seekingmygreaterperhaps

Today my Pinterest finally became my reality. I booked a tour to go see the Giant’s Causeway off the coast of Northern Ireland. It was so incredible I do not even know where to begin.

The tour started with a stop at an old castle, literally for just pictures. As this was early in the day, and my memories have since been replaced by way cooler things, all I can tell you is that carrots are orange for political reasons. King William, or King Billy as he was lovingly referred to, brought about the orange carrots and replaced the previously purple, white, and black carrots with the orange ones. No, I cannot remember why.

That’s a lifesized statue of him- he was really short. Another fun tidbit- the word “hillbilly” comes from his descendents. When the Irish people landed in Ireland, they moved into the hills, and their folk music often sang about good king Billy. Hence- hillbilly.

Next we went to the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge. This was AWESOME. It was really windy, so it was also quite terrifying, but I’ll get to that. The drive by the coast of Northern Ireland is named one of the top ten coastal drives in the world, and I see why. It is beautiful. On the right there are rolling hillsides sprinkled with sheep and lambs, on the left is crashing waves and endless miles of coast. I was mesmerized for the almost 2 hours it took to get there. By the time we reached the rope bridge, I was pumped. It did cost 5.60 pounds, but I paid it because… yolo? The views of the coast are gorgeous. And it’s adrenaline pumping walking across the bridge with the wind moving it under you. The bridge is over 300 years old (don’t worry, not this one, it’s repaired and extremely stable.) and was originally used by salmon fisherman. Well, let me just let the pictures do the talking:

Yep, that’s me, hanging out on the bridge.

In case you wanted to see what it was like from where I stood- my shoes and everything.

Oh, just, you know, one of the most gorgeous coastlines I’ve ever seen.

In case you can’t sift through the sarcasm and rough attempts at wit, I did think the Northern Irish Coastline was unbelievable. It was windy and cold, but I did go at the end of February. However, God was smiling upon us today, because the only times it rained were when we were on the bus or eating lunch. That in itself is a miracle.

Speaking of lunch… we ate at the Old Bushmill Whisky Distillery. I had some tasty lasagna and even better wisky cheesecake. As a special dessert, me and Alyssa got to sample 3 different types of whisky. (I met Alyssa and Dan on the tour. They are an incredible young couple from Chicago and took very kindly to hanging out with me all day, which was very appreciated.) But yes Dad, I did get to drink some good ole fashioned Irish whisky while I’m in the homeland.

Next off we went to visit the ruins of a really old castle. It was abandoned by the MacDonald… MacArthurs? Some very important people a while ago. If this had never been abandoned, our tour guide said that it would be the most impressive castle both on the interior and exterior in possibly the world. However, when the kitchen fell off the side of the cliff and killed some workers back in the day, the lords said “nah” and beat it. Still, it is pretty to look at.

FINALLY! WE MAKE IT TO THE GIANTS CAUSEWAY!!! YES! WHAT MICHAELLA SET OFF TO BELFAST TO COME SEE! Unfortunately, her camera decided to never tell her she was low on batteries until we get to the main attraction. I managed to trick it into thinking it had life to last…2 pictures. Thank goodness for multiple technologies though. I have some on my phone. No, I can’t figure out how to put both types of pictures on here. See my facebook if this isn’t enough. Haha. Lesson #7109475262- bring spare batteries if you are going on a tour and they are saving the main thing you paid money to see for last.

I made a selfie with the last leg of my battery life… yes world I MADE IT TO THE GIANT’S CAUSEWAY!!

Here is the lore behind the Giant’s Causeway- Finn McCool was the reigning giant at the time of the legend. He was being bullied by the giant of Scotland and decided one day that enough was enough. So he built a stone bridge to get to Scotland (which you can see on a sunny day). Well when he got there, he realized that the Scottish giant was at least twice his size and twice his breadth. So he booked it back to Ireland but couldn’t destroy the bridge. He ran to his wife terrified, and she told him to dress up like a baby and lay in the bed. Well the Scottish giant heard the Finn McCool was looking for him so he took that handy bridge to Ireland to look for him. Well Finn’s wife distracted the giant with tea and when he heard a noise in the back room, he said- whoa you said Finn wasn’t here. Mrs. Irish giant was all like, “oh that’s just the baby.” Well when the Scottish giant saw the size of the baby, he was like, “whoa if that is Finn’s baby, then I have to get out of here, he will destroy me.” As he fled he destroyed the bridge after himself. Problem solved for both giants. Thus what is less is the Giant’s Causeway, and it leads into the Irish Sea.

Overall, this place was GORGEOUS. Also very cold and blustery (seems to be a reoccuring theme). I booked my tour with Viator- just search “giants causeway belfast” and they will pop up. I had an incredible tour guide named Derek. He told some great jokes and gave us the inside scoop.

As a special treat, I’ll give you a peak at what caused my camera to die- A brazillian wanted to take a picture of me like the Little Mermaid… just before the causeway.

Oh you’re still here? In case you wanted to know what ACTUALLY made the Giant’s causeway, it is over 55 million years old, and is made up of over 40,000 basalt columns, which result from volcanic activity. But believe me, I was there. They are all pretty much perfectly hexagonal… which means only one thing. ALIENS.

To make my day in Northern Ireland perfect, I saw a complete rainbow. Now I just need to see a leprochaun and we will be set.

Updates: Total Trip Cost So Far (this time without airfare and eurail, in a different app, long story): $865. You may be thinking- wow that’s a lot. Yes. I know it is. I haven’t been able to use that handy dandy Eurail yet, so all of my transportation expenses are adding up… and will until I get to Paris.

Sickness update: I still have a slight cold. But on the upside- I drank 2 litres of water today, so that better kick it out soon.

In summary, I saw a rainbow, traversed a rope bridge, and walked with the giants. Northern Ireland, you have treated me well.