More About Belfast

One dimension to the differences among people in Belfast, we learned on our tour today, has to do with loyalties to England vs. Ireland. This is probably a gross oversimplification, but at least in West Belfast, the Catholics generally would prefer to be a part of the Republic of Ireland, while the Protestants are happy to be part of Great Britain. In the Catholic neighborhoods we saw, for example, the city mailboxes painted in Irish green ... while in the Protestant neighborhood along Shankill Road we saw lots of British flags and a huge mural on a building's exterior wall commemorating the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's ascension to the throne.

I think the Good Friday agreement of 1998 put the allegiance thing to rest. Someone more knowledgeable about this stuff than I am could speak with more authority about this, but my understanding is that the peace accord included a provision that Northern Ireland would remain a part of Great Britain and that possibility of affiliating with Ireland was taken off the table.

The Good Friday agreement also called for the paramilitary folks on both sides to turn in their weapons by early 2000 -- this is called "decommissioning" -- but, alas, that hasn't happened.

Incidentally, West Belfast is where John Delorean had the factory to make his futuristic cars -- the ones where the doors opened like wings. If you saw the movie "Back to the Future," you may remember the cars.

Born in Belfast: singer Van Morrison, flutist James Galway.

Something we've seen in every city we've visited so far (Edinburgh, Stirling, and Glasgow in Scotland, and now Belfast in Northern Ireland): McDonald's, Subway, Burger King, and/or Starbucks.

When we wake up tomorrow (Monday) morning, we'll be in Dublin. While Belfast and the rest of Northern Ireland are part of the United Kingdom, Ireland is an independent republic. Until now we've been using pounds and pence as our money, but tomorrow we'll need to round up some Euros.