24 May, ’05, Tuesday GWB Mural in Nationalist and Loyalist Neighborhoods The clouds are there and it looks like we will escape the rain, so we grabbed a bus and went into Belfast for the day. We have had reservations for the ferry back to Wales on Wednesday, so we had to find the ferry company and move them out for a week. The bus ride into Belfast dropped us off in the middle of town, so we had quite a walk to the terminal, but we got everything changed ok…we are now leaving Ireland next Tuesday. On our walk back to town, we saw a little restaurant, and seeing as it was after 1, we stopped in. It was located in the “harbor area” and was really old and, you might say, needed some tender loving care. It has been there for over 50 years and in the same family. The roof leaked like mad, the tables and seats.. interesting…the food…really good and CHEAP !!! I haven’t been able to up-load to the web lately for different reasons, so today we made a determined search for a “good” internet outlet. Fortunately, we found one, and it was very reasonable at that, so I was to get a lot of work done. We thought the best way of seeing Belfast in a day was to get onto one of those “Sightseeing Bus Tours”, so that’s what we did. It was very interesting, because we not only saw some of the old history sites of Belfast , but we also were introduced to the current “political” side of Belfast as well. We’ve all read in the past about what has been happening here in Belfast, with the marching, bombings, killings, and all the destruction. We drove through “The Area" and saw all the destruction, murals showing the men and women with their heads covered and holding machine guns, very tall walls that were topped with barbed wire, and much more…a little disheartening. One mural that we saw, that I thought interesting, is the one pictured at the top…GW with a straw sucking oil from the oil fields of Iraq with all the dollar signs floating through his head. I must say however, the Irish are very proud of their American ties (with the exception of GW). There are markers throughout North Ireland showing their ties with America and all those that were of Irish decent that stood out in the building of America. Belfast is a city under construction. It was “the ship builders town” for a long time, but now, it is a city of growth and diversity. It isn’t a city of great beauty, but it is a city in change…buildings being re-built, and the high cranes working on the “new”, a lot of street improvements as well. They are telling us, “Wait 10 years and come and see us then…”. Wednesday… Rain and more rain… one heck of a wet day, but we are surviving. We are all ready for… Tomorrow…the big day for “Bumble Bee”