Belfast Day 2: Peace Walls

On the second day of Belfast, we did a lot of historical stuff surrounding the conflict between the Unionists and the Nationalists. We went to the Sinn Fein (Nationalist political party) headquarters where we met a bunch of crazy guys who had fought in the Civil War and most of them had been in jail 2+ times. Afterwards, we went to the UUP (Unionist political party) headquarters where we got a tour of the Peace Walls in Belfast. The Peace Walls are a physical barrier separating the Unionists (Protestants) from the Nationalists (Catholics) so that they can't kill each other (literally). They are about 2-3 stories high, so that bombs and guns can't be used, and you have to drive about 45 minutes in either direction in order to find a way around them. There is one gate through the peace wall, however it is only open during the day so that people can commute into the City Center for work. It is closed after dark and is able to be shut at any time in case a conflict arises. Crazy stuff.

Some of the peace walls were bland concrete, while parts had artwork on them. One section had grafitti art on it that artists from various parts of the world created in order to promote peace. There were shrines to people such as Ghandi, and there was a section of the wall where foreigners could sign and send their best wishes for peace to the people of Northern Ireland. Our tour guide brought Sharpie markers so that our group was able to sign the wall. There were also a bunch of murals on the sidesw of townhouse complexes/flat buildings that were representative of different things. One was of an armed gunman pointing a gun at you, which was kindof scary, but really got a point across about what it was like living in Belfast during the warring times.

After we got done with the tour, we walked back to our hotel to get ready for the RUGBY MATCH we were going to (can you tell I was excited?). We bundled up because it was cold, rainy, and windy and then caught black taxis to the stadium. The stadium was completely packed because it was a playoff game. The teams were Ulster (the county we were in in Northern Ireland) versus Edinburgh (a city in Scotland). We rooted for the home team (Ulster) which was really fun. Everyone at the game was crazy, and they kept singing an anthem that repeated "Stand uppp for the Ulstermen!" and by the end we knew the tune. Ulster ended up winning (hooray!) All-in-all it was fun to watch, even though I know nothing about rugby. Although, I did somewhat figure out the game by the end.