This morning we went to Kilmainham Gaol, which was excellent and sobering. We had an amazing guide who did more for Irish history in half an hour than an entire term of the same subject in fifth form. It was brilliant context for the bullet holes Cormac showed me in the facade of the General Post Office yesterday.
It took me ages to get this photo while standing in line in the gaol courtyard. The flag was not cooperating, or, as I put it, "being a real Amy".
The cells in the horrifying west wing, which dates from the 1700s.
The panopticon in the Victorian-era wing.
This was gorgeous - painting by Grace Gifford, who was imprisoned early in the 1920s; she was also married in the gaol, in 1916, hours before her husband was executed for his part in the Easter Rising.
Wellington Monument, the largest obelisk in Europe, located in Phoenix Park, the...actually, I don't know...Cormac called it the largest urban park in the...something, but it seems to be way down the list. Largest urban park in Dublin though, certainly =P
In the afternoon we went to Howth, an adorable seaside outer suburb of Dublin, full of fish and chipperies, basking seals and a pier upon which we promenaded.
Real lovely, as I kept saying in a terrible and for-no-reason Yorkshire accent.
We made our way homeward via Dublin's main Christmas market, wherein festive beverages were consumed. Jingle!
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