The Outdoor Market

Last Sunday we went to an Outdoor Farmer's Market type thing. It was all organic foods and vegetables and it was in this lovely park. There were so many families out for this gorgeous Sunday. They were playing in the park with their dogs and kids and it was totally idyllic looking. It was one of those really perfect late summer/early autumn days with blue skies and crisp air but you don't need a coat yet.



There are flowers everywhere here, I always think about my mom because I know she would love it and have to stop every five feet to examine a planter and tell me all the different kinds of flowers and how well they would work in her garden. Too bad they will probably all be gone by the time she gets here in November.

So we had a lovely leisurely morning in the park. Our host-mom had told us about a demonstration that was going to be going on in down there and there was going to be concerts
and stuff.
So we got ahead of the march at the concert site and watched them come up. It was protest to stop the government from selling public seafront property to a high-rise developper. Granted by high-rise here that means 6-10 stories. But when everything else is 2-3 stories it does mess up the view. It was a lot like an American demonstration in a lot of ways, marching, slogans, banners. Though the slogans were much more complicated than I am used to. It was cool because the people participating were all ages and walks of life. They still very fervently believe in people power, and grassroots movements here as they call them. And from what they were saying it did seem as if they had gotten the politicians attention.
Someone smart once said "All politics is local". No where is that more true than in Ireland, the whole island is smaller than the state of Pennsylvania. It is politics on a more personal scale and I think that is really interesting.
We got our tour of Leinster House today and our security badges. We are still waiting on Fianna Fail to finalize their list of TDs so that we can get assigned our people. I really want to meet my TD, so I can get down to work already. We only have 2 days of classes which is fabulous and in about 6 weeks we will only have 1 day of class. All the rest of our time is spent at the Dail. We always have Fridays off so we have long weekends to travel on. Tomorrow we leave for Galway and the Aran Islands on the west coast of Ireland. It is supposed to be some of the most ruggedly beautiful scenery in the world and a great place to stargaze. I am so excited to see the Ireland "beyond the Pale", outside of Dublin, because it is an international city. There is an oyster festival there this weekend so it should be a blast. I am sure I will have lots of pictures to put up when I get back.