A mounted policeman just rode by our front door.
I knew Dublin had them. In fact, I’ve seen this horse before–the first time I came upon them unexpectedly as they came out of an alley, I understood viscerally just how effective they must have been in pre-motor-vehicle eras–but I had no idea they patrolled anywhere but the city centre. Possibly they’re out here because there’s a match on and we’re a stone’s throw from Croake Park (if you could throw a stone a kilometer, anyway), but that was really seriously kinda cool. :)
We got out of the house at 10am today and popped into the city centre to check out some of the photography exhibition and the open air market down at the Point. Foolishly, we did not bring umbrellas even though rain was predicted, and consequently were forced to buy cheapie ones before we got to the market. The weather and the attendance at the market were poor enough that as we were leaving, the guys in the first booth yelled, “Free smoothies! Free cupcakes!” to us as we passed by–and we didn’t turn back for them. :) We did laugh, though. :) And an Italian woman did get us to buy a jar of yummy spicy red sauce before we left, so it wasn’t a total loss. Or something. :)
Then it was off to the Temple Bar Food Market for meat on a stick and to huddle under the National Library exhibition hall eves while we ate our meat on a stick (actually meat in a bun and prawns & noodles in a plastic container, but who’s counting?). We weren’t particularly enamored of the photography within the hall, but as we were leaving it did strike me that we’ve been living in Dublin for a week and have done two cultural activities already, which is nearly as many as we did the entire time we lived in Cork. :) If we keep this up I may have to start a Life In Dublin review blog or something. You know. In my copious free time.
Came home and in a fit of anticipating my parents dropping by, made this cake, which, as advertised by
Not only did my parents drop by–to announce they’ve found a house in Dublin, in the same area we’re in!–but my sister and nephews arrived, too, so we had a whole houseful. The younger nephew announced that Young Indiana was the cutest thing in the whole house. That, in fact, Young Indiana was cuter than his new kitten, which I thought was high praise indeed. :) And Young Indiana handled all the people very well, and furthermore, discovered his feet. We have a whole series of perfectly hysterical pictures of him discovering his feet, none of which I can show you because we don’t know where the cable for the camera is right now. :)
And now I’m completely exhausted and think tomorrow will be a big day of staying home and cleaning the bathtub so I can take a bath in it.
The Road Home: miles to Isengard: 299.4