... Hoping to be officially Irish by association.

Our last day in Dublin, we trekked down to Dublin Castle.
A friendly little Irish man took us on a tour around the official rooms.



Lady Liberty looks in on the Castle, the houses of parliament, and not out on the people of Dublin. They find that apt and amusing.





They had to strap him to a chair, but they still executed him.







It used to have large lions feet. but it was too tall for Queen Victoria so they cut them off and added a footstool!







All that remains of the ancient river poddle.











Christ Church Cathedral













(Containing the heart of a Saint)





Did you know that Handel's Messiah was first performed in Dublin?
Neither did I.



13th April 1742







He came out shortly after a fire alarm saying "only a small fire. Nothing to worry about". Eep.



My first photo as a 24-year old.



Pigeons!!
In London they have bird-spikes all over everything.



Poor sweet soldier bag. It started to split!



Giant Jesus statue.
Seriously, that thing was MY HEIGHT. Which, admittedly, isn't all that tall. But for an ornamental Jesus statue? pretty tall.



I had to run to the bus because I decided to find this little plaque.
But his blue door made me happy.

I'm sure it was the same colour back then. DON'T RUIN MY ILLUSION.





My poor broken bag. My poor blurry husband.

It took 6 hours travel to get home. Bus, plane, train and bus. But Ireland was lovely.

Next time I really want to visit for a couple of weeks, rent a car and travel around.
Pretty purple-heathered Ireland.

My birthday was pretty horrible.

I cried in a faux-fifties diner.
But I don't want to talk about that.

'The Tart With The Cart', 'The Dish With The Fish' and 'The Trollop With The Scallops'

Our third morning in Dublin dawned as sunny as those prior.
I sat by my bag bemoaning my lack of temperate clothes (a jacket and 4 jerseys? useless. 2 spring weight tops? already worn. damnitall) while Craig looked at the map. And realised that (surprise!) we'd been walking the long way into the centre of Dublin so far.



Harcourt Street.





Grafton Street.





Berks.











They decided against "The Ring of Death House" and "The Ring of Infidelity House"



A ... Saint. Probably Patrick.





(don't worry. We gave him euros as well)



She died of a fever, and no one could save her,
And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone,
Now her ghost wheels her barrow, though the streets broad and narrow,
crying "cockles and mussells, alive, alive-o

My mother used to sing this to me at night when I was a child and trying to get to sleep. A ghost story.
She sang a ghost story to me every night and now marvels at how morbid I am.







I fail to see the resemblence.







Crossing Stephens, that is my green

We sat in St Stephen's Green for quite some time. Watching about 1/3 of Dublin who were also there, walking and sitting in the verdure while the leaves changed colour around us.