Hello Belfast!

Yesterday, I spent about 5 hours at the British Museum off of Bloomsbury. I saw the Rosetta Stone as promised to someone. I have honestly forgotten who that someone is, but I kept the promise which I suppose is what counts. I also saw a body that was like 5000 years old. Yes, it was mummified, but not in the way you are probably thinking. This body was of an Egyptian man, but he was buried before the elaborate process of mummification of the pharaohs came about. The extreme heat and lack of moisture in the desert sand in which he was buried, immediately dried him up and preserved him. He was discovered, but some poor unsuspecting soul- what a shock that would be! The museum contains a wealth of knowledge, but the acquiring of these artifacts is of questionable moral. I saw the massive stone reliefs that were removed from the Pantheon and are still a point of on and off again arguments between the British government and Greek government, but obviously the British still have the upper hand.

After having a light supper in a small park I intended to sleep. I was exhausted, but apparently I did not wear myself out enough. I lay in bed at 10pm (5pm Virginia time) unable to sleep. Needless to say I was feeling it when I had to wake up at 4am this morning to head to Hethrow. My taxi driver this morning was Turkish and liked to work nights because he does not like traffic. I thought I might suggest a career change, but I did not. I also found out he does not like big cities nor the suburbs that are spread out. I concluded he liked compact small cities or towns, with no suburbs. Unsolicited he also provided his opinion on American gun control and driving laws. He has never been to America, so I decided it was best just to give him some "you make a good point" and "hmmm." Although in his favor he was one of the more pleasant and clean cut taxi drivers available at 4:20am.
I fell asleep with in 2 minutes of take off and did not wake until the landing. I had a whole row to myself, so it was pretty much 1st class. I once again found my navigating skills to be above par and was at Nial's office after a short bus ride. Public transit on this side of the Atlantic is really quite amazing. Nial was his usual self- very sweet and much more planned than me. I started the day with a visit to the Belfast visitor's center, which was nice. They offer lots of services for traveler's in my similar position such as luggage watch (oh wait I don't currently have luggage). Anyways, I took Nial and my dad's advice to take a black cab tour. It is incredible how segregated the city still is between the Catholics and the Protestants. Christie, you and I would sadly not be friends if we lived here. People are identified by neighborhood or children by school. A person may very well be atheist, but would be a Catholic or Protestant atheist. The murals were quite... shocking. Not because of the content directly, but because a history hatred of 900 years is still affecting everyday life. My guide was quite friendly, but his accent was so thick, I relied on context is several situations. I was glad to see by the air freshener in his card he was a fan of the soccer team Chelsea (Spencer had given me some talking points for this exact situation). Although, I only had to mention it before he was able to carry the conversation himself. After the taxi tour I got a bit of lunch and explored St. Anne's Cathedral, a WWII museum, the ship yard where THE Titanic was crafted (a great point of pride in Belfast I have gathered. Every local has made sure I have been informed) a spring market and now here writing this post wishing you all the best as I head off to meet Nial.