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Kya Travels
Today we got up, checked out, and jumped on the bus. Our first stop for the day was a tiny town called Cong, which is the town that the movie The Quiet Man was filmed. I've never seen it, but I think I'll have to look it up now! We went to a little pub called The Crowe's Nest, with Chris and Haley, where we shared a pizza and chips, and had a hot drink away from the miserable weather! The toilets there had funny pictures of a man and a lady who were busting for the toilet... That amused us for a while. After that we had a quick walk around the village, and had a look in, up and around the ruins of the Cong Abbey, before hopping back on the bus. At this stop some of our group were leaving (they were on a 6day tour), and we got a few new people with us, who were doing a 5day tour. The next stop was in Turlough, where we went to the National Museum of Ireland. It was supposed to be folklife and folklore, but it was all life, no lore, really. There were about 3 or 4 levels of relics of farming tools, and examples of clothes and household goods, outlining how the Irish lived back in the day. It was okay, but a bit boring... We went to the cafe there for a hot drink and a piece of cake. Yummy! The next stop was in Sligo (or it might have been called Duncliffe, I'm not sure... There was a church there where a famous Irish poet, W.B.Yeats was buried. On his grave was written, "Cast a cold Eye On Life, on Death. Horseman, pass by." They had a memorial there for him, with his poetry around it too: "Had I the heavens embroidered cloths, enwrought with golden and silver light, the blue and the dim and the dark cloths of night and light and the half-light, I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly Because you tread on my dreams." --W.B.Yeats 1899 "He wishes for the cloths of heavens" We got back on the bus and started to make our way over the border into Northern Ireland and to Derry. On the way there, Mark told us lots of stories and gave us a bit of an insight and history of the troubles in Northern Ireland. He also played a lot of songs from Northern Irish artists, one of which was called "There Were Roses" by Cara Dillon, which was very sad. Derry's official name is actually Londonderry, and apparently you have to be very careful what you call it, depending on who you talk to (Irish Catholics will only refer to it as Derry, where British Protestants will only recognise it as Londonderry). These days Derry is mostly a catholic city (about 80%25), but the town is still very divided, with all the Protestants living on one side of the "peace bridge", and all the Catholics on the other side. Our hostel is next to a police station, where Mark pointed out the new looking barriers, telling us they're bomb-proof walls there to prevent car bombs, and it's effective, because they haven't had a car bomb there for 8 months! .... Fun.... We got into the hostel, sat in the common room, and found guitars. They have guitars here! Guitars!!! After we checked in, we went for a walk up to the supermarket, Tesco's, to get some snacks and booze for the night, then went to a place called the Ice Wharf for dinner. It was curry night there, and we got a massive plate of curry, rice, naan, pappadums, and a pint for just £6! It was huge, cheap, and SO tasty! We headed back to the hostel afterwards, where we recorded our Eurotube video for the Republic of Ireland, (http://youtu.be/okfM0PCOEMw), and spent the night drinking, playing guitar, and having a great time with Nikki and one of the workers at the hostel. We had a few singalong sessions, and a few other people came and went throughout the night, it was a really fun night in.
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