Days 188-190, 17-19 December 2014, Dublin, Ireland. What can I say... after two years of anticipation and completely by accident we got to see Tom and Jerry (pictured). We have been enjoying our vacation time after six months apart (vacation vs. when we start our next housesit on 24 Dec!) We have been strolling the fairy-lit streets of Dublin, enjoying the Christmas displays and the cheeriness of festive Dubliners. The buskers on Grafton street usually keep us amused for half an hour at a time at least. Having seen the bog people and the gold hordes on Tuesday we started Wednesday with a jaunt to the National Gallery of Ireland. "Start" of course is a relative word... if we're out of the B&B by 11.30 am the housekeeping staff are pleasantly surprised. The gallery was not large but had some interesting paintings including a Vermeer (only 35 or so exist in the world - this is about our 4th). There were also several examples of Jack Yeats's work (father of WB Yeats the poet - one of Ireland's favourite sons). Hugely creative family - really enjoyed the colour, life and vibrancy of the Jack Yeats pieces. Like most of Dublin's culture, entry was free which was grand. Us newly "retarded" (retired!) folks are being careful with the pennies as we ease into a new lifestyle - no weekends, no public holidays etc. James is quick to point out that he's easing into it and I'm a past master, not having worked per se for two and a half years. Thursday we ventured into the medieval part of Dublin - the Castle and its towers, the grounds and gardens. Found a little memorial garden to the members of the Garda who died in the line of duty - sad and beautiful. After the castle it was back through Temple Bar and into the Georges Arcade/Grafton area. Many of the main shopping streets have extra stalls on them at the moment flogging all manner of Christmas gears, knock-off perfumes, selfie sticks and the like - hugely amusing for us listening to the spruikers selling their wares - we have to walk slowly past to figure out the pitch - one of the most difficult was a bloke with a strong accent selling "lie-nup-san'hats, lie-nup-yo-yos". Which on closer inspection proved to be "lighting up Santa hats and lighting up yo-yos". On Friday the sun shone. Which is proving quite a regular occurrence now that we Hardies have arrived in Dublin. While we were in France it was cold here - 0-4 degrees or so. Since we've arrived Dublin has been sweltering in double digits. Don't know that the white Christmas we saw forecast will be arriving anytime soon. Given the sunny weather we hoofed it over the Liffey and headed for St Stephen's Green for a stroll around the park. We actually had quite an "Out of Africa" moment. Saw a couple of guys photographing something on the grass and went to investigate - was a bird of prey of some sort and it had a pigeon under it's claws for lunch - urban style snack-attack meets "McPigeon". We thought the pigeon had had it but the eagle(?) tried flying away with it and it made a last ditch run for it. Feathers flew. Eagle grabbed pigeon again but then dropped him into a hedge whilst making a fly-a-way getaway. Riveting stuff in the middle of a city park. Suspect it didn't end well for the pigeon. Headed out of the Green and then took a stroll through the grounds of Trinity College. Walked under the bell tower where the bell will ring if a virgin walks under it. Didn't ring for us obviously. Not sure if it's rung in living history actually. Not sure if it's still the case, but in the bad old days it was actually legal under Trinity college law to shoot Catholics with a bow and arrow from this tower. You might go to prison for murder... but you'd be OK as far as the college was concerned and still get your degree. Gosh there are some dark days in Ireland's history. We considered going to the library (featured in Star Wars) to view the Book of Kells. Then found out it was €10 each (Warrrk - must use Scrooge McDuck voice when saying 'Waaarrkk'). Might save that for another time. Have a look on wiki perhaps. We find Dublin to be a city of laneways and nooks and always somewhere we haven't seen which has been great. During our Medieval strollings we saw that Christ Church Cathedral was having a Christmas Market in the Crypt (certainly a first for us), so we went back on Friday and visited the Cathedral and Crypt for free - usually costs €6 each! Huge bargain. Was quite surreal having muffins, jams and skincare for sale next to the niches and memorials of the dark, gloomy stone crypt. And. Finally. We got to see Tom and Jerry - the mummified remains of a cat and a rat that were discovered in the 1860s when one of the pipes on the organ was making bung notes. James Joyce famously wrote in Finnegan's Wake "as stuck as that cat to that mouse in that tube in that Christchurch organ" - truly the cathedral's most famous residents. We heard about them a couple of years ago when we were here and can finally tick them off the list. Well that is Dublin, so far... We have booked a day trip for tomorrow to Howth - a fishing village on a peninsula about 20 minutes outside of Dublin. Should be good - and even more stunning weather is forecast. Merry Christmas to all... it has abandoned all appearance of sneaking up on us now and is bearing down like a freight train... 6 sleeps to go!