Phoenix Park Ramble

I was staying over at BethAnne's on Friday, in Chapelizod, and decided to walk back into Dublin city centre through Phoenix Park on Saturday morning. It was dry, not too cold, and the autumn colours were pretty darn mesmerising. Phoenix Park is a good 2 km from city centre, but I had nowhere to be, and besides, town would only lure me into spending money, even if practising resistance of temptation does tend to build character....

Anyway, I had myself a good ramble, got to see some things I'd never seen before (Phoenix Park is BIG), and made it into town just in time for the rain to start. How's that for timing!!

This is a picture of the Papal Cross, which marks the site where the Pope held a mass mass (I meant to write it twice) during his visit to Ireland in September 1979. Apparently over a million people attended the mass! It has lights installed along the width and breadth and you can see it from miles around at night. Very nice.

This is the Wellington Memorial, which I have visited before as it's very accessible, near the main entrance to the park on Parkgate Street. It's the second tallest memorial in the world, after Washington Memorial in D.C., but unlike that one, Wellington Memorial is not hollow, so there's no climbing it to enjoy the view. Would be cool though. This has always looked a lot smaller to me than it actually is - it's pretty huge. It's a landmark visible from a long way off, just like the Papal Cross at night.

This is just a lovely autumn scene from Phoenix Park, complete with lamppost. Everybody sigh....now!