Budapest

I went on a spontaneous trip to Budapest- I loved it so much and I'm already trying to plan another trip there sometime in the next few months!
These are some of my favorite pics, but I made an album on Snapfish as well. Enjoy!

Belfast Murals and Graffiti

Belfast, United Kingdom

On Friday, we took a bus to the UK to spend 2 days in Belfast.

I didnt know very much about the history of Belfast before I went, but I do now! We walked around a lot the first day, and then I went on a "hop on/hop off" bus tour the next day so that I could learn more about the city.

In the interest of keeping things short, I'll say that Belfast has a COMPLETELY different vibe than Dublin..."tense" would be a good word for it. Dont get me wrong, the people are friendly, but there is just something in the air that gives you a little chill at times...it is still very much divided between the Irish Catholics and British Protestants.

There are over 40 walls, or "peace lines," that separate the two religious communities, and they cover over 10 miles of the city. The main walls are still used today, and the pedestrian gates to cross from one side to the other are closed at night.

The first picture is of me standing in front of the wall separating Falls Road and Shankill Road, just to give you an idea of how tall it is in some parts of the city.


How would you like to have this in your back yard?



This is one of the pedestrian gates allowing you to cross from one side to the other:


Of course, there is more to Belfast than just the walls, so here are some pics from the rest of the city:


A memorial on the Irish/Catholic side to those who lost their lives over the years in the fight against the British/Protestants:

City Hall and the Big Wheel by day:


and by night:

Parliament at Stormont:


A souvenier shop on the British side...the sign says it all:

Cavehill...do you see the shape of the face? It supposedly inspired Gulliver's Travels and is the subject of many Irish poems and stories:

The ship yard where the Titanic was constructed:

The Clocktower:

Queen's University:

Churches on the Irish/Catholic side:


A church on the British/Protestant side:

A modern art sculpture in the city symbolizing the hope for unity in the future:

The Europa hotel, the most bombed hotel in Europe (bombed 30+ times)

After soaking in all of the history, we continued on for some fun and live music at a local pub:

Dublin, Ireland

I spent two nights in Dublin and it was everything I was hoping for. My desire to visit Ireland actually came from watching an Irish movie called "Once" over Christmas break (thanks to Amphy) and I wanted to experience it for myself!

Here is the song with clips from the movie that made me fall in love with Dublin:


I arrived on Wednesday night, met my travel buddy at the airport and we headed for our hostel. This was my first hostel experience, so I was prepared for the worst. It turned out to be clean and very nice (although comparing the room size to that of a closet would be generous).

After dropping off our bags, we went to Temple Bar and commenced the Irish beer tasting I'd been looking forward to for weeks.



The next day we woke up early and explored the city by foot. We saw St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Guinness brewery, the old Jameson distillery (where I was selected to participate in a whiskey tasting experiment...4 shots of whiskey before noon...WOW...the Irish dont mess around), the Ha'penny bridge, Dublin castle etc.

St. Patrick's




Government building:

Guinness brewery:

Jameson distillery:


Castle:

Ha'Penny Bridge and other shots of the city: