Being Part of Something Giant

Today, to celebrate my last day in Northern Ireland, I went on an all-day tour of the northern coast. It was fabulous and beautiful. We started in downtown Belfast - where, just 15 years ago, armed guards and police , then drove north up the coast and saw some heart-piercingly beautiful scenery. We drove through five "glens" - little villages whose name each had a story, like "Glenarm" is short for "The gathering place of the army" and it was some protestant vs. catholic thing I'm sure. The drive was beautiful - so green, so much ocean and sky it was heartbreaking. We then went to a rope bridge - I didn't think I'd be scared because I'm not usually afraid of heights - but I have to say, about halfway across this thing, I about freaked out. I'm not sure how high it is, but whoa hey...and it makes it worse that it swings and creaks like it's not going to hold you...and they don't regulate how many people can cross at time - they do regulate the direction though, and they take turns letting people go one way to the "island" and back the other direction. I met a nice English couple that was on the same tour bus as me standing in line to cross back the other way.
Then, we went to the Giants Causeway - apparently, a NATURAL construction of rocks and stones that used to cross all the way over to Scotland. These octagon-like stacks of rocks came up from the center of the earth and were cooled in the formation they are in (they look man-made, honestly) and then, over time, the sea swallowed the connection to Scotland. There is an Irish pub near my church in Seattle with the name "Fin MacCool's" and now I know a story behind it: So, when the Causeway connected Scotland and Ireland, the Scottish king wanted to come take over Ireland. Fin MacCool was in charge of Northern Ireland at the time and knew he could not beat the Scottish Army so, when he heard that the Scottish king was coming, he ran home to his wife and newborn baby and hid the baby. He crawled into the crib himself and pretended to be the baby. When the Scottish king came by Fin MacCool's house, his wife was pushing her "baby" around in the stroller and the Scottish king thought, "Wow, if this is Fin MacCool's BABY, then HE himself must be a giant." He got scared and sent his army back the other way, destroying the Causeway after crossing it so Fin MacCool's troops wouldn't have the chance to come back and retaliate.
The Causeway was beautiful, though, and I'm glad we got about two hours to hang out there. I clibmed around, seeing how sure-footed I was (I did not wrench my ankle!), and sat and let the sea breeze blow my hair all around, and just WAS with God. It was awesome.
Then, we drove through a few more adorable, heart-breakingly beautiful villages and then, to the oldest distillery in the world: Bushmill's Distillery, built in 1608. Then, we stopped at Dunlusce Castle - another stunning beauty - before driving home. All in all, the tour (about 50 people on a bus) took about 8 hours. I was gone 12 hours because the bus ride to Belfast from Saintfield takes 40 minutes, and the walk from the bus stop to Sally's house takes half an hour, etc.
So, I permanently leave Sally's home in about 6 hours. I'll fly from Belfast to London Heathrow, wait two hours then fly to Geneva where I'll have to call Matthias (the friend I'm staying with in Switzerland) and let him know what train I'll be taking to Bern (and Swiss people are always on time because they, of course, invented time). I've spent the last three hours fighting with my suitcase, organizing, cleaning, cooking (now that I know you can get food through airport security, I don't have to buy airport food anymore) and, of course, writing this blog!
The next time you "see" me here, I'll probably be in the capitol of Switzerland!