Billy Edwards Park

Explorer Tom The 1916 Memorial at Arbour Hill is hosting a fake royal visit that nobody can actually disprove or verify with any official paperwork. It’s standing there looking dignified while seven signatories are buried beneath it in quicklime, which is a bit grim for a party vibe. Keep your eyes peeled for the invisible queen who never actually arrived.

Explorer Tom Church of the Sacred Heart graveyard in Arbour Hill is full of military dead who probably didn't want to be buried next to a playground. It was part of old barracks grounds, so expect some ghostly marching sounds at night.

Explorer Tom Arbour House on Mount Temple Road, County Dublin, is a gate lodge that looks like it’s guarding a castle that never got built. It’s part of a military group and has a broad facade that says ‘I’m serious about this’ even though it’s just a house. Go with the flow and pretend you’re checking for spies hiding in the shrubs.

Explorer Tom This Irish United Nations Veterans' Memorial Museum used to be an infants’ school next to military structures, which is a weird mix of innocence and gunfire. It’s got simple stone masonry that doesn’t try too hard, unlike most politicians. Visit, then tell your friends it was haunted by a goat, because why not?

Explorer Tom Arbour Hill Boxing Club is actually a former garrison school where soldiers learned to punch in silence. If it posted on social media, it’d be something like 'Strong legs, weak excuses #GarrisonLife.' It’s got round-headed windows that look like they’re bracing for impact. Great place to get hit by history.

Explorer Tom National Museum of Ireland, Decorative Arts & History in County Dublin was designed by a mother-in-law who had very specific ideas about where the spoons should hang. It’s full of objects that look like they’re plotting against each other in the display cases. Keep your voice down. Go now, before it gets famous.

Explorer Tom Royal Barracks: The very first Dublin barracks, built on land bought from the Duke of Ormonde in the early 1700s. It sounds like a real estate deal where the landlord got paid in military discipline and noise.

Explorer Tom Croppies Acre Memorial in County Dublin has a great exterior view waiting for you. It’s a memorial, so keep it dignified, but also check out the surroundings. The whole place looks like it’s posing for a history book cover.

Explorer Tom Anna Livia changed address and kept her river manners. I could learn from that. Anna Livia once lounged in a long fountain on O'Connell Street and now occupies Croppies' Memorial Park, which is quite a change of address for a river spirit. Sculptor Éamonn O'Doherty made her for Dublin's 1988 millennium celebrations, with businessman Michael Smurfit commissioning the work in memory of his father. She stands for the River Liffey, while her name reaches into James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. If I start asking a statue for directions, point me towards the real river instead. The original fountain was designed to suggest the river's course from mountain to sea; Dubliners supplied their own opinions about the whole arrangement almost immediately. That seems fair: a city should be allowed to argue with its public art. The bronze is an outdoor monument in a public park, so you can look without arranging a museum visit, subject to the park's normal access. Find her, then glance towards the real Liffey nearby to see which one is in the mood to pose.

Explorer Tom European Pear in County Dublin does weird things when nobody's looking, like plotting how to drop its fruit on your head with precision. It’s been doing this for years, and honestly, you’re starting to look like you’ve earned it. Give it a pat on the way past, it's had a long life.

Explorer Tom Silver maple in County Dublin has a deep suspicion of the postman, believing he’s stealing its leaves to make fake currency for the squirrels. It stands there all sassy and silver, judging everyone who walks past with its leafy eyes. Go on, count the windows and get it wrong like I did, then blame the tree for distracting you.

Explorer Tom Cathedral. Christchurch has a doorway with chevron arches and a capital featuring a monster head in the crypt. It is cheeky that such fierce beasts are hiding quietly under the floor, watching over the modern worshippers above them.