This past Sunday the Vipers played the Belfast Giants, so Carolina and I decided to head over with the boys to see their game and see Northern Ireland. We took an easy jet flight that cost £40 pounds round trip, so around $64 round trip. Not bad!
Arriving into Belfast Airport.
Belfast city hall and another ferris wheel here!
Inside one of the oldest pubs in Belfast. It's called the Crown.
The pub actually had individual booths with doors to make it more private. And back in the day people would be in these booths, ring the bell behind us and the waitress would come and take orders.
The outside of one of the booths.
The booths were labeled A-J and when you rang the bell your letter would light up indicating which booth needed something.
Outside the pub.
The Europa hotel, and also the most bombed hotel in all of Europe. And no we didn't go inside. Kept our distance. :)
It's the most bombed hotel because it's very nice and expensive and where many politicians and famous/important people stay when they visit Belfast. And with all the fighting going on over here, it's an easy target. During our black taxi tour our guide told us that the IRA are usually the ones to bomb it!
Another old pub with Titanic memorabilia in it.
Inside the pub. The walls behind show some of the items saved from the Titanic.
Carolina and I at the rink in Belfast.
Jason's team actually only played with 11 players because of injuries and people leaving the team! So going into the game we thought we were going to get killed. You can see our bench was pretty much empty!
You can see the difference in bench depth! Plus Belfast is a really good team, so we weren't sittin' very pretty!
Since the odds were so against us, Carolina and I made a little wager that the boys were going to lose by at least 2 goals. We thought we were actually going to win that bet when at the end of the first period we were already losing 0-3. However, going into the third period we had come back a bit and were only losing by one goal. Then in the third period we scored to tie it up thanks to Ryan Mahrle Carolina's husband. We then went into overtime and won in shoot out where Jason scored the winning goal! We were so excited and surprised by the outcome, and learned a very important lesson. Don't ever bet against your husband because in the end they'll (pardon my french), but "F" you over!haha I must say I was worried to tell Jason that I bet against him. However, he wasn't mad and actually said he would have taken that same bet!
All the Vipers fans were so excited after the game!
The team's man of the match usually gets a case of beer for after the game, and the Vipers gave the fans their winning case of Carlsberg beer, how nice!
After the game we met the boys at this cool hockey pub that is owned by a former Canadian hockey player who used to play for the Belfast Giants.
Carolina on her tip toes because yes she's alot shorter than me and I always have to bend down for her in pictures!
The happy Jason after the game!
Big fish we walked by on our way back to the hotel.
The next day we took a black taxi tour of the city of Belfast. Our tour guide's name was Joe and his tour of the city was very eye opening and educational. Joe is Catholic so his tour was told from his point of view, however, after the trip we realized how interesting it would then be if we could have that same tour but with a Protestant tour guide. The tour began by showing us murals painted around the city depicting how the Catholics have been treated over the years.
More murals on the street with barbed wire over the top.
Inside one of the many remembrance gardens the Catholics have built for all the lives lost over the years due to the unrest in the city.
You can tell you are on the Catholic side because you will see Irish flags flying. Another way to tell is if you see the colors green and orange, which indicate the Catholic side. The Catholics want to be with the Republic of Ireland, so that's why they fly their flag overhead. Northern Ireland, however, is still part of the United Kingdom.
A mural painted outside the Sinn Fien of an important man who died during a hunger strike. The Sinn Fien is related to the Catholic side.
Another Catholic garden that backs up to the Protestant side.
This is a Catholic house backing up to the "Peace Wall" dividing the two communities. You can see the huge fence about 20feet tall and how their house is barred and protected in case someone throws something over the fence.
Another view. You can see how close the Catholic side backs up to the wall.
We are now on the Protestant side and you can see there is a wide space from where the houses are compared to the wall.
People started writing things on the wall and put where they are from and Carolina found this...thought it was pretty funny, and notice how someone also put in Obama, but then it got crossed out!
Another view from the Protestant side. This fence is 3miles long.
Now over on the Protestant side. They have murals painted on their walls and sides of houses as well. Our driver took us across to the other side, which he is allowed to do, but you could tell he was more nervous compared to when we were on the Catholic side. He also would not get out of the car when we made stops. He told us that he only comes over here for tours, and other than that never. People stay on their side because if they come over trouble could start for them pretty quickly. He said if he went into a bar alone on the Protestant side someone would recognize right away that he is not from that neighborhood. They would ask if he was waiting for someone and if he was and could name a Protestant person he could stay, but if not they'd ask him to leave immediately. He said there used to be signs on buildings on the Protestant side saying "No Blacks, Irish, or Catholics allowed."
More murals. And notice the British flag on the right. The Protestant side will fly the British flag and display the colors red and blue.
Our tour guide also pointed out how much more violent their murals are compared to the Catholic ones.
The Protestant murals were scarier and displayed pictures like this. This sniper is painted on someone's house! And no matter where you walk it follows you...
Pretty creepy!
They paint these murals to show people their history and they want others to see them so they can understand what they've been through. It was so interesting to see all these.
A garden set up on the Protestant side to remember people on their side that had died.
Still on the Protestant side.
More murals with gunmen.
Heading back into the Catholic side. This is one of the streets that crosses through the communities. If there is any trouble that starts up. The first thing they do is close these gates.
One last memorial we went by that shows more Catholics that have been killed by the Protestants. This wall was covered with preople's pictures and under each person it says Murdered in big red letters. Really sad to look at.
After our tour we decided to get some lunch and hang out. We took the boys to where we had eaten lunch the other with the Viper fans.
Carolina really liked this sign so another photo shot!
We took the boys back to the Crown pub, and here's Ryan testing out the doorbell.
Here's creepy looking into our booth! :)
Inside our booth.
Dinner time! I know the picture looks gross, but it's Irish Stew and so good!
Jason, Carolina, and Ryan
Carolina and me
On the bottoms of our seats in our taxi were signs for Mississippi! Can you believe it, we travel all the way over here and out of all the states they are advertising for MS!haha Shout to all those reading this blog all the way down in the Sip! Miss you! And you can see the Biloxi lighthouse.
The Mahrles, Joe (our tour guide), and the Tejchmas
All the Vipers fans were so excited after the game!
The team's man of the match usually gets a case of beer for after the game, and the Vipers gave the fans their winning case of Carlsberg beer, how nice!
After the game we met the boys at this cool hockey pub that is owned by a former Canadian hockey player who used to play for the Belfast Giants.
Carolina on her tip toes because yes she's alot shorter than me and I always have to bend down for her in pictures!
The happy Jason after the game!
Big fish we walked by on our way back to the hotel.
The next day we took a black taxi tour of the city of Belfast. Our tour guide's name was Joe and his tour of the city was very eye opening and educational. Joe is Catholic so his tour was told from his point of view, however, after the trip we realized how interesting it would then be if we could have that same tour but with a Protestant tour guide. The tour began by showing us murals painted around the city depicting how the Catholics have been treated over the years.
More murals on the street with barbed wire over the top.
Inside one of the many remembrance gardens the Catholics have built for all the lives lost over the years due to the unrest in the city.
You can tell you are on the Catholic side because you will see Irish flags flying. Another way to tell is if you see the colors green and orange, which indicate the Catholic side. The Catholics want to be with the Republic of Ireland, so that's why they fly their flag overhead. Northern Ireland, however, is still part of the United Kingdom.
A mural painted outside the Sinn Fien of an important man who died during a hunger strike. The Sinn Fien is related to the Catholic side.
Another Catholic garden that backs up to the Protestant side.
This is a Catholic house backing up to the "Peace Wall" dividing the two communities. You can see the huge fence about 20feet tall and how their house is barred and protected in case someone throws something over the fence.
Another view. You can see how close the Catholic side backs up to the wall.
We are now on the Protestant side and you can see there is a wide space from where the houses are compared to the wall.
People started writing things on the wall and put where they are from and Carolina found this...thought it was pretty funny, and notice how someone also put in Obama, but then it got crossed out!
Another view from the Protestant side. This fence is 3miles long.
Now over on the Protestant side. They have murals painted on their walls and sides of houses as well. Our driver took us across to the other side, which he is allowed to do, but you could tell he was more nervous compared to when we were on the Catholic side. He also would not get out of the car when we made stops. He told us that he only comes over here for tours, and other than that never. People stay on their side because if they come over trouble could start for them pretty quickly. He said if he went into a bar alone on the Protestant side someone would recognize right away that he is not from that neighborhood. They would ask if he was waiting for someone and if he was and could name a Protestant person he could stay, but if not they'd ask him to leave immediately. He said there used to be signs on buildings on the Protestant side saying "No Blacks, Irish, or Catholics allowed."
More murals. And notice the British flag on the right. The Protestant side will fly the British flag and display the colors red and blue.
Our tour guide also pointed out how much more violent their murals are compared to the Catholic ones.
The Protestant murals were scarier and displayed pictures like this. This sniper is painted on someone's house! And no matter where you walk it follows you...
Pretty creepy!
They paint these murals to show people their history and they want others to see them so they can understand what they've been through. It was so interesting to see all these.
A garden set up on the Protestant side to remember people on their side that had died.
Still on the Protestant side.
More murals with gunmen.
Heading back into the Catholic side. This is one of the streets that crosses through the communities. If there is any trouble that starts up. The first thing they do is close these gates.
One last memorial we went by that shows more Catholics that have been killed by the Protestants. This wall was covered with preople's pictures and under each person it says Murdered in big red letters. Really sad to look at.
After our tour we decided to get some lunch and hang out. We took the boys to where we had eaten lunch the other with the Viper fans.
Carolina really liked this sign so another photo shot!
We took the boys back to the Crown pub, and here's Ryan testing out the doorbell.
Here's creepy looking into our booth! :)
Inside our booth.
Dinner time! I know the picture looks gross, but it's Irish Stew and so good!
Jason, Carolina, and Ryan
Carolina and me
On the bottoms of our seats in our taxi were signs for Mississippi! Can you believe it, we travel all the way over here and out of all the states they are advertising for MS!haha Shout to all those reading this blog all the way down in the Sip! Miss you! And you can see the Biloxi lighthouse.
The Mahrles, Joe (our tour guide), and the Tejchmas
Shannon...I love your blog. That was so interesting about Belfast. Thanks for sharing. I love and miss you. Mary
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! That is so funny about the Mississippi ad! So glad you two are having fun and traveling a lot! Hope to skype soon!
ReplyDelete