(London) Derry

I arrived in Derry last night right about on schedule. The bus ride up from Cork was very long. In the States, with our interstates system it would probably take all of 4-5 hours to drive from Cork to Derry. It takes about that long to drive from Chicago to Detroit, even on the Megabus. I tried to read a bit on the bus but the road was so bumpy I started to get a headache. I opted for watching a movie or two instead. The first leg, from Cork to Galway, I did some sudoku and tried to read. The second leg from Galway to Derry I watched Wayne's World and got through most of I Heart Huckabees. My battery died just as we were getting to Derry, so that was alright.

The walk from the bus station to the University was bearable, even while hauling my luggage. The folks at the university security station were nothing but pleasant and helpful. Already Derry was good in my book. I got to my room and it was comparable to the apartment in Cork. The only differences being that there was no tv, no en suite bathroom, and a smaller bed - all things that can be easily dealt with. I was pleased to see that I DID have an internet connection in the room, which is all I really needed anyway. In the words of Nick Monterosso, "hooray for me."

Today I went down to the Harbor Museum and started to go through the War Memorial collection there. It's fairly large and will probably keep my occupied for the remainder of tomorrow and part of Wednesday. I spent the lunch hour wandering around Derry. It reminded me a lot of Quebec City, what with the river below and the hills, etc. Perhaps I'll take some pictures from the city walls this week. Speaking of pictures, I was able to use my digital camera today at the harbor museum, which is always a boon to my pocket book.

On the way home I went to the grocery store. While eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich another fellow moved in. He's from Bristol and goes to Oxford where he studies geography. I can't remember his name for the life of me, but we had a good evening. We went out in Derry, which apparently shuts down at about 5pm. We managed to find a watering hole or two, where we procured sustenance in the form of food and beverage. At one particular place the price of beverages on Mondays was about $3USD, so that was also a boon to my pocket book. Needless to say, I'll probably be there next Monday as well. It was nice to have some good conversation as well.

All in all, Derry is the highlight of the trip thus far.

In other news, it looks like I should be able to get a credit card mailed to me here in Derry after all. Of course, I'll believe it when I see it, but there is hope. They said they'd send it FedEx, so we'll see what comes of this. Apparently the reason I never received the card in Cork was due to a rep error, and they sent another card to Chicago. Brilliant.

All for now, back in a few days probably.