Northern Ireland - Derry

I spent a few hours in Derry (also known as Londonderry, but the name is changing to be less associated with England.) Derry has a long and complex history, and is famous as being one of the few remaining walled cities in Europe. I spent 3 hours hunting down clues along the wall for a multi-cache, only to not find the cache in the end, so wont go into too much historical info!

Bogside is the first community of Derry to live outside the walls, and is also famous as the site of Bloody Sunday, where the English Army killed 14 civil rights protesters, which sparked massive public outcry and bolstered membership to the IRA, resulting in an escalation of violence and clashes, many of them happening in a spot fittingly called "Aggro corner".

U2 of course wrote the song Sunday Bloody Sunday about this, but not many people know that John Lennon also had a song with the same name 11 years before U2!

Following is a wonderful contrast between some of the murals to "the troubles", as it is known, and some colourful stained glass in the Derry guildhall.










Errr, I didn't have the guts to ask what Free Syrup Friday is, but I am sure Weird Al Yankovic could do a great song about it sung to the tune of Sunday Bloody Sunday!