Ireland day 0498. Wednesday 08 February 2023- Aquatic *

Ireland day 0498. Wednesday 08 February 2023- Aquatic

Today’s summary	Val had a day off so in the morning we went swimming at the National Aquatic Centre in Blanchardstown. Later in the afternoon we went in to Dublin for a talk by Brigid Laffan at the RIA on Ireland’s 50 years of EU membership. A fascinating day.
Today’s weather	Dry and bright with hazy sunshine. A light shower later in the evening. Light south westerly breeze. Appx 10C

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (No GPX today)

Commentary

(Summary blog only. Last full blog was Day 0368).

Today Val was off work so this morning we decided to do something a bit different, and try a swim at the National Aquatic Centre, out at Blanchardstown. It’s Ireland’s primary swimming centre and it features an 50m pool, a variety of smaller pools, a diving pool, and a “fun” area with flumes and slides. Today the 50m pool was divided into two 25m pools which was a relief as swimming 50m is actually harder than you’d think.

We both really enjoyed the experience – it’s clean, bright and was very quiet when we went today – so we had entire lanes to ourselves. The water’s a bit on the cool side and the fact that the water is so deep that you can’t touch the bottom at either end (which makes getting out a bit challenging) takes a bit of getting used to. But we both really enjoyed it and would go again. The coffee and croissant at the end felt especially well deserved.

In the evening, we went to a talk by Prof Brigid Laffan at the Royal Irish Academy entitled “Reflections on 50 years of EU membership”. An absolutely excellent talk, and well introduced by Minister Peter Burke TD. It made me wonder why the EU is so enduringly popular here in Ireland, in contrast to the situation on the other side of the Irish Sea. It’s multifactorial, of course, though I think different attitudes to the vexed issue of sovereignty are probably something to do with it.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Inside the reception area for the National Aquatic Centre	Brigid Laffan’s introductory slide

In the main hall of the Royal Irish Academy. It’s like one of those ancient gentlemen’s clubs on Pall Mall in London. But a great atmosphere	The RIA library. The pillows you can see on the desks aren’t for the comfort of slumbering academics, rather they are to absorb moisture from the air and so help preserve the ancient manuscripts the bookshelves.

The RIA is in a magnificent Georgian building. As befits its magnificence it is, of course, located on Dawson Street

The National Aquatic Centre at Blanchardstown. Looks slightly past its prime from the outside but it’s actually pretty good inside. It’s part of the larger Sport Ireland complex, and all part of the same campus.