(Pasta (not shown) and salad for dinner)

We went to Dublin today. We have very nice visitors staying with us for a few days. They are so nice that while I’m writing this they are cooking our dinner. Today with them I got to see Dublin from the tourist point of view. As it happens one of the things I wanted to do when I came back from holidays was to go to Dublin and experience it like a tourist. But I put it off….

(Taking pictures in the chemist)

This is what I learned today…..

(Marble (a metamorphic rock) as seen in glass case at Natural History Museum)

It is possible to buy vintage dresses for €10 in a pub off Grafton Street. The slices of carrot cake they sell in Fred Hanna’s book shop are huge. Fred Hanna’s book shop doesn’t sell books, it’s a cafe. The enormous gold ball outside the modern library in Trinity College rotates when you push it.

(Books for sale in the chemist)

You can buy second hand books in the chemist where Leopold Bloom bought lemon soap. You can watch a movie in the National Art Gallery and after watching you will have a greater appreciation for Caravaggio’s The Taking of Christ. Metamorphic rock is any rock that undergoes transformation due to extreme pressure and heat.

(Natural History Museum Dublin)

And it was the rocks that got me thinking…  extreme pressure can sometimes produce a thing of beauty.

Rocks have feelings too, Mairead.