Our neighbourhood

When I want to go to the main street, to the shops, to the Spire or where ever I need to go, I have to pass the Garden of Rememberance, which is situated at Parnell Square. That nice little park is dedicated to all those who have given their lives for Irish Freedom.

At the very end you can see the sculpture which is called "The Children of Lir". There's a beautiful legend connected with that statue - about the children of King Lir who were turned into swans. As in all fairy tales and legends there was again one Evil Queen, in this one from the race of Druids, who had to become a step-mother for four little ones - Finola, Aodh, Fiarce and Conn. And when she was tired of pretending to be nice, she just turned the children into beautiful swans, who could still speak with human voices and please the people who came to the lake to listen to their songs. But the Evil Queen was turned into a bat and had to stay like that forever.

I also looked up the pronunciation of the Irish names of the children, you never know it without checking :) and even then you'll find several ways how to do that.

The story itself could be read from here - Children of Lir.

At Parnell square I also have to pass the Abbey Presbyterian Church, but till now I have just passed, but never looked inside. It seemed that last summer they were renovating it a bit, but it never seemed like working.

But I like how it looks  - a nice Gothic building with tall narrow spires. It has been also called as Findlater's church after a Dublin merchant who paid for construction of the building.