The collective jaw of the multiparty talks camp-followers dropped when they surveyed Dublin Castle's comfort. Here is a group accustomed to harsh treatment by the state. At Castle Buildings in Stormont, the media is forced to hang out for hours in unspeakably dreary portable cabins with less than luxurious sanitation and tasteless food.
Dublin Castle, by contrast, boasts a cosmopolitan edge. There was cappucino, muffins, and black and white pudding for breakfast and lamb navarin with rice, followed by cheese cake or chocolate confections, for lunch. All served under the glass roof of the Chester Beatty library, courtesy of the taxpayer.
Outside, the sun broke through to flood the manicured Dubh Linn gardens with spring warmth. It's always raining in Belfast, or freezing.
Still, it's a bit risky, allowing the multi-party road show to leave Castle Buildings. Last time they left town, for Lancaster House in London, they spent the time rowing about the UDP's expulsion. In Dublin yesterday, they abandoned scheduled business to spend seven hours on the proposal to toss Sinn Fein out - until March 9th, at least.
One republican fumed: "They're deciding when to let us back before they even throw us out".
The media had gathered on the cobbles of the Great Courtyard from early morning, awaiting the arrival of the politicians. They came looking grave. The unionists wouldn't approach the microphones and cameras stacked outside the entrance doors. But David Andrews outlined the gravity of the situation. The Northern Secretary was uttering nothing, at least not before she raised Sinn Fein's expulsion.
The Women's Coalition, which preaches inclusion, not exclusion, also arrived but, unfortunately, the media's attention to it seemed to wane when the SDLP car drew up with the leader, John Hume, on board and bearing the message: "Wait and see".
The wait was not too long before Sinn Fein arrived - 15 of them in all - with green ribbons on lapels and the declaration "We will not go without a fight". The eyebrows of sager Northern hacks rose quizzically when Gerry Adams described the killings at the centre of the expulsion question as "unhelpful to everyone . . ."
He and his delegates turned into the State Apartments, where, as David Andrews declared, "an extraordinary variety of people from viceroys to 1916 leaders, from Red Hugh O'Donnell to European heads of government have worked, celebrated, schemed or suffered."
Whatever about the work yesterday, there wasn't much celebration. But, the Sinn Fein spinners would have you believe, there was plenty of scheming and suffering. Martin McGuinness said the "unionist lynch-mob, led by the British government" was after Sinn Fein's hide; but it was taking quite a while to procure it.
The talks were conducted, as usual, in private. The hope abounds that, if the media are absent, agreement could be present. So reporters and cameras were housed in another part of the castle complex.
But throughout the day members of the parties or officials from the governments came to "spin"; they spun to infinity as cameras and reporters dashed from one to the other, trying to put bits of the jigsaw in place.
The day was spattered with press conferences, impromptu and organised, with every morsel of information devoured by a media without access to the real show.
Outside, the rumour mill ground on. A Sinn Fein spokesman declined to comment on reports that the party had asked for a stenographer, though all had agreed to have none at the outset of the talks. Unionist sources said the Irish Government was haggling with the British over the length of time Sinn Fein should be left in the political cold. Most agreed, however, the party would be put out today.
By nightfall, it was clear there would be no decision from the governments. Refreshments were being prepared in a room in the castle, in anticipation of the Taoiseach's arrival. They were hardly going to kick Sinn Fein out after the drinks party.
Whatever about rumblings of disagreement over time-frames for expulsion, Dr Mowlam and Mr Ahern showed a united front at the end of an inconclusive day; there was no split, they said. The Taoiseach would be guided by the Prime Minister.
Hang around, folks. Round two today.