Post date: 18-Aug-2009 16:25:47
Colin and I headed out to Phoenix Park which is the largest enclosed park in Europe to find our first geocache. We headed up to this really cool abandoned castle and found our first micro cache A is for Arsenal. It was magnetized to a rusty steel object that was just inside the ancient window. I'm really curious as to what the castle building used to be. It has since been abandoned and overgrown with weeds. There were two deer in the yard by the castle and when they crouched in the grass all you could see were their antlers sticking up above the weeds.
The second cache we found was the best cache that we've found abroad yet. We walked across two waist high grassy fields and in the middle of the second field was a red block of cement. We lifted it up to reveal a hole which contained an ammo can. I can just imagine the people who created this cache the first time walking across the field with a block of cement and a shovel. How much more suspicious could you look? We took a travel bug from The Phoenix and left a Canada pin.
The third and last cache we found in the park is P is for President on a white bench by the president's house. It was hidden under the bench and the container was white too so it was well camouflaged.
During our walk back to our hostel from O'Connell street I found Art Deco Dublin: Burton's Store which was a nano. I found it by looking under the fence and then noticing a bolt that didn't belong. I'm proud because it's only the third cache that I've found since we've been on our trip.
Our fifth cache was also a micro and was in a beautiful park called Iveagh. The park contains a hedge maze and a rose garden. It was also a great park for my 3.5 Km run. A must see in Dublin.
Our 6th was a micro under a bench by the St. James' Gate brewery. Our 7th was Vikings and Vicars on a pipe by the Christ church cathedral. Our 8th was a nano on a fence in front of a church. The minister pulled up on his bike beside us and asked "Are you looking for the geocache?" We replied "Yes" and he pulled it out from under the fence for us. That was really nice. He was also a rather young looking minister too. This is the first time we've ever had someone ask or figure out what we're doing.
The 8th and last geocache that we found in Dublin was in the corner of St. Stephen's Green as we were leaving. It was another micro and was hidden well into the top of the fence.