Days 5 and 6: Farewell, Dublin. Hello, Armagh.

 Another Ireland, and another nation, across the border

St. Stephens's Green in Dublin, a setting James Joyce used in Ulysses, is one of the most beautiful parks in the world.  We visited on our last day in Dublin.
Take a walk across it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0GsDzaP65Q&feature=youtu.be

The border between the Irish Republic and Ulster, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, is about an hour north of Dublin and as you approach it north of Dundalk, it's clear you're in a different place.

A yellow shrub that looks like American forsythia, gorse, appears. It's common in Scotland, but non-existent in the Irish Republic. The land rises. It's hillier and rockier. The homes look a bit tidier, as they do in the English countryside. 

There's just a highway sign at the border, indicating that distance will henceforth be measured in English miles, not European kilometers. There are no checkpoints any more, as there were in the time of "The Troubles." It's more more like a time of "the tensions" since the 1998 Good Friday accord and its finalization a few years later that allowed Catholics and Protestants to share power in the Northern Irish Assembly, the region's parliament.

The Irish Republic is the new Europe, cosmopolitan and multinational. Northern Ireland is Great Britain, and in-your-face about it. The British Union Jack flag prominently adorns many public and private buildings right up to the border. Orange flags and banners are common, commemorating William of Orange, who defeated the Irish at the Battle of the Boyne River, north of Dublin near the current border, thus ensuring British rule for all of Ireland until 1922, and part of it through modern times.

The Orange Gate, with British and Ulster flags and insignia honoring
William of Orange, marks a major thoroughfare in downtown Armagh. 

While many Northern Irish are proud of the Britishness, ~ mostly Protestant members of the Church of Ireland, affiliated with the Church of England (Episcopalians in the U.S.) as well as Presbyterians and Methodists ~ others are less comfortable.  The Protestants parade through Catholic neighborhoods on the anniversary of William's victory, June 12, called "Marching Day," in a show of pride. Catholics see it as an insult. In the past, the marching season has lead to bombings, shootings and deaths. Today, marching season usually results in vandalism and fistfights, at worst. 

And while the political conflict may be over, the region has yet to bury 1,000 years of Anglo-Irish animosity. It remains part of the culture.

Our group will explore that culture from the northern perspective for the next month. And as a cultural Catholic with recently reinforced genetic and nationalistic ties to the south, it's not always going to be comfortable. But this is a learning experience for us all. And THAT is what the Armagh experience is all about.

Theater teacher Kimberly Lynne of the University of Baltimore leads members of the Ieimedia class around St. Patrick's Church of Ireland (Episcopalian) Cathedral in Armagh. The Church-of-England-affiliated Cathedral lies atop the city's highest point, looking down on St. Patrick's Catholic Cathedral.

Maria Hirsk, right,  an official city Blue Badge guide, explains the history of
Church of Ireland Primate Richard Robinson's palatial estate
to Ieimedia Program Director Terry Ciolfalo and theater teacher
Joan Weber during a tour of Armagh, Northern Ireland.

Program Director Terry Ciofalo shows Ieimedia students some of the facilities they will be using in the new performing arts complex in downtown Armagh.