I Love to Ride [Dublin’s] Bicycle

Civic bike schemes – what an excellent idea. I loved the day Ro and I got on our municipal bikes in Marseille, and on Saturday Maire Aine and I went on a civic cycling adventure in Dublin.

We met at Mountjoy Square, but then ended up walking over to Parnell Square because I couldn’t register for a three day pass at the first location. But this is a small quibble. We got our bikes, and the first photographs (I managed to drop my bike when I took this one, but luckily not the camera.)

We cycled along Bolton St, crossed Church St and passed Smithfield. A bit of a dog leg by Collins Barracks and back along the quays to cross over the river at Usher’s Island.

Then along by Guinness and Heuston Station and up Military Rd. A good workout for the leg muscles up the hill into the Royal Hospital Kilmainham and the Irish Museum of Modern Art.

We parked our bikes, then sought refreshment (the bike sheds were FAR from the museum entrance).

Excellent cake at the Itsa café (1 x cupcake, 1 x flourless almond and orange cake). Then we crossed to the new galleries and the exhibition from MOMA New York – Picturing New York.

The exhibition contained a fabulous selection of images of the city. One of the most stunning was a kind of time lapse piece, wherein the photographer had taken a picture of MOMA from a building across the street by opening the camera’s shutter in one year, and closing it two years later. Streaks of light appear on the photo, traces of the sun’s progress across the sky over the year.

(Sadly, dogs and bicycles were banned from the Museum.)

We cycled back as far as Princes St and parked the bikes there. We then walked to Fairview (having been accosted briefly by a Garda – but it’s ok, he turned out to be married to Máire Áine) agreeing two things on the way. First, that we had walked and cycled at least 20km over the course of the day. Second, that the two of us should be put in charge of the Dublin bike scheme. We would do a great job – just because we love it so.