Phoenix Park | Mama Cormier

……and another full Irish breakfast and more walking

Today I slept till almost 8:00. I slept for at least nine hours. Heavenly! I might have slept longer but my husband woke me because he wanted to start our morning walk. I quickly got dressed and without a cup of tea or coffee to start my day (K had been up for two hours and was well hydrated) we started our hike to Phoenix Park.

We took a slightly longer route today and headed toward the area where herds of deer are often sighted. We saw signs that deer had been in the area, such as scat and fur that had been shed; however, it was pretty late and the park was already busy with walkers, runners, cyclists, dogs and crews setting up for the afternoon concert.

I was just about to say that we were too late to see deer when all of a sudden we spotted one in the distance. By the time we got our cameras ready the deer had already disappeared into the forest. We also came across a pond with a lot of ducks, many which were unfamiliar to us. One looked like a cross between. a black chicken and a white faced duck. A little girl came by with her grandfather and fed the ducks bread. I’m not sure how healthy it is for the birds but there certainly was a massive feeding frenzy. Ducks from all over the pond ascended on the shore where we stood.

As the morning wore on I started to feel the effects of being dehydrated and the lack of caffeine. I love to walk but I was really dragging myself during the last third of the walk. Just before we got home we picked up some water and bananas from the local Spar Store. That little bit of nourishment helped me to motor on. Once home we saw that we’d gone for close to three hours and we had walked at least 8 k.

I started this post yesterday. I had so many problems with the iPad that I put it aside and went to bed. Anyway I wanted to say that 8 k didn’t seem right when we regularly walk 5 k in one hour. Well sure enough when we went over the map again I discovered that I had missed a huge section of the walk. We had actually walked 9.5 k and with the time spent at the duck pond and stopping at the Spar this made more sense.

Later in the day we took the bus into the city centre and headed toward Grafton Street. This is a pedestrian mall that is always busy. It was particularly crowded yesterday because a football game had just ended and it was Sunday and sunny and warm. A sure fire recipe for swarms of people on this popular street.

We enjoyed numerous street performances but my favourite was a group of bearded musicians who played modern Irish music. Another busker played an electric guitar made out of a Castrol oil can. After enjoying the sights and sounds of Grafton Street we made our way to Bewley’s Cafe, an icon in Dublin, for some much needed refreshments.