The 6 day trip to Ireland - Dublin (Day 6 late afternoon) unusual secret details - Centre South - The stag's head mosaic, Gaiety Theatre handprints, the K1 telephone booth, Erin and the old Dublin lampposts - The 16th of June 2014

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As we were heading towards Grafton's via Dame street and it was as if there was always something to catch my attention by just looking around  ...

Upon reaching a covert little alley (still on Dame street) we came across a rather special mosaic of a stag's head set into the pavement, which I had  some difficulty with in terms of photography because of the ongoing passers-by. I didn't manage to get the stark black arrow pointing towards Dame lane Court where the 1895 Stag's head pub is located. Its importance is strongly associated to its atmosphere and some stories on Hollywood star characters who visited it.

We didn't walk that far because we were drawn to a street performer's voice, whose seemingly effortless power was just astonishing. We stood there among the huge crowd listening to her for a while and then decided to venture into Graftons' where we came across a wide variety of other street performances ranging from street painting to can guitar playing. All of the performers we stopped by deserved recognition because they were not merely good, they were very good.

Main entrance to St. Teresa's Carmelite Church founded in 1793

It is said that most visitors to the Gaiety look at its Venetian façade, so they might be forgiven for missing the array of plaques at their feet. The collection of hand-prints is of who's who of performers, all of whom have graced the famous stage. The interesting thing about Pavarotti, whose hand-prints i photographed) is that for those who had seen him perform here for the first time in 1963, before he went on to become a star at Convent Garden's he was "just another kid on the block making his way".

We then continued heading towards Dawson's to photograph the 1925 K1 telephone booth (K1 stands for Kiosk number 1). As hard as it is for us to believe nowadays, many Irish households were without landline as recently as 1970s and early 1980s. The growing penetration of of households and subsequnetly mobile phones led to having almost half of the public phone booths in Ireland  removed.

Fairly close by on Kildare street  where we headed to afterwards stood one of the most distinguished Government office buildings to be commissioned after the establishment of the "free state". Its limestone Art Nouveau reliefs clearly bring a touch of Soviet propaganda by featuring stoic men in profile working hard with hammers, wrenches, wheels and shovels as they cobble, mill, craft and manufacture. Overlooking all of these scenarios is Erin - the female embodiment of Ireland and a stern faced woman on a mission. 

On the way to Merrion Square park we came across some rather interesting grass figures and colourful doors in vibrant red and yellow which contrasted with the brick colour of the façades.

Merrion Square itself is said to date back to 1762. The lamp posts we were looking for are bygone city standards restored by Dublin City Council. Especially evocative with vibrant green and red paint adding a splash of colour to the ornate cast-iron designs there they stood "shining a light on Dublin's history.

(To be continued)