History is only today, tomorrow

Up early and we are into Derry on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning. Easy to find a park on a Sunday and we slide into the city easily and quickly and head to the Guildhall steps to wait for Paul Doherty, the guy who is taking us on the Bogside History Walking Tour. He arrives and lucky for us there are only 5 of us, so we can see and hear everything clearly. Paul makes it clear from the beginning that his father was murdered on Bloody Sunday in the Bogside and that the tour retraces the original march and visits the places in which it occurred. Having such a personal investment he is surprisingly open and laid out the facts clearly and accurately.

He started way back in the 16th century and explained how actions then had repercussions in the 20th century, fascinating to two Aussies brought up in our relatively peaceful country. Paul talked about the class system in the 60's, the birth of the civil rights movement, internment without trial and the background to the March. He spoke of the day of the march and what happened, how people died and who died. It was mainly young people and so very sad to hear their stories. The way he told it and showed us media pictures and even bullet holes in buildings, the same roads, buildings, lane ways where the same families still live and go about their lives really made it real to us. It was quite harrowing at times and he was obviously moved by it. He showed us the memorial and the murals and spoke of the Inquiries and cover ups as well as the Justice Campaign and the Saville Inquiry. Both his brother and himself spoke at the inquiry and we later looked up YouTube stuff and saw him marching and celebrating the conclusion of the Saville Inquiry. If you are ever in Derry it is a "must do" as far as we are concerned.

After this sobering morning we wandered towards the walls of the city - it is a walled city with the walls pretty much fully intact and we decided to walk the whole city loop. On the way we passed a Catholic Church where a man rushed out to tell us that a relic from the Vatican was inside and we were welcome to go in and see it or even touch it if we wanted to. We had a look but it seemed something that was very personal to people involved and not for tourists and non-Catholics and so we continued on our way around the walls.

Back to the Guildhall which was built in 1890 and which is full of beautiful stained glass.

Over the Peace Bridge and past the Peace Statue, over the river to the Royal Ulster Constabulary Barracks which have been converted to open public space and back again.

When we finally made it back to our motel we spoke to one of the receptionists and mentioned the tour. She is a Protestant and talked of the city when she was growing up and how she feels the city, Catholic/Protestant relations and Northern Ireland are improving. She sounded very much like Paul!

A completely fascinating and exhausting day leaving us with plenty to think about.