Luck o' the Irish

Greetings from Ireland! My whirlwind trip of Europe is coming to an close, but what a great way to end! I came to Ireland hoping to see natural beauty, and I found it. The first two days I spent wandering around Dublin and Belfast - they're fun cities with things to see, but not much different from any other European city, and I've seen a lot of churches and city halls this trip. So I jumped at the chance yesterday to take a chartered bus ride along the eastern seacoast and then along the beautiful northern coast.

We first stopped at an island with a rope bridge connection to the shore. Fishermen used this bridge to get to better fishing spots, and not it's a thrill for tourists to cross the bridge - 100 feet high, 60 feet long. The entire coast line was beautiful, the ground soft and green, and the air so fresh! Directly north of us - the North Pole! Of course we couldn't see it, but we were able to see Scotland off in the distance!

The next stop was called Giant's Causeway, a geological formation of lava flow that hardened 65 million years ago into geometric formations! The legend says a giant layed the stones down so he could walk to Scotland and battle with another giant there. Once again, the coast is just stunning. I think I was staring at the cliffs of insanity! The rain started coming down, and I got quite drenched, but when you've only got a day in Northern Ireland, you don't complain. :) I've had fun being with Darek, and we have
done a bunch with his good friend David. They have been very kind to me, David driving us around in his car, and it's been great to reunite with Darek. There have been many other spiritual and emotional adventures, but I guess I'll just save those for next week when I'm home! Love you all! Can't wait to see everyone.