I'm late posting this (way) but I'll back-date it to the date that it happened....

OK, our short flight was uneventful. Arrived at the tiny Derry (Londonderry) airport and immediately grabbed a cab to town. The cabby was very fun and told us a lot of interesting stuff about Derry. He also cruised us around town the 'long way' with no extra charge in order to show us the murals that they are so proud of here depicting the rebellion against british rule over Northern Ireland.
Cabby was obviously, before he even stated it, a Republican. We talked about the Orange Marches and July 12 and the fact that this little city is roughly divided between Catholic and Protestant people. He let us know in no uncrertain terms that although peace is becoming, it is not entirely there yet and will likely be generations before it is.
Got to the hostel (Paddy's Palace: Bing It) and were greeted at the door with a "You must be John?". We were the only people that hadn't shown up yet. Must've been about 20 beds in the place.
Entered to find a couple teenagers playing pool and others playing Wii. Paid our cash for the room and went upstairs.
This place was quite a dive. Great people, fun and laid-back atmosphere, really a 'make yourself at home' place. Two thumbs up. However, of course, we had some interesting observations as well. Holes in the walls and ceilings which looked to have exposed a plumbing problem that needed fixing (ok now); Carpet was stained and nasty (seriously. nasty.), cabinets were kind of falling apart, the one small table was humorously wobbly. The beds were CLEAN, however, and very comfortable (for Ikea-style steel bunk-beds). We all slept well.
You really have to see pictures in order to understand this place. They had a little detached garage area open-air (no door) which seemed to serve as a smoking room. Candles in bottles everywhere, kitsch and memorabilia all over the place. It looked like an antique stall in one of those little malls where people rent 8'x8' rooms to put their stuff for others to purchase.

In the morning, we walked to the train station first thing for a train out of town to see the Antrim Coast (Google it). We were headed to the Giant's Causeway (see Led Zepppelin's cover art for the album 'Houses of the Holy') and the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge.

The Giant's Causeway was fantastic. We took a bunch of pictures including a whole bunch that we can photo-shop later to try and use the 'multiple-pix-of-one-person' effect that Zep used. Cool fun. :)

The Rope Bridge was cool, but not as fun as the Giant's Causeway. A suspension bridge way up high over a coastal passage of water below designed originally to give fishermen access to the island it reaches. (bing it).

After our last Antrim Coast stop, we hiked up to the local village (1/2 mile) to catch the bus. We apparently missed it, so we had to wait another like 2 hours hanging around on the street (in the sun, thankfully)

Our time there included getting ice cream for the boys at a tiny shop where we met the vociferous Harry the Ice Cream Vendor who told us all about 'The Glens' of Antrim and how we MUST go there! (we didn't have time to :( ). He also let us know he was a staunch Republican. He had many opinions (oh, and he looked a whole lot like my friend Nels (Hi, Nels!). Oh, and he served GREAT ice cream.

Back at the bus stop, we met a couple from the Burgundy area of France. The man spoke great english (with a very French accent) and we talked politics and discussed the EU membership status of France, Bill Clinton, The British Pound, International markets, Nicolas Sarkozi, George W Bush, the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and a few other items. He was definitely not without opinion! Very fun conversation.

Got on the bus and drove ridiculously (scary) fast driving on tiny Northern Ireland roads all the way back to the train station at Coloraine. Saw Dunluce Castle on the coast as we sped by. Wanted to stop there for a few pictures, but after missing the first bus, we were now on the LAST bus out of the area so if we got off we'd not get home!

Arrived back in Derry at Paddy's Palace hostel that evening. This is when we got our Chinese Food and ate it in the smoking den. A few random people joined us. A couple from Denver (youngsters; one w/dread locks); a young biology teacher from Queens, NY and the woman who worked there at the hostel. Others came and went. All were smoking as we ate our Chinese and Kriss and I drank a bottle of wine. The boys were a bit uncomfortable with the scene as they hadn't warmed up to the idea of 'shared space' with total strangers yet. They were really all fabulously cool people, however, and it worked out.
They asked us if we wanted to go to the pub with them to see some live music. Jake and Kyle stayed behind and reluctantly tried to hang out with the Irish Soccer team of teenagers that were watching a movie in the common room. They did it but were bored shortly and went to bed. We went and had our first Irish Guinness in the pub and got to experience trad music. It was truly fantastic. (seeking music would become a passionate theme for most every upcoming night on the trip).
Early the next morning we got up and walked the town of Derry. Saw the murals depicting The Troubles and then walked the walled city. Very cool and fun. Walked to the train station to catch the train to Belfast/ Dublin. On the way we stopped at a corner store for some train snacks. (would love to discribe the smell of the meat for you but the thought makes me throw-up in your mouth a bit.) well as we stood on the corner waiting for John to come out of the store we must have looked like tourist. A man passing by asked where we were from. We were in a new part of town so we double checked with him on where the staion was. He said I'll take you there get in. In our short conversatino with him we found that he had a daughter living in the US in Denver who was getting married. He really meant that he'd give us a ride. Very cool. We had so much time until the train we declined his offer, but you have never met such friendly people. More later about the friendliness. Off to breakfast now!