Tag: Travel

Giant’s Causeway – Photo

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While in Belfast, my wife and I took a tour up to the Giant’s Causeway. We have been looking forward to this tour since we decided to come to Ireland. In fact, it is part of the reason that we chose Ireland in the first place.

How the Causeway was Formed

Way back in the day, the Irish giant, Finn MacCool, wanted to go and fight the Scottish giant, Benandonner. Finn built a pathway from Ireland over to Scotland, but upon nearing Scotland realized that the Scottish giant was much bigger than him. Finn came back and asked his wife what he should do. She thought for a moment and told him to dress up like a baby and to lay in the crib. Then she left. The Scottish giant came across the pathway to fight the Irish giant. He came into the house and saw the crib. Looking inside, he was afraid, “If their babies are this large, how big can his da be?” He ran back across the stone path, tearing it up as he went so that the Irish giant would not come to his island.

Of course, then you’ve got some scientists trying to tell everyone that the Causeway was formed “as a result of rock crystallization under conditions of accelerated cooling, this usually occurs when molten lava comes into immediate contact with water, as happens today in Hawaii, the resulting fast accelerated cooling process causes cracking and results in what we see today at the causeway.” But we all know the real story, don’t we Finn? 😉

(click on picture to view full-sized)

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There is no real way to describe the feeling you get when visiting the Causeway. It is interesting to see the uniformity of the hexagonal stones on the ground and realize that it is a natural formation. They could easily be man-made paving stones. Then when you see that the stones “laying on the ground” are actually the tips of columns that could be meters in length it becomes even more amazing!

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Victoria Square – Photo

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I mentioned in Thursday’s post that my wife and I headed out after lunch (and the rain stopped) to explore more of Belfast on foot. One of the places we visited was Victoria Square. Victoria Square is a roofed outdoor mall, if that makes any sense. Traveling down the road (foot traffic only) you walk underneath a roof and you’re inside the mall, though you are still outside! The individual shops are separately enclosed, and since it was rather cool outside, we gladly stepped in some of them to warm up occasionally. The square is dominated by a glass dome that includes an observation platform which one can see most of the city.

Here is a picture from one of the third floor pathways, showing one of the mall entrances. You can see that “inside” and “outside” are merged quite successfully.
Victoria Square

We stopped at a small shop called the Cookie Box and got some hot drinks (hot chocolate for me and tea for my wife) and some delicious cookies! We carried them into the mall and sat on a bench to enjoy them. While there we saw the characters shown in the Scavenger Hunt under the Traditional Dress heading. We also headed up to the observation platform to see the city from above. Beautiful! (Unfortunately none of those photos really turned out.)

Lil Red Taxi – Photo

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Went up to Belfast last weekend. Saw some beautiful scenery, visited some amazing places and learned some fascinating history (I guess current history, as the Troubles are still on-going). All of those places, and my favorite picture is of this lil taxi that we took a tour in. I paused while walking back from shooting some photos and quickly grabbed this one. Good thing it turned out so well, as I only took one!
Red Car

As you can see, we had a bit of rain. The day started out nice and sunny, if cold, and towards the end of the tour it began to rain and then snow on us. Fortunately for us it didn’t last long; we ate lunch in the hostel and by then it had cleared up so we were able to continue exploring the city.

I would love to have entered this into the Photo Scavenger Hunt for transportation, but had already submitted the bicycle photo. That’s ok, though, as I still get to share it with you, here. 😀

Seek Out a New Version of Your Everyday Products

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I hate chores and don’t like doing them. Unfortunately, my life tends to include some chores that I have to take care of. Shopping, for example. In order to work around the idea that it is a chore, I make it into an adventure. Looking at it as an expedition, I enjoy shopping and look forward to trips to the store.

One of the things that I do is to explore the different versions of the stuff that I have to buy. When you go shopping, do you always buy X brand of yogurt, Y brand of toilet paper and Z brand of clothes? Unless I have tried most of the options out there and settled on one that I prefer, I will continue to try new versions. This does make the trip a bit longer, but it helps keep it from seeming like just another chore.

Here’s a recent example: Before leaving for Ireland, I was perusing the food co-cop’s hygeine section and came across J.R. Liggett’s Old-Fashioned Bar Shampoo. It particularly caught my interest at that time because a shampoo bar would take up much less room in my luggage than a bottle and also cause no trouble when passing through security checkpoints. (Even better, if I liked it, it would not only work for this trip but also for camping.) I purchased a bar, put it in my luggage, and away I went!

I’ve never used a bar shampoo but figured it couldn’t hurt to try. The label states “This shampoo will not strip the natural oils from your hair so most people do not need a conditioner.” Since I was trying to save room while packing, not having to carrry conditioner sounded good to me! Worst-case scenario, I would not like the shampoo and would have to buy a bottle to replace the bar.

By now, a couple of months have passed since I purchased my shampoo bar, and I doubt that I will be returning to a liquid shampoo. My hair feels healthier than before, and I haven’t used any conditioner. My wife also tried the shampoo bar and liked it, except for the fact that I purchased an unscented bar. Once I told her that it also comes in a variety of smells, she was interested in gettting some for herself.

Without taking the time to explore a new section at the store (which was only a recent find itself), my hair would not be healthier, my haircare routine would involve an extra step and I would have bought yet another bottle of the same shampoo that I had been using for years. Who knows what I will find next time…

Now, instead of just blindly following your list, take the extra bit of time to seek out the adventures that shopping list of yours points to. Explore the offerings of the deodorant department, peruse the sock selections and try a new fresh fruit flavor! Your new favorite might be waiting just behind the next purchase!