Yesterday I was a tourist in the city of my birth. It was great fun and I was in places that I never saw before.
Elly & I headed for town in the morning with a rough plan of activities sketched in our minds. The Point Village Market was our first point of call.
We browsed, tasted, talked and purchased. It was then time for lunch, with a great variety of stalls to tease and tempt our taste buds we both decided on the same place. This is where Nick and Ramana should turn away, we chose rolls filled with pork. It was not just any old pork it was a full animal cooked on a spit! No! we did not eat the whole thing. We had just enough for a well packed roll with mixed salad leaves and stewed apple. Yummy!
While eating our fill with a cold drink, we had to move to the shade as the sun blazed on us, it was a glorious day.
Taking our leave from the stalls we rounded a corner and look what we saw:
The Dublin eye – or in true Dublinese – the Diddly eye! Well I had to have a go and climb to new heights. Not literally, but in a sitting position.
Not very clear, but was taken through the glass and the sun was strong. In the distance you can see the new Aviva Stadium: Do you really want to know what the Dubs call it? The bed pan!! If you follow the link you will understand the reasoning.
A few more shots
Looking west through the doors is the River Liffey heading back towards the centre of the city.
Colourful containers lined up for shipping.
Grannymar,
I enjoyed touring Dublin with you today. The ride on the Diddly Eye was great…Super views.. Aviva Stadium
has beautiful,clean, modern lines and seems to be really conveniently located. Too bad the name the Dubs gave it…Maybe when they go there to a match and find all the modern seating and restrooms and eating facilities they will choose a better nickname for it.
Thanks again – you’re keeping me in touch!
I love the christening Dubs give to everything around them!
I was around there last year, GM. The Liffey in sunshine looks so exotic always. I took a lot of pics too….
XO
WWW
Certainly was a gorgeous day. There’s a huge trend to put a ferris wheel of some sort in cities these days, not sure why but they do provide a wondeful view.
I got a laugh out of the nickname for the Aviva Stadium. I have to admit that it does resemble a bed pan. It’s like the nickname for the Victor Emmanuel building in Rome. The locals call it the wedding cake. It fits the building.
I hope to see all that in person someday. My daughter just told us that she and two of her friends are going to Ireland, but she didn’t specify where. I sure wish I could go!!
Nancy – The Dublin wit is one of a kind. Remember that the Molly Malone (famous from the song) Sculpture, near Trinity College, is known locally as the tart with a cart’!
Gaelikaa – Dublin has improved so much over the years. The docks area East of the Customs House has changed beyond recognition on both sides of the river Liffey.
WWW – I still have a few more photos for another day.
Baino – This wheel was originally in Belfast, I showed pictures of it some time ago. I didn’t climb aboard during its stay beside the City Hall.
Darlene – Dubs have alternate names for everything.
Judy – I wish you were coming with your daughter and that we would have the opportunity to meet.
The more you visit Dublin and write about it, the more you are getting my itch to visit it worsen!
Ramana – It will happen at the right time, Inshallah!
Grannymar,
Yes, I remember the “Tart with a cart”. How about “The Floozie in the Jacuzzi”?
Nancy – The Spire of Dublin, a tall needle-like structure in the centre of O’Connell St, has a number of nicknames including The Spike, The Binge Syringe, The Stiletto in the Ghetto, The Nail in the Pale, The Pin in the Bin, The Stiffy at the Liffey, The Erection in the Intersection and The Rod to God. The previous Sculpture – Anna Livia, who personified river Liffey, was removed from O’Connell St to make way for the Spire. A woman sitting on a slope with bubbling water running down past her represented the river. It rapidly came to be nicknamed the Floozie in the Jacuzzi, the Hoor in the Sewer (“hoor” is a dialectal Irish version of “whore”, and in a “working class” Dublin accent, rhymes with sewer).
GM,
Believe it or not, I still have a small piece of the Nelson Column that was blown up many years ago.
I have no way of knowing if this is true, but I was told that the IRA blew up the column and nothing around the site was damaged except the column. But, the base of the column was still intact so the Irish Army was called in to finish the demolition and their explosion broke windows for miles around..
True?
Nancy – When I wrote about Nelson’s Pillar back in December 2008, I mentioned that two days after the original damage, engineers from the Irish Army blew up the remainder of the pillar after judging it to be unsafe to restore. This planned demolition caused more destruction on O’Connell Street than the original blast, breaking many windows.
Gosh, GM. I must have been Christmas shopping when you posted that information.
Another Irish friend is the one who told me the story and sent me the fragment of the column.
Thanks for your version….