Tuesday morning we jumped on the double-decker tourist bus for a two-hour excursion around Belfast. The narration was good - although hard to hear at times - and it provided a view of (and some perspectives on) Belfast we would not have gotten on our own.
One is rapidly reminded of the how recent and how near the surface much of the tension is between the Unionists and the Republicans. Relations seem to be pretty good right now and much is made of the improvements, but it's not like the underlying issues have been resolved. But meanwhile, the bus tour was able to wind through both the Shankhills Road (Loyalist/Unionist/Protestant) and Falls Road (Republican/Catholic) neighborhoods with their colorful murals as the guide managed to put both a remarkably positive and remarkably even-handed face on the conflict.
We also took in plenty of other sites, some with more political baggage than others. The Parliament Building at Stormont on the hill south of town, the Europa Hotel (bombed many times), the Harland and Wolff shipyards, and the city centre and the River Lagan (sorry, not all pictured here).
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