Dublin 2012 - Day 3

I was out of action yesterday after picking up the virus that Claire and Alice have had. It left me feeling totally drained, with a splitting headache and feeling sick. I'm glad to say, this morning I felt a little bit better and this afternoon I am feeling better still. Hoping that by tomorrow I'll be back to normal.  In the meantime ...

Day 3

I woke up early on the morning of Day 3 and seeing as neither Jon or Emily were awake by the time I'd had a shower and got ready, I thought I'd go downstairs and have a walk around the little park opposite the hotel.

Our Hotel

 The park is the Croppies Memorial Park, which is in memory of the Croppy Boys of the 1798 rebellion (named Croppy because of their cropped hair cuts).  The Croppies Acre memorial is on the next site along, below the Museum at Collins Barracks, which is believed to be where their bodies were buried after execution.

 It was lovely and peaceful walking round the park, even with the rush hour traffic on the other side of the fence.

 The statue in the pond is Ana Livia who used to be in a fountain in O'Connell Street and was known as "The Floozie in the Jacuzi" because she was surrounded by the fountains - not so much in this setting though.

 Looking across the park towards the hotel

 And this one was taken from the hotel side of the road, looking across the park towards Heuston Station.

Once Jon and Emily were up and we'd had breakfast we decided to head back to town to catch the Dart from Connolley Station to Howth (about 25 minutes north of Dublin).   As we came out the station there was a little shop with a free map of the area and headed towards the harbour.

As we approached I heard a lady standing by the harbour wall saying "they're so sweet!" so we went over to see what she was talking about and there were two seals in the water.

 This one looked like quite a wise old man but what got me was that his eyes looked sad.

 This one seemed a bit younger.

I also never realised how big their noses are - random I know but it was one of the things I noticed.

 A few of the fish shops and restaurants along the harbour

 Fishing boat

 The lighthouse

 Looking out to Ireland's Eye which, we realised while we were there, we had seen from the plane as we approached Dublin.

 Nicky's Plaice

 We then walked back round the harbour heading towards the sea

 past the Marina

 and on to the sea wall, which we followed all the way round to the lighthouse.

 This was the boat taking people out to Ireland's Eye.  I zoomed in to get the photo so, no, we didn't go on it.  It left before we got to where it had been berthed and wasn't back by the time we were making our way back again.

 Emily catching up with us after taking a few photos of her own.  I love how we see different things when we're out.

 Jon in front of the beacon.

 The lighthouse

 Walking back towards the station I spotted this High Cross.  We had seen an exhibition of High Crosses at the museum when we went on the Wednesday but they had been made from casts so it was nice to see one in it's actual setting.

A close up of the writing on the base.

Howth was definitely a favourite and I took quite a number of photos. I'd be unable to put them all up on the blog but if you want to see a few more, there are some on flickr.  

xx