Day Six
I enjoyed our train ride to Belfast . The countryside was beautiful and I was able to shoot a lot of photos from the windows. It wasn’t evident to me when we actually entered Northern Ireland until we stepped off the train and onto the bus. From then on I felt an erie difference between Dublin and Belfast. We drove down streets with barbed wire and murals in remembrance of the Troubles. It really actually creeped me out. Once getting deeper into Center City I was a little relieved but still felt the presence of many years of struggle.
While there we met Gerry Patterson at the Belfast Telegraph. He was extremely nice, young, and outgoing. His lecture was right up my ally talking about the integration of the news to the internet. I was surprised to find out that unlike Southern Ireland and its lack of broadband and need for fast internet, Belfast was basically all broadband. He said everyone has an iPhone, a laptop, the new technology but they often hide them away until they are behind closed doors. Interesting!
After we returned on the last train into Dublin, we cleaned up and when to the Temple Bar which is an area of pubs and night life. It was a lot of fun and nice to relax after a someone strange day in what felt like a different universe. Dublin felt comfortable and more like home.
