Discovering Dublin

We have been fairly quiet the last few weeks and have spent our weekends in Dublin due to a combination of rugby matches and birthday parties. James has enjoyed another 6 Nations rugby match, Ireland vs France - a draw, and according to James, a terrible game of rugby due in large part to the terrible weather conditions. The girls have also been invited to some birthday parties - Pia had a pool party (at an indoor pool, of course!) and Ella had a party at Imaginosity, Dublin's Children's Museum.

 

This party prompted our own visit to Imaginosity the following weekend (while James was at the rugby!). Imaginosity is set over three levels and the girls spent their time exploring all the different spaces inside. Many of these spaces seemed to be preparing them for possible future careers:

 Newsreader....

 BBQ chicken seller.....

 Cafe owners......

  

Check-out chicks......

 

 Doctors......

 Personal trainers......

Rock stars (Ella is really getting into it in this shot!)....

 

Construction workers.......

Hair stylist......

 and race car driver.

Pia and Ella were also able to find out what it feels like to be in a hurricane (it's fun, so they say!!) and there were a variety of dress-ups to be had (lions were the animal of choice).

So, Imaginosity proved to be very popular and while there the girls also took part in a Mother's Day craft workshop (it was Mother's Day here last Sunday) where they made me these Mother's Day coupons which I can redeem for various things such as hugs, kisses, cups of tea, breakfast in bed and various chores! I have redeemed a few already!

 

James also prepared this delicious breakfast for me, which he did without me even having to redeem a coupon!

The girls have been kept busy at school. This is Pia's latest project on Peru in which she concentrated on the Wildlife of Peru.

 Both girls have been having Irish dancing lessons at school and the video below, while not great quality, gives you some idea of their moves. We have had many an Irish dancing concert put on in the lounge room recently!

Tonight we had an art show at the girls'school in which their art work was displayed and available for purchase. Needless to say, both Pia and Ella had their art work bought (by their proud parents!). Below are some photos of the girls' school:

 The flower garden for Ella's class

 and for Pia's class.

 Ella's classroom

 Pia's classroom and the Senior Corridor below (no outdoor corridors here!)

This week we also hosted our friends from Washington DC, Ben and John, and we enjoyed a day in the city with them and a lovely meal at the Winding Stair restaurant. The weather this week has been quite changeable. Monday we had almost blizzard-like conditions with quite a lot of snow but then Tuesday we had a glorious day with beautiful, blue skies (it was still freezing, though!). Here are some shots of the River Liffey, the main street, O'Connell St and the Millennium Spire and the GPO building, outside of which the Easter Uprising took place in 1916. You can still see bullet marks in some of the columns out the front.

We also visited the Garden of Remembrance which is in the city centre. This garden commemorates all those who have died in the struggle for Irish freedom.

 There is an interesting statue in the Gardens based on the Irish story of the Children of Lir. In this story, the children of a king were turned into swans by his jealous second wife and forced to live away from home as swans for 900 years. Apparently there are several endings to the legend, but in the one we have read the children are finally brought back to human form 900 years later but are so old that they die and then live happily in heaven with their mother and father . This statue, therefore, is supposed to represent the trauma caused by transformation, but also be a symbol of rebirth and Resurrection. The sculptor, Oisin Kelly, said that the swan is "a generally accepted image of resurgence, triumph and perfection with undertones of regal sadness and isolation". So, a lot of imagery and symbolism going on in the Garden of Remembrance! The Queen visited here on her trip to Dublin, which is also quite symbolic in itself, given the fraught history of Anglo-Irish relations.

To add to the imagery, the mosaics in the sunken water feature (in the shape of a cross) feature shields and broken spears which come from the Celtic tradition of throwing the tools of battle into water after a battle has been fought.

We also enjoyed a walk around Trinity College which you can see in the photos below.

This weekend, we are looking forward to a celebration of all things green for St. Patrick's Day! Pia and Ella have prepared their outfits for the day so we'll make sure you see them here soon!