rabbitIng: tempus fugit ...

... or, as one might say, doesn't time fly when you're having fun!

And fun we were having - good craic! We started our Irish sojourn in Dublin - where else? Another lifelong ambition realised. It was great fun. Sadly our camera decided to burst its one button, so we could take very few photos, for fear of destroying it completely.

But we managed to get round a good few things in our two days in Dublin, starting with Trinity College, and the Book of Kells. Oh glory, how wonderful it was. And Trinity College too. We had a wonderful tour guided by a student, who made it both interesting and amusing, not least by relating and then conforming to various superstitions in order not to jeopardize his exam results.

And then came, of course, Molly Malone (with Trinity College behind her):

My father used to sing Molly Malone and many other Irish songs whilst shaving, and there was a myth that there was Irish in our background - with not much foundation, I have since found. Although he, three of his brothers and his sister certainly had a celtic look about them, being small and wiry, with black wavy hair and piercing blue eyes. I grew up thinking/wishing/hoping that I might somehow be connected with that romantic land, and now I am - but only through my grandson Finn's Irish mother. Strange how our dreams can come true in ways we never dreamt of!

Then a swift visit to a hero of mine, James Joyce (and yes, I have read Ulysses, which puts me in good company, Marilyn Monroe, frinstance! And I saw Joseph Stick's film, when it first came out in 1967 - and scandalous it was thought too! Ah, sweet innocence, all gone now.):

Sadly, the Floozie in the Jaccuzzi (check out this website for some other equally scurrilous examples of Dublin humour in renaming their famous landmarks), i.e., the statue of the spirit of the Liffey River, Anna Livia, has had to make way for the Millenium Spire, but we were reliably informed a new space will be found for her soon.

Our next port of call was maybe more prosaic, but every bit as interesting: the Guinness Brewery or, as they now call it Guinness Storehouse. Oh my, oh my! The place is huge, the exhibition fantastic and, best bit of all, it ends high up in the new Gravity Bar with a free pint of the black nectar itself! And the view over Dublin is unsurpassed, especially through the bottom of a glass! ;)

Now, don't be misled by this next picture into thinking that my dearly beloved was converted from his wine-bibbing. It's all a ruse:

In fact, I had to make the ultimate sacrifice, and drink both pints. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it ...

And before I left Dublin, I just had to have a picture of these wonderful - what, exactly? Sea horses? Mersteeds? Any information/suggestions will be gratefully entertained.