Happy New Year to y'all!

Pullin' yer leg for Christmas [at Clontarf Castle, Dublin]

                                       
      Together against the wind at Clontarf Castle, Dublin, Ireland


Now this auld castle was probably an English castle -it even has the bloody British lions beside the main entrance...But let us not forget that centuries before, in 1014, Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, and his army drove the Vikings out of Ireland at the Battle of Contarf, a stone's throw away. Poor Brian was killed by Vikings [Danes?] fleeing the battle. Dublin "slaggers" have it that he was kneeling down praying the Rosary in front of the Blessed Sacrament when they fell upon him in his tent and dispatched him to the Happy Hunting Ground.

Spanish Steps, Trinita dei Monti, Rome, Italy

                                       The Spanish Steps never ceases to please and to enchant the visitor