Dublin

Last weekend, we took advantage of a sale at Ryanair (an already crazy cheap airline) and took a short weekend trip to Dublin. We were fortunate to enjoy some great fall weather while we were there and had a great time walking around the streets of Dublin, visiting churches and parks, castles and the President's home. It was a relaxing (and much needed) break from a couple months of hard work and busy schedules.

We spent Saturday in Phoenix Park, a 1750 acre walled park, just on the edge of Dublin. This park, opened to the public in 1745 was incredible. Lots of open spaces, beautiful ponds and gardens, playing fields.

In addition to these more natural beauties, the park is also home to several monuments and important residences (includingthe palatial American Embassy and the Irish President's Home). We were not able to even catch a view of the Ambassador's home, but were able to get a tour of the President's residence. You are not permitted to take photographs inside the Aras an Uachtarain, but it was a lovely (though underwhelming) residence. We were a little surprised, however, by the lack of security at the President's home: she was apparently at home and yet we went through no security. Our extremely animated tour guide reassured us, however, that a guard was following the group--we caught a glimpse of this guard on several occasions, and let's just say we are not confident that this individual could do much to deter a determined criminal!

Back of the President's Residence

View from the front

Our favorite part of the park, though, were the deer than run freely throughout. There are apparently 400-450 fallow deer, descended from a herd introduced to the park in the 1660s, that make their home within the park. We were shocked to see how close they came to people and how large they were (check out their antlers in the pictures). They were really spectacular and we spent more than a few minutes sitting and watching them.