Dublin 09

IRELAND 2009
Monday 26th of October

We arrived from Stabekk Skole at 3.30 pm. We took a bus to Torp airport, and from Torp we took the plain to Dublin. We were in Dublin late in the evening. After checking in, on our hotel rooms, we went out for something to eat. Kathinka was my room partner. I went out with some of my friends, and we ate in the Temple Bar Street.

Tuesday 27th of October

Kathinka and I waked up 8 o'clock, and went out 9 o'clock to eat some breakfast at a place nearby. At 10 o'clock we met everybody outside the Hotel. We hopped on a sightseeing bus, that drived around in the city. We stopped at the Kilmanhaim gaol, witch is an old jail that has played a important part in the Irish history. We had a guiding tour through the prison. The jail has held many irish and famous people, who were involved in the fight for Irish independence. The leader of the Eastern rising in 1916, was executed in this prison. It was a big prison, that has been used in many movies. “In the name of the father”, is one of the movies that is filmed in this jail. The Kilmanhaim gaol was built to house 200 persons, but it was up to 7000 people there, witch made it tight. The conditions were miserable and the cells were small. Many prisioners who stayed here was innocent. Some people preferd this prison, because they were fed here. After the guiding tour was over, we went for lunch. We ate at Mc Donalds. After the lunch we met our group, outside the Trinity College. We had a guide that learned us about Irish history. We walked around in Dublin city and saw different historical things, for one and a half our. It was a little bit difficult to understand what the guide said sometimes, because he had a very Irish accent. We went back to the hotel after a exhausting day. In the evening we went for an optional pub drawl with Andreas. This pub drawl contained hopping from bar too bar, with two musicians who guided us through three different bars. It was nice to learn and see more about the Irish culture. They are very interested in music in Ireland. It was a nice day.

Wednesday 28th of October

We met in the lobby 9 o'clock. This day we were going to Northern Ireland, Belfast. The drive took about two and a half hour, one way. When we arrived Belfast, we met three guides that were supposed to guide us through the day. These guides was previous IRA members and had experienced all the troubles in Belfast. The guiding tour startet on a republican graveyard, called the Millwall cemetery. It was a very big graveyard with a lot of graves. We put some flowers on some of the graves. On of the graves we put flowers on, was the grave of Gisueppe Conlon. Most of the people that were buried here, was people that had during the troubles and the fights from the 1970's and the 1980's. After the graveyard, we went for lunch. Everyone ate at the same place. The next guiding tour was in the street “ The falls” . Here we walked from the top of the street , to the bottom were the Englishmen were settled. The first we saw was a painting of Bobby Sands on a wall. Bobby Sands starved him self to death, during the hunger strike in 1981- 1982. The next stop in the falls, was a wall that divided the catholics and the republicans, during the troubles. Our guide told us that he had surved 16 years in jail, because he were accused of shooting a police officer. He told us his side of the story, and he told us about how the Englishmen had treated them. It was very interesting to listen to a man who had been there when everything happened. We also saw the primary school where the first gunshots was fired between the IRA men and the British soldiers. All this gave a strong impression.
After this we went to the parliament of Northern Ireland, witch is called Stormont. Here we met a lady who taught us about the government and how Northern Ireland is ruled. She showed us a nice power point presentation and a film clip from a voting session. The voting system they have in Northern Ireland is very special. When something should be adopted, the people that are against shouts no and the people that are for shouts aye, witch means yes. If the speaker can't determine who is the most clearly, he call or a division to take place to allow counting of votes in the division lobbies. have to walk out of the room and count the vote. We visited the halls in the parliament, were they takes their decisions. After an exhausting day, we went back to Dublin. It was a nice day where I learned a lot. We ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Thursday 28th of October

We started the day with eating breakfast at 9 o 'clock. 10 o'clock we all met outside the hotel, for then going to the viking museum. We got some tasks, that we were supposed to resolve inside the museum. We learned much about that the vikings that came from Norway to Dublin. It was an exciting museum. After we had walked around in the museum, witch was two floors, we went to a cathedral right beside the museum. It was wonderful. Then everybody met outside, and we walked around in th city until we came to a statue of Oscar Wilde. We talked about him, and then we went for some lunch. After the lunch we had time on out own. Kathinka and I walked around in the city and shopped. Later we went back to the hotel and slept for some hours. 6O'clock we went for an optional trip to Shelbourne park. This is a place where many people, goes for betting for greyhound dogs racing around a track, after a rabbit. This was very funny. We betted on many different dogs, but it was just two of us that won any money. The whole group ate dinner on an Italian resturant 10 o'clock. We ate a very good and pleasant meal. It was a very nice ending to the trip.

Friday 29th of October

We waked up 11o'clock. We packes our stuff and went out for the last breakfast in Dublin. The plain arrived at 3.30 pm. We were home around 9 o'clock. It was a very funny and interesting trip:)

Thea Bratterud