Continuing on our misson tos ee as much of Dublin for the least amount of money possible, Erin (my roomie) and I decided to hit Phoenix Park this weekend.
The original plan was to go Saturday (because there is free tours of the Presidents residence only on Saturdays) but a combination of teh weather and a very strong desire to avoid the city and the throngs of 6 Nations (Ireland vs England this weekend) supporters saw us leave our plans to Sunday. Which was perfect; we couldn't have asked for better weather. The first day of spring and crisp blue skies seemed a perfect way to explore the pak and have a picnin lunch.
With our sangas in hand, we worked our way via the Luas (a very flash tram line that cuts through the city, a lot newer than the old style trams of Melbourne, but never the less, did make me think of home) westwards towards Phoenix Park. Being the cheapskakes that we are, we bought a ticket for only one zone so had to get off a stop early and walk the rest of the way. We entered the park at the entrance to the People's Flower Gardens. The grass was green and there was people everywhere enjoying the sun. We ate lunch here in the shadow of the Wellington Monument. We continued up towards the Zoo, where there were mothers and fathers chasing children all over the place; all enjoying the day of sunshine. We figured seeings as we were on the populated side of the park (not where the vast open spaces were) we were unlikely to see deer here, and we had been right so far.
Phoenix Park is one of the largest enclosed parklands in Europe and everywhere you look there is open space. Today, however, all that open space was filled with people. We kept walking towards the Presidents Residence, but still no deer. We ended up at the Visitors Centre after walking past the Papal Cross that commemorates the Popes visit in the 1970s and past the Phoenix statue that doesn't really look like a Phoenix at all.
The visitors centre brought about more families with parents chasing chilren around, so we wandered into the building where we had tickets thrust into our hands and told the tour was just about to leave. "Ripper," we thought. Off we trudge to join the end of this tour, thinking that it would a great way to find out all about the place. Turns out after 15 minutes of listening to a rather enthusiastic bloke talking about the cedar tree beside us, it was a tree tour. I can point out to you which tree King Albert grew and planted before he died! Erin and I did a dodge and dawdled enough to the point where we could do a runner and have a wander on our own. Even though we had wandered around trees and wooded areas, we still didn't see any deer. Perhaps it was the over excited man with his megaphone talking about trees that scared them off.
After a hearty 5 hours of wandering around the park with the rest of the energetic Dubliners,and not encounter one single deer, we made our way home. And just in time for the winter weather to join us again with some freezing cold wind and rain. At least we got to see one day of spring weather!
