Five Feet, Nine Inches Above Ground

Tuesday August 13 2024

My first full day in the city and it wasn’t raining! – yet! the River Liffey is a feature of the city that cannot be ignored. It divides the city contained within human made stonewalls with bridges at convenient points to cross the waters. It’s not the only rivet in town: there are three others, the Dodder, the Poddle and the Camac. They aren’t as evident as the Liffey because they have been covered by development of the city over the centuries sometimes to the detriment of some buildings such as a part of the Castle. More about that later. My goal for the day was to visit as many sites as possible while the weather remained favourable. So, I set out in the direction of Phoenix Park and the Dublin Zoo with a stop along the way at the Arbour Hill National Memorial behind the National Museum of Ireland formerly the Collins Barracks.

Arbour Hill Cemetery is the final resting place of 14 of the executed leaders of the Easter 1916 uprising. They include Patrick Pearse, James Connelly and Major John MacBride. the remains of the water fountain outside the museum were a water fountain gifted to the city by Charles Manners the 4th Duke of Rutland in 1785 to provide freshwater at Barrack Street. The Duke was a well-liked Viceroy from 1784 to 1787 when he died from a fondness for claret at the age of 33. The fountain was dismantled during a typhoid epidemic in 1889 and eventually was transferred to the Collins Barracks where it was used as a urinal by the soldiers for many years. Today, it’s simply a monument to the past.

It was as much fun observing the people as the animals at Dublin Zoo! From the zoo, I retraced my steps towards the centre of town in the direction of Christ Church Cathedral and the Castle. This time, the Cathedral was open. But first, a stop-off at St. Audoen’s Church, the only remaining medieval parish church in Dublin.

And then Christ Church Cathedral…

My next planned stop was the Irish seat of government, the Castle. However, the guided tours for the day were sold out (sigh) so I made other choices postponing the Castle until the morrow. I headed off in direction of the childhood home of Oscar Wilde.

I arrived in time to watch the film presentation about Wilde’s life and explore the house before crossing the street to Merrion Park and the Oscar Wilde Memorial Sculpture. In Dublin, there’s always a park to explore!

By this point, I needed a bit of a rest and, conveniently, there was entertainment.

And another day in this amazing city begins to wind down – for me, anyway! Time for food and a restorative Guinness.