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Day 3 Itinerary
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- Donegal
- Derry
- Giant's Causeway
- Armagh
Day 3 Impressions
Giant's Causeway - Reagan
We took a trip out of our way today to visit the Giant's Causeway in County Antrim in the north of Ireland. Although the bus ride there and back was tough, the causeway itself is one of the most breathtaking things I've ever seen. The hexagonal basalt columns look different than almost any other rick I've ever seen. They stretch way out into the ocean, almost like a pier, pointing towards Scotland.
They told us the fairy tales of how these were formed: how 60 million years ago lava cooled into these pillars, but we know the truth. The giant Finn MacCool built a causeway to Scotland to challenge the Sottish giant Ben an-Donner. When Finn saw how big he was, though, he fled back to Ireland. Ben an-Donner came looking for him, so his wife, Oonagh, dressed him as a baby. When Ben an-Donner saw the size of the baby, he feared the father, who must be so much bigger, so he ran to Scotland, tearing up the causeway as he went to prevent Finn from following.
Teaching - Mike
The first picture on this page is me teaching the others, particularly the younger ones, about the history and culture of Ireland. I figured that this trip would be more beneficial if they had a background knowledge of the sights they were seeing. We talked about the history of Ireland from the misty legends of the Tuatha de Dannan through the Christianization of Ireland and the struggles with British Imperialism and plantation up to the war that finally brought independence to most of Ireland. Each day we would move through the spectrum of history. On certain occasions, like today, I would skip ahead to talk about a more pertinent topic. Today was of course Northern Ireland and how it came to be up and the troubled times that followed through the Good Friday Peace Agreement and the power sharing government of Stormont. I hope my efforts helped them to understand the country and the situation better.Day 3 Photos
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