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05 Nov 2006: Dublin



A picture

Children of Lir

North of the River Liffey, is Parnell Square. There you can find the Garden of Remembrance, which remembers... ah shoot, I don't recall. It's a nice little spot of green with a statue depicting the Children of Lir above.

Apparently, a naughty lady called Aoife was jealous of her stepchildren and so used magic to transform them in swans. Aoife got turned into an air demon as punishment for doing this.

I thought this statue was cool; I noticed it immediately on our journey on the Aircoach from the airport to Grafton Street. A handful more interesting that the Spire of Dublin a.k.a. Monument of Light, which is just a great big needle pointing upwards at, well, clouds. I shouldn't dismiss it so quickly, really, it does have a few dainty lights at its pinnacle at night to make sure that helicopters don't smash into it. Or get impaled on it, I guess.

There were a lot of Garda hanging around when we visited and finally found the explanation in the signs plastered on every lamppost. A big rally was being held by Sinn Féin on health reform with guest speaker Gerry Adams at 1pm. I checked my watch. It was 1pm.