Wednesday morning started with Kathryn and I’s bright and early trip into Belfast to the Agency. We started out by watching part I to a video created by Virginia Senator and 2016 Presidential runner, Jim Webb, which elaborates on the importance of Ulster Scots heritage both in Ireland and the United States. From there we headed over to the Titanic Quarter and had someone show us around the PRONI headquarters (Public Records of Northern Ireland), and explore the Titanic Museum. For those of you who didn’t know (because I know I didn’t before coming to Belfast) the Titanic was designed and constructed in Belfast in the early 1900s in the height of the city’s wealth and prosperity which largely came from the ship building industry and Belfast linen. So as you can imagine, much of Belfast shows reminders of the Titanic and what their people accomplished in its construction. Once we walked back to the Agency, one of the Ulster Scots, Iain, took us out to East Belfast to visit the Museum of Orange Heritage that had only just been opened that week! As we walked through the front door, the curator of the museum and Iain’s good friend was sitting next to the front door with a rifle in his hands… welcome to the museum? Quite the greeting if you ask me! Actually, the gun he was holding was getting ready to go on display upstairs and for insurance purposes he was not allowed to leave it out of eye-sight. But this wasn’t just any old gun, this was a gun from the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 and right before they put it in the case he let me and Kathryn hold it! Crazy stuff. The museum was set up very well and gave Kathryn and I more insight as to what it is the Orange Order does now, why they celebrate the 12th of July (celebrating the Battle of the Boyne), and a glimpse into what life was like during the Troubles. One room was entirely dedicated to a 45 minute video running on loop which had people of the Orange Order give personal testament to the tragedies they experienced of family and friends during this darker time of Irish history.
After hearing the testimonies, the curator, Iain, Kathryn and I all had a moment for reflection and discussion on what it is we just watched. The Troubles in Northern Ireland were not easy for anyone, and there are always two sides to the same story and they wanted to make sure we heard of their experiences. They also encouraged us to go and try to visit other museums that will give a different side to the story so we can get a holistic understanding of what happened and why things are the way they are today in Northern Ireland – a true testament to the historians they both are.
After we left the museum, Iain found out that Kathryn and I had somehow not yet had our first Guinness in Ireland, a 99 (soft served vanilla cone with a flake bar in the middle – one of the best Irish chocolate creations), or the infamous Ulster Fry. So, in full Irish hospitality Iain took it upon himself to check all three of those to-do’s off our list by driving down to Dundrum and have some great and insightful conversations (the title of this blog post is a snid bit of Irish knowledge he imparted on us). We grabbed our Guinness at a bar along the bay called the Percy French with a lovely view of the Mourn Mountains in the background, then walked along the coast over to a small little restaurant in the village called Doc’s where we had our first but definitely not last Ulster Fry. An Ulster Fry is essentially a heart attack on a plate because everything is fried – to perfection. The fry consists of: fried egg, sausage, bacon (which is more like a slice of ham), fried soda bread, fried potato bread, and sometimes they’ll throw in some roasted tomatoes and mushrooms on the side. Needless to say it was absolutely delicious! We then popped into another small ice cream shop and Kathryn experienced her first flake (about time). If I thought I wouldn’t gain any weight on this trip then I was sorely mistaken.
Iain so kindly drove us all the way back to Crawfordsburn and we spent the night hanging out in the cottage with the other Young Ambassadors – something so simple but definitely will come to greatly miss once we all depart from one another.
After hearing the testimonies, the curator, Iain, Kathryn and I all had a moment for reflection and discussion on what it is we just watched. The Troubles in Northern Ireland were not easy for anyone, and there are always two sides to the same story and they wanted to make sure we heard of their experiences. They also encouraged us to go and try to visit other museums that will give a different side to the story so we can get a holistic understanding of what happened and why things are the way they are today in Northern Ireland – a true testament to the historians they both are.
After we left the museum, Iain found out that Kathryn and I had somehow not yet had our first Guinness in Ireland, a 99 (soft served vanilla cone with a flake bar in the middle – one of the best Irish chocolate creations), or the infamous Ulster Fry. So, in full Irish hospitality Iain took it upon himself to check all three of those to-do’s off our list by driving down to Dundrum and have some great and insightful conversations (the title of this blog post is a snid bit of Irish knowledge he imparted on us). We grabbed our Guinness at a bar along the bay called the Percy French with a lovely view of the Mourn Mountains in the background, then walked along the coast over to a small little restaurant in the village called Doc’s where we had our first but definitely not last Ulster Fry. An Ulster Fry is essentially a heart attack on a plate because everything is fried – to perfection. The fry consists of: fried egg, sausage, bacon (which is more like a slice of ham), fried soda bread, fried potato bread, and sometimes they’ll throw in some roasted tomatoes and mushrooms on the side. Needless to say it was absolutely delicious! We then popped into another small ice cream shop and Kathryn experienced her first flake (about time). If I thought I wouldn’t gain any weight on this trip then I was sorely mistaken.
Iain so kindly drove us all the way back to Crawfordsburn and we spent the night hanging out in the cottage with the other Young Ambassadors – something so simple but definitely will come to greatly miss once we all depart from one another.