Days 140-143: Ireland Postlude

Jun 17-20

We took our bikes on the train from Derry to Belfast, returned our hired cycles, and returned to our home base outside Larne for another Indian feast cooked by Steve. Jess and I parted ways with Steve, and headed on to Belfast. We went to cook dinner at the hostel kitchen as it was closing, so we had a heroic, lightening-fast, Iron-Chef-like team cooking experience. Since the kitchen was closing, we put the extras into a plastic bag, and happily ate from it.


Before taking the train to nearby Bangor to visit my Dad’s cousin, Maxwell Ledlie, we had a long walk around Belfast. Our walk included Sandy Row, a strongly Unionist neighborhood that was repainting its colors in preparation for The Twelfth (of July), a Protestant celebration of the Battle of the Boyne. We also visited the Belfast Library.


Maxwell, a semi-retired accountant, picked us up from the Bangor West train station and gave us a tour of the area. We spent the evening talking about the Ledlie family, went out for a nice dinner, and then left the next morning for Dublin. It was great to meet a relative for the first time and hear about my family history, and he and his wife were warm and welcoming.


The main highlight of Dublin, other than wandering around the interesting and historic city in beautiful weather, was our visit to the Guinness Storehouse. It was a completely different ballpark than any other brewery tour. It was a multi-story museum and multimedia beer experience. My favorite section was the one on coopering, the trade of making barrels, which had an old film of coopers at the Guinness factory doing their extremely skilled and quite dangerous work. Unfortunately, today, technology has made them extinct. The end of the tour is your free pint of Guinness in the "Gravity Bar" high above and overlooking the factory and the city of Dublin.


Here are a few cool photos from my flight back home (via Chicago!):