The Giant's Causeway, or how the Irish (giant) defeated the Scottish (Giant)

Most of us had a slow start this morning. By "most of us" I mean me, Kai, and Tess. Michael's start was a wee bit more exciting (turns out the Irish do actually use the word "wee" all the time). But he'll fill you in on that story tomorrow. Suffice it to say for now, future houseswappers take note- detailed house manuals are a good idea!

So today we headed out to the Giant's Causeway, a World Heritage Site conveniently located about 10 minutes from the house. Though it was about a 20 minute hike down to the Causeway itself, the views were beautiful even from the top. Here's looking in one direction:

And here is looking in the other:

The Giant's Causeway itself is a breathtaking- and absolutely crazy- series of rock formations. The Irish, of course, have a great story that explains the formation. It goes something like this:

Once there was an Irish giant named Finn MacCool (or Fin mac Cumaill). He decided he wanted to fight a Scottish giant named Benandonner. To allow for the battle, Finn created an enormous bridge from Ireland to Scotland. To the right, you can see part of it.

But when he saw the size of Benandonner, Finn was terrified. Boy had he made a mistake. He fled. Some say he was so scared he took off his boots and tossed them away so that he could run faster.

He ran all the way home (see the smoke stacks?)to his wife Oonagh and begged her to dress him up like his own baby, reasoning that if Benandonner thought Finn's baby was so enormous, he would flee, terrified by the thought of how big Finn himself must be. Oonagh complied. When Benandonner arrived, he was indeed shocked at the size of Finn's "baby."

But Oonagh did one better, baking, before Benandonner arrived, two loaves of soda bread, one with rocks and one without. She offered some to Benandonner as he waited for Finn, and gave him the loaf with rocks. She then gave "baby" Finn the loaf without. While Benandonner crunched the rocks, shattering teeth, Finn ate his bread with no trouble, cooing happily.

At that, Benandonner, convinced that Finn must be a monster to behold if his baby was this strong, fled, tearing up the bridge as he went, so that Finn couldn't follow. And so, The Irish are left with one end of the bridge, and the Scots left with the other- columns of similar rock formations are found in Finigal's Cave in Scotland.

The Irish also have this formation (right), said to be the organ Finn made for his son Ossian.

The storytellers somehow missed the fact that the Causeway was great for mermaids- human and otherwise.

For those of you more scientifically oriented, the rock formations, uniquely hexagonally shaped, were formed about 60 million years ago when lava cooled slowly and evenly.

We hiked up the cliffwalk (Kai was a trooper and Tess hitched a ride on Michael's shoulders) and then headed back home, for a dinner of fish and chips. No pints tonight. We dove into the Bushmills Whiskey, distilled right up the street, in the oldest distillery in the world!

Tomorrow- castles.

Jodi