londondairy

hello again, lovelies! where did i last leave you? ah right, so it was saturday night, post-snowbomb-meets-stickytoffee-heaven-on-earth, and i had crashed out upstairs in euan's room. (actually, i forgot to mention, before i went up to bed, matt and i went for a wee jaunt out in the cold. and i saw stormont, the government building, all lit up at night! gorgeous.)

sunday i woke up early due to jet lag, but had a leisurely morning complete with delicious tesco muesli and IRISH MILK. ask matthew. irish dairy is THEBESTDAIRY. full stop! also had a rather embarrassing moment when i filled my coffee mug with orange juice, then realized when the coffee came that there were glasses for the juice. sorry that i lack dignity, matt!

after scarfing, we got dressed all respectable-like, and matt drove us to church. the kibbuh church is called bloomfield, and just so happens to be on cyprus avenue, featured in the van morrison song (uncle norm, are you listening?)!

apparently a good chunk of the congregation had been briefed that i would be coming. yet as i was introduced to the many friendly faces filling up the pews, i didn't particularly notice that others were looking at me (i found out much later that peeps had been peepin, which they openly confessed).

matt and i snuck off upstairs to the balcony, which was much less crowded than down below. the service was really nice. it was the harvest celebration, and there was singing and preachin' and general churchiness. very much welcome after a long hiatus in japan!

after the service, i met a few more people, including the minister (no big deal, just rolling with bigshot kibsy, psyche!), then popped outside to snap a few pics.

inside. they have tv screens that display song lyrics! so high-tech. makes our hymnals seem quaint!

van's hood

bloomin' bloomfield

as usual, though, we were on a tight schedule! after going home to gather up bags, etc., we were on the road yet again, heading up to londontown (londonderry, that is).

the drive was very green, a tadmo drizzly, and stuffed full of tesco meal deals (sando+drink+choc for £2.50, cheers honay!).

signs indicated we were heading for Londonderry. there is a bit of contention over the city name. nationalists tend to stick with derry, unionists, with londonderry. almost every sign we saw was defaced, with the london scribbled out. to an outsider, it all seems so bizarre and near-meaningless. but the history runs deep, and remnants of the troubles are everywhere.

anywho, all conflict aside, i immediately fell in love with derry. the narrow streets were crowded with cars and people, but i didn't mind looking at the hustle and bustle of the city centre, with many cute shops and shoppers frolicking about. it's a small city, with more of a small-town feel.

in the city centre. i still do not understand roundabouts. we went through about 80 on the trip, and i am bamboozled by them.

anywho, by the time we parked, the sun was shining and i could shed my raincoat! we walked to the derry walls, which are basically really old (i forget how old, saawwwrrryy).

and i demanded touristy pictures!

the walls are topped with walking paths, so you can make your way around the city up top! the views were lovely.

a quiet street

my goodness, my guinness!

love that green, green grass. au natural. this is the catholic side of town, and if you look closely, you can just make out a mural of a schoolgirl who was a casualty of the troubles.

londonderry has some very famous troubles murals, though we didn't get close to any. it was the site of bloody sunday, and since it's the second-biggest city in NI, naturally it saw an unfortunate amount of violence...as this (most?) famous mural suggests:

however, counterbalancing the murals was the peace bridge, which was only just completed in the past few years. mattsy and i had a stroll on it.

(after taking a picture in which i look like bumder)

peace bridge.

hilariously, as we went across, matt let out a mini-squeal. there was a suited man, who apparently was the derry member of parliament, walking nearby. matt, in awe, awkwardly said hello to him as i snickered audibly.

we also passed a steaming pile of "dog's dirt," northern irish parlance for dog poop. dog's dirt, mate! flippin' dog's dirt!

aaand after a dip into marksies and debenhams (dept. stores), we plopped back into the car and drove to coleraine/portrush/portstewart, where matt's family has a house (the towns are practically on top of each other so i don't know where the heck we were).

the house was gorgeous. three stories! i am a fool for not taking pictures. but anywho, matt and i nabbed showers and i gussied myself up for a wee date night at the famed ramore restaurant, which is right in the harbor. i had heard that the food would be bomb, and indeed it was!

we started off with beer, then my "bang bang" thai chicken came, as did matt's peppersteak with tobacco onions. i loved my dinner, but when i had a bite of matt's, all i could do was let out a squeak. it was ambrosial. did i momentarily lose consciousness? maybe. beef is a powerful thing.

...i was rocking a food baby by the time we rolled outta there. aka it looked like i was smuggling a bowling ball under my top. luckily, as i froze my bum walking around the harbor with matt, he was a true gent and gave me his coat. so food bebe was kept warm, and hidden.

totally satiated, we headed back to the house and watched (amazing) british television, including the brit version of COPS, which was entertaining to no end...

until it was time for beddy bye. i was wrecked. so, full of chicken, i fell asleep and dreamt of peppersteak, dairy, and dog's dirt.

not really,
lilly