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Yay! One of my photos taken in February around Dublin has been shortlisted for inclusion in the eighth edition of Schmap Dublin Guide, to be published at the end of this month.
I was crossing over the O'Connell Bridge on my way home the other night and passed by a very familiar scene - the River Liffey and Ha'Penny Bridge at the far end.
Dublin might not be the largest nor the most historic European city, but if you slow down your pace to treasure its uniqueness, Dublin could be quite picturesque.
On a lovely afternoon more than 2 months ago, I went to check out Herbert Park which is nearby our apartment in Ballsbridge. It was early Spring and was still rather chilly in Dublin when cold breeze bashed against your face. The 48-acre park is only 15 min walking distance away. :)
On my way to the park, I made a short detour to visit the Parish of St Bartholomew. It's a cosy church consecrated in 19th century.
I was strolling alone and it was rather quiet around the church compound. For a moment, I felt so peaceful.
Herbert Park is another 5 min away. I entered the park through the Herbert Park Hotel's entrance.
The park was so serene. It was not crowded, nor it seemed eerily deserted. Irish are indeed one of the friendliest bunch of people in the world. While strolling around the park, I was greeted by almost every folk whom I bumped into. Most of the strollers were retired old folks. I find that old folks here really know how to enjoy their life. A number of them own a holiday house somewhere in Southern Spain or France and spend their day reading books, enjoying wines and the beautiful seascape scenery.
And they are very kind and nice to animals. It won't be surprised seeing people feeding the birds and swans with expired breads. :)
I was taking pictures around this beautiful pergola, where an old lady offered to photograph me. We chatted briefly and our conversation revolved around the hard times of the financial crisis. She is such a lovely person. Unexpectedly, upon parting, she read me an Irish poem! I couldn't recall every phrases of the poem. I only remember the message was that no matter ups or downs, good or bad, Ireland welcomes my coming and going and I should always be cheerful. Wonderful lady, doesn't she?
I passed by the flower garden and the tulips were starting to blossom! It was so colourful and beautiful.
It was an enjoyable and relaxing walk except that I had to dodge the drizzle for 5 min under a tree! :)
I was walking to the city centre last month on a foggy day when I stumbled upon Dublin's latest engineering masterpiece - the Samuel Beckett Bridge.
Samuel Beckett Bridge spanning across River Liffey is designed by world renowned Spanish architect and engineer, Dr Santiago Calatrava. Santiago's designs and creativities never fail to amaze me. I visited the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia 2 years ago, which was design by him as well. The design of the building complex totally blew my mind off, both structurally and architecturally. 
This is Santiago's second bridge project in Dublin after the James Joyce Bridge further upstream. The main span of the bridge is 123m long and the arc pylon is 48m height. It could be rotated mechanically about its concrete pier to allow larger ships to pass through when necessary. It's not really a huge bridge structure relatively. Nevertheless it's still a very gracious cable-stayed bridge.
The contract was awarded to Graham and Hollandia joint venture and is scheduled to open to public next year. The steel bridge superstructure was fabricated in Rotterdam by Hollandia and was only towed to River Liffey recently. The bridge structure has yet to be lifted to its concrete pier then, pending the completion of some finishing and commissioning works.
The layout of the cables and arc pylon are meant to resemble a harp lying on its edge. Harp has been a political symbol of Ireland for centuries. 
Marvelous!
I have never seen big ducks fly until recently. I mean, really fly high in the sky and not just hop for 50 m away or up to the tree.
Mallard ducks are resident to many of the lakes, canals and rivers in Dublin. I am living right next to the Grand Canal and have strolled up and down the canal countless times. Water levels differ a few meters after each lock and the canal leads to the open sea. I often wondered how do the mallards get upstream. Are there actually people rescuing at the downstream of the canal and transport them upstream; and there goes the loop. Silly thought I had, hadn't I? Haha!
And mallards can fly! I first saw it last month and my puzzle was solved. Hehe!
But I was still curious of my other mystery - what about the big swans which also resident to the canals and rivers?
Swans are such a gracious creature and it's so relaxing to just see them swimming along the canal. I was getting really up close within 1 m while taking these photos. I was photographing her cautiously while she stared at me curiously. Haha!
She was flexing her powerful wings. I hoped she wasn't hinting me to go away. Hehe!
I actually spent a good half an hour 'dating' her on this occasion, observing her sunbathing by the canal bank on a sunny afternoon. Probably feeling annoyed being photographed after a long while, she dived into the water and cruised away from me. :(
Several weeks ago while walking along the canal, I heard a loud flapping noise behind me. I turned over and surprisingly, saw two huge swans flying over and crashed onto the water. Bemused and relief, now I need not feeling regret for not rescuing them downstream. ;p
These pigeons were annoying and fighting for some coverage while I was photographing the swan. I know you can fly okay, no doubt about it!
The Dublin Dockland Development Authority has organised a Maritime Festival cum summer market to mark the beginning of summer season earlier this month. It's probably one of the largest outdoor market in Dublin with over 100 stalls and majestic tall ships docking the quays of River Liffey.
Ever since the Oktoberfest Festival in Dublin last year, I've been 'addicted' to visiting European markets. I was looking forward to it. :)
We visited the market on a lovely Saturday afternoon with excellent summer weather.
A number of beautiful tall ships sailed from all over the world for the festival and the ships were opened for visit.
Lord Nelson was one of the more popular ships docked. How wonderful if I could own a small yacht someday and set out to the sea for fishing and diving trips or even just for a lazy Sunday lying under the sun and enjoy a bottle of wine! ;)
Dublin has attracted talents from all over the world during the Celtic Tiger economic boom and has since been a melting pot of diverse cultures. The summer market saw a variety of cuisines from different countries and above was the Spanish paella.
We had some paelle during our trip to Spain and it's really delicious.
The French crepes! :)
Sausage smacked on her face! Hehe!
And the German sausages - my favourite! ;)
I actually like it without the bread! Well, the bread was paid for and I've been taught not to waste food since young. :)
The French churros!
The Spanish flamingo dance! Siew Leng has been an avid enthusiast of flamingo dance and she was rather excited. No. She couldn't dance. ;p It's just that she loves to see Flamingo performances.
We missed it during our visit to Spain. We should have seen it. Not too bad we still had a chance to see it in Dublin. ;)
Reindeers are such a lovely animal especially in various Christmas stories. I couldn't imagine they are being slaugthered for their meats and hides. €85 - not cheap though. :)
Sweaters in reindeer theme.
The Dutch souvenirs stall - the traditional shoe and windmill replicas.
This stall seemed to be selling some sorts of handicrafts from Indochinese peninsula. I think I saw similar bags at our very own pasar malam in Malaysia. ;p
Fresh olives, are widely used in Mediterranean cuisines.
And cheeses!
The Italian salami! Yummy! Salami is cured sausage, fermented and air-dried.
The Italian nougats. For a moment, I thought these were from Australia.
Lebanese roast pork with bread. This smelt really good. I was thinking to buy this on our way back and unfortunately it was closed by then. Aah!
This ship sailed from France and carried barrels of French wines along. Visitors were allowed to dock the ship and join the wine tasting sessions, at a cost of course. :)
After strolling through the tall ships and stalls, we headed to the nearby Harboutmaster Pub for a few pints. I ordered my favourite German pilsner, Paulaner. :)
There he was, my housemate, Ta Wei, who brought us to this pub! :)
