I spent the first two nights in Belfast as I wanted to check out Northern Ireland. Lonely Planet assured me it was very safe as the Troubles are over. Typically (it turns out) it was raining when I got there but I was told that apparently last week it was in the mid 20's and sunny, but there was also a bomb threat. The person also told me, with a smile, that she believed the bit about the bomb threat but not about the 20 degrees!
Maybe Lonely Planet was wrong...
Belfast is not surprisingly not a a very touristy place, but I really enjoyed it. You can tell the tensions still run deep though so I was very careful not to make any Irish/British/Catholic jokes when I was there! Apparently with the Good Friday Agreement (the agreement that more or less ended the Troubles) a lot of the militants got released and some even run the "Black Cab" tours, which take tourists to some of the Troubles hotspots. This to me was an unnerving thought but I was told that it was perfectly safe. In fact, some of the militants from both sides actually work together on some projects for the benefit of all of Belfast and it seems to occur without incident.
[pic: Belfast]
I did hear that random violence still occurs occasionally. Apparently car theives are not well liked by the IRA or the RUF (I think that's the Protestant equivalent but to be honest there are so many splinter groups its like that scene off the Life of Brian where they sit around and talk about the Peoples Front of Judea, the Popular Front of Judea, The Popular Peoples Front etc...). If a known car theif is caught he would get knee capped, by taking him to an alley and shooting him through the back of the knee. Apparently he would walk again, but never truly recover...
Nasty.
In saying all of this I really did find the place fascinating.
After Belfast I headed to Dublin. Dublin is quite a pretty place and I absolutely adore it. Yesterday I went to the Guinness Brewery and after the tour had a pint of Guinness in the Gravity Bar (a glass dome that over looks the entire city). The Guinness tastes different here than in New Zealand. In New Zealand it tastes like...well...crap. Here its surprisingly drinkable (although I suspect I may be getting seduced by it simply because I'm in Irelenad!).
[pic: me enjoying a Guinness in the Gravity Bar]
[pic: the view of Dublin from the Gravity Bar]
Last night I went to Jimmy Carr. A two and a half hour show that was full of all of his new material. Needless to say I was in stiches the entire night - he is really hilarious! Although I heard probably 200 hundred jokes its surprisingly difficult to remember them the next day, but here are a few of the ones I do remember (and thought were quite funny):
"Why do so many people die in schools in America?...because you're not allowed to run in the halls"
"Where would we be without our sense of humour?....Germany"
"Have you ever heard the saying: "treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen!"? If that's true, shouldn't the Jews love the Germans?"
"I had a traumatic childhood. Our family Priest....was cheating on me."
"I had a threesome last night, it was amazing....had a couple of no shows...but I had a great time."
"I asked my girlfriend whether she wanted to do some role playing where I pretended I was a stranger trying to rape her. She said "no". I said "that's the spirit""
I could go on....
Later I went on a pub crawl where chaos ensued. Naturally it was a great night and just as naturally I've once again dispelled the myth that you can't get hungover whilst travelling....
[pic: the last stop on the pub crawl]
Off to Portugal tomorrow so I will be in touch soon.
Anthony
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