This park sounds interesting and huge. Is there some type of
transportation inside the park or only by foot? Does anyone know if
they still exercise race horses here? I read they did but it seemed
unlikely in 2003 so close to a city. Then again I don't know where
the closest track is.

[email protected] (Katherine) wrote:

    >This park sounds interesting and huge.
About 1700 acres (three square miles). Mostly parkland (trees and
grass); one small formal park; one zoo; one polo ground; one cricket
ground; a good many football pitches; one large obelisk (in memory of
the Duke of Wellington, who was born in Ireland); one very large rusty
iron cross (a leftover from a papal visit); Aras an Uachtaráin
(official home of the President).

    > Is there some type of
    >transportation inside the park or only by foot?
No public transport. Cars and bikes are allowed, but not buses or
trucks.

    > Does anyone know if
    >they still exercise race horses here?
I never saw any race horses there. But horses are allowed, and you can
see people hacking there. There was, until fairly recently, a
racecourse immediately abutting the park, but it is now in the hands
of developers.

The park has a herd of deer. They don't stray from the park because
lion droppings (from the zoo in the park) are put near the gates.

PB

On Wed, 14 May 2003, Padraig Breathnach wrote:

    > No public transport. Cars and bikes are allowed, but not buses or
    > trucks.

When we were there (group travel) our minibus was allowed. A couple of
years ago.

Note that the name has nothing to do with a Phoenix ! It means something
like "fair water" in gaelic.

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Giovanni Drogo wrote:

    >On Wed, 14 May 2003, Padraig Breathnach wrote:
    >> No public transport. Cars and bikes are allowed, but not buses or
    >> trucks.
    >When we were there (group travel) our minibus was allowed. A couple of
    >years ago.
I'd say you got away with it rather than were allowed.

    >Note that the name has nothing to do with a Phoenix ! It means something
    >like "fair water" in gaelic.
Just that: "fionn uisce".

PB

There is a track right in Phoenix Park. I don't know about seeing horses
exercised there (except at the track, of course) but if you want to see
race horses being exercised, take the train through Kildare any morning
and you'll see them being exercised on the Curragh. Some years ago,
when I was working in Ireland, I was staying at a horse farm in Kildare,
and I loved seeing the horses being worked each morning while I was on
the train to work in Dublin.

Katherine wrote:
    > This park sounds interesting and huge. Is there some type of
    > transportation inside the park or only by foot? Does anyone know if
    > they still exercise race horses here? I read they did but it seemed
    > unlikely in 2003 so close to a city. Then again I don't know where
    > the closest track is.

Padraig Breathnach wrote in message news:...
    > ...
    > The park has a herd of deer. They don't stray from the park because
    > lion droppings (from the zoo in the park) are put near the gates.
    >
    > PB

May I add the fact that the roaring Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer lion
(you will know him from the opening credits in their movies)
had his home in Phoenix Park zoo...

Ben

In message , Ben Birkner
writes
    >Padraig Breathnach wrote in message
    >news:...
    >> ...
    >> The park has a herd of deer. They don't stray from the park because
    >> lion droppings (from the zoo in the park) are put near the gates.
    >> PB
    >May I add the fact that the roaring Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer lion
    >(you will know him from the opening credits in their movies)
    >had his home in Phoenix Park zoo...

May I add that Phoenix Park doesn't actually have any physical gates --
the story I heard is that they were taken down for a Holy Year in the
1920s, and when the time came to put them back up they couldn't find
them, hence the need for more sophisticated means to keep the wildlife
inside the park.

The obelisk in honour of the Duke of Wellington isn't complete, either -
Wellington wasn't proud of his Irish origins, reportedly saying "If one
is born in a stable, it doesn't make you a donkey", to which Daniel
O'Connell replied "No, but it can make you an ass". When reports of this
got back to Ireland, the good folk of Dublin refused to stump up the
money to finish the obelisk.

--
Arwel Parry
http://www.cartref.demon.co.uk/