Getting to Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland was a long travel day.  Heading out from Glasgow, we headed southwest toward the coast.  When Nigel mentioned Prestwick Airport, it tickled a memory nerve.  When I was 17 I toured Europe with the American Youth Symphony.  We flew from New York City to Prestwick Airport in Scotland.  I was greeted at the airport by someone taking a survey and I couldn’t understand anything he said.  It was as if he was speaking a foreign language!  I haven’t had much trouble understanding Scottish people this trip.  

After the American Youth Symphony landed at Prestwick, we loaded our luggage, gear, and people on buses and drove to Girvan, Scotland.  Girvan is a town on the coast, and I remember it as a delightful place to stay as a teenager.  On the day the symphony arrived, we were met by a pipe and drum band and escorted through town.  It made a big impression on me as a teenager.  We stayed there for a while, practicing for hours every day in the high school gym.  When we had time off, we would walk along the streets of Girvan, climb the moors nearby, and hang out on the beach.  

Back to the present.  After our tour bus passed Prestwick Airport, we drove into Girvan.  I didn’t recognize any of the houses, but we had a short toilet break on the south edge of town and I recognized the scenery.  The moor we climbed to the East and the unique sea stack off the coast.  It brought back wonderful memories of that summer long ago.

We drove on to Cairnryan to catch the P&O ferry to Larne, Ireland.  On the way Nigel entertained us with stories and legends.  One thing he taught us was the acronym “posh.”  I always thought it was just a British word meaning fancy.  Nigel said it is an acronym meaning “port out starboard home.”  Port would be the shady side, the more expensive side, of a ship leaving in the morning, and starboard would be the shady side coming back.  So the rich people, the posh people with the good seats, would stay cool and comfortable.

We boarded the ferry and had very comfortable lounge accommodations for the two hour crossing to Larne in Northern Ireland.  Once the bus unloaded, we were off to the Giants Causeway.  While we were traveling, Nigel told us the legend of Finn McCool and the creation of the causeway.  

Giants Causeway is a basalt deposit along the coast that hardened into stepping stones.  Tom and I envisioned this rugged, wild place where we could climb around with just the people on our tour.  But Giants Causeway has turned into a huge tourist site.  There were thousands of people there.  The causeway was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site and has a huge visitors center with an interactive museum, a gift shop, and a café.  

Tom and I moved through the Visitors Center very quickly.  We had been sitting all day and were eager to climb around on the rocks.  There was a shuttle down to the causeway, but Tom and I enjoyed the walk.  Except for the tourists.  Some tourists pose and pose and pose for pictures.  I can’t count the number of times a woman has been posing in front of beautiful scenery while a friend snaps photos – lots of photos.  And they stay forever with no regard to what is going on around them. I try to snap a quick picture and get out of the way.  But enough grumbling.

The Giants Causeway is amazing.  Tom and I carefully climbed on the columns out to the end of the causeway.  We waited for a while for one couple to stop posing but finally gave up and took our pictures in another direction. Plenty to see and lots of room.  

All too soon it was time to head back toward the bus.  We overestimated how long it would take us to walk back up the hill, so we had time to check out the museum and gift shop.  Nothing tempting at the gift shop but plenty of interesting science in the museum. 

Back on the bus we continued to our hotel in Londonderry for the night and supper.