Luck o' the Irish

Ireland. What can I say about Ireland? Well, first I should mention that my family's obsession with the green glens of Ireland quickly took hold in my heart. It was one of my "must see"s in Europe. So, with the last of our fifteen day bus pass (you can read more about that fiasco in the previous post) we rode a bus from Paris to Dublin, and then caught the first bus from Dublin to Belfast.

Having lost/forgotten our coats and umbrella earlier on the trip, of course it was freezing outside when we finally got off the bus. We thought it might just be worth the extra money to get a cab. But guess what: Northern Ireland--unlike Ireland--used the pound and, of course, we had only euros and couldn't find an ATM. However, most places in Europe that aren't on the Euro will also take pounds, so we tried our luck. The first cab driver said he only took pounds, and so did the second. (Imagine, for the first time in my life I'm wishing I had more pounds instead of less!) The third one finally said, "Yeah, I'll take euros!"  I could have jumped for joy! "How much?" Ty asked. "Twenty euros." I laughed out loud. We only wanted to go two miles. For those of us who aren't math majors, that's ten euros a mile!

With a cab being out of the question, we found an information desk, asked them where an ATM was and if a public transport bus went by our hotel (it did) and went on our merry way to find the bus. From this moment on I completely fell in love with Northern Ireland.

The bus driver waited for five minutes to give change back to a kid who forgot to get it, and then was so completely helpful with us. Most people are so exasperated with tourists, but this man was really helpful and even told us where to get off and how to get to our hotel from there.

Then, we made it to our hotel. A Bed and Breakfast. A middle-aged man let us in. By this time we had been traveling for 26 hours, and it was ten o'clock in the morning. Check in time was supposed to be two o'clock, so we knew we had a pretty small chance at getting a room so early. He seemed a bit flustered at first.

*Cue Irish accent.* "I'm terribly sorry, but we haven't got a room yet. Boy you look tired though. Maybe you could go have a bit of tea, get a bite to eat and come back? We'll give you the first room we have ready. Maybe you can try Springsteen's? They have great food there. Yes, just come back in an hour or so and we'll see what we have."

The biggest and maybe best plate of food we've had the whole trip, and one large cappuccino later we made our way back to the hotel. He let us in and said he's sorry, but he was going to have to give us a room in a house... We got a whole house to ourselves! So the first thing we did? Slept. For about five hours. Well rested in a cozy house, we went out and explored Belfast. It was a cute little town with a lot of shops and brick buildings. Finally, we bought some food for supper and had a really nice meal in our rented house. 

We were pleasantly surprised the next morning when we discovered what "fries" means in Ireland. Turns out a "fry" consists of toast, potato bread, eggs, sausages, and ham/bacon. It is true that a big breakfast is the start to a great day! This was the day we took a tour to the most popular sights in Northern Ireland.

First, we stopped by a seaside castle, and Ty tested my nerves as he crawled up and down rocks. Look at that face... It's the face of a daredevil! 

After the stop by the castle, we went to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope bridge. It's about ninety feet down to the water from the bridge and you have to walk about sixty feet to cross it. The bridge sways--especially when it's windy outside--as you walk across. Some people have to be coaxed to cross the bridge back. It's not so bad... as long as you don't look down.

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By some sort of miracle Ty and I survived the rope bridge! The tour guides must have thought the bridge would be tough on our nerves, so after that ordeal they took us to the oldest licensed distillery in Europe.

We followed the leprechaun tracks, and they led us directly to Bushmills Distillery! Bushmills even gave us a free sample of their "Twelve-Year Reserve." We didn't even get carded. The bartender asked how old we were, Ty and I looked at each other, I said, "Twenty." He shrugged and poured us a couple of shots! At this point, I fell even more in love with Northern Ireland.

As if the rope bridge, castles, and free whiskey weren't enough to make me love Northern Ireland, the view from the picture below sealed the deal.

This is a view from the Giant's Causeway. The rocks are impressive and all, but you can't beat that view!

These are the rocks that made the Giant's Causeway famous. They're all shaped like hexagons and perfectly lined up in layers. There's a pretty cool legend to go along with how the rocks formed. The legend is way cooler than the scientific way it formed. Read it here!

I really am at a loss of how to describe how amazing this place was, so since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll just use pictures instead!

After we saw the Causeway, we got back on the bus to Belfast and spent our last night there. Northern Ireland was definitely my favorite part of the trip so far. I could have spend hours and hours at Giant's Causeway and I never would have gotten tired of the view. Maybe it's because I'm part Irish, but I keep feeling luckier all the time!