Breakfast In The Park

St.Stephen's Park

Dublin, Ireland

After a long flight over the Atlantic (on our way to Genoa, Italy) my wife, my son, and I had our first stop in the city of Dublin, Ireland. We had only one day to spend in Dublin before our next flight took us further into Europe and, unfortunately, we spent the majority of our time recovering. The next morning we made a point to get out and see some of the city and discover some things that you just can not get from an architectural history book. Part of that discovery included St. Stephen's Green. We bought some breakfast and headed out to the park just after dawn for a quiet park bench picnic. The park is laid out like an old English garden and includes, a duck pond, waterfall, playground, flower garden, groundskeeper's house, and many statues of Irish history. The park is extremely clean and very well manicured. I think it would be difficult to find any public park in the U.S. as well cared for as this park is. I was even surprised by how dark the soil was. Being from the south, all I have ever seen is red or maybe a light brown, but this soil was about as dark as a pint of Guinness and much finer than what we have in the south. The lawns themselves were so green and well maintained that I felt guilty about stepping on them. The lake was designed with a brick edge that hovers so close to the surface of the water that you feel the designer intended for you to walk across the surface of the lake. I imagine the lake is perfect for ice skating in the winter. We picked a bench in the center of the park on the edge of a walkway that circles around the center piece for the flower garden. We had our picnic breakfast of juice, fruit and pastries and relaxed and took in all that the park could give us in that moment.

For a panoramic of the garden click here:http://www.garybrownarch.com/DublinParkPanaramic.jpg