Derry murals

We switched guides and buses today to accommodate the 30-odd people now travelling north. Our new guide's name is Dave. He's going on with us up north while Kim is returning with the five-dayers to Dublin. 

Dave began by telling us to not wear union jackets up north, that you will not be welcome and may be harassed. Then, on a lighter note, he told us the story of Grace O'Malley, an Irish pirate captain who inherited her father's fleet and went on to become one of the most famous women in Irish history. There was a famous meeting between Queen Elizabeth 1 and O'Malley in which both women were too proud to use translators to speak to each other and ended up speaking in Latin (meaning that she was well-educated in addition to being a badass sea captain). O'Malley's relationship with the Queen is historic - at one point the Queen prevented her from being executed, even though she had gained a lot of notoriety at that point and there was a very high price on her head.

She's one of the most famous women in Irish history and Hollywood recently wanted to cast Jessica Biel in her role when they caught on to the story. The Irish film industry sent a message saying that Ireland would boycott the film if they did this. Needless to say, they went with someone else.

The conversation turned to politics as we made our way north to Sligo, the birth and deathplace of my favorite poet W.B. Yeats.

Dave is very knowledgeable of the conflict of the past 30 years and spent the morning after our first rest-stop (at a pub next to Ireland's only fjord - my first pub outing during the day. I had bailey's hot chocolate. Delicious.) 

Dave spoke very passionately about the troubles that spawned the IRA and a slew of other incarnations of it that I haven't heard of. He told us he would gladly answer any questions while on the coach but that he'd ignore us if we asked him about it off the bus. Everyone wants peace and the bar staff will actually throw anyone who talks about the conflict out of the pub, because they don't want anyone's night to be ruined. His dad and grandfather both narrowly missed being victims of bombings and, while he is the first generation to live in peaceful times, he said it still doesn't feel like he will see real peace in his lifetime. 

Visited the grave of Yeats first, which was just outside of Sligo. It was by a small four-spired church where he served as rector and there was a view of the valley just beyond the trees. We visited at a very poetic time of year; felt the bite of autumn and walked through pools of dead brown leaves on the walkway.

The highlight of the day and possibly this whole trip so far (a grand statement considering we just visited the grave of Yeats) was our walking tour of Derry. I won't be able to get it all down so I'll have to supplement with a slideshow of sorts below. We walked along the city wall and then through the Bogside, which was the place where Bloody Sunday occurred and where the whole conflict started in 1969.

Annette is name of girl who was shot by sniper because they thought she was holding a gun. She was super young. Guide told us a man would sit across from her mural and speak to it every day for as long as she was a tour guide. He stopped in the last few years and she presumed that he died. She was recently informed that he was Annette's father.

Civil rights pic - Jackie Duddy (17) was the first to be shot on Bloody Sunday. 

Some mural pics like this one were taken from actual footage of that day, whereas most of the murals just depicted typical scenes in the Bogside.

Che cevara mural about his son. He came to Ireland several times.

Peace bridge built in 2010. Dalai lama walked over it, as did I after dinner.

 It felt really strange eating at this nice restaurant after taking the tour. It felt disengaged. Other events of the day included changing our money over to the pound sterling, which is a lot prettier than the euro in my opinion, if money were to be pretty. Also, we're sleeping two to a room tonight and my roommate is sick...I hope I don't catch whatever she has. On the bright side, she's from NZ and is at the end of an epic trip that took her along the trans-Siberian railroad to Mongolia and Russia. She also went to Italy, Greece, Croatia, Spain and is finishing up in London, where she's lived the past 2 years, after Ireland. My God.