The building in the background is the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, a veteran's hospital built in 1790. It is surrounded by beautiful fields and stone fences. Nearby is Kilmainham Gaol, where the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were executed, among others. The whole area here is beautiful but a little melancholy. The weather helped add to the sombre mood. 

This is the Wellington Monument in Phoenix Park, erected to commemorate Wellington's victory at Waterloo. Wellington was Irish although he said, "Just because I was born in a stable doesn't mean I'm a horse." Daniel O'Connell, the Catholic lawyer who fought for Catholic rights in Ireland and who's known as "The Liberator," replied, "No, but it DOES make you a jack ass!" The monument took 40 years to complete because Irish people refused to pay money for it. The Pope said mass near the monument for a million and a half people in 1979. 

The first stop at Borough Market has to be to buy a mug of hot (and alcoholic) apple cider to warm your hands on as you walk around the many stalls.  

Take THAT, Rick Steeves!

So yesterday my friends Gjertrud and Hilde and I decide to go to the nearby Borough Market to pick up some nice food for Gjertrud's birthday the next day, and to take some good pictures to send home. Although we hit this market nearly every weekend we always forget to bring our camera, so we thought, today was the day we'd do it right. Speaking to my parents later that day I promised I'd have the pictures up for the evening, but then we decided to visit a nearby wine bar instead, so, after a few glasses of the house red, the postings didn't happen. I wake up this morning to find out from my dad that Rick Steeves has scooped me and visited the Borough Market on PBS LAST NIGHT. Rick Steeve's visit to the Borough Market probably happened in the late 1980's, and has probably re-aired 1,467 times since it originally aired, but it was just my luck that it would be shown the day I want to show off pictures of my neighborhood. The Borough Market episode is actually a point of pride for several of the exhibitors at the market, the lucky ones who made it on air have posted signs above their booths saying "As seen on Rick Steeves' Best of London."

The Market is open all weekend, and there are literally thousands of people there waiting to buy fresh meat, organic produce, designer cheeses and breads and pastries. Some of the things on offer include ostrich burgers and wheatgrass smoothies.  

Gjertrud and Hilde take a self-portrait at the Market. 

Gjertrud. 

I bought a fresh baguette stuffed with hot roasted turkey, stuffing and cranberries. What a deluxe breakfast this is going to be! 

Gjertrud and I pose. 

Now that's a good sandwich. 

We are sampling a little piece of sharp Cheshire cheese. Note my official "cheese connoisseur" demeanour. This is a practiced art. 

This picture is for my mom, who is the only one in the family who likes olives.