Day 165

So today I woke up and caught the bus into Belfast, which is 3 hours away. I was going to meet my friend Ross, mt friend I met on the plane. Mark wanted to do this tour of the cliffs, but i said i really wanted to go to Belfast so we had our last day together yesterday:( He was the best travel buddy anyone could ask for. We had the BEST time ever..seriously..he is hilarious. my guy friend soulmate:) So bus ride over wasnt bad..i got there and went shopping for a couple hours then called my friend..but he was at work until later..so his friends came and met me at St Annes Cathedral..this gorgeous cathedral in the middle of town..so they picked me up and drove me around. They took me to the famous cemetary which was the coolest thing I have ever seen. I t was so crazy. Old headstones everywhere and uneven graves, and the worlds largest mass grave from the Irish Famine..there was a huge cleared space in the middle of the graveyard which i thought was really odd..and then Chris and Michael explained to me that it was the largest mass grave site ever..something like 80,000 bodies were buried there. Insane. Then they took me around to the famous graves like Bobby Sands who was a member of the IRA, who was imprisoned and led the hunger strike, because the members of the IRA who committed crimes didnt want to be subjected to the same treatment as other prisoners.. so he died..and the government didnt do anything about it..it was a huge deal..so the boys told me that story along with some other crazy stories..just crazy stories..there was one about a guy who came to a funeral of people he rivaled and just showered them with grenades..just crazy.. and then they showed me the different sides of the cemetary..the protestant side and the catholic side. Then we drove arounds the ghetto..the war zone where all the political craziness has gone on..and they showed me the peace wall. There is just so much history there..it is fascinating. Completely fascinating. I loved every second of it. There were political murals everywhere..and in the catholic neighborhoods there were curbs painted green and then there were curbs painted blue red and white in the protestant neighborhoods..its still like that..still. After all that me and Michael went to go get some food and went to hang out at his house..waiting for Ross to get home. I met his Mom and Dad and brother..it was fun..then we watched the movie Into the Wild..crazy movie..but so good. Then Ross finally got there and we all hung out and watched South Park and had some wine..it was a good time.. Gotta love the irish boys;) More Later!
xoxo Kerri