This past weekend was a first for me, and considering I’m reaching the end of my time here in Ireland, that’s pretty impressive. I don’t have one specific movie that came to mind during our trip to Northern Ireland this past weekend. Instead, I have one specific scene that occurs in many, many movies.
Burlesque, Rock of Ages, Hairspray, What a Girl Wants, Speed, Safe Haven, Sixteen Candles and many, many more. Some of these I’ve mentioned before, some of them I haven’t. What do they all have in common? Buses. All of these movies have at least one scene (in some cases many scenes) that take place on a bus. I thought of all of the movies I listed at least once during our four day trip to Northern Ireland this past weekend (in the interest of keeping this a blog post rather than an essay, I left a few out. It’s already going to be a bit long, so buckle your seatbelt, if your current seat has one that is).
The trip started out with a Burlesque/Rock of Ages combo. These both have bus scenes where the main character is taking the bus to get to a new and more exciting place. They’re happy to be on the bus, because the bus equates freedom. Then I moved on to the Hairspray bus scene, where a big group is singing and dancing along to a musical number. While we never did dance up and down the bus, entertainment is in short supply on a tour bus when you’re riding through the country with nothing more than sheep and cows to look at. We got a little goofy at times.
The bus scene at the very beginning of What a Girl Wants where Daphne is still putting on her shoe and hits her head as she gets out of the bus came to mind often over the course of the trip. Getting on and off a bus with sixteen people struggling to get their stuff together (which sometimes included over-stuffed backpacks) and get their coats on got to be a little crowded. Eventually we figured it out, and by the end of the trip we were like a well-oiled machine. And while Speed takes place primarily on a bus (which is how I felt about our trip most of the time), the specific scene that came to mind is when they first explain why Sandra Bullock’s character is on the bus. She’d rather be in her car, but it got taken away. Public transportation it is.
The last two examples really illustrate my frustration with the bus by the end of the trip. In Safe Haven, the main character is taking the bus to escape, and she ends up getting off at a random stop in a small town. If only we’d had that option. I looked forward to the two stops we made on the last day of our trip. And that brings me to Sixteen Candles. As Samantha Baker is getting on the school bus at the end of the day, she turns to her friend and says, “I loathe the bus. There has to be a more dignified mode of transportation.” Enough said.
Needless to say, we spent A LOT of time on the bus during this four day trip. However, this enabled us to see and experience a lot more. On our first day, we made a pit stop at WB Yeats’ grave, then headed up to Derry where we picked up a tour guide and went on a walking tour. We went to a museum dedicated to Bloody Sunday then went and saw where it actually happened. It was a humbling experience to stand where such an infamous event took place. Then we went up to the oldest circle fort in Northern Ireland, Grianan of Aileach, which was pretty neat.
Burlesque, Rock of Ages, Hairspray, What a Girl Wants, Speed, Safe Haven, Sixteen Candles and many, many more. Some of these I’ve mentioned before, some of them I haven’t. What do they all have in common? Buses. All of these movies have at least one scene (in some cases many scenes) that take place on a bus. I thought of all of the movies I listed at least once during our four day trip to Northern Ireland this past weekend (in the interest of keeping this a blog post rather than an essay, I left a few out. It’s already going to be a bit long, so buckle your seatbelt, if your current seat has one that is).
The trip started out with a Burlesque/Rock of Ages combo. These both have bus scenes where the main character is taking the bus to get to a new and more exciting place. They’re happy to be on the bus, because the bus equates freedom. Then I moved on to the Hairspray bus scene, where a big group is singing and dancing along to a musical number. While we never did dance up and down the bus, entertainment is in short supply on a tour bus when you’re riding through the country with nothing more than sheep and cows to look at. We got a little goofy at times.
The bus scene at the very beginning of What a Girl Wants where Daphne is still putting on her shoe and hits her head as she gets out of the bus came to mind often over the course of the trip. Getting on and off a bus with sixteen people struggling to get their stuff together (which sometimes included over-stuffed backpacks) and get their coats on got to be a little crowded. Eventually we figured it out, and by the end of the trip we were like a well-oiled machine. And while Speed takes place primarily on a bus (which is how I felt about our trip most of the time), the specific scene that came to mind is when they first explain why Sandra Bullock’s character is on the bus. She’d rather be in her car, but it got taken away. Public transportation it is.
The last two examples really illustrate my frustration with the bus by the end of the trip. In Safe Haven, the main character is taking the bus to escape, and she ends up getting off at a random stop in a small town. If only we’d had that option. I looked forward to the two stops we made on the last day of our trip. And that brings me to Sixteen Candles. As Samantha Baker is getting on the school bus at the end of the day, she turns to her friend and says, “I loathe the bus. There has to be a more dignified mode of transportation.” Enough said.
Needless to say, we spent A LOT of time on the bus during this four day trip. However, this enabled us to see and experience a lot more. On our first day, we made a pit stop at WB Yeats’ grave, then headed up to Derry where we picked up a tour guide and went on a walking tour. We went to a museum dedicated to Bloody Sunday then went and saw where it actually happened. It was a humbling experience to stand where such an infamous event took place. Then we went up to the oldest circle fort in Northern Ireland, Grianan of Aileach, which was pretty neat.
The next day, we stopped at the Giant’s Causeway before heading on to Belfast. After hiking a cliff and seeing some fantastic views, I finally made it down to the causeway itself. I’m sure there’s some explanation for why the stones are the way they are, but I prefer not to spend the time to look it up and instead just marvel at the unusual rock formations. In Belfast our tour guide took us on a driving tour, where got to see the political murals painted all over the city. The murals were history lessons themselves, detailing people and events involved in Northern Ireland’s tumultuous history.
The third day was my favorite of the weekend by far. We toured the Crumlin Road Jail (for some reason, I really like old jails.), and visited the Titanic Museum. To be completely honest, the Titanic Museum is what made the weekend trip worthwhile for me. It’s really the only part of the weekend that I had any sizable amount of interest in. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy some of the other parts of the trip, but the Titanic was the only part I can say I was excited about from the beginning. I was not disappointed. The museum was interesting and fun, full of facts and stories that I hadn’t seen anywhere else. I’d love to go back and pick up on things I didn’t see the first time around.
Our last day was definitely the longest. We were all tired, and we ended up spending the majority of the day on the bus. We only had two stops on Sunday. The first was the site of the Battle of the Boyne, which I found to be a pretty pointless stop. While we did learn about the battle in history class, the manor house and gardens we saw weren’t even built at the time of the battle, and the exhibits took maybe 10 minutes to go through. The rest of the area was literally a field where people once fought. Not something I wanted to spend time staring at when I’d rather be on the way back to our cottages.
I did enjoy the second stop of the day though. Knowth, like New Grange, is a big tomb built by the Neolithic people, dating back to before the pyramids were built. The amount of work it would have taken to build such a site without the tools we have today is staggering to think about and makes the mound that much more impressive. We didn’t get to go inside it, but just hearing about what archeologists found and seeing diagrams of the pathways built into the hill was amazing. At some point, I’d like to visit New Grange, which is similar to Knowth but allows tourists to go inside and explore the tomb themselves.
I did enjoy the second stop of the day though. Knowth, like New Grange, is a big tomb built by the Neolithic people, dating back to before the pyramids were built. The amount of work it would have taken to build such a site without the tools we have today is staggering to think about and makes the mound that much more impressive. We didn’t get to go inside it, but just hearing about what archeologists found and seeing diagrams of the pathways built into the hill was amazing. At some point, I’d like to visit New Grange, which is similar to Knowth but allows tourists to go inside and explore the tomb themselves.
It was a very, VERY long weekend, but we got to see historical sites ranging from the Neolithic age to just 40 years ago. It was a lot to take in, and at times it got to be a little overwhelming, but I did learn a lot. It’s amazing how different the cities of Northern Ireland feel compared to Galway or Dublin. The history there is always present, whether it’s through a mural or a monument, and it makes you think about history differently than when you just hear about it in class.
I’m glad we went, and there are some places I’d like to see again. Unfortunately, I’m out of time. This weekend we head to Dingle and the Cliffs of Moher, and next week I board a plane to fly home! It’s unreal how quickly this trip has gone in hindsight. One more post and my time in Ireland will be over!
Until next time!
I’m glad we went, and there are some places I’d like to see again. Unfortunately, I’m out of time. This weekend we head to Dingle and the Cliffs of Moher, and next week I board a plane to fly home! It’s unreal how quickly this trip has gone in hindsight. One more post and my time in Ireland will be over!
Until next time!