Dublin’s Phoenix Park is the largest enclosed City-Park in Europe, perhaps even in the world. The opportunities for sightseeing, playing and watching sports and visiting places are vast. Nearly everybody has been to the Zoo, this year complete with a number of very thick-skinned babies (of the elephant and white rhino varieties), or the Papal Cross, where Pope John Paul II held the Dublin mass during his visit in 1979 (mainly, because that car park is THE best place to leave the car).

It’s October, so the shops here have started on their annual schizophrenic assault on the senses of the children of Ireland. Time was when Christmas began after Halloween was over, but now some of the bigger stores, and particularly the chain DIYs and the like, have simply divided their aisles in two, with ghouls and pumpkins on one side and red-faced Santas on the other.

Will has described Ranelagh in his Dublin Neighbourhood Watch. I was going to post this as a reply there, but it seems to deserve some space of its own.

What's interesting, but not widely known, is how Ranelagh got its name.

There are many ways to get around to see Dublin and learn about the place and it’s history. Tried one of the newer ones the other day – The Liffey River Cruises. This one is unusual to say the least. Anybody who knows the vista of Dublin from the Quays, perhaps from driving along, will be surprised as to how much lower this is; and yet how much more you see!

I mentioned an Irish architecture forum in an earlier post. The site in question is Archiseek.com, and for those of you who like to get their hands dirty with the history of a city or who have more than a passing interest in architecture and town planning it’s a must-read.