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Published: April 7th 2013
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I started off the day waking up at 3:15 am so that we could leave by 4 to catch the tour bus. The ride there took a bit longer than we had anticipated because we had such a hard time finding the parking ramp in Dublin. We got to the bus just in time. The driver was about to leave without us. That was a very stressful start to the day. Once we got on the bus, the driver introduced himself to us. His name was Wayne. The beginning of the trip he let everyone sleep a little because there wasn't much to tell us until a little later. We came by some mountains and he told us a story about Queen Maeve, who at one time lived in the area. She was a warrior queen and was courting a man with exactly the same as him. They both had the same amount of cattle and land and were considered equals. The only difference between the two was that the man had a great white bull and she had nothing that could even compare. In the mountains though, there was a man that had a brown bull that was legendary. She
tried to buy the bull off the man and he wouldn't let her. So she invaded him. He had the help of some nearby armies. The queen won though because she gave all the men except one labor cramps and took the bull. The bull ended up getting sick because it didn't like it's new environment and he died. She returned the dead bull to the man. There was some street art by the road on the way north of the bull. Once we got into Northern Ireland, there were beautiful landscapes and cute little port towns everywhere. Just absolutely stunning. The church graveyards were full of Celtic crosses which is truly as Irish and you can get. As were were driving by a cliff, the bus driver slowed down and showed us some caves in the side. These were used when the Catholics were being prosecuted in Ireland to teach children about Catholicism in a hidden place so that they wouldn't get killed for doing it. At the time, if a you had a Catholic Mass and someone found out, the priest and most of the congregation would be killed.
One of our first real stops was at
the Rope Bridge. This is a little bridge that hangs 30-40 meters above the water. The original bridge was built there about 300 years ago for fishermen to cross to get better fishing. Obviously the rope has been changed and made sure it is safe more recently. Mom was very scared to go across and Corbin kept bouncing the bridge when my mom and I tried to cross because he knew we were scared. The area was very beautiful though. The water made it look like we were in the Mediterranean, but we knew we weren't because it was too cold for that!
The next stop was at the Giant's Causeway. The legend says that there was a giant from Ireland and a giant from Scotland. The Giant in Scotland would yell and make fun of the Irish Giant. So, of course, the Irish Giant wanted some revenge. One night he carved stepping stones out of the stone and threw them into the water to make a path to Scotland. When he crossed during the night, he saw that the Scotland Giant was twice as big as him and there was no way that he could defeat him. So
Cave
Where Catholicism was taught when it was illegal he ran back to Ireland distraught with what he did. He made a way for this huge giant that hates him to come to Ireland. He went and told his wife what he did and she reassured him that it was going to be okay. The next morning when the Scotland giant woke up, he saw the path the other giant had made. He started running over to Ireland. The Irish giant's wife told her husband to dress up like a baby and make baby sounds. The Scotland giant knocked on their door looking for the Irish giant. The Irish giant's wife asked him to come in for tea and wait for her husband to come home. The Scotland giant noticed the "baby' in the corner and asked about it. The wife said that that was her husband and her 6 month old child. The Scotland giant got up and ran out of the house, because if the giant's child was that big, he didn't want to see the father. As he ran back across the Causeway, he destroyed it as he went. That is why the Causeway doesn't go all the way to Scotland. All the rock s there
are hexagons. It was one of the most unique natural wonders I have ever seen!
On our way to our last stop in Belfast, we stopped to see the McDonald Castle that was built on the edge of a cliff. Not the best place to build the castle because a storm destroyed the castle while they were living there. That would be so scary to live through, having your home collapse under you. After this short stop, we made the long haul to Belfast. We had an hour and a half in the city. we went into the City Hall. They had the document that declared Belfast a city on display. The stained glass windows were very pretty and they symbolized important events in the history of Northern Ireland, like the potato famine and the union of UK and Ireland. There was also a wedding going, which was really interesting because it was so big and in America the weddings in the city halls are not so big and intricate. After exploring the Hall, we went to the Victoria Shopping center. Ii searched for a hat for the horse races and found one! i cannot wait to wear it!
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