I found Baris fast asleep at our B&B. We somehow lucked out and actually got a whole house to ourselves, rather than a room in the B&B. It was about 4:30 by the time I fell asleep...not much rest before the big day!
The conference:
In the morning we headed to Queen's University for the first day of the conference. It was a decent walk; we paid a little less for our B&B, so we had a 30-minute walk to get to campus. We were pretty exhausted, but we felt like we couldn't skip out on the first morning of the conference. I zoned in and out for the first keynote speaker. He had a heavy Irish accent and was talking what seemed like nonsense. He'd intermittently pull out his penny whistle and play a little tune that somehow related to translation. Whatever. I spent the rest of the morning and lunch going over my presentation notes. I'd prepared everything before leaving, but I needed to make sure I knew what I was going to say. At this point I was feeling pretty good considering I'd only slept for four hours. Inevitably I started to get really sleepy right before my presentation. I managed to perk up, give my 20-minute talk and field a couple of questions. It went really well, I made some good connections and I was glad to get it over with in the first day.
Baris and I skipped out after my presentation and went in search of an Irish pub. This was not the easy quest we thought it would be. It could have been our lack-of-sleep induced delirium or just a seriously bad PhD moment, but we couldn't find a pub anywhere. (Really we were just looking in the wrong place.) Baris chose a great little spot for us to eat and we mowed down on our dinners and Guinness.
At dinner, Baris and I happened to notice that our pound notes were different. We were a little perplexed by this, as we both thought that a pound was a pound. I had UlsterBank bills, and he had Bank of England bills. We also acquired some Bank of Scotland and Bank of Ireland bills. I chatted up the man beside us at dinner, and he explained this currency cluster to us. Maybe this is fairly common knowledge, but B-man and I had had no clue. It seemed as though every bank just printed its own money. Stay tuned for the Bank of Baris notes. :-)
We spent the next few days at the conference and wandering around Belfast. Baris's presentation went extremely well, his topic was of interest to many, and he made some good contacts. The conference was nothing spectacular. Most people had no idea how to give engaging talks, and the majority spent 15 minutes providing background and five minutes blowing through the real content. A typical academic affair. :-)
We bought tickets for the banquet and definitely enjoyed the evening. The dinner took place in the beautiful Belfast city hall and was attended by no other than the Lord Mayor of Belfast! The impressive thing about him was his age: he was probably 35 but looked about 25. (This made both Baris and me wonder what we are doing with our lives.)
On Friday we took a Black Taxi tour of the murals in Belfast. These murals were painted by both the Protestants and Catholics during the Troubles and since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, do a quick search for the Troubles in Northern Ireland.) Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures with my iPhone to share right now. :-( The murals depict scenes of violence, images of those killed during the conflict, and scenes related to political prisoners. The most shocking part of the whole thing was to see and hear about how the Protestants and Catholics still live quite separately. There is still a giant wall dividing the city, although it is now the "peace wall." We joined thousands of others by signing our names in support of peace in NI and the world. At various points in the wall there are security gates you drive or walk through. Some of these gates are closed at midnight to prevent movement. (We also heard that some taxis will never go to the other side.) The taxi driver took us to a row of houses just beside the wall on the Catholic side. These homes had very small "backyards", and the yards they had were enclosed in metal cages to protect them from objects thrown over the wall. Wow. This whole experience was a little difficult to wrap my brain around. Yes, it has been about 15 years since the peace agreement, but I had to keep reminding myself that decades and centuries of conflict cannot be resolved overnight. Also, I had keep telling myself that the "Troubles" (a euphemism in my opinion) happened in the UK, in the EU, not in some far off place you only really read about in the news. Baris and I had many conversations about this. It definitely made me realize how little I know about the world and how much I need and want to learn.
Our time in Belfast was kind of a blur and we didn't really have a good opportunity to explore the city or the amazing countryside as much as we would have liked. This didn't upset either of us too much, as we'd already decided at point that we would definitely like to visit this gem of an island again. :-)
On Saturday we hopped on the bus and headed to Dublin. If I felt we'd failed as tourists in Belfast, then we did even worse in Dublin. As soon as I decided that I'd like to visit Ireland again, I gave up trying to pack in all of the sights. I was pretty tired from Russia and the long night getting to Belfast, so I shifted into full-on vacation mode.
After dropping out bags off at the hostel, we headed for some supper and a Guinness at The Brazen Head. This is one of the oldest Irish pubs and dates back to the 12th century! We had traditional stews and ate until we could eat no more. It was Saturday night and Dublin was jumping. We had purchased pub crawl tickets from the hostel, so we walked over to meet the other 50 or so people in the group. It was an interesting evening to say the least. Baris and I were some of the oldest people on the crawl. We had a good time observing the crowd and we felt as though we were narrating a National Geographic special on twenty-somethings in their natural habitat. It was a late night and I was exhausted, but we had the opportunity to see the craziness of the Temple Bar area on a Saturday night.
Sunday we got out priorities straight and headed to our first tourist attraction after breakfast: the Jameson Distillery. :-) I'm not a fan if whiskey, but the tour of the old distillery was very informative. We heard and saw how whiskey is made and then got a free drink (Baris had mine too). Our next stop was the Guinness Storehouse. Here there was no formal tour, but we got to wander around and read about the age old tradition of making Guinness. My favourite part was going up to the top floor for an amazing view of the city. We had a quick nap then spent the rest of the evening listening to some live bands. I love the music and it's so easy to find great music any night of the week.
On our last day (Monday) we took a free walking tour of the city. Our guide was quite the character and had many funny stories to share about the city. He was also knowledgeable about the history, literature and culture of Ireland and Dublin. Some of the highlights were:
The Irish version of lady justice. She's quite different from most portrayals as she doesn't have a blindfold, she looks towards the government (i.e. the old British government) instead of out at the people, and her sword is pointed out in an almost menacing way, rather than being tucked in safely.
Dublin's Millenium Spire. Our guide, quite sarcastically, told us that the city wanted to build a monument to show the world how great Ireland was. And they chose to build the world's tallest monument. The project was set to be finished in time for the new millennium; however, it wasn't unveiled until 2003. It really is a weird looking object (google it now!), and has many nicknames. My favourites are the pointless point, the needless needle...the rest are all a little too dirty to post here. :-)
Veronica Guerin monument. Our guide took us here as he feels this woman is one of the most important figures in Irish history. She was a journalist set on exposing the true side of the drug problems in Dublin. She talked to people on the streets in order to make sure the real story was getting out and not just the facts and numbers fed to the papers by the police. She got a little too close, though, and was killed (shot six times) while waiting at a red light. It's a very moving story, and our guide's appreciation of the situation made it even more meaningful.
We spent the rest of the day enjoying the last of our time in Dublin before heading to the airport. We had enjoyed Ireland, but we were more than ready to escape the cool and rainy climate for some hot days in Istanbul. More to come soon!
Photos below are:
C & B at the Botanical Gardens in Belfast
A statue at Queen's (we've called it the "intellectual orgasm")
Botanical Gardens
Me and Baris outside Queen's University
An interesting sign
Me at Jameson Distillery
A street in Belfast
The Crown Pub, a "famous" spot in Belfast
B-man at the Botanical Gardens
Queen's campus
C & B at the Crown
B at the Brazen Head
Me at Botanical Gardens
Queen's University
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