Three parks in Dublin

There are more than three parks in the city, of course, but I got to three of them. Funny story – I mean to go to three of them; one with an Oscar Wilde statue, one with a Yeats memorial, and one garden that my friend Hawk said was his favorite and that not a lot of people knew about. Turns out that last one closed for the day and hour and a half before I got there – perhaps if I had not added on a bonus garden right next to the castle at the beginning, and not spent so much time in the Cathedral, and not stopped so long for lunch, and not stopped in the random wool shop and found the perfect sweater…. I might have gotten there in time. Doesn’t matter, it really was kind of a perfect day. I started with the Dubh Linn Garden, which was right next to the castle, and the Castle Guide said that it was small but her favorite, so, well, how could I not?! Then on I went to Merrion Square Park, and St. Stephen’s Green. I missed out on Iveagh Gardens, so I guess I’ll have to add that to my second Ireland trip.

But first (mostly because I forgot to talk about her in my Walking Around Dublin post) I want to mention the Molly Malone statue.

There seems to be a variety of Mary/Molly Malone origin stories, so Google if you’re interested – I got tired after reading about three different stories of who she was, but I did want to see the statue. I did not know, however, that it was… uh… I’m going to use the word “custom” but very loosely… to get a picture of yourself with your hands over her boobs. Uhm. Thanks, but no thanks, I already have my own pair of boobs, I don’t need to be feeling up a statue, no matter what kind of luck it brings. I’d think it might bring better luck in this day and age to not touch something that a thousand other unwashed people have had their dirty hands all over with God only knowing when the last time she was hosed off. So I had a very long wait between people jumping on and off the statue. I even took a few pictures of the people on her, thinking maybe I could Photoshop them out of the picture, but I managed to get two good ones snapped in mere seconds.

Anyway.

The castle tour guide was right; the Dubh Linn Garden was lovely. It was small, a green grassy circular center with a path all around, and in the corners, little small seating areas. There were a few memorials, and loads of gorgeous flowers, but this little corner with the tree and bench and the statue was my favorite.

I was starting to feel a little pressed for time by the time I got to Merrion Square Park, so I didn’t walk around in it as much as I maybe should have. I looked at the Oscar Wilde corner, and then started to walk into the garden proper but there was a large children’s play area so I sort of noped out and went on to St. Stephens… which was exactly the kind of park that I expected to see Mary Poppins dancing with a group of penguins in!

There were ducks. There were swans. There were families playing in the grass. There were older couples sitting on benches watching the water. There were bright sunny spaces and shady private spaces. There were younger couples sitting on benches, holding hands as if they’d one day like to become the older couples. There were a lot of people there – again, the weather was lovely, so all of Dublin was trying to find a place to be outside – but it never felt crowded. It felt more like community and less like ‘god, why all these peeeeeeeeople’ in the air.

It was at this park that I discovered the one park I’d set out to go to had already closed for the day, so I set out instead to find a shop that carried both Paprika Pringles and Kleenex (the Tesco Express I found had neither, so I had to settle for Cadbury chocolate and Malteasers) and then I took a taxi back to the guest house and called it a day. A good day, a wonderful day. I’d seen so much history and so much beauty and so many stunningly crafted things and I’d bought a cozy sweater and not gotten TOO lost…. I’d really had a lovely day.

If you want to see the rest of my Dublin Park photos, you can find them here. Thanks, y’all!