Backpacking Trip: day #19

alrighttt...day 19. I woke up around 7:00am and checked out of my hostel in dublin. from there i made my day a few blocks town the street to paddy's palace hostel where my tour would be leaving from. i checked in a bit after 8am and met up with my australian friends from wales and boarded the the coach. The first stop was in Drogheda where we saw a cathedral with St. Oliver Plunkett's head on display. Aparently he was killed for trying to build schools and churches in ireland when england didnt think they should, so they killed him. he became a saint because they said his head was decomposing abnormally slow - so that makes him a saint. After leaving the cathedral i got a cup of coffee, then got back on the bus. The next stop was in Monasterboice where there was an ancient monastery where St. Patrick was supposed to have spent time at. We saw a bunch of celtic crosses in the graveyars which have the cross to represent christianity, and a circle to represent paganism (st. patrick's goal was merging the two religions together in order to convert ireland to christianity and the celtic crosses symbolized this). After leaving Monasterboice we made our way to Armagh or something like that after crossing the border back into the UK (northern ireland). Once we were in Armagh we got some lunch (I got a really tasty spicy chicken and cheese ciabatta sandwich). After lunch we made about an hour drive to Derry where we were to stay the night. Once we got into to derry we checked into our hostel, and then went on a 1 hour walking tour of the city. apparently, today wasnt the best day to go on a tour cuz some people were doing a protest march, and our guide kept hurrying us along so we could keep away from it - but it was still entertaining. Now we are back at the hostel waiting for our guide (Joe) to return from the supermarket with dinner - which we all chipped in for, and are going to cook tonight as a group. It should be good. Anddd ya thats about it so far today. I'm not on my laptop so i cant get to my pictures just yet, but i should put them up either later tonight or tomorrow morning. Goodbyeee! UPDATE!!! pictures available!!