It was such a calm day, and I was totally okay with that. We were able to sleep in a little bit, but of course for the most part we were all wide awake like we had to go to our placements. We headed over to Castle Ward which was just beautiful. It is so full of history, and had lots of great little features in the castle including hidden doors. I love a good hidden door! I was a little bothered by one of the displays with featured dead squirrels pretending to fight which was created back when taxidermy first began. I came around the corner and just about hit the ceiling because I saw these little creatures staring at me. Anyway, we looked around the castle (great views!) and then headed back to the center. We had some sandwiches out in the garden and then headed into Belfast.

We went into Belfast and Tim took us around to some West Belfast locations that were important to the culture. There is an absolute 100% divide of Protestants and Catholics in that part of town, and I just could hardly believe it. There was a point at which we went through “gates” which put us into the other religious area of town. Hard to believe that these problems are still alive and hindering every day life. Anyway we were able to do a quick little shopping spree, which prevented me from spending lots of money…thank goodness!

As we got back into town we headed straight for this restaurant to have dinner and watch the USA World Cup Game! These people are NUTS about the World Cup so I have to admit it was fun to be over here to watch the game. We had some great food; I had some great conversation especially with Andrew the education coordinator at the center and even had a pint or two. As we exhaustedly boarded the bus back to the cottages we of course had some ice cream and began the packing process. Tomorrow is our last day and we head out Monday morning for what promises to be a long travel day. I’m off to get some sleep; it’s going to be a long two days!