maritime festival

Today were woken up early to the noises of horse hooves on cobblestone. It was nicely echoed in the courtyard up to our room. So we went down after lunch to check it out.
Apparently there used to be a horse market in Smithfield courtyard which was removed a few years ago. They removed all the guck from years of hoses by hand washing the bricks:

Smithfield Market was laid out in the mid 17th century as a marketplace. Until recently the square was lined with inner city 'farm yards' housing livestock. In 1964 Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor spent time here, as Burton worked on the film set in Smithfield for the film adaptation of John le Carre's novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Recently, Smithfield has been rejuvenated under the HARP (Historic Area Rejuvenation Plan). The restoration involved lifting more than 400,000 one hundred and twenty-year-old cobblestones, cleaning them by hand and re-laying them. Contemporary architecture and twelve 26 metre gas lighting masts, each with a 2 metre flame, now flank the square. The smell of horses can still be experienced at Smithfield at the Horse Market (every first Sunday the month) and the sight and sounds on these Sundays give an impression of what Smithfield once was. The city council is in the process of trying to move the horse market out of the area, with some newer residents especially uncomfortable with its atmosphere. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithfield,_Dublin

After we checked out the horses we headed down to the Maritime Festival down at the River Liffely where we saw the famine memorial.
We were checking out a pamphlet for the sea safari when the guy came up to us and said one was leaving in 5 minutes. We made an impulse decision and decided to go on it. it was A LOT of fun!
we went on a zodiac out to the sea. The water was calm though so we didnt get to wet or bounce too much. It was an hour and a bit ride. It was nice to see the "emerald isle" from out there. You can see how it got its name.

From the tour we continued to look at the rest of the festival. It was a lot of booths to sell things, tall ships and buskers. We stopped to see some of them. The best was the traveling electric guitar players. They walk with these special u shaped things on the speakers on wheels while playing. Its a lot of fun to see. If I can I will upload the video. If not you can see the pics soon.

From the festival we came home to grab our books and headed out to the major park. We spent the rest of the afternoon there. Now Im home (now its 630) and wondering if I should start supper because Daves napping in the chair. hummm


new pics are up. Same link as before