June 11, 2011

Today I went on a 1-day bus tour to Northern Ireland. We departed at 6:40 am (ugh really early) from Dublin city centre. We drove to Belfast and picked up more people there. The bus was completely full, so I sat next to a Western Australian guy that took the year off to travel. I was quite jealous of his travels and wish that I could just take a year off.

We made our first official stop at Carrick-a-rede were we had the chance to cross a rope bridge. The area was really beautiful and we really lucked out with the weather. Then we made our way to the Giant's Causeway. It was quite remarkable to think that the rock formation occurred naturally from volcanic lava...but it was fun to hear about the legend. The legend goes as follows (per the bus driver's version):

Finn McCool was a Irish warrior and one day he got into a big argument with a giant in Scotland. The distance was too great to swim, so he decided to build a causeway to get to Scotland to fight the giant. When he got there he realized that the giant was 2-3x his size so he ran back home to Ireland. He was scared of the other giant so he asked his wife what he should do. His wife dressed him up as a baby and left him on the bed. When Finn McCool didn't show up to fight the Scottish giant, the giant decided to come after Finn McCool at his home. The wife answered and invited the giant in for tea while he waited for Finn McCool to come home from work. While they were chatting the giant noticed the huge baby and inquired about him. The wife explained that it was Finn's baby. The giant immediately got scarred and ran for Scotland because he figured if that's the size of Finn McCool's baby, Finn McCool must be HUGE. So he ran across the causeway and destroyed it so that Finn McCool couldn't come after him.

After the Giant's Causeway, we made our way to Derry, also known as Londonderry, depending on what side you're on. Part's of the city are still loyal to England, which is evident by the British flags. We had a walking tour of the city along the city walls...which was interesting to hear about the conflict that occurred not that long ago.