LegenDerry

Dad and I seem to be getting this whole “roadtrip” thing down. Moving from one location to another is starting to feel really natural. Not that there was anything particularly gripping about Malinbeg. So we left the edge of the world and headed out towards Derry, or Londonderry as it's called on this side of the border.

But on our way over we headed over to an old Castle with an amazing history. Glenveagh Castle was originally made as a hunting estate in the middle of nowhere. However, since then it's seen sieges, evictions, murder mysteries, and visits from all kinds of celebrities over the years. It's now a National Park with beautiful gardens that take statues and plants from all over the world to make it a very impressive display. The plan is to upload a lot of photos from our whole trip tomorrow so keep your eyes open for it.

After visiting Glenveagh Castle dad and I expertly navigated the streets of Ireland to Derry. (We got lost like 3 times... All because dad wouldn't listen to my directions. (Okay, so it was my fault once too)).

Arriving in Derry you can quickly feel the change from the republic of Ireland, to the U.K. controlled northern Ireland. They use pounds here for goodness sake. All over the wall there are murals saying “Free Derry” and many remembering the tragic events of Bloody Sunday.

We quickly checked into our very overpriced hostel. Which my dad wasn't too pleased of. In fact he wants to find a different place to stay tomorrow... Regardless of where we stay, it seems to be a modern town that has change a lot over the last 40 years.

For those of you who don't know, Derry is famous for being a walled city. Now from what I understand a long time ago (not sure what year exactly) the English came through Derry and demolished it. Then they thought that it would be a good place to settle... for some reason... So they moved people from London over to settle it, hence Londonderry. To defend the city they built huge walls around it, which took 5 years total. However they came in handy when the french tried and failed to siege the walls 6 times. In fact, these walls have never been breached, thereby giving the city the old fashioned name of “The Maiden City”.

If you ever plan on coming to Derry yourself I'm sure you'll be told to be careful about protestant vs catholic ideals, and although that history is far from lost. It's just that, history. It seems to me that the people of Derry have kept their faith but lost their hatred. Which a good sign towards development in any nation.

I started writing this entry watching the sun set on the walls of Derry, and now I'm ending it in the warmth of my expensive hostel.

Tomorrow dad and I have a lot planned, so hopefully it'll be a very full blogentry. But you'll also hopefully get the overload of pictures.

Goodbye from the U.K.

-Matt