Hello all! I'm very happy to say I've been in Belfast for almost two days now and have already had enough experiences to make this trip more than worth it! I'm going to keep this blog post brief as I'm still pretty tired, but I should have more time to write a substantial post tomorrow and promise to do so. It's about 11:30 pm here right now, and I just got back from a reading by the writers of the Seamus Heaney Writing Center at Queens University Belfast that opened the Belfast Book Festival, which will be going on for the next several days. I will write more in detail about this reading tomorrow. Today we started with a great bus tour of loyalist and republican neighborhoods, murals, "peace walls," etc. (again, I promise more specifics and possibly pictures tomorrow), and in the afternoon we visited the Clonard Monastery, where the secret peace talks between Gerry Adams and John Hume took place. In the very room they met (room 007...seriously!), we met with Mr. Ed Peterson, who leads Unity Pilgrimages and works on peace and reconciliation efforts there (and again, more tomorrow). We've already heard many amazing stories and have a tremendous host in Raymond Lennon, a man who is a wealth of knowledge and seems to have infinite connections and know all the important people -- just the right sort of guide! Tomorrow we are off to Stormont to meet with politicians from all sides. We were supposed to meet with Martin McGuinness (former IRA Chief and now Deputy First Minister) , but there are rumors that he's been called away to Dublin for a funeral. We shall see. We are also supposed to meet with SDLP Minister of Environment, Alex Attwood. Again, I apologize for not having the stamina for a longer post, but I promise a more detailed (perhaps excruciatingly so) update tomorrow in which I will cover today's adventures as well. As I said, this has already been a fabulous experience!
Cheers,
Jeannie
Sounds like you are off to a great start!
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