Liz Weir took us to Belfast for the afternoon on Sunday. We were headed to the St. George’s Market, but we saw a lot along the way. We passed through Ardoyne, which the mural above proclaims to be “a confident, colourful, creative community”. We learned from Liz that the president of the Republic, Mary McAleese is from this neighborhood. She is much on everyone’s minds these days, being widely hailed for the grace and skill she demonstrated during the recent landmark visit of the queen to Dublin.
I had asked Liz to show us the library she worked at before she became a full-time storyteller. I hadn’t imagined it correctly at all! It’s right downtown, in a large multi-story red sandstone building. It’s right across the street from the Belfast Telegraph where Clare Weir now works. From the street she showed us where her office had been and described all the windows being blown out by bombs during the Troubles.
Once at the market we hunted down lunch and then had a good wander around the stalls while Mark took lots of pictures. There was everything from olives to hand-woven linens, to table full of thrift store treasures. One highlight was these guys all dressed up in various states of drag to promote their fundraising efforts for the local hospice.
The favorite of the day was of this booth where your little darlings are dressed up as fairies and then photographed. Mark offered, repeatedly and loudly, that he would pay good money to see me and Liz dressed up as fairies, but we declined.
Then we went to the Ulster Museum (right next door to Liz’s alma mater Queens College) for a quick tour of a few highlights – including Takabuti the mummy, a gorgeous butterfly display, and a splendid sheela-na-gig – and Mark took more pictures. Most importantly, I had a much needed latte!
Below Sheela and me is Mark's shot of the butterflies.
