UK trip week 1

Here are some highlights of Brandan and Sofi's 2-week trip, written by Sofi. We arrived in Belfast, Northern Ireland on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. We were met there by Paul Hull, and his mother, Kathleen Hull. On the way to Kathleen's house, they showed us this beautiful overlook out onto the city. 

On Monday, we picked up our rental car, and made our way across the country to Dungiven, a drive of about an hour and a half, to some other relatives, Janet and Wilf. After dinner, Wilf took us out to Janet's dad David Hynds' house. He has a huge collection -- a museum, really -- of antique farm equipment, along with a large selection of old pots, pans, jars, and other old every day items. He is shown here demonstrating a peat cutting tool. (Peat is the dead plant material found in bogs that Northern Irelanders used to cut into logs, and burn for heat and light.)

On Tuesday, we went out to the Giant's Causeway, a beautiful rock formation composed of thousands of hexagonal columns. Sofi and Brandan both had a good time climbing around on the different formations.

The columns were made of a basalt lava flow that hardened, and cracked into hexagonal columns. Over time, the columns have broken into the varying heights that exist now.

We went to the city of Londonderry on Wednesday. We visited this church, Saint Columb's Cathedral, which is a place that our ancestors attended 300 years ago.

Londonderry is one of the few cities left that is completely walled. Our ancestor, Peter Benson, was the chief contractor for the wall in the 1600s. You can walk around on the wall, and look down at the city around it. We visited the museum and learned about the history of conflicts in Northern Ireland.

On Thursday, before leaving Janet and Wilf, we went to our ancestors' farm, Hillfoot farm at the base of the hill Benbradagh (pronounced benbrahdah, accent on the second syllable). It was a very neat experience, to be on the same ground that some of our ancestors had lived all their life.

When we got back to Belfast, we visited Belfast Castle, a beautiful, young castle. We had a lot of fun exploring the garden, in which they had hidden 9 cats in various forms -- topiary, mosaics, statues.

We found out that C. S. Lewis, the author of the Chronicles of Narnia, was actually born in Belfast. They have a statue of him to remind people. Very exciting, to be in the same place that C. S. Lewis once was.

On Friday, we spent the day at PRONI, the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland. During a break for lunch, we went to a local market to go gift shopping, and grab some lunch. Sofi had made a goal to find and try some Stilton, a type of blue cheese made only in Europe, and was delighted to find some at the market. Here she is with her Stilton, and a Belfast Bat -- a common type of bread.

 

PRONI is located right next to the shipyard that built the Titanic. The two giant cranes, nicknamed Samson and Goliath, are still standing.