Just take a look at the photos. Dublin is old; it's new, and although Ireland is said to have one of the world's most depressed economies, Dublin itself seems to be thriving if judged only by the number of shoppers, tourists, bar patrons and diners! I find it very encouraging.

We took our morning walk in Phoenix Park which is the largest walled-in park in all of Europe. We were lucky to have had a warm and dry day to visit it. The park features lakes, Europe's best examples of Victorian gardens, the United States Ambassador's residence and the Dublin Zoo. We saw just a part of it but it's only 3-4 blocks from our apartment so we will visit it again tomorrow. Afterwards, we slowed our pace a bit and relaxed. We left the apartment early afternoon, taking the bus to City Center for lunch and touring. As luck would have it we stumbled upon The Brazen Head Pub, the oldest pub in Dublin, and had bowls of Irish seafood chowder with brown bread. The pub includes several small rooms and an outdoor beer garden. It was packed. One room was filled with a bunch of loud-speaking women. We learned they were a group of about 20 from Norway. We got a good look at them when they filed into the main room to pay their tabs, one at a time. They each were carrying their Guinness shopping bags so we figured they had been on the tour of the brewery. In the city, we saw the lovely Christ's Church, founded in the year 1028. Mind boggling that something could actually be that old. We saw Trinity University and Dublin Castle where young people in costume were practicing speeches of famous Irish leaders that we think will be performed tonight for Irish Culture Day. We saw Dublin City Hall which is magnificent, and strolled through a shopping arcade of second-hand stuff and bric-a-brac. As a highlight, we found The Temple Bar which is situated among many, many other pubs along the popular Essex Street in City Center, and shared a beer - just so we could say we had. While we were there, we met a US couple today who were honeymooning in Ireland, the second US honeymooning couple we've met in two days! In both instances, we took their picture together, and they in turn, took ours.

We stopped by Hanlon's Pub on the way home to talk with the barkeeper to the make sure I had the names of the Irish folk singers from yesterday correct, and sure enough, there was Dan and Sean. We had met them yesterday at the Hanlon's Guinness celebration. They are regulars, I suppose. They were happy to see us and invited us to meet them on Sunday afternoon at the pub when we'll all be treated to more Irish music playing and singing. Again, our agenda is set.