Travels With Wesley

We left Dublin early Monday morning and drove straight to Belfast, with only a stop for the necessities.  Our magic carpet looked like this:

Sean Nee, our tour guide dropped us on the street in Belfast, and this is him driving the Vagatron by the Grand Opera House looking for a parking place.  Yes, Vagatron.  The name for the modified Land Rover Defender used by the Vagabond Adventure Tours.  The box on the back seats 12, comfortably I might add, and the trailer behind carries our luggage.  The company, Vagabond Tours, has the tour well thought out.  I highly recommend trying Vagabond  if you want an active, very interesting tour.  The company also offers a less strenuous tour, Driftwood Tours.  The company website: http://vagabondtoursofireland.ie/

Northern Ireland is part of the U.K., consisting of six  of the original nine counties that comprised the ancient province of Ulster.  There were originally five provinces in Ireland , Leinster, Meath, Munster, Connacht and Ulster.  Over time, Meath was absorbed into Leinster.  This link shows the four provinces and also a list of the counties of Ireland: http://www.enjoyireland.com/provinces/

The start of our trip beginning in Belfast, was not only the start of a marvelous experience, but also the start of a reeducation for me.  The history of Ireland I learned in the States was entirely from the British point of view.  I was of course aware of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, but had no understanding of the historical background.  Even given the whirlwind nature of our visit, we got an education in the realities on the ground so to speak. As I am trying to write this, I keep getting sidetracked following links about Irish history, the Troubles, etc.

The reasons for the Troubles are complex and the resentments of the Catholic population in Northern Ireland toward the English and the Protestants run deep.   The Irish were denied their rights to their religion, their language and their land by their Protestant English overlords.  I could spend hours writing about the topic, but it is beyond the focus of this travel blog.  A search on the internet will provide you with an education on this topic.  Or, spend some time in Northern Ireland.

Belfast on a Monday morning is a bustling city.  Beautiful architecture:

The Grand Opera Building.

Two photos of the Old City Hall.

Building for sale

Another Belfast building

This seems like a reasonable activity for just before noon on a Monday morning:

Sean dropped us in front of this bar (wonder why?)  Be a beautliful place to spend a little time.

After hanging around the streets of Belfast for a while, we caught up with Black Cab Tours for a tour of Belfast. http://belfastblackcabtours.co.uk/ Our group split up into two cabs, one driven by a Protestant, one by a Catholic.  More to come.

We spent a recent short, very long day in Dublin on the front end of a two week tour of the Emerald Isle.  Fighting jet lag and trying to stay up to get in the time zone, we took a sightseeing tour bus and walked a bit.  Dublin is a fascinating, busy city.  Ireland has approximately 8 million inhabitants (people, probably more sheep) and 4.2 million of them live in Dublin.  Which makes the country side that much more attractive, no?  I guess you would call O’Connell Street the hub of Dublin’s downtown.  The monument below is in honor of Daniel O’Connell, The Liberator.  http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/people/daniel.htm

Trinity College,  a well know institution of higher learning in Dublin,  houses the Book of Kells, a 9th century gospel manuscript.  http://www.tcd.ie/Library/bookofkells/  Below is a pretty lawn near the library housing the Book of Kells.

We visited Christ Church Cathedral, founded in 1028 AD.  http://www.christchurchdublin.ie/Visitors.htm.  Below is the altar area of the Cathedral.

In Christ Church Place, a common area, I found this rather strange sculpture, Millennium child.

The River Liffey runs through the center of Dublin.  A rather uninspired photo of same.

We finished the day with dinner at J.W. Sweetman’s pub where I had a delicious dish of traditional Irish Stew, then walked back to our hotel.  We had, earlier in the day, an introduction to the graciousness of the Irish.  Walking trying to find the sightseeing bus stop, we were stopped on the sidewalk looking at a map.  Two older ladies (probably younger than I) were crossing the street, and one of them inquired of me, “Are you alright?”  I replied, “I’m alright, just lost.”  Whereupon the lady replied, “You are not lost any longer,” and proceeded to tell us how to get where we wanted.  We continued to marvel throughout our trip about how friendly and gracious the Irish people are.

We did not see much of Dublin during our one tired day there, but hope to return to spend some time there.

The next post we will be in Belfast and Northern Ireland.  Stay tuned.

This is an excellent article in a recent issue of Outdoor Photographer by photographer Elizabeth Carmel,  entitled “But Is iI Real.”

 http://www.outdoorphotographer.com/columns/fleeting-vistas/but-is-it-real.html

A minority of photographers, a very vocal minority, assert that the photograph is what comes out of the camera, that any post processing is contrary to the craft of photography, presents a misleading image and should be banned on pain of torture and death.  Well, maybe they don”t go quite that far, but they still protest vociferously to any manipulation of the image post camera.  This is indeed a valid point when applied to photographic journalism,  which is supposed to be news reporting with a camera.  But then, have you seen or heard any unbiased news reporting lately? Never mind.

I am not a photojournalist.  I am an artist, or at least I claim to be.  I use various tools to present the vision I see in a scene.  When I take a photo, I usually know what I think the end result should be, what the scene looks like to me.  In other words, I am presenting reality as I see it.  Sometimes, crafting the image I desire requires numerous time consuming steps in Light room/Photoshop.  Other times, not so much.  I just purchased an new tool from Topaz Labs, called Restyle.  I use several Topaz tools, and this new one is something else.

I was wandering around Stonington, Maine on a dreary October day back in 2011.  I took a shot (among many others) of an inlet.  Like I said, it was a dreary day, not good for photography.  Here is the result:

 

Nice shot, really blah.  One click with Topaz Restyle:

This is how I saw the scene.  A really beautiful rendering of a beautiful inlet.  I could have achieved the same result with a lot more work, but Topaz made that particular task much easier.  

The shot was taken with a Nikon D7000 and the Nikkor DX 40mm lens.  I no longer own the D7000, having transitioned to Fujifilm.

The song is actually “Havana Daydreaming” by Jimmy Buffett (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sp3PMOQIhg), but a little literary license never hurt anyone.  We took a short weekend visit to Savannah in the fall last year, for the wedding of the daughter of old friends.  Savannah is one of my favorite cities.  

A website for more information: http://www.visitsavannah.com/Essential-Savannah/Things-To-Do-In-Savannah.html

 

The parish house of St. John’s Episcopal Church, also known as the Green-Meldrim House.

 

Music in Madison Square

 

Number 11.  I love doors. 

The river front along the Savannah River has been “gentrified” and is a lovely place for an evening walk.  Lots of good restaurants and funky shops.  Also, the usual local musicians attracting listeners.

These three guys were jiving and were actually pretty good.

A couple of freighters on the Savannah River.

 A weekend is just not long enough to enjoy Savannah.  We are going back as soon as we can.