Today, I took a break to try and shake off the jet lag from our trip over. The indefatigable Jeanette however, hit the hop on hop off bus and went to explore Dublinia, an exhibition of the way of life in the times of the Vikings and the Middle Ages. She followed this up her very favourite travel activity namely church visiting and she checked out two cathedrals, St Patrick’s and Christ Church.
I wandered down to our hotel’s bar for a quiet lunch. At the table next to me were two priests having lunch and I couldn’t help but overhear some of their conversation. If you adjusted for the clerical references, it was just like the shop talk you would hear from two friends having a chat in an RAAF Officers mess back in my day.
One thing that amazed me is that here in Dublin, one of the world’s strongest Catholic countries, the two biggest Cathedrals that you encounter here are both Anglican.
After lunch I went for a wander in Merrion Square Park. A lovely large green oasis, it was full of people enjoying the sun.
I spotted a bird there which I had never seen before. I think is an Eurasian magpie. It is smaller than our magpies and in addition to its black and white colouring, its wings and tail had a blue or green colour depending on how the light hit it. Not my greatest shot I will admit but my subject was not all that cooperative.
Like Vincent Place in Albert Park , Merrion Square was surrounded by rows of what in their day would have been very impressive residences but today are mainly offices or consulates.Still very pretty.
A feature that struck me were the colourful doors. The locals tell a story that in the Victorian era, on the passing of Prince Albert, the Queen directed that all doors should be painted black in mourning. The Irish not liking to be told what to do, responded by painting their doors all the colours of the rainbow.
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Hardys’ Travels 