When we boarded the bus, our tour guide introduced himself and started singing a tune. He was very welcoming, and at first, it was cute and funny....but then it just kept going. Once he opened his mouth, he couldn't close it again. When I tell you that he did not stop talking for the whole 14 hour trip, it is no exaggeration. Dad joked that he must not have just kissed the Blarney Stone, he probably had the actual stone in his pocket. At 6:30am, I did not want non-stop continual singing of Irish drinking songs.
Mom said that it didn't bother her, but by the end of the trip, Dad and I were about to jump out of the bus and commit hari kari just to stop the noise. There might be a few moments of silence on the way home, and I would start to fall asleep, and then WHAM!
"Alive alive oh
alive alive ohh
Singing cockles and mussels
alive alive ohhh
In Dublin's fair city
where the girls are so pretty
I once met a girl named sweet Molly Malone
and she wheeled her wheel barrow
through the streets broad and narrow
singing cockles and mussels alive alive oh"
where the girls are so pretty
I once met a girl named sweet Molly Malone
and she wheeled her wheel barrow
through the streets broad and narrow
singing cockles and mussels alive alive oh"
Another round of Molly Malone. When would the singing end!?!?
Aside from this minor issue, the trip itelf was amazing. We stopped at Creke a-Reke rope bridge, and unfortunately, it was closed for maintenance, but the views were still fantastic. A mist had descended upon the cliffs so that it seemed like we were driving through the clouds, and the birds would soar in and out of the waves which were crashing along the rocks. If it was a clearer day, then you could actually see Scotland across the sea.
The drive along the coast is supposed to be one of the top 10 most beautiful scenic routes in the world. Unfortunately, we couldn't see much in the morning because of the heavy fog, but it was still amazing because the rocks seemed to shoot out of the sky and the sea was raging which gave it a unique beauty.
Luckily, by the time we reached Giant's Causeway, the fog had cleared and the sun actually decided to make an appearance. There is a legend behind Giant's Causeway, as there is with most environmental phenomenon around here. Finn MacCool is like an Irish Paul Bunyon, a mythical figure larger than life.
One day, he saw a gorgeous woman off the coast of Scotland and he decided to make her his bride so he snatched her from across the sea. They spent many years happily together, but eventually her father, a Giant found out where his daughter had gone. He raged and said that he would exact his revenge against the MacCools. Finn's wife came up with a plan and they quickly organized it before her father could kill her husband. She dressed Finn up as a baby and Finn went out to greet the Giant in diapers. Finn was much smaller than the Giant but still unbelievably strong so he put up a great fight. The Giant began to think, "If this is what the babies can do, then what would Finn himself be like?" So he ran back across the ocean to Scotland and the rocks are the Giant's footprints left in his wake.
In truth, scientists take guesses about how the rocks are formed. Many think it has something to do with volcanoes and the earth shifting, but the formations are still somewhat of a mystery. I think that it is one of the only places in the world that has these outcrops of perfectly shaped octagonal rocks jutting out like giant crystals. You can walk around on them and climb to the top (bear in mind that Dad and I learned that it is much easier to go up than to come back down). At the top, wonderful brisk sea breeze ruffled your hair and tickled your skin and we could just spend hours sitting and staring at the waves.
Again, my only complain was there there simply was not enough time to fully explore the whole area. You could easily spend a few days there, taking long strolls along the cliffs or going down to the causeway and taking in the sights. I must admit that coming in the winter does have one distinct advantage---there weren't as many tourists as there might be in the summer so the whole place was very peaceful. We only had two hours so we were able to see the main feature (the octagonal rocks) and the organ (a massive wall of rock columns), but we didn't have to time to see the other notable pieces.
Afterward, we also explored Belfast for about an hour. The whole dynamic is very interesting. There are no physical borders when you reach northern Ireland, but the political borders are still there. I got a text on my cell as soon we left the republic of Ireland which indicated that I had entered the UK and would have new rates. You can tell too that signs stop being posted in Gaelic and English and use miles instead of kilometers. The United Kingdom's flag flies all over the place. Belfast is a healing city that has made major steps to peace with the signing of the Good Friday agreement in the nineties, but it is still somewhat divided.
I hadn't really understood the whole dynamic and it is still somewhat foreign to me, but I learned that many people in northern Ireland think of themselves as British instead of Irish. I didn't realize that the people who live there have so many ties to England and therein lies the rub. It's not just a matter of England ruling from a distance, the people of Northern Ireland are still culturally divided. Some cities have different names depending on which section of the town you live (Derry is also known as LondonDerry.)
Belfast is being rebuilt and has had a major resurgence in recent years. We went to the City Center and it was gorgeous. The town hall was an amazing building and they have brand new shopping centers and a vibrant city, but if you go too far out of the city center it is apparently not as nice. As we were leaving, I was able to see the Europa Hotel which has the dubious title of being the most-bombed hotel in Europe from the days of the IRA. All of us enjoyed the part of Belfast that we saw, but we were also only there for an hour.
Unfortunately, this was the last day with my parents. It was such a whirlwind tour! We tried to pack in as much as possible and I think we succeeded, for the most part. All three of us wound up getting sick after the trip...I think that maybe we did a little too much, and maybe we should have chilled a little bit more. But if a bad cold is the price to pay, then I think it was worth it because of all the amazing places we got to visit.
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