English followed just a few years later and made quick work of the Normans. The English continued construction of the castle and completed the original design: a square with four formidable towers at the corners. Over time, the need for the castle waned until it was decided that it should be dismantled to make room for the growing city. All but one of the towers were removed and once the foundation had been filled in, new buildings were constructed. It wasn't until the latter part of the 20th century that while laying the foundation for a new government building workers discovered the original base. After archaeologists thoroughly examined the site, planners reconfigured the building's design to incorporate a basement tourist center to allow visitors to see the original foundation. The break in the wall is a small staircase connecting a small mooring area in the moat to the castle. Seeing the unaltered stonework sent my imagination wild; this was definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip (aside from seeing the Guinness factory, of course).

Another amazing part of Dublin was seeing the Book of Kells (from the 8th century!) at Trinity College. I would have taken pictures, but photos were not allowed. The book is displayed in conjunction with the Long Room, which is so large and contains so many ancient works it is nearly ineffable. It's unbelievable that so many books have survived so long considering how many times the libraries and buildings where they were stored caught fire or were pillaged during attacks. A timeline in the exhibit actually lists the times fire endangered the book, but after about 10 years at about three year intervals the dates continue with "...". An interesting side-note is that the Book of Kells is written on lamb skin, or vellum, and required more than 100 lambs to produce!

Here are a few more pictures from Dublin:

And St. Patrick's Cathedral, of course. Dublin is unique in that it is one of the only cities in the world to have two cathedrals (the other is Christ Church).

I will hopefully have my pictures and stories from Italy up next week. I was supposed to be going to Blenheim Palace this Saturday, but the ash cloud stranded our tour guide in the U.S. Also, rowing camp just finished and I would just like to have it on record that rowing in the sunshine is immeasurably better than rowing in January. I also found out I am getting "half colors" for playing two sports for Hertford. Full colors is normally awarded to students who have contributed significantly to their college sports teams over the course of their time at Oxford, so even though I am only here for one year, it is great to be in such talented company. Take care and Happy Earth Day!!

Spring Break

The last several weeks have been fantastic! The first weekend of break was the Rotary District Conference in Eastbourne. The following weekend I went to Northern Ireland with the group leader of our U8 project to present on the survey work we have completed so far. Unfortunately we found out just a week before the conference that it was cancelled, and Emily and I were forced to make the most of the situation (by making a four day trip across the Emerald Isle). Finally, I just returned from Italy yesterday! I can't cover everything in this post, but I'll talk about Rotary and Derry and leave Ireland and Italy for the next one. I hope you enjoy!

While Eastbourne was once a thriving seaside city in southeast England, it's large retirement community at present has earned it the affectionate nickname of "heaven's waiting room." Despite the unappealing epithet, the conference was very enjoyable. It was an excellent opportunity to catch up with the other Rotary scholars studying at Oxford, Oxford Brookes, and Reading (17 in total) and see some of the great projects our district is working on. Building on Rotary International's theme, "The Future of Rotary is Your Hands," the conference followed the theme of "Hands on Rotary." Aside from supporting major international Rotary programs such as shelter boxes and Polio Plus, Rotarians presented on development programs they have been participating in ranging from provision of microeconomic loan programs and health care in rural African communities to Group Study Exchanges in South Africa and drilling wells in Haiti. Each speaker's story was moving and inspirational and I feel privileged to be supported by such an active organization. The other scholars and I will be visiting Blenheim Palace (Winston Churchill's birthplace), the Ascot races, and racing Dragon Boats in the coming weeks so I am sure I will have some more stories to share (and pictures, hopefully!).

While some of my friends have accused me of writing "nerdy" posts (considering where I am at school, I think this is to be expected), the next part of this post is of a particularly nerdy nature. I don't remember spending much time on Northern Ireland in history class but I've done some research since my trip and tried to provide a little context to help understand some of the following pictures.

I began the trip by flying from London to Derry in northeast Northern Ireland. You may have heard that the Irish are very amiable and that belief was quickly affirmed after my arrival. Unsure of the easiest way into town, I asked an elderly couple if there was a train or bus. They did not know either, but said their son was coming to pick them up and were positive he could drive me where I needed to go. After they dropped me off, it did not take long to find the hostel and Emily because everyone in the town seemed to know the hostel's owner (I only asked one person, but two other passersby stopped and joined the conversation).  A quick note about the hostel in case you are concerned for my health, safety, etc. This particular one was very well maintained and had the distinct advantage over local hotels of having a host who not only knew the city inside and out, but also readily engaged in conversations about the city and the rest of our trip. I have the added benefit of having slept in the bays at West Point with 30 other people, so eight beds in one room was no sweat.

Derry is the the second largest city in Northern Ireland (around 90,000) and is one of the longest continuously inhabited cities stretching back to the 6th century. In 1613, shortly after the city had been razed by an Irish army, the city was rebuilt and became the first planned city in Ireland. The city walls, forming one of the best examples of a walled city in all of Europe, were completed in 1618 and were never breached even though the city was attacked many times. Today, visitors can tour the city via a walkway along the top of the walls. Needless to say, Emily and I wasted no time getting to the walls in our indirect quest for dinner.

More recently, Derry has been an epicenter of conflict in Northern Ireland. Differences of religion (Protestants and Catholics), political views (loyalists and separatists) and related economic divisions are pervade the community. In fact, even the city's name is still in dispute--Londonderry or Derry--and your preference is often taken as an indication of your political opinion. The murals below are just two of many to memorialize an especially tragic event emanating from these strong sentiments. A clash between British soldiers and citizens of Derry has come to be known as Bloody Sunday because of the 14 deaths and 29 injuries that occurred on January 30th, 1972. The mural on the left shows a soldier breaking into a home during a raid as part of a wider strategy to arrest the most active dissidents and place them in internment camps. The picture on the right shows demonstrators running from gunfire and tear gas. Interestingly, there are murals in another part of town that were painted by loyalists in response to this collection revealing their strong desire to remain part of the United Kingdom.

The sign below was painted onto the side of a house in the 1960's to delineate the border between Free Derry (previously termed Bogside, referencing the marshy land on the backside of the walled city). In an exhibit in a Belfast Museum the description of the event is displayed on a similar shaped white wall.

A few hours from Derry is a natural phenomenon called the Giant's Causeway which Emily and I visited the park on our second day in Ireland. According to local legend, the roughly 40,000 hexagonal rock pillars that stretch out into the sea toward Scotland (which has similar rock forms extending back toward Ireland) are remnants of an ancient land bridge. The giant who lived in Ireland, Finn McCool, built the bridge as a means to go fight the Scottish giant, Benandonner. However, when Finn made it to Scotland he saw that Benandonner was much larger and ran back to Ireland.  Finn told his wife what had happened, she dressed him like a baby so that when Benandonner arrived Finn appeared to be missing. Finn's wife told Benandonner that he was out cutting wood, but that Benandonner was welcome to wait in the house until he came home. When Benandonner came into the house and saw how big Finn's baby was, he realized Finn must be much bigger than himself and quickly  fled back to Scotland, tearing up the bridge as he went.

The legend shared by geologists is slightly different and somewhat less exciting. The remarkably uniform hexagonal (with some 5-, 7-, and 8-sided anomalies) basalt pillars formed some 50 million years ago as molten lava cooled, contracted, and fractured. 

After spending the afternoon hiking the surrounding trails and getting soaked in the storm that started to roll in while we were on the bluffs overlooking the rocks, we headed back to Derry for the night. The next morning, Emily and I headed out on a two-hour bus ride to Belfast....