URI to Galway: St. Brigit's Day

Happy St. Brigit's Day! She is the second patron saint of Ireland, and the holiday is February 1st because that was the old pagan day of Bealtaine. We're going to be talking about the holiday in my Celtic Civ class later this week, so it was convenient that I got to see some of it today.

When I was walking around the city center today, there was a group of Christians selling Brigit's crosses. I didn't get any since I made some later at the university's chapel. API suggested that we go to it to see a real holiday celebration, but some Irish people attended as well.

What it was was two tables covered in reeds/rushes, which we learned to plait in the crosses. I made 8 or 9 crosses before leaving, but I got to keep one after the priest blessed it.

I'd like to think it turned out well! This was actually my best one...and my first one! Just goes to show that practice isn't all it's cut out to be...?

The rest of today was pretty good. Only one of my classes was held today; the other two were canceled, so instead I bought some groceries and chapstick.

Yay Lip n Lippy.

Tomorrow is my "Hell Day," where I leave the house at 9 a.m. and get back around 8:30 p.m. I was going to go rock climbing after that, but decided maybe I'd better wait until Thursday or I'll want to die.

So on to pictures. These are some of the pictures from my trip, and, once again, the videos are being picky, so I'll keep putting those up throughout the week. We're going to stay around Galway next weekend, so there shouldn't be too much else to put up.

I meant to photograph the ridiculously sketchy alley that led to our hostel, but I never remembered. Once we woke up from our bunk beds and escaped the germs of the bubonic-plague lady sleeping next to me on Saturday, we packed lunch in the kitchen. Friday night, after we got to Belfast, we went to a convenience store and bought some snacks and lunch food for the trip so we wouldn't have to wait for the tour bus to stop. Compared to the rest of the starving passengers, Alice and I were quite content with tuna fish pita sandwiches and cookies. And chocolate--so much chocolate.

These tasted weird, but I had to buy them because they were so epic.

A bag of candy and games that was, once again, too epic to pass by. We opened it during the bus ride to the city to make the time go faster.

These are two of the five pictures from the lucky bag that we colored on the bus:

More food for the trip.

We couldn't find sandwich bags...but the garbage bags we used instead were very convenient after we finished eating...

One of the buildings in Belfast. The city is in Northern Ireland, which is technically a different country from the Republic of Ireland, since it is part of the U.K. We didn't realize that they used sterling currency (pounds) until we got there...A quick stop at the ATM solved that.

The Ferris wheel erected outside of the City Hall.

And...the City Hall!

The main street. The city is really not that big, but it's not as cozy as Galway. This was Saturday morning, so later in the day it snowed a little, but most of the time it was okay or just a little icy. One of the weirdest things we saw on the streets was this guy playing an instrument for change--but it wasn't a normal one, it was a violin/trumpet combo. It sounds very odd.

The thick crane on the left is one of the two original yellow cranes, together weighing 950 tons, that were used when building the Titanic.

T. K. Maxx. Kind of like EDDIE Rocket's...

The tour company that we used.

The first place we visited on the tour, Derry, was a bit like Galway in some respects, like the colorful way the identical houses were decorated.

The old part of Derry (called Londonderry sometimes) is surrounded by an ancient wall.

All of the trash cans have different logos! And some with this creepy skeleton man...

Part of the city wall.

Wish I knew what that said...

A lot of the old cannons were on display on the wall.

Alice, pretending to be trapped behind the bars. It was a long day...

Looking off of the city walls, we could see a lot of the surroundings. This is a huge cemetery nearby, next to one of the million churches in the area.

The day we were in the city was the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when 14 civilians were shot and killed on this street. You can see murals about it on the buildings.

Another memorial.

In the city center, there's some random statue. I don't know what it's about...

After we got back on the bus, we listened to U2's "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" to recognize the anniversary.

A gorgeous castle--the one where the kitchen fell away during a banquet. You can see why they chose to build it here, though.

One of the bills. They have one-pound coins, and then higher denominations are in bills. The 10 pound bill has Darwin's head on it!

When we were up near the coast visiting sites, we could see some Scottish islands in the distance.

Sheep, everywhere!

This was at the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge stop. The cliffs are made of limestone, which is why they are so brilliantly white.

Your only warning before the bridge. This area used to be filled with salmon, so much so that employees had to request in their contracts that they weren't paid in salmon more than three days a week. This island, Carrick-a-Rede, was used by fishermen to collect salmon. It means "Rock in the Road," and was in the way of the salmon, so fishermen could catch them really easily as they swam around the island. They built the rope bridge to avoid the dangers of constantly fishing in the water. Usually it's not open for tourists from October to March, but this year we were allowed on it.

A view from the island.

The remains of old fishing equipment and buildings on the island.

Right before it started hailing...

Up on the cliffs of the mainlands, there's a hidden house. The owner collected his sheep (the ones from before) while we were walking back.

A beautiful cove that is only seen from the island. It reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean...

On the island.

Walking back to the mainland.

It got pretty windy, so that water down there did not look appealing at all. I wonder how many cameras have been dropped.

Our final stop was at the Giant's Causeway, a series of rock formations that pagan Irish people believed were the remains of a giant's settlement. That island in Scotland that I showed you was nearby, so they believed that this giant had been trying to build a bridge to get there and get his princess. They thought it was a giant because of the large scale of the rocks.

To the right is the island of Scotland.

This is encouraging...

...not.

Right before getting to the Giant's Causeway, we saw the remaining walls of an old castle. It's built on an island, and only those two walls are left standing. It was pretty but sad.

A building at G.C. They cheated and used cement on the inside...

The pointy rock on top of the mountain about halfway up is one of the famous rock formations.

The stepping stones. They were formed because of a unique chemical formation in the igneous rock, so they look like building blocks (hence the myth).

My foot for scale.

The Giant's Organ.

Another famous formation.

Scotland!

The ridiculous set of stairs that we had to climb to get back up. It wasn't nearly as bad as the steps at Treman Park in Ithaca, though.

Looking down the mountain at the stepping stones.

Fields everywhere. And notice that here there are no stone walls--definite British influence. Their accent is different, too--more of a mix between Irish and British. Yuck.

Those stairs again.

The hamlet next to the G.C.

In Belfast, there is a really famous pub. This is it. We went in to use the bathroom, and were mauled by the crowd (not really, obviously). Everything closes at 6 p.m., so the only thing left to do in the city is to drink at one of the few pubs.