Thursday, June 30, 2016

Updates again

1. The strawberries are so delicious here - like the best we have ever had.
2. Christian arrives tomorrow - Friday. Feels like we just saw him and it's been forever all at once. We can not wait for him to arrive and join us on this adventure.
3. My camera broke three days in to the trip - ugh! I was so upset but just packed it up and stopped worrying about it - it's something electrical. So all photos will be iPhone shots. No sense getting upset about something I can't change.
4. Rory was sick one night - Fever and threw up but really bounced back. I still have the RX the DR wrote me for antibiotics saved away...just in case. Yes I took her to the DR - he was a friend of my cousins who took her in right away.
5. The kids have a running count of all the cousins they have met - I think the tally is over 16 so far.
6. You know you are in the part of Ireland your mother grew up in, when someone rolls down their window and yells out "is that Bridget Fanning's daughter?", waves and keeps on driving by.  I have no idea who he was but clearly he knows my Mom.
XO
AP

Belfast

We saw the real Belfast today, a personal tour by a family friend

A city still divided into Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods 
separated by high walls topped by barb wire
Political murals and memorials for those killed in the troubles ... That's the word that is used for the tumultuous times - the troubles, doesn't seem like a strong enough word to even come close to what went on. 
Flags hung everywhere to indicate which neighborhood you were in - Catholic or Protestant
It was eye opening, scary, hard to imagine, and made us appreciate the peace we enjoy everyday in America.

The house in Belfast that can not be sold

The front door opens on the catholic side of the wall, the back door opens on the Protestant side.
You have to see it to believe it and to try to understand. 

Irish Rail - such a nice way to travel

Smallest house ever!

What if you had to live in this for 6 months

TITANIC

On our way to Belfast

Riding Irish rail to Belfast today
Quinn keeps asking if they will have a trolley on it like Harry Potter' train
I think he wants to buy a chocolate frog

More from knowth

Older than the pyramids at Giza in Egypt