Merrion Square

I was sick of being stuck inside during such a beautiful week and I didn't want to just sit in the cold of my balcony and hence I decided to form an adventure for myself. I checked out a map and look for the old Viking village part of Dublin that I wanted to see...unfortunately I didn't realize that I had already seen most of that in my wanderings throughout the city. The old city wall, Dublin Castle, St. Patrick's Cathedral, etc. But I wanted something picturesque. I decided not to make the trek across the city to Phoenix Park until spring is in bloom and I live next to St. Stephen's Green and have already taken pictures of that. So looking at the map, the park at Merrion Square was really my only option. So I plotted my course, only 3 blocks away, packed my camera and off I went.

I found the right street and crossed a 4 lane stretch of road in the middle of the city that had no cars on it...it was the damnest thing. Of course it's the backside of government buildings and the other side of the street is housing, but it seemed like there should be more traffic. Anyways, I got to the park and there were artists displaying their works outside the gate: bowls of fruit, dancers, horses, Dublin scenes, Venice scenes, etc. I stopped looking at them after I realized that a 4 by 4 was 15 euro.

I wandered through the iron gate that most parks in the city seem to have and found myself looking at a very unusual site. There was a stone and glass pyramid which contained a single flame and 4 bronze soldiers. It was beautiful, backdropped with the Irish flag and it was of course picture worthy. I wandered along the first path I saw, the one to my left and kept course, looking for something. I finally found what I was looking for...I got to meet Oscar Wilde! Now granted, he was sitting high up on a stone and it was hard to communicate with him, but I think we're grand friends by now. I took some pictures with him and these amazing marble pillars nearby which had quotes from him engraved in different handwriting upon them. It was pretty unbelievable.

I continued to walk through the park, exploring all the nooks and crannies. I found flowers I had never seen before and birds that were orange and black. There were statues of people gone by and memorials to Irish poets. There was a "tomb" dedicated to all the abused women in the country, which I thought was rather extraordinary. Also, everyone refers to the park as "Merrion Square Park" but it's real name is "Archbishop Ryan Park" not a big deal, but interesting none the less. No two lampposts were the same, some were black, others green, one was even decked out in Christmas style. The flowers were just starting to bloom, but the trees are still scraggly.
And if Miss Ducey were around to read this, she would be proud to know that I've "met" Oscar Wilde and Eavan Boland(who had a memorial there as well) on the same day. Oh here's to AP Lit.

On the way home, I stopped for the last Londis sub of the week :)
And have been unsuccessfully trying to write my history paper ever since.