The luck of the Irish… a perfect day in Dublin.

Tuesday 3^rd September

Today’s pedometer reading 8.9 k’s.

This morning we set off for the famous Moore Street fruit and vegetable market. When we arrived we could tell something out of the ordinary was happening and ventured down to have a look and found that a scene for the TV program ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’ was being filmed!

That's Mrs Brown in the pink cardigan.

We stayed and watched for about 10 minutes, it was quite interesting. With part of the market blocked off it wasn’t in full swing but we got the general idea…we were surprised to see fish in trays of ice in the open air for sale…it smelt very fishy!

From there we strolled down O’Connell Street and looked in some of the interesting shops along the way.

This is ‘The Monument of Light’, an elegant stainless steel spire that rises 120 metres (394 ft). Nelson’s Pillar stood on the site of the Spire until it was destroyed following  a bombing in 1966 by former IRA members. During the day it maintains its steel look, but at dusk the monument appears to merge into the sky. The base of the monument is lit and the top 12 m (39 ft) is illuminated to provide a beacon in the night sky across the city.

I love the street lights in Dublin, they have shamrocks on them…there are a couple of different designs.

The weather today is perfect, the temperature is 21 degrees, the wind has died down completely and there isn’t a cloud in the sky.

Next stop Merrion Square…

During the early 18th century, Dublin, Ireland rose to become one of the British Empire's most prominent and prosperous cities.  Dubliners began to build elegant new Georgian homes beyond the walls of the original medieval town.  One of the first developments was called Merrion Square.  At the time of construction, all of the exterior doors were the same color. 

It's said that the writer George Moore lived next door to another well-known writer, Oliver St. John Gogarty.  Both were a bit eccentric and, so the story goes, Moore painted his door green so that the drunken Gogarty wouldn't mistakenly come knocking on it late at night.  Gogarty then retaliated by painting his door a bright red.  And that's supposedly what started the ball rolling.

The fact is that the Georgian style exteriors of these townhouses, by virtue of strict rules laid down by the developer, had to adhere to very specific architectural guidelines - they were all, to the smallest detail, uniformly built.  So, in order to set themselves apart, the residents of Georgian Dublin started painting their front doors whatever color struck their fancy.  They, also, added ornate door-knockers, elegant fanlights above the door and wrought iron boot scrapers near the entrance.

Here are a few examples…

We arrived back at Baggot Court Mews at about 2pm and have decided to have a restful afternoon…I’ve caught up on the blog & we need to pack up ready to head off to Belfast in the morning… so, Oíche mhaith agus codladh sámh (Good night and sleep well).