Captain's Log: Day 6 - Long Day

This morning I woke up for the first time at 5:15 am - a new record for me I believe. We had to meet downstairs for our walk across town to the train station at 6:30am.

The train was a very comfortable train but it was listed as a high speed train. I have been on several trains in the U.S. and this train was not much faster than any of them. The views from the train, especially the first half of the trip, were very beautiful and amazing. Either way it took us two hours of training through the Irish countryside to reach Northern Ireland and Belfast, the capital city.

Once we arrived in Belfast, we loaded into another tour bus and we were shown all around the city of Dublin by an excellent local tour guide. Our first stop was the amazing Stormont Parliamentary Building which was located at the top of a hill allowing all of those people in the surrounding areas a great view of the building. It has a 1/4 mile driveway that is perfectly straight right up to the front door. It was quite amazing but security inside was extremely strict and we could only see the lobby of the building due to that security.

We then visited Belfast Castle, an old castle located in the hills of Belfast. It was amazing to see an old time European castle. The grounds and views were also spectacular which included a view of the Titanic shipyards.

After that we drove through the troubled areas of town and saw dozens of murals on the sides of buildings commemorating the lives lost during the troubled times of the 20th century. My favorite mural read: "Prepared for Peace, Ready for War". This phrase is an example of the tensions that still exist between the Catholic and Protestant sides of the city despite their current ceasefire and peace agreements.

It was amazing to see the difference between Belfast and Dublin. Belfast has barbed wire everywhere left over from the troubled years. The police stations in Belfast are heavily fortified with bulletproof glass, steel plating, razor wire and armed guards. The schools also are heavily defended making it seem as if the troubles are still very much a factor in these people's lives.

Next, we had lunch at the Titanic Shipyards. The dry dock where the Titanic was built still exists and it was a marvel to see such a large hole in the ground. It really gave scale to how large the ship really was.

We then met with Gerry Patterson, the Director of Digital Development at the Belfast Telegraph. He was very interesting to talk to because he shed some light on the almost combative nature of the print reporters versus the web journalists at his company. He also described the amazing website the newspaper has and the success it has received among locals and expatriates alike.

This website success is the complete opposite of the newspapers in the Republic. Due to the widespread internet access, people in Northern Ireland are very active on the Internet. However, they still use it less than people in the U.S. and England.

One interesting fact from Patterson is that 100% of Northern Ireland has broadband internet access - compared to the ~30% number of the Republic of Ireland.