Check out newest post below...

I just finished a post about my time with my brother in Scotland and England, but because I started the post a week ago, you have to scroll down a bit to July 20 to see it. Enjoy!

Another perspective on Belfast murals

Greetings from Paris, France!

I am still working on a blog update from my time in England and Scotland, but in the meantime...

I received an email from my cousin Sam (who welcomed me with open arms along with his lovely wife, Marie, in Northern Ireland), and I feel it is only fair to post his repsonse to my photos and commentary of the Belfast political murals--his opinion being, most likely, the overwhelming perspective of Protestants in Northern Ireland.

Here it is:

"I had a look at your blog yesterday in relation to your visit to the Belfast murals. Your IRA guide certainly did his job well in selling the Republican story. The truth of the matter is that these 'freedom fighters' were terrorists. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom not because Great Britain wants us but because the majority of the people in Northern Ireland wish to remain part of the United Kingdom. The UK and Irish Republic now accept that Northern Ireland will remain part of the United Kingdom until the majority of the people here decide otherwise. What the IRA was trying to do since the late 1960s was to bomb and shoot to such an extent that the UK would withdraw from Northern Ireland even though the majority of the people wish to remain part of the UK. During the IRA's wicked campaign over 3000 people lost their lives in Northern Ireland.

Your blog gives some credence to their campaign which is unfortunate and I regret that this information, without presenting the other side of the story, has gone to all your blog contacts. The IRA's hatred of the British, including blaming the landlords for the famine, can not be concealed.The Famine was due to gross over-population and failure of the potato crop - the landlords had very little to do with it. At the time of the Famine the population of County Fermanagh was almost three times what it is today.

Your Morrow family in Northern Ireland are and always have been staunchly pro British and anything which gives credibility in any shape or form to Republican terrorists is to be regretted.

I thought that I would put you straight on some of these issues as you may not fully understand the background to the IRA's activity and the status of Northern Ireland."

As with most issues, it`s good to discuss all sides; of course, we all have the ability to make up our own minds and decide how we feel. Thanks to Sam for providing some good perspective.

Scotland and England with Timothy

Scotland SOLO: The Isle of Skye



A photo taken from the train in the Highlands. The scenery was breath-taking!



Kyleakin, Isle of Skye. Just incredible!




Attention Claire and Abby: check out the protected Icelandic purslane, featured here as I was approaching the top of the Old Man of Storr mountain.



Reaching the summit of the Old Man of Storr mountain on the Isle of Skye. After I took this photo, several jet pilots swooped down into the valley, presumably practicing their precision skills. I just about had a heart attack, as I was already rather precariously perched on what was basically a collection of pebbles at the top... plus, you see the planes before you hear them!



Below the magical evergreens at the bottom of the Old Man of Storr mountain.



The town of Kyleakin, Isle of Skye, where I stayed in a caravan at the Skye Backpackers Hostel.



Cafe Arriba in Portree, Isle of Skye. I enjoyed a fantastic salad here, where the vibe was funky and the food choices were outstanding.



My Italian friends Gian Marco and Sara, dancing to Scottish music at the local pub.



More dancing with found friends at the local Kyleakin pub.



Face the West, an incredibly talented Scottish band that played during my two nights in Kyleakin. The young woman on the far right is playing an electronic bagpipe, which looks like a recorder attached to an amp. Oh technology!


Edinburgh, Scotland: Rendez-vous with Timothy



My brother Timothy and I met in Edinburgh, Scotland, after my 3 days solo in the Isle of Skye. I loved the bagpipe music that seemed to float through the air at times... This guy was working hard, sweating out the tunes at a major intersection in Edinburgh.



Atop the Scott Monument with a nice shot of the National Art Museum and the still-active military Edinburgh Castle in the far background.



The architecturally fascinating Scott Monument (which I claustrophobically climbed) on the left and the Balmoral Hotel (most expensive hotel in Edinburgh) on the right.



The Royal Mile (High Street), Edinburgh.



Me, Timothy and my friend Luke on top of Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh. Luke is working on his Master's Degree (soon to be PhD) in Cypriot Archeology at the University of Edinburgh.



The incline of grasses undulate in waves with the wind across part of Arthur's Seat.



Timothy and Luke descend Arthur's Seat, with a nice view of Edinburgh in the background.



Luke, me and Timothy enjoying a Mexican meal in Edinburgh.



The Royal Mile (High Street), Edinburgh.



Waverly Train Station and the Balmoral Hotel.



Another medieval view of Edinburgh. A majority of the city is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.



Hanging with Luke's student posse after watching a movie in Edinburgh.



Chilling on the student green with Arthur's Seat on the horizon.


Back to Jolly Old England



My friend Stacey and me catching up over a drink in London.



Lisa and me amidst the roses in Regent's Park, London.



A beautiful fountain in Regent's Park, London.



Street art in the East End of London.



Enjoying a curry with Timothy, Lisa, and Mike at Preem on Brick Lane.



Admiral Nelson statue in Trafalgar Square.



The London Eye, Westminster Parliament and Big Ben: the major icons of London.



Street performer on the Southbank of the Thames. His skills were incredible!



Up close and personal with the London Eye.



A quaint little home in Egham, England, where Timothy and I stayed with our friends Mike and Lisa.



Mike Medaglia, Lisa Woynarski, and me (Timothy is taking the photo). We are enjoying a meal at Mike and Lisa's home in Egham.



A mossy roof and a vibrant foliage texture in the foreground displayed on a cottage on the college grounds of Lisa's school, Royal Holloway.



This tree seemed covered in eyes, with a firework display of evergreen at the top!



Mike and Timothy in front of Royal Holloway College in Egham (Surrey), England.



Who loves recycling? I do!



Mike's dedication to his comic art and his birdwatching.



Riding the Tube!



The transition of one artist to the next during this summer-long, 24-hour, live art performance in Trafalgar Square, London. Every hour, a different artist has the platform to do her/his own thing.



London's Portobello Market, where you can find just about anything from antiques to food to a nice piece of bakelite jewelry (Laura!!!).




Timothy and me at the Stonemason's Arms Pub in London.



Annie and David munching on their charcuterie plate at the Stonemason's Arms Pub in London.



David works for the BBC and gave us a wee tour of the recording studios (and of course, the BBC Store, which Timothy loved for not only its selection, but its employee discount through David).


Stay tuned for updates from the remainder of my trip with Timothy through Paris and the Netherlands.

Political Murals in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Emerald Isle Part IV: Murals of Belfast and International Peace Line, Northern Ireland

Blind to religion or ancestry, the issue of gentrification may affect all sides of the Conflict...

Graffiti in Belfast, N. Ireland.

My one photo of the Shankill Road community, where Protestant Loyalists hold court, especially leading up to Orangemen's Day, observed on July 12. I visited Belfast during 'marching season', the week before this national holiday, a time when tensions are at their height between Protestant Loyalists and Catholic Republicans. Northern Irish Protestants celebrate William the Orange's defeat of King James II in the 1690 Battle of the Boyne, a battle that solidified the 6 county-Protestant rule of Northern Ireland. You will notice a mural celebrating the Shankill Protestant Forces, and many Union jack flags flying in the streets and along residences and storefronts.

One evocative mural along the International Peace Line, a 15 foot tall, barbed-wire frosted concrete tetris of walls that is currently at its longest length since the Conflict / the Troubles began in the 1960s. The walls cut through backyards and side streets to separate fourteen Loyalist and Republican communities from being able to access one another directly. The Dalai Lama planted one tree on each side of the Peace Line a couple years ago to plant the literal and figurative hope for the future generations of Northern Irish. I must say that this gray and vacant no-man's land in the crossing from Shankill Road (Protestant Loyalist area) to Falls Road (Catholic Republican area) felt eerie and heavy with distrust.

Memorial with Irish Republican graves. My Belfast political mural tour guide, Tomas, was an ex-IRA prisoner himself, having been released as a result of the Good Friday Belfast Peace Agreement. Tomas' father was killed during his service with the IRA, and he showed me where his body lay in this very cemetary.

An open field where thousands of poor, starved victims of the Hunger (also known as the Famine) were piled in a mass grave during the 1800s. The crazy part is that Ireland's rich landlords were exporting food during a time when its people were dying in droves.

Tomas told me about every mural we visited in the Falls Road neighborhood, where Irish promote their struggle against British occupation through art. This mural talks about Pat Finucane, who was killed while working as a human rights lawyer defending IRA political prisoners.

This mural remembers the 17 Irish people killed by British rubber bullets since 1970.

Bobby Sands is a very key figure in the struggle for Northern Irish independence. He was the first IRA prisoner to die from a hunger strike. His face is featured on several murals and all throughout the Falls Road community.

A community center dedicated to supporting ex-IRA prisoners and their families.

A Garden of Remembrance for Irish freedom fighters and innocent civilians killed in the Conflict.

Frederick Douglass worked with the Northern Irish against the British occupation after he helped gain the freedom of black slaves in the United States. He was apparently shocked upon arriving in Northern Ireland to see the subjugation and discrimination of Protestants against Catholics, as they would have both been part of the ruling white caste in the US.

Some key images from the Conflict. The tabloid on the left is of Margaret Thatcher, then Prime Minister of Great Britain, who refused to talk with the IRA because of their classification as a terrorist organization, thereby allowing 12 prisoners to die while on hunger strike.

The mural on the left illustrates the solidarity between Palestinians and native Irish, both of whom have struggled for freedom against occupation.

The mural on the left is a rendering of Picasso's Guernica, showing the brutality of war. The mural on the right features some iconic martyrs of the Irish fight for freedom.

The mural on the left demonstrates the connections between the Irish struggle against persecution and the struggles of blacks in Arkansas and the current racial/immigrant backlash in Belfast/Northern Ireland. I really appreciated the cross-connections that Republicans make with other movements around the world.

The final political murals here (not that this has been an exhaustive photo display of the murals of Belfast) show the Basque struggle for independence on the left and the Cuban revolutionary struggle on the right. In smaller letters below Che Guevarra's face, the artist asks Obama to lift the embargo on Cuba.