trip2Irel@ND

vendredi 5 avril 2013

vendredi 29 mars 2013

29/03/2013

We left the Youth Hostel at 8:30am to take the coach to travel to Dublin. We stopped at a cemetery to admire the Celtic crosses. We saw there big Celtic crosses and a giant round tower.

The Celtic crosses are very old. Indeed, they were erected by Christians to convince Celts to believe in Christianity.
The round tower was the Irish reaction to the Norse raids of monasteries in the Xth century.

Then we continued to travel towards Dublin ( the seats of the back of the car were so appreciated that people fought to be there ;) ). There we had a three-hour free time to eat and then to go shopping in big stores like "Penneys" ( attached to Primark ) for girls, or souvenir shops for boys. The Leprechaun's top hats were so funny that a lot of boys bought them! Some students went also to cafés to drink hot chocolate ( because of the weather which was very cold ) or to have a rest before the long air trip.

After that ( at 2:45 pm ) we took the coach again and went to the airport.
After the customs , we had free time again of thirty minutes ( thanks to the teachers )

Now , we are going tothe plane and we ' ll arrive at the airport CDG at 08:50 pm.

It was a wonderful trip.

Read down below .......

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Juste en bas ...

To conclude this amazing trip , we want to tell you thank you Bea , Flo , Suzy and Oli. We will miss you so much tonight , alone in our beds. :(

So much love

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Brenda&Jenny. <3

"Legenderry" and the Giant's causeway

On Thursday, we visited London Derry and went back in time to understand what happened on 30th January 1972. In the afternoon, we took a walk along the north coast of Ireland to admire the famous Giant’s causeway.

Free Derry museum was about a tragic day where the catholic population of Derry demonstrated for civil rights. The British army, who wanted to stop the unarmed protesters started to fire at them, making 13 victims and 15 wounded. That’s why that day was named Bloody Sunday afterwards. The museum showed many objects related to that day, like the bullets that were used to shoot the protesters, their jackets with holes in it, recordings of the shooting and even a very cruel letter that a British soldier sent to the family of a kid he murdered. It was very moving because the guide in the museum was the brother of Michael Kelly, who was 17 on that day and who was one of the 6 victims who were just innocent teenagers.

Then we saw the murals of the city of « Free Derry » which showed events of bloody Sunday and the life of the Bogside people at that time. For instance, one of the victims : Jackie Duddy, 17, being carried by three other men to an ambulance, with a british soldier trying to stop them. There was also a wall with « You are now entering Free Derry » written on it.

Eugene Coyle, our guide for this part of the tour and and a past activist explained to us that today the two communities have managed to overcome this hatred and found peaceful solutions.

After lunch, we went to see the Giant’s causeway, which is a geological site with over 40,000 interlocking basalt columns. Those columns were created due to intense volcanic activity. However, the legend tells that they were created by two giants, and that the place has mythical and magical features. We walked about 2 kilometers there.

It is a beautiful landscape which is typical of Ireland.

Marie T and Emeline P.F.