Belfast!

Today was unbelievable. We caught the first high-speed train to Belfast and spent the day touring the city.

I can't described how overwhelmed I felt. Although the guide repeated several times that the violent activity was now less than 10% of what it used to be, you could still feel the "stain" of the conflict. There were radical murals on every block, sometimes covering every building. There's still a wall between the Protestant and Catholic sections of the city. It felt so surreal.

On the tourist-y side, my favorite stop of the day was our first, Stormont Castle. This is where the legislative meetings for Northern Ireland are held, and where the peace talks were during the conflict. We also visited Belfast Castle, Freedom Corner, the shipyard where the Titanic was built, Shankill Road and Falls Road.

On the educational side, we had a lecture from Jerry Patterson at the Belfast Telegraph. Although the information he gave us was interesting, I was most impressed by his personal transparency. He was very honest with us about circulation, competition, office politics and even his previous experience with the conflict.

Although it was a very long day, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I really enjoyed Belfast, and would highly recommend it to anyone coming to Ireland.