We awoke after our adventurous first day to a full Irish breakfast. (Fried egg, sausage, bacon, toast, soda bread, potato bread, stewed tomato, mushrooms, beans, and they threw in some pancakes for good measure) Our hostess offered us cereal as well and seemed a bit offended when we both declined. Anyway, not to brag but I ate the whole thing.
Our first stop was at Giant's Causeway. It is one of these natural wonder things where giant pillars have formed in the ground. However the legend behind it (which is far more exciting than explaining volcanic activity in the area) is a great giant in Ireland stuck these posts in the ground to build a bridge to Scotland to fight another giant. When he got to Scotland he realized the giant he was to fight was much bigger than he so he went home to Ireland. This Scottish giant came after him and the Irish giant had his wife dress him as a baby. When the Scottish giant saw this he assumed if this was the baby then the Irish giant must be huge. So he ran home to Scotland ripping up the bridge so he couldn't be followed and all that remains is what you see in the pictures.
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| To the left |
Next stop is the Carrick-A- Rede rope bridge. Robin and I still have no idea how to pronounce this and no would tells us. Instead they would hear us try and just laugh. Basically, this is the most beautiful place I can recall ever being. As of right now it holds the #1 ranking of where I'll have my ashes spread when I'm dead and gone. Not to be morbid but the place was that amazing. You walk across this rope bridge and arrive on this rock formation surrounded 360 degrees by water. To your left are these sheer white cliffs that are right up against the beach. To your right is this green hills that seem to just roll into the sea. Straight across is the coastline of Scotland. Not to mention is was a perfectly sunny day. I don't think the pictures do justice but you can get the idea.
Next stop Bushmill's Whiskey Factory. Huge facility and some very impressive bottles of ancient Whiskey. Guess they've been around since the early 1600's. Also they bottle for Jamison so we actually saw that production line. We got our free pour and headed on our way. (not to say hair of the dog or anything but we felt rejuvenated).
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| To the right |
Last stop was Dunluce Castle. They were charging a high price to enter when it pretty much looked like a pile of rubble. We took a few pictures from the outside, read the signs, and went on our way.
So I've decided a few things about castles while being here. First of all there are 2 different types. #1 being castles of prestige. These castles you build when your rich, you have a manor, and you just hang out in and throw parties. Honestly, these castles are kind of boring. #2 these are the castles where excuse my language but where shit hit the fan. If you weren't being raided buy 10 different groups of people you were having to rebuild for the next war/raid/uprising/takeover that was bound to come your way. Now these castles are exciting and well worth the price of admission. I've also come up with a way to make these Castle's profitable and not always asking for donations and using city / state money to help restore them. You get to fire off a cannon!! You and 5 other people (under supervision of course) get to go through the process of loading and firing an actual cannon ball at a target floating out in the sea. Just one cannon ball but how much fun would that be to see what it actually was like. You could argue over who gets to load/aim/wheel/light (these things were a minimum of a 5 person job). Then you shoot of 1 shot. Heck, give them a prize if they actually hit the target. Now how much would you pay for that? $20? $30? Most these places are charging $4-$6. I just increased your revenue by 3 or 4 times and now I get to fire off a cannon ball. Sorry for that rant but I thought it was a great idea. Robin just nodded and smiled at first but then I told her she could be the person to light it and she was in.
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| Castle Dunluce (You'd see in the inside if I could fire off a real cannon) |
Next stop is Derry or Londonderry depending on who you talk to. I'll post soon.
We awoke after our adventurous first day to a full Irish breakfast. (Fried egg, sausage, bacon, toast, soda bread, potato bread, stewed tomato, mushrooms, beans, and they threw in some pancakes for good measure) Our hostess offered us cereal as well and seemed a bit offended when we both declined. Anyway, not to brag but I ate the whole thing.
Our first stop was at Giant's Causeway. It is one of these natural wonder things where giant pillars have formed in the ground. However the legend behind it (which is far more exciting than explaining volcanic activity in the area) is a great giant in Ireland stuck these posts in the ground to build a bridge to Scotland to fight another giant. When he got to Scotland he realized the giant he was to fight was much bigger than he so he went home to Ireland. This Scottish giant came after him and the Irish giant had his wife dress him as a baby. When the Scottish giant saw this he assumed if this was the baby then the Irish giant must be huge. So he ran home to Scotland ripping up the bridge so he couldn't be followed and all that remains is what you see in the pictures.
Next stop Bushmill's Whiskey Factory. Huge facility and some very impressive bottles of ancient Whiskey. Guess they've been around since the early 1600's. Also they bottle for Jamison so we actually saw that production line. We got our free pour and headed on our way. (not to say hair of the dog or anything but we felt rejuvenated). 
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