It was some sight. A fleet of 99D and 98-D registered Mercedes lined up bumper to bumper on the driveway of the Church of Ireland Primate's former palace in Armagh, now the headquarters of the North-South Council. The Irish Ministers and their minders had arrived in town, and didn't everybody know it.
We counted them in: Michael Woods, Mary O'Rourke, Jim McDaid, Brian Cowen ("Top of the morning", was his greeting for the reporters), Noel Dempsey, John O'Donoghue, Sile de Valera, all the way down the line.
As one Irish ministerial aide was heard to say: "It isn't a case of tiocfaidh ar la, but tiocfaidh ar Mercs."
There was no gainsaying that it was a big day for the de Valera dynasty. "My grandfather would have been very pleased," Ms de Valera told BBC Northern Ireland earlier in a pre-recorded interview.
And there wasn't a demonstrator in sight to tell Ms de Valera and the entire Irish Cabinet "Ulster still says No". Ulster said nothing as far as the serial protesters were concerned yesterday. Now that was amazing. "We have got the relationship right," was Mr Trimble's explanation for the apparent harmony.
The Taoiseach arrived by Air Corps helicopter, the Tricolour emblazoned on its side, accompanied by the Tanaiste, Mary Harney, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, David Andrews. Liz O'Donnell, who was a key part of the Irish negotiating team, "called in sick", and so missed the great day.
With the entire governments of this island under one roof -apart from two DUP ministers, who had other business in the south of the county - it was hardly surprising that security was pretty tight but generally unobtrusive. There were British army snipers on the roof of the palace, an RUC spotter plane circled overhead, and there were checkpoints on the roads into Armagh city.
Perhaps all the security explains why Peter Robinson and Nigel Dodds were without protection when they ventured into south Armagh around the time that the North-South politicians were lunching on smoked salmon, lamb and passion fruit pudding, washed down with sauvignon blanc and shiraz wines.
A reporter suggested to one Irish official that rather than have the weekly Cabinet meeting in Dublin today the Ministers should have taken time out from North-South matters in Armagh yesterday to plan Government business ahead for the week. That might be laying it on a bit thick, said the official.
"A day quite unlike any other," said Mr Ahern. "An idea whose time had come," said Seamus Mallon. "A joyous occasion," said Martin McGuinness. "An important day," said Mr Trimble. And not just for nationalists, he added. "It is also important to the unionist community."
Politicians were anxious not to drop any verbal time-bombs that would send ministers scuttling back to sectarian trenches.
It was interesting to listen to the different emphases. Mr McGuinness of Sinn Fein described the new body as the "All-Ireland Council".
"I hope we can see in my lifetime a united Ireland," he added, but he didn't make a meal of it.
Mr Mallon spoke of the "enormous potential, the enormous possibilities" of the council. He also alluded to the important "resonances" of siting the council in Armagh. He left unsaid the fact that Armagh is the ecclesiastical capital of all Ireland, but we could hear the reference in the ether.
Mr Trimble, relaxed and smiling, fixed on the word "co-operation", on one occasion using it three times in one sentence, and the phrase "mutual recognition and respect".
Sure, Mr McGuinness could talk about his aspirations for a united Ireland, but equally he as a unionist could argue through the British-Irish Council that is to be established in London on Friday that the Republic should rejoin the United Kingdom. Graciously Mr Trimble indicated this was not his plan of campaign.
The words "agreement" and "consensus" were on everybody's lips. John Hume was absent from proceedings but it was almost as if he was responsible for writing the scripts.
Northern and Southern ministers, nationalist, republican and unionist were sensitive to each others' constituencies yesterday. They trod carefully, trying hard not to wreck political dreams. Their task, said the Taoiseach, was "to do our utmost to make life better on this island".
He added: "We do that in an absolute sense of friendship. We don't do anything else."
