As I’m writing this, it’s raining outside and I can hear the water on the road as the cars drive by. It drums up memories of my soggy (but oh-so-enjoyable) trip to Ireland. What better place to write about for this Wednesday’s Wandering Bard post, right?
Grab a jacket and an umbrella – you’ll need it!
Today we’re heading here:
That’s pretty much the color of the sky here too. And you know it was wet and cold – just check out my professor all bundled up on the left!
This is the Giant’s Causeway. Now, before you scroll down and sneak a peek at the pictures I have of this place, I want to give you some background information. Here’s the legend behind the creation of the Causeway…
There was an Irish warrior called Fionn who had heard about another Giant that resided in Scotland. In order to prove himself (as men so often feel the need to do), he began to build a bridge across the water. (There are several different versions of what happens next, but I’ll give you the one I like best.) When he saw the size of the other Giant (who was much, much bigger than he was), Fionn ran away. Hearing of the challenger, the other Giant made his way across the bridge and into Ireland. Fionn’s wife – being the creative an intelligent person she was – decided to disguise her husband as a baby. Upon seeing the size of the baby, the other Giant figured that the father must be enormous and decided not to risk a fight with him. He turned around and fled back to Scotland – destroying the bridge as he went.
There’s also a scientific explanation – about 60 billion years ago there was a lot of volcanic activity in this region. The lava was made of molten basalt, which found its way through beds made of chalk to form a lava plateau as it hit the ocean. When it cooled rapidly, the lava turned to stone. Due to the nature of the rock, it formed pillar-like structures. Most of the pillars are hexagonal in shape, but some have more or less sides.
Sound cool? It was!
This section was probably 30 feet tall.
It just seems to go on forever!
I wear a size 11, so you know that’s a big rock! Gosh, I miss those shoes…
The BFF. I’m on top of the hill you’ll see in the next picture…
At one point we were both up there and had to crouch down and hold onto each other. That wind was strong!
And then our bus broke down…
It wasn’t too bad of a wait. I busied myself with eating some Irish chocolate. 🙂
After our discussion on found art, a few of you told me you like natural-made art. This place is like nature’s Sistine Chapel. It most certainly is art in my eyes. What do you think?
Karen Rought - The Midnight Novelist 