Our Take on Life

St Patrick's Day 2016

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Tue, 21 Feb 2017 21:58:00 GMT

I won 2 tickets last minute for the Bow Street Sessions at the Jameson Distillery, thanks to Hotpress magazine. The night included free food and a few drinks whilst we enjoyed the musical styling of Otherkinok and +Maverick Sabre. A particular hightlight was the collaboration of Maverick Sabre with Dublin Gospel Choir covering +Adele Hello. It was a great way to spent a night out and especially in the lead up to my birthday and my week off from work.

I was taken away to bray for a few days to celebrate my birthday and spend time alone with Paddy. The days we spent there, were quiet yet perfect and we decided after it, to move in together, the following weekend. Once all the logistics were all taken care of and everyone got all settled in with the new arrangement. We decided to arrange an apartment day out together, as the weather was promised to be nice, we decided to head to +Dublin Zoo, somewhere where we all enjoy going. An interesting antidote was, while all of us were waiting for the Asian Elephants talk, we had a pre-talk entertainment as the Bull elephant decided to illustrate an education talk in the form of the birds and bees, which was so funny as the parents panicked trying to distract the young children from watching it.

With the year that was in it, +Niamh and myself, expected that the crowds for the St Patrick's Day were gonna be outrageously massive, that we decided to go in for the parade early. Considering how early we managed to get in, the crowds on O Connell Street were too bad for our liking and decided to head back towards the spot we had last year, which luckily enough we managed to get a decent spot to watch the parade. Typically the Irish way of doing this, the start of the parade was nearly 45 mins late starting however despite how cold the wind was, the parade was worth the effort and wait. The fact we got our spot early, was definitely lucky as the crowds gathered were the biggest ever.

Once the parade finished, we dashed quickly out of the city centre before the drunken madness that descends onto Temple Bar commenced. En route out, I noticed on Instagram, that there seemed to be something going on at Old Jameson Distillery in Smithfield. When we got there, we noticed that they were hosting an event called St Patricks Hub for the day, with live music indoors and out in the courtyard. Talking to someone while listening to one of the acts, she told us that they were giving away free, freshly printed sweatshirts there live by Damn Fine Print in front of you and original signed art work by the artist James Earley.

After having some well earned food at Jo Burger, we enjoyed some more music and a drink before heading home. It was the perfect way to finish the day after the parade.

The Wednesday during Easter Week, I finally managed to see the inside of St Werburgh's Church after years of trying.

The Spanish Wedding in No Man's Land

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 18:39:00 GMT

After few quiet weeks, it finally was time for my holidays which started with a weekend for himself and myself in London. Despite the extremely early mid night wake up to get the Airlink bus from Smithfield to the airport to make it in time for our flight 7.35am to Gatwick. We made it through security with ease and had the obligatory pint before meeting up with Paddy's Sister Clare and Sheila and made our way to board our flight. The flight itself despite been a short one was a turbulent one. Once we disembarked and that, we were on next available train then tube towards our respective hotels near Earl's Court tube station. All four of us went for food first before going our separate ways. Paddy and me had a little while, after checking into our hotel before we had to leave again to make the Matinee performance of Motown the musical. The musical is based on the history of Berry Gordy's founding and of his record label and his personal and professional relationships with its artists. The musical was like a jukebox showcasing all the label's biggest hits. We walked the short ten mins walk towards Leicester Square area as I still had to collect the tickets for that night's performance of Harold Pinter's play No Mans Land starring Sir Ian Mckellen and Sir Patrick Sewart. These tickets were the main reason we made the trip over to London, was to see these two legendary actors in person live and I had got them for his birthday as a present. We saw Clare and Sheila in a restaurant near the Wyndham Theatre so we joined them for some food before the play. Despite the subject of the play itself being quite heavy, the acting by all four actors in the play was unreal and experiencing the chemistry and dramatic performance of the legendary actors was amazing. We went to stage door to see if we could get an autograph or photo of the actors which luckily we managed to get. Before getting the tube home after such a tiring but thrilling day. Exiting the station what did we come across but a TARDIS type structure right outside the station.

Early next morning, Paddy showed me where he used to work and met some of his old colleagues and friends before going to Putney where he used to live. After such a nice weekend it was pain to make our way back to the airport for our journey home. Despite the delay leaving Gatwick, we arrived back home safely.

Early next morning I got the bus towards the Phoenix park visitor centre to do the Magazine Fort, only to be informed the information I came across online was wrong but got my tour sorted for the Friday after I got home from Spain. So as I had unexpectedly time to spare and it was a pleasant enough day, I walked to the zoo nearby and made use of my annual pass. Any excuse to avoiding packing for Spain.

Wednesday morning about 4 am after alarm went off somehow we both ended up falling back asleep but I woke up with a shock. Despite being only a tad behind schedule, we got a taxi to the airport, made use of Aer Lingus new bag drop service and were through security again with ease, we were back on schedule mostly stress free. Also helps Niamh had a taxi code I could use which helped with the cost. Once we boarded the plane and got settled, we had decent seats and the seats were actually comfy. The flight itself was a smooth one and heavenly compared to our London flights that we both slept some of the way. One of a Paddy's oldest friend and the groom Ken collected us and his parents from the airport and we spent several hours chilling and enjoying the sun in the villa he got for his family to stay at, before he brought us up to where we were staying up in Mijas Peublo. After we got settled in and took in the amazing views from our villa up in the mountains, that we noticed poor Paddy got severely sunburnt which he would suffer with for a few days. It didn't take Paddy long to make friends with the 2 house cats that live on the property which were so playful and adorable.

The next morning I wanted to go exploring around the village and collect a few essential supplies. I had been told before the holiday I had to check out the chapel of the Virgin of the Rock. This chapel was excavated in the rock by Mercedarian friars and according to tradition Marian apparitions began in 1586 above the chapel. I also took in some of the Compas panoramic views from the viewpoint situated next to the chapel, before taking in other sights of the village such as the donkey taxi, constitution square, and various churches, before the trek back up the mountain towards our villa with breakfast for both of us and to enjoy the afternoon sun, as I had been exploring for long then I had planned to. We enjoyed the quiet, peace and views from our villa and of course the sun, before meeting the other member of the Tripod as Paddy puts it, Fergal and his girlfriend Ciara for food and drinks in the coastal part of Mijas. Paddy and me soon realised that taxis and cost of same was gonna place a big part of this holiday. That Friday night we went to pre wedding evening in the Trocadero Arena on the beach near Marbella. Been a vegetarian and a picky eater for once worked in my favour, as Emma the bride arranged for one of the waiter to come to me with a special plates of canopies throughout the night which was nice of her and tasty.

The following morning was the day of the wedding, main reason we were on holidays in Mijas, as the wedding itself wasn't until that evening, Few hours before it, we were brought to the villa closest to the wedding one , where we got to enjoy some more sun and the pool before the ceremony. When both Paddy and me suited up, I must say we did scrub up quite well if I do say so myself. The wedding itself was on hill top, just up the road from we all were. When the wedding started after some vamping by the groom, around 8pm it was still about 28 degrees, we were seated outside on the hilltop during the sunset as they said their vows. The reception afterwards was at the rear of the villa around the poolside with flowers and candles in the pool. Emma the bride painted all the signs and such which were all around the place. There was a good laugh and buzz as everyone enjoyed themselves.

Sunday was a day of rest from what we gathered for nearly everyone that was at the wedding, besides the ones who went to watch the All Ireland match at the nearest Irish pub which didn't include us both. For the next two days, post wedding celebrations we got to enjoy the villa and the village just the two of us which was nice. Tuesday the day before we had to leave, Fergal collected us, so we could met up with Ciara, Ken, Emma and a few others at the wedding villa, as it could be a long time before everyone was together again, for some sun, fun and banter. Later that afternoon, when Fergal and Ken were heading back our way towards the supermarket, we got a lift back and on route I got to see the buildings and structures I hadn't been able due to location such as the Bullring and was able to see a different view and side of the village which was pretty cool. We had a cosy last meal just Paddy and me in one of the village squares which was tasty and perfect way to finished off the holiday, before surprise surprise getting a taxi back to our villa, to enjoy our last night before the dreaded thoughts of the flight home. The morning of our flight home arrived way too quite for either of our liking, but good things have to end. As Fergal and Ciara were heading to Malaga that morning, they collected and dropped us to the airport on route which was very nice of them to do. Before we knew it we were boarding the plane, and on our way home. Both of us managed to get forty winks during the flight, as it was a smooth flight and a comfortable enough plane.

The next day, I had arranged a private tour within Dublin Castle to check out a John Hughes' Statue of Victory depicting Hibernia at War, tending to the dying solider. I dragged Niamh along with me, as this statue is located in the grounds of the conference centre, part of Dublin Castle which is closed to the public. It was nice of Jenny of the OPW to arrange and do that for me. That Friday I finally was available to do the Magazine Fort tour in the Phoenix Park, I had to walk the whole way to the Visitor Centre which took just short of an hour due to the Bus Strike. Despite having to walk all the walk, I got on the next available tour, where the OPW brought the group of us doing the tour by bus to the Magazine Fort. It was quite interesting to hear about the history of the complex, see some of the original buildings, the conservation been done by the OPW to maintain the structure for the future. The different viewpoints in this Ammunition fort shows off different parts of the park and nearby historical structures and buildings. Despite the 10 km around trip by the time I got home later that afternoon, it was worth the effort despite the later pain and aches I would in my legs, was nice way to finish off my holidays.

Bonfire, Music, Rugby and Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 18:08:00 GMT

I came home from work, mid afternoon on Halloween, noticed that the local kids and parents had started to stockpile for a bonfire for later that night. We were watching tv, when we noticed through the curtains, which were closed, this bright light, so we opened the door, and saw the crowds gathered around this unreal massive bonfire, right at our doorstep, the heat from it was so hot even at our distance.

The following day, I got to finally meet up with my friend Majella from home and her son Lorcan. I was able to bring them in on my Annual Pass to Dublin Zoo which was so handy. It been years since I was able to spend some quality time with Majella. Lorcan has grown up so much since I've seen him last, which was when I held him as a baby. That Friday evening after work, Paddy and myself had our date night, where we went for a nice meal, before heading to the Bord Gais Energy theatre to see the Star Trek screening with the Rte Concert Orchestra conducting the soundtrack throughout the screening. Niamh at the same time had gone to see Judith Owen at The Avenue Venue Upstairs @ Avenue by Nick Munier, tickets which we had won in Hotpress. Niamh said that the singer wasn't bad just wasn't her cup of tea. The next day, she also got tickets to the event at the RDS called Metropolis, although it wasn't really our thing, we thought we would check it out for a while and see what it was like. The Trinity Orchestra doing a set honouring David Bowie was a highlight we both enjoyed and that alone was worth our effort making the trip out to it. We decided to round off the weekend and the start of our week off with a tasty brunch at Bakehouse in town. Early Tuesday morning, Niamh and myself got the bus home to Clare, to spend a few days with the family and to celebrate our Granny 94th birthday, who wasn't expecting us home, it was kinda nice to surprise her. We went our for lunch then drinks where we surprised her with the birthday cake which she had no idea at all about. It is always nice to get away from the big city and spend some quality time with the folks at home.

The week off flew by, before I knew it I was back at work that Sunday morning. After work I met Niamh in town for the Grafton Street Christmas lights. As we had time to spare we had food in 37 Dawson street somewhere we hadn't been in ages. Lucky we decided to make our way to Grafton street after we finished. As a crowd had started to form, and we were up near the front once they started letting people near the stage. Unlike reports of the massive crowds of people behind all the way down Grafton Street, we had no issues with the sound or safety where we were and had a good view. We had a good laugh with the people near to where we were and enjoyed it. We understood why they had to cut the event short and turn on the lights before they had planned to due to the health and safety concerns with the thousands of people there. Which is a pity as we had been there last year and remember what the whole event was like.

During my break at work the next day, I got a message from Vodafone letting me know that I had won a pair of tickets to the Ireland vs the All blacks rugby game for the 19th. I had to re read the message a few times to let it sink in, that I had won the tickets. Before we knew it, it was Friday and it was time for Sister Act the musical, tickets which we had bought months ago which kinda snuck up on us. We had the Circle Club experience thanks to the Bord Gais Rewards Club, an area cornered off, which we could enjoy before and after the show and got a complimentary programme too. Despite the cold, we got to meet and get our photo with Alexandra Burke which was nice of her, that alone made our night, as she was the main reason, we both wanted to see this show, as we were unlucky enough not to see her in the Bodyguard. I managed to get my hours in work changed for the next day for the game, and as soon as I was finished, I quickly changed and made my way out to Ballsbridge where I met Niamh. Once I found her, we made our way to the Aviva and founds our seats. We were amazed with the view we had, and were very happy with our seats. To be part of the atmosphere and crowd for this game was quite a different experience and couldn't still believe I finally got a see an Ireland rugby game, and it actually was against the world champions the All Blacks. Despite the end result, and the minus temperatures, we both agreed it was a surreal experience been at such a game and getting to see the All Blacks perform the Haka beforehand too. That for me is another tick, possibly even two, off my bucket list which I'm delighted with. To round off the weekend, Niamh and me went to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them, which we totally enjoyed so worth the wait.

On Thursday afternoon after work, I met Niamh in Smithfield in advance of the Christmas Lights Switch On event, to make sure we were up near the front, before the crowds arrived. Stanhope Street Girl Choir, who are from the locality, got the event underway just after 5.30pm by singing a few Christmas songs. Johnny Cronin who was on next, just couldn't break the tough crowd unlike Sinead White and her band who were on next, who got the crowd going and everyone seemed to enjoy her set even if it was all her own original songs. We had a visitor from the north pole come on stage next, the big jolly guy himself Santa, who with the deputy major began the countdown for the switch on of the Christmas tree in the Plaza. To finish off the event, the headliner Jerry Fish and his band came on, from the get go, he was full of energy and mad as a brush with all his movement and jumping. I have heard in the past that he is so unpredictable and true to form, suddenly he jumped off the stage and over the barrier and in the process smacked poor Niamh on the head with his mic stand which although was sore, she found the funny side of it, while we enjoyed the madness that was Jerry Fish before the cold walk home.

After a hectic crazy morning in work, I met Niamh and Paddy near Smithfield for the Coca Cola Christmas Truck, that was in the plaza for the day. As Paddy got assignments to do, himself and myself got a photo close to the truck, while Niamh still queued, before heading back home. Niamh and me waited in the end for just over an hour for our opportunity to have our photo taken with it. We heard after we collected our photo and was leaving on our way to town that the wait for the photo op was running at over 2.5 hours. We arrived onto O Connell St for the Switch on the Christmas Tree and the Geansaí Nollag event, just after it started which was perfect timing and still got a relatively good view of the stage. The Dublin Halleluia Gospel Choir started off the event with their Christmas set, followed by the cast of the Olympia Panto, Ceilli Trad band Craddóg and the headliner The Academic. Al Porter and Dustin the Turkey were MCs who were the glue that held the whole event together. Before the Lord Mayor switched on the Christmas Tree. Over 1,500 took part in the Christmas jumper event which broke the previous record for largest number of people gathered in one place wearing Christmas jumpers.

As Niamh and myself happened to have same day off during the week, we decided to head to the Zoo to make use of our annual pass and it been ages since we went together. As it was a week day, the zoo was quiet enough we enjoyed it at our own pace. The first weekend of December was my weekend off and because of the rain, we all had quite a lazy weekend. During one of the few dry spells, we made the short stroll to Teelings Distillery for their Christmas Market.

As I was working both Christmas Eve and St Stephen Day, I was spending Christmas in Dublin this year. Niamh volunteered to stay up with me, as we all were heading down to Clare for New Years. After I finished work early on Christmas Eve, I met Niamh in town where we finished our food shopping and that before getting bus home. We curled up on the couch, getting cosy for the night watching Christmas Movies with few drinks and of course chocolate. Christmas Morning, we both enjoyed our well deserved lie in and laziness before deciding to get up and start the prep for our festive meal which we planned to spread throughout the day as we were in no rush with the food. Only thing that was missing from the day, was my poor Paddy, the poor guy was spending the day working. At some stage during the day, he dressed up as Santa and gave out gifts to patients on his ward, which the staff had chipped in together for and he sent me a photo of later which gave me a laugh. All the prep for this festive meal was worth all the effort and little arguments as it was one of our bests ever. The day was made even better when Paddy finally came home from work and got to spend some time with him on Christmas Day. Between Christmas and New Years, only one of us who seemed to be off enjoying her self, was Niamh who went to her Friend Emma's Wedding in Dalkey followed by the reception in Dún Laoghaire, she told me the following morning that she thoroughly enjoyed her and she even brought me home some sweets which was nice. Niamh, Paddy and me all hopped on a late bus home to Clare on Dec 30th for the weekend for New Years, despite been a long bus journey home, it was pleasantly quiet and peaceful one. It was great to see our parents who collected us from the bus stop. As always was great to get home and spend some quality time together. We all enjoyed ourselves over the weekend but before we knew it, the few days home were over before we knew it and had to begin the journey back to Dublin. I had to get a connecting bus at the Red Cow to Dundrum and back to normality for me as I had to rush to work for a few hours which luckily flew as I was wrecked after all the travelling. To finish off the Festive season, Paddy and me meet his cousin Rob and his partner James at Guinness's Open Gate Brewery, the following Thursday where we sampled few different drinks while we had a good catch up.

Disneyland Paris Birthday Celebrations

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 16:54:00 GMT

After a tough week with everyone in the house suffering with the Norovirus, I thought Saturday and time for our flight to Paris would never arrive. Once Niamh and myself got the last few bits packed and ready for our trip to Disneyland, we managed to get a few wee hours sleep, before getting up at 3 am and getting ready to leave to catch our bus at 4 from O'Connell street to the Airport. The bus driver was some what of a speedy Gonzales, as we managed to be at the airport, through security and relaxing in duty free, all by 4.30. We decided to begin the trip right, by indulging our selves with some delicious hot chocolate drinks from Chocolate Lounge, with mine been a Bailey Chocolate Mocha. Soon after we made our way towards our gate and boarded our Aer Lingus flight to Paris. The flight itself went smooth enough and before we knew it we were disembarking the plane at Charles de Gaulle Airport and trying to make our way through the mind field of an airport and somehow find where our coach to the resort was to depart from. After getting a tad lost, we managed finally to find our coach and actually make the next available one. We were arriving at our hotel, going through security and checking in at reception, all within the hour of leaving from the airport. Luckily enough our room was ready for us, so we were able to unpack and get sorted before heading into the parks. We activated our Photo Pass, which we had purchased when we booked our trip, before we left the hotel. We entered into the park just before midday, we joined the queue to meet Donald Duck and have our photo taken with him. As we were queueing for him, I realised we will spend a big portion of our trip, queuing for varies character meet and greets. From here, we joined possibly our longest queue of our the whole trip, the one at the Princess Pavillon and wait to meet and see, Princess Ariel. Although the wait, was something like 80 mins at least the pavilion was all indoor and we were kept entertained with all in the decorations along the walls on route to meet her. At the end of the wait, when we got to meet Princess Ariel, It was surreal to have her wish me a Happy Birthday, my inner child was coming to the surface, I was so giddy afterwards. We strolled around Fantasyland before making our way towards Walt Disney Studios Park, and one of my main reasons for the whole trip was for the Season of the Force, celebration of everything Star Wars. We made it in time for the Star Wars - A Galaxy Far, Far Away show, a action-packed show where live Star Wars Characters and special effects bring dazzling displays of the Force to life.

Although we missed the First Order March from the view we had, we had a perfect eagle view for it, when it was scheduled to be on next, just as we exited our meet and greet with Spiderman. After this we went back to the hotel to rest, as it been such a long day so far, before dinner in the hotel. We prearranged all our evening meals for our stay for different places before we arrived. After our last trip to Disneyland Paris 3 years ago, it was always our plan to use of our of meal vouchers for our hotel restaurant as we thoroughly enjoyed it on our previous trip. Unlike our last trip, where we stayed in one of the lodges, our room this trip was in the main building and had a lovely lake view. When we were booking our trip this time, we were surprised we managed to get a better deal with flights, hotel room and other packages compared to our last trip. We travelled this time with Aerlingus to CDG airport, hotel cost included all our evening meals, tea times treats, park tickets and even when we added on our photo pass, birthday cake, coach tickets and supplement for the Buffalo Bill's show, we managed to pay roughly same as we did 3 years ago.

After we had made use of the buffet dinner in the Hunter's grill restaurant, which I would have enjoyed a lot more if I wasn't still suffering from the norovirus which was a real pity as the food was so tasty even for me a picky eater and vegetarian. Once Niamh and myself had our fill, we made our way back into the Studios park, in perfect time for the nighttime show of Star Wars A Galactic Celebration which uses state-of-the-art projections, special effects, music and live Star Wars characters to relive and discover the power of Rogue One: A Star Wars story. Before heading back to the hotel, I decided to go on Rock 'n' Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith ride where speeds reach up to 100km/h in less than 3 seconds, I thought was perfect way to finish off our first day of our trip. On route back to our hotel, we explored what the Disney Village had to offer and check out some of the stores. Besides been awake since 3 am, Niamh and myself decided sure why not, have a drink in the hotel bar before bed and crazy day trip to Paris the next day. My poor stomach was still very dodgy but I finally managed to get 3/4 hours sleep in the end.

Niamh had set her alarm on her phone for 7am for breakfast, after I got out of the shower and I checked my phone I noticed it actually was just after 8 and I asked her if her phone had changed to French time. So we quickly got set for our day ahead, when we went down to the restaurant and saw the massive queue, we gave it a miss and headed straight to the train station located right in the middle of the Disney Village. We got our tickets and got the next available train which was only a few mins wait. Although we slept it out kinda, we were only 15/20 mins behind our original schedule. After we arrived into Paris about 40 mins later, and exited the station, we got slightly distracted and lost. Niamh whose is always a keen navigator got us back on the right track towards Notre Dame. We arrived at the Cathedral there was a smallish queue which wasn't too bad luckily enough compared to the one we saw after we exited the cathedral and joined the queue for the Bell Tower. We both agreed that the inside of the cathedral was more impressive than either of us had thought it would be. The queuing we had was longer than either of us would have hopped, as they were only letting some many up at one time. However as the queue length was getting out of control, the police told the organisers to move the line along. A result of this as we were in the next section been allowed up, we were given admittance for free which was a nice surprise, especially as we had over 400 steps ahead of us over the next 45 mins. Despite some of the steps been wet, slippy and awkward to climb, when we finally managed to make it to the top, all the effort was worth it with the view we were greeted with. We enjoyed the break taking panoramic view of the city a small while, before the climb down to street level. We found the Louvre easier from the Notre Dame which helped us to make up the time we lost out on, with our sleep in. As it was the first Sunday of the month, it was free entry into the museum for the public, although the queues seemed long, they were moving along quite quick and we got through security and into the museum in less than an hour. Security around the complex inside and outside was high, especially as it had only been 2 days since the last terrorist attack which occurred at the museum. We enjoyed strolling around the museum with all the paintings and sculptures especially doing the Da Vinci Code trail which is the a trail that follows in the footsteps of the heroes of the novel/movie exploring the places, works and themes at the heart of the story. The trail began in the Napoleon Hall located under the Pyramid, where we made our way towards the Denom wing, where all the events of the story in the museum takes place. The crowds situated around the Mona Lisa was massive as I imagined they would be. We finished our visit and the trail of the museum at the Inverted Pyramid in the Carrousel du Louvre before making our way back to the train station and onwards back to Disneyland.

Niamh and myself arrived back into the park, in perfect time to get a great view of the Disney on Parade at 5.30pm and the weather had dried up and was just perfect for the parade. Once we saw tinker bell's waving to indicate the end of the parade, we entered fantasyland to enjoy some of the rides and attractions before heading back to the hotel and make use of the leisure facilities with a well deserved swim.

After chilling and relaxing for a while, we made our way back into the Disneyland park, to see the closing time show Disney Dreams a nighttime spectacular featuring projection onto the park's castle, fireworks, water fountains, fire, music and other special effects. As Niamh held our perfect view for the spectacular, I dashed across the park to the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril, a ride that I was totally annoyed was closed for renovations on our previous visit. There was no queue at this time of night, which was great for my timing to get back towards the Castle for the Disney Dreams show and I felt the ride was even a tad scarier in the dark. Once the show was over, Niamh and myself made our way towards the Disney Village and Cafe Mickey where we had made our dinner reservation.

Once we got seated, relaxed and ordered our food and met Goofy, suddenly out of no where music came on wishing someone Happy Birthday, it took me a minute to cop that it was me the music and singing was for. When Mickey Mouse came over to me during all this and I was so embarrassed that I was going red in the face with all the fuss but me and my inner child were so enjoying it. The food itself both Niamh and me really enjoyed and then just before dessert, I hear more Happy Birthday singing when my Ice Cream Birthday cake came out, chocolate and vanilla flavoured. We both decided to keep our cupcake desserts which were part of our meal as a treat for the following day. Surprisingly we both made a great stab with the cake despite just been the two of us. The view of the lake on the stroll back to the hotel was the right way to finish off the night after such a great day.

We went to bed early, as we wanted to get up extremely early to use the pool at 7 am, before making our way down to breakfast, after which we got all our stuff ready for the day ahead and made the short stroll towards the park. To make use of the Extra Magic Hours in the Disneyland Park as part of staying in one of their hotels, where guests have private use of the park between 8am and 10 until the park opens to the public. My inner child had a mini break out when I saw Chip and Dale, as I was really bummed when I didn't get to meet them on our last trip. It was a great start to our day already, which after doing few rides like Peter Pan and Buzz Lightyear, only got better when we encountered the creepy yet fun Jafar. After which we made our way over to the Studios park and queue for Moana which we missed out on Saturday and who Niamh really wanted to meet. As she got in the queue early this time, I went in the queue for the Tower of Terror which took a tad longer then I had hoped. Once the ride was over, I sprinted across the park back to Niamh and made it just in time for Moana, that great timing or what. After we both got our photos taken with her using our photo pass, we got Fast Passes for later in the afternoon for the Ratatouille ride as the queue was crazy. As we had a while before we had to be back in this park, we returned to the other one, to enjoy the rides and meet some more of the characters such as Alice, Jessie and others and getting a Fast Pass for Big Thunder Mountain for just after the Parade before heading back. We timed it perfectly for me to meet and have my photo taken with a Stormtrooper before our Fast Pass at the Ratatouille ride. Although it was down for an hour which gave us time, to do the rest of the rides we wanted to in that park and even get our photo with Woody. We could still get to use our Fast Pass and the wait wasn't too long either. We made use of our Tea treat voucher on our way from the park, when poor Niamh got banged into and her hot chocolate went everywhere, mostly on my hoodie and jeans, luckily I was wearing the hoodie as that drink was so hot. After the Parade we got to enjoy more of the rides in the park before heading towards Disney Village, where we had time to have a drink then made our way towards our dinner entertainment for the night Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.

The pre-dinner entertainment in the venue began around 8.30pm, as we were doing the show on this trip and as we didn't have time on our previous one, we paid the supplement with our dinner voucher for the category one seating which wasn't that much at all. As we enjoyed the pre-dinner show, we both had a drink with mine been a good auld Long Island. When we got seated, we were so happy with our seats they couldn't have been any better. As I'm vegetarian, my meal was different to what was on offer and I was happy enough with what it was, as I knew we were there for the show and not the food, although they did a hearty texan type spread of food. The premise of the show is one that is hosted by the legendary Buffalo Bill, and famous faces such as Chief Sitting Bull, Annie Oakley and the Rough Riders, re-enact fabled moments from the frontier through stunning shootouts and sensational stunts. Plus there are special appearances by Mickey and friends to help you cheer on all the action. It was nearly 11pm by time the gun-slinging Wild West live show was over and ready for us to disembark our saddles and stroll back to our hotel room and have a well earned sleep.

Another early start for our last day, we packed up all our stuff, checked out, stored our luggage and had our breakfast before making the short stroll towards the Disneyland Park for 8 am to use our Extra Magic hours. We queued for the character meet and greet for Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Pluto before Niamh joined the queue outside the Princess Pavillon to meet Princess Aurora before it was due to open as a queue was beginning to form. Luckily enough we joined it when we did, as when the Princess Pavillon finally opened at 10am the queue that had formed was outrageous. I ran off to get Fast Passes for the Peter Pan ride as we wanted to do it again. When I finally got back to where Niamh was, she was nearly at the top which was great for the rest of our day ahead. From the exit of the Pavilion, we joined the tiny queue at It's A Small World which I forgot how entertaining and well done the ride was. We strolled across Adventureland into Frontierland towards Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing, where we hopped aboard the Molly Brown an 19th Century-style paddleboat steamer, and could enjoy a leisurely riverboat ride around the Old West, taking in in a new view of Big Thunder Mountain and Wilderness Island, witnessing cascading waterfalls along the way. Upon exiting the ride, we finished off the Character meet and greets which we had so far missed on this trip, Aladdin & Jasmine, Captain Hook & Smee and Peter Pan and Wendy.

Once we met magician Mickey Mouse backstage for another photo pass opportunity, we headed to Discoveryland to use our last Fast Pass on the Buzz Lightyear ride. To finish off our magical Disney experience, we embarked the Disneyland Railroad which is an relaxing 20 minute Grand Circle Tour onboard an authentic steam-powered train. We Disembarked once again at the train station on Main Street U.S.A. before making use of our last Tea time snack voucher and doing some shopping. Once we bought all we could carry, we strolled back to the hotel and waited for our bus back to the airport. Despite the airport being the main one for Paris, there was hardly anything in the complex, surprisingly when the airport such a maze. Once we finally got to our departure area and counted down the time to boarding which was made easier with the free wifi on offer. The flight itself was smooth enough besides a slight turbulence which had a awful effect on my right ear. Before we knew it we were home and getting ready for bed after a long hectic yet quite an enjoyable day. The trip was well needed and as always the way, it was over before you knew it and back to normality.

As the next day was my birthday, I got to celebrate it and spent some quality time with himself. After a well deserved lie in for both of us, we went to the zoo, somewhere I love going. The two of us then went for a nice meal in town, where Paddy told the waitress Alice it was my birthday when he ordered our meal which I didn't know about. When she brought out our food she wishes me a Happy Birthday and gave me a few free sauces to go with my food which was very nice of her. It was perfect way to spend my birthday with just himself, before we came home and Niamh had Ice Cream ready to celebrate it.

Bloom, Clare & Pride with a touch of Fuerteventura

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Wed, 6 Jul 2016 17:46:00 +0100

The following Wednesday, I had won tickets for a screening in Dundrum for Me Before You thanks to the RTE guide, Niamh and myself made most the of the weather and our day off before heading to the cinema for the movie. There was a pre-screening drinks reception which was fun to have a glass of bubbly before the movie. Before the movie I was skeptical if I would like it or not, to both our delight, we laughed and enjoyed the movie more than we thought we were gonna, which made the effort getting out to Dundrum worth it.

The June Bank Holiday weekend, our mother came to visit that Friday for the weekend, as our mother, Niamh and Niamh's Bestie Clodagh were all doing the VHI Women Mini Marathon on the Monday. I happened to be off the Saturday and we decided we go to Bloom in the Park as our mother had got 2 tickets thanks to our cousin Louise winning them and the two girls bought their tickets at the gate. So after entering the complex, we soon realised how massive the place was. We firstly ended up somehow in the Red Zone where all the food exhibits were, before we knew it we all were eating our way around the place, before we decided that we should really check out the Show Gardens, the whole reason we went to Bloom. On route to them, Niamh got her claws around the Tarzan who was there at the garden, which was inspired by The Legend of Tarzan and to promote the new Tarzan movie and made sure she got a photo with him. At one of the show pieces, Bridge The Gap, our mother got chatting to an assistant of the designer who introduced her to Matthew Barrett, the designer of the piece which was designed at the Chicago Park District Conservatories. The concept of the design features 2 living sculptures that can be seen as 2 sides of a bridge, yet they do not connect. One sides features material known for its Irish heritage and history and the other side for plant material seen in Chicago. After seen all the various show gardens on display, we all discussed which we all liked the best and we each had a different favourite, sure the joys of personal opinion. Once we were done with the gardens, we ended back with all the food stalls and such, it was like we were drawn back. I ended up getting a Teeling Whiskey Red Leg Rebellion Cocktail as the sun and weather warranted one to help quench my thirst and any excuse to enjoy myself. It was while at the Teeling stand that Niamh got chatting to the owner's parents, who introduced us to Stephen.We all bought a few items before leaving Bloom after an interesting fun day. We topped off the day with dinner and drinks in a pub nearby to where we live and even Paddy joined us for a drink to.

As I was working the following morning, my mother and the 2 girls had to collect their WMM numbers and details from the RDS, so I met them after work down by the 3 Arena where the Docklands Riverfest was on, which had several tall ships on display but the whole event wasn't greatly run or organised which was a pity.

The morning of the Mini Marathon, there was a awful downpour of rain, which luckily enough cleared just before the marathon was due to begin. Talking to the 3 of them separately during the race, as all 3 were in different sections and they all said that it was harder to run in due to the dry humidity and lack of air and were all relieved and Niamh in particular who was getting her time engraved onto her medal, was happy and pleased that she managed to actually beat her time from last year despite finding it harder due to the changeable weather and dead dry heat. I was so proud of her for finishing yet another mini marathon. After we all had a few drinks in the pub, I was keeping seats for them in nearby to the finish line, Niamh and myself brought our mother and Clodagh towards the Green Bus for the long bus journey home back to Ennis. To finish off the bank holiday, Niamh and I ordered a Chinese takeaway to relax and chill; and for poor Niamh to try get over the aches and pains from the mini marathon.

The night before Niamh's birthday, and somewhere she wanted to see and experience, after the time Paddy and I told her about the place, was the Open Gate Brewery at Guinness. Where for the 6€ entrance fee for the ticket which I had bought online earlier that morning, Paddy and myself had a tasting slab of 4 different beers each to try. We both agreed that the Strawberry porter brewed for the Taste of Dublin was our favourite, even though we picked slightly different choices, we had both picked that one. Despite the weather, I met Niamh at Dublin Zoo after work on her birthday which is a standing birthday tradition we have for her birthday. Niamh was waiting for me at the zoo, when she arrived there it was sunny, but by the time I hopped on the bus to Phoenix Park it had started pouring. Luckily not long after I entered the zoo and met her, the weather started to clear up slightly. The new Orangutan Forest Habitat had finally opened that week, it was kinda awesome to see the family of Orangutans climb over your heads from one island to the brand new island and back over. It was nice to see that the new habitat was so much bigger than the old ones and the animals actually looked happier in it too. Since our last trip, we noticed that they had moved some of the animals around, such as having all the Asian lions out in 2 separate habitats next to each other and moved the Sumatran tiger near to the Amur Tigers. We watched the Sea lion keeper talk and feeding which never disappoints. We strolled around enjoying the African Savanna, which was with a touch of sadness, when we got to the Gorilla Rainforest as it was our first trip since the passing of Harry the Male Silverback and leader of the pack.

The Meerkats in the restaurant, lifted our spirits from the sudden change in the weather again with another downpour, as the Meerkats were playfully messing about and fighting with each other which was so cute and funny to witness and watch. For Niamh's birthday I got her the Annual Pass to the zoo as she loves going to the zoo. The following morning, she went home for a few days as she had holidays from work. On the Monday, our Mother and Niamh went on a road trip down to Cork and Fota Wildlife where she was able to use the Annual pass to get into the Wildlife park there for herself and our mother for free. Unlike the weather that Niamh and I experienced at the Zoo on Saturday, they were lucky with the weather they had during their visit to Fota.

On the Tuesday, Paddy, Myself and his cousin Rob went to the 3Arena for the NXT Live! event, which funny enough was my 2nd wrestling event in 3 months, it seems Paddy is having an effect on me. We made use of the Neon Bar within the arena. We all enjoyed the event, especially when Bayley and of course Finn Balor entered into the ring, both got a warm Irish welcome. Finn Balor entrance out got the whole crowd on their feet, shouting and chanting his name giving him a proper welcome home.

Niamh had won tickets to the Taste of Dublin for the Saturday afternoon slot, but with a last minute holiday booked to Fuerteventura for our mother and Niamh and with my flight out to join them not until Monday morning. I made use of the tickets bringing a mate from work along for the ride. A particular highlight of the day was doing the Lynda Booth's masterclass where I made a Spinach and Chickpea Pattie, it was quite interesting, interactive and fun and the resulting product was tasty even if I say so myself. For taking part in the class, everyone got to keep the apron which was nice. The demonstration which Ross Lewis did in the Main Tent was funny when he took the piss out of fellow chef Paul Kelly. There was a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere throughout the place which helped me to enjoy the Taste of Dublin even more and sure the food and drink helped too.

I got the Aircoach from the city centre at the middle of the night, I was at the airport so early even security hadn't opened as yet, which it did at 3.30am. After getting through security and as per my luck getting the usual pat down, I made my way towards duty free but nothing was open as yet until 4 am, which at that stage I got the mandatory Pint as for me it was still night time as I hadn't been asleep as yet. I made my way closer to my departure gate after relaxing over my pint and I was in time for a strong coffee before boarding. The flight itself was grand enough that I was able to nap for different periods during the flight except for a bit of turbulence towards the end. As soon as I was off the plane which was about 10 am I was hit straight away with blinding sun and heat of over 25 degrees which was a pleasant changed compared to the rain back home. As I just missed public bus towards Caleta de Fuste, I got the taxi to the apartments which our mother and Niamh were staying at. Soon after a quick brekkie and unpacking, I was soon joining the 2 women down by the pool in no time making most of the sun during my short getaway. My first night in Fuerteventura, after some food outside, we went to Piero's Cafe to see some of the nightly entertainment, which they had seen the previous night. The entertainment that night was a brother and sister duo, Katy and Paul Gillies who were doing Songs from the Movies, which was very funny, entertaining and great way to finish my first night. I was soon to realise the next morning and every morning after, it would be an early rise to make sure, we got the sunbeds the women wanted by the pool side and make use of me as I was there too. After sorting that out and food, it was time to go exploring around the marina, the beach and the castle, so see what the area had to offer. After which we chilled poolside to catch more of the sun and for me to catch up on the latest episode of Game of Thrones on my iPad which was a different way to watch the show, out in the sun, pool side and on my iPad but I needed my Game of Thrones fix. Socialising with some of the people we got information where to go eat and where to go which was helpful, as we all had to walk exploring when on holiday, to try the walk out to the Altantico Shopping Centre which was 2.5 km away, as the weather was perfect early Wednesday morning, we decided sure why not which was actually quite pleasant to do. On the return walk which went back via the beach and ended up playing a round of mini golf. As the game went on, and the course was more difficult then we figured partly due too to the strong breeze which had arrived from no where, any reason to start a fight over it was pointless as we ended up laughing about it instead. That evening we went to a local Irish bar, to get dinner but more importantly to watch the Ireland-Italy Match, and when Robbie Brady scored that goal many glasses were broken with everyone shouting and cerebrating the Irish win which amazing to watch and unbelievable. Thursday, my last full day there, My mother and me went on the hunt for Sangria which had become our holiday tradition, luckily we found a place that it was reasonable and surprisingly was quite nice. After enjoying the sun that afternoon, Niamh and myself went out for our dinner together which was properly the best of the week, before enjoying more of the entertainment at Piero's Cafe and the Beer garden which was hosted by the Best Disc Jock-ey in a Frock-ey DJ Diva who was so funny and got everyone laughing and up dancing. I of course got dragged up on the stage which had everyone and especially me laughing which was the main thing. It was a late enough night, so as I was up early the next morning, luckily enough I had packed the previous night. The 2 women dropped me off at the taxi rank on their route to the beach, I was at the airport and through security in no time. How Fuerteventura airport have laid out their smoking areas, I was able to enjoy a few last minute rays of sun before I had to board the plane back home.

The flight was a lot smoother then the one out but the landing was a tad bumpy. As soon as I was off the plane I knew I was back as it was pouring out. I got the bus back into the city centre where I met Paddy and we went to the cinema to see the new Independence Day Resurgence movie, although both of us thought it wasn't a patch on the original, it was nice to spend some time just the two of us together. The following morning, which was Pride, we had a Champagne breakfast and made our way into town, where we met Paddy's sisters Clare and Fiona, Cousin Rob and Clare's GF Sheila, near to the Parade starting line, as we were marching with the Eir LGBT helpline float, who Clare helps out with and was particularly big this year as Eir had just commenced sponsoring the helpline which was major, and we helped give out free stuff to people watching along the parade. After the parade finished at Merrion Square, we stayed about for awhile for some of the post parade entertainment before making our way towards 37 Dawson st where Eir were holding a post parade Volunteer event which was very organised and lovely gesture as they supplied an open bar and free food for us all. After a few hours Paddy and myself got the bus home and left the rest of the gang to enjoy their night. We were very lucky with the weather and the general atmosphere of the parade and buzz about the place which was great to see and be a part of.

We all spent most of Sunday recovering from Pride and Niamh was still exhausted after landing back home about 3 am in the morning as the flight back home was delayed leaving Fuerteventura. After watching the Ireland France match, Paddy and myself got ready for our trip down to Cork and then our few days down home to Clare. We got the train down to Cork, where the highlight was our little visit to Fota Wildlife Park, where we both enjoyed how some of the animals such as the lemurs were roaming around the park freely which was cute and fun to watch. Before getting on the long bus journey to Clare, we got some Nandos as you do, which set us up nicely for the journey.

When we finally arrived into Ennis, we were met at the station with a warm welcome from my parents. It was Paddy's first proper trip to Clare besides a day trip to Lahinch years ago, so we happened doing all the fun touristy trip around North Clare. We spent that first night just all chilling together. My Dad took the Tuesday, the next day off from work, to drive Paddy and myself around for the day, which I was really appreciated of him doing for us. Despite the weather not been the best and at periods the rain was coming down badly, this didn't dampen our moods or motivation to get this boys on tour started. First port of call after the breakfast my dad had prepared for us, of course was Father Ted's Parochial House which is located in the heart of the Burren itself. As we were within the Burren, we stopped off next at the Poulnabrone Portal Tomb, a famous megalithic tomb and see the famous Flora that are in the area. As we were near Doolin, we stopped for a pit stop and lunch before continuing with the drive down the coast on route towards the Cliffs of Moher. By the time we got to the Cliffs, the rain had stopped and the sky had cleared with even the sun making an appearance, which gave us a perfect view of the Cliffs. Paddy's was delighted to finally get to the Cliffs which he always wanted to see, therefore I was relieved that the view was ideal for us. We decided sure why not to continue our coastal drive down through Liscannor, Lahinch, Spanish Point and Miltown Malbay, before showing Paddy the infamous Bog, that he has heard so much about, on the route back home. We were all wrecked by the time we got home, we all rested a bit, before the family dinner spread that my parents had laid out for us, for everyone except me, the awkward vegetarian who they had also catered for, was roast beef. The following morning after one last big feed before our departure into town, to catch the green bus back to Dublin and reality was via a very quick visit to my Auntie Siobhan. The perfect way to finish off my holidays was with the visit down to Clare and that I got to finally show Paddy, Clare and where I am from. He enjoyed his trip down so much, that he would love to make another one in the near future.

Tell Me on a Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Wed, 6 Jul 2016 16:45:00 +0100

After the eventful few weeks over Easter with the commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising, our parents visiting and finally getting to meet Paddy and me bringing him to Guinness for the first time and him showing what WWE live at 3 Arena was like, which I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed more than I thought I was gonna. It was time for a change of pace and for something different, so Niamh and myself went to the Bord Gais Theatre to see Jodie Prenger in Tell me on a Sunday. A show Niamh adores and was dying to see and I went cos I adore Jodie. As I watched the musical unfold, I was in awe of how Jodie was able to sing non stop for this emotionally draining one woman one act musical with just the help of the live band. After the intermission, Jodie came back on stage for a Q&A with the audience and a few more songs. We were lucky enough to meet and chat with Jodie afterward at the stage door which was surreal as we got to chat about the last time we saw her in Spamalot and laughed over that which was nice and the perfect way to finish our night out before getting the LUAS home. As Paddy and myself happened to have the same day off during the week, we have a little date day just the two of us in town, trying out the new Tram Cafe that had opened the previous week, on Wolfe tone Square near Jervis. The tram itself is a 1902 refurbished tram which has been themed out so it's like your dining in 1929, which was something to experience and dine in. Later in the week, Paddy had some Uncle-Nephew time with his godson Mikey, who had a sleep over which was cute to see Paddy interact with his nephew and give him some of his so called wisdom.

That weekend, I managed to make it home from work just in time, to watch the Hurling league final replay between Clare and Waterford. For the most part, my voice was gone screaming at the tv, shouting come on the banner. When Tony Kelly got the equaliser and winning point, I was in shock, that Clare had won their first league final since 1978. It was such a good game and final. And really sets up both teams when they meet again for the 3rd time in a few weeks times in one of the semi final of the Munster hurling Championship.

The following Tuesday, which was starting to becoming our unofficial date day, Paddy and myself decided to do something and go to the Wax Museum as we saw it advertised, as they had a new exhibit to celebrate the 1916 leaders. I booked online while I was waiting for Paddy over coffee, it worked out a tad cheaper than buying at the door. Although I have done the museum numerous times before, I think possibly it was company I had, but I was really enjoying the random fun of the place and we both enjoyed the silliness of it. It not as good as any of the Madame Tussuads around the globe, we enjoyed ourselves and managed to get right the exhibit we went to see in the first place, the one showcasing wax figures of the 1916 leaders and a particular highlight for both of us were the Chambers of Horror. It was fun, random and difficult way to spend our afternoon, which was the whole point of picking there.

I was in work early that Saturday, I made plans to meet Niamh afterwards in town as I would be in for about 3. When I got in and to the place she said she would be, for some commemorative march for James Connolly, she wasn't there and I couldn't get hold of her. So I thought I might try where the march is meant to finish. When I got to the GPO and finally got hold of her on the phone for her to tell me, that she somehow got roped into March itself and was holding a photo poster of Sean Heuston. I finally saw her as the march arrived at Liberty Hall and once it concluded at the GPO. We wanted to make most of the sun and had time to spare before our 1916 bus tour at 7pm - Beyond the Barricades. So made our way towards The Marker and try get again to access the Rooftop Terrace bar which we managed to steak out seats near the concierge who was looking after it, for when it opened at 5pm. We luckily enough were one of the first lots of people, brought up to the roof as the queue for it was getting busier by the minute. We were so happy with our seats, as it gave us a panoramic view of the city and the nearby landmarks such as the Aviva Stadium and the Poolbeg power station. It helped too that the weather and sun were in our favour, the only down side was we had to leave for our tour, as we were enjoying the sun and our drinks.

We waited for our tour to begin outside Dublin Bus head office on O'Connell Street at 7pm. From the second we boarded onto the bus, it feels like your transported through time back to 1916. The ANU production use of Abbey Theatre trained actors brings voices of the past to life, right in front of our eyes. Manus Halligan played the parts of Pvt. Andrew Barry, Sean Connolly, Ned Daly & Charlie Saurin and Aisling O'Mara who was captivating and emotional as she portrayed the characters of Christina Caffrey, Nora Connolly, Julia Grenan and Helena Molony. Aisling O'Mara was a particular highlight of the whole tour. During the 100 min bus tour as the actors enact several historical scenes both on the bus and in St Stephens Green and outside Dublin Castle where Aisling O'Mara as Nora Connolly gave an emotional speech describing the night she visited her father James Connolly at Dublin Castle. We managed to see an offer on the 1916 Dublin bus Facebook during the week, for 15€ each instead of the usually 25 euro. Watching history being brought alive was interesting and a different way to spend a Saturday evening.

The next morning, after an unexpected sunday off and nice sleep in, Niamh, Paddy and myself decided we would finally go and check out the GPO Witness History museum. The whole the exhibit and experience was built into the grounds of the GPO itself. The price of admission in was 10€ and for Niamh 7.50€ as a student, which was my treat, as Niamh had treated me to the bus tour the night before. The show piece of the whole experience had to be the 20 mins video detailing the week of the rising. To finish we had coffee in the GPO courtyard where you could see the Spire and the tricolour which is on the roof of the building from a different angle which was kinda cool and was a nice way to finish the experience and our weekend.

During the next week, it was a tad stress filled with trying to find somewhere new to live, in a luckily turn of events, we were able to find somewhere all 3 of us liked on the Thursday evening and more importantly managed to get it. So after sorting out the contract and all the paperwork, we started the hard and annoying part of packing up our lives from our old place, moving it with some help from friends and family which was a big help and the delightful task of unpacking, sorting and organising our stuff into our new house. On that Sunday, for a bit of relaxation and to do something, Niamh and myself, went towards Dublin Castle as I had complimentary passes for "In the Shadow of the Castle" exhibition which is the castle's 1916 exhibition. Our little trip was on the 1 year anniversary since the Marriage Equality referendum which was been celebrated by some of the groups at the time of our arrival, which was nice to remember the memories of last year. The exhibition it self showed the role the Castle played the rising and the installation of the Red Cross Hospital when the Throne Room, Drawing Room and the Portrait Gallery became hospital wards. The last days of James Connolly at the Castle before he was brought to Kilmainham Gaol are showcased during the exhibition. Once we exited this exhibition, we got to see other parts of the State Apartments which we haven't seen in previous tours or visits, which made our little visit worth it. To round off a week of settling in our new place, Niamh and myself that Friday evening went to meet distant relatives who were visiting from Australia for a few drinks, before they were heading the following morning down to Clare to visit and stay with our parents and meet some of the relatives.

Easter 1916 Centenary

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 22:32:00 +0100

I happened to have a day off, just before St Patricks day, and with everyone else working, I decided to check out the Proclaiming a republic : The 1916 Rising Exhibition which is was on in the Riding School at the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks. The exhibition contains one of the largest displays of materials from the period, many of the objects have never been on public display before and others such as the Irish Republic flag which flew over the GPO, has been specially conserved. This exhibition explores the background to the Rising, events of Easter week itself through the everyday, intimate and personal belongings of the participants, scenes of the surrender of the rebels and also explore the stories of those who were imprisoned and interned. A particular eerie highlight are the last letters of those sentenced to death, which are displayed alongside their belongings that were in their cells in Kilmainham Gaol, within a sombre space. This 1916 exhibit is worth a visit. +Niamh did the Outdoor exhibition in St Stephen's Green telling the events of the rising that occurred there over 20 illustrated exhibition panels, the Saturday after. The funny thing was that evening, she was telling me how good the exhibition was, as I was about the one at Collins Barracks, which she ended up doing on her day off the following Tuesday. Paddy and myself did the outdoor one that afternoon too on route to visit his parents.

As the week processed, we convinced our parents to come up for Easter and to finally meet Paddy. They even surprised us by deciding to come up a night earlier then originally planned. As I was telling them about the Easter 1916 Lost Leaders March, that was taking place on Good Friday from Kilmainham Gaol to Arbor Hill arranged by Sinn Fein. After getting the introductions out of the way, when they arrived up Thursday evening, we were all soonenjoying ourselves, laughing away. On Good Friday morning, we got up early to make sure we got there in time and to soak up the atmosphere at the Gaol. By the time the March finally got underway, 45 mins late typical Irish time keeping, instead of starting at midday as advertised, a massive crowd and participants had gathered for the March. The Procession/Parade itself was very well done and bigger than my parents or myself thought it would be. I forgot how big the hill up to Arbor Hill was, it had nearly taken the wind out of us. We got lucky with our position for the ceremony and speeches itself. It was a pity that the March began late as half way through Gerry Adams Speech, I had to dash off to catch the LUAS to work after I had dropped my parents off in town, luckily I managed to just make it in time. We all agreed that despite how severe the March was it was worth the pain and effort.

The following morning, I decided to treat Paddy to a visit to the +GuinnessStorehouse, as in all his years he'd never been despite being a Guinness drinker himself. I had brought early bird tickets online before we went, which proved very lucky as the queues for both cash and online tickets were massive. I got talking to one of the staff, who was asking people in the queue, if anyone had early bird tickets, as they were only valid until 11.30am and it was almost that, so we were able to skip the queue and go straight in. Although I had been there before, I enjoyed the visit nearly as much as Paddy and was intrigued how much they had changed the tour since my last visit there. I personally am not a Guinness drinker myself, but even I enjoyed the smooth pint up in the Gravity Bar and the staff were so friendly up there too. It ended up being a late night drinking and bonding which ended up being quite fun.

The following morning, Easter Sunday, Niamh and myself got up early and left for town, as everyone else was still in bed, for the Easter Sunday Commemoration Ceremony & Parade. As we didn't want to get quashed with the crowds, we managed to get a perfect spot up at Christchurch, just as Military Parade was beginning to arrive into area, before halting until the Flag Ceremony at Dublin Castle. In the end we both felt we got very lucky with our spot, as we able to see the parade perfectly and observed other events on the big screen located nearby. After Military parade, we headed for home and get our parents on the bus home to Clare, which was managed via a detour for them with Dublin Bus to the Red Cow to meet the coach for Ennis. It was a great weekend, even better with the parents coming to stay and visit.

Due to the LUAS strike, I had to get a bus anyways to work on the Bank Holiday Monday, I decided to go with Niamh into town early, to experience some of the RTÉ Reflecting the Rising on O'Connell St before, or that was the plan, before we decided on going to the Rotunda Hospital for their exhibition entitled Rotunda: Birth of a Nation which showcases the lives of five prominent medical women throughout Easter Week 1916, through a series of selected items from private collections, video footage and graphic and print wall hangings. Soon after leaving this exhibition, I left Niamh on O'Connell St to enjoy the events, while I sprinted away for the bus out to work. Niamh was telling me that of the 4 areas with events on, that O Connell Street was by far the best. She was saying that Joe Duffy's Liveline 1916 special, Discovery Gospel choir, Simon Morgan and Lisa Lamb, and the Lost Boys were particular highlights. What made the trip into town more worth it especially with the wind and cold was meeting up with her friend Helena and having a good catch up.

As I am usually off on Tuesdays, I decided to make the most of it by seeing some more of the exhibitions ongoing in town. I walked into town, so I could get into the Four Courts and check out the Bullets, Books & Barricades exhibition, that the Bar of Ireland and the Courts Centenary Commemoration Committee produced to explore the background to the Easter Rising, The battle of the Four Courts area ranging from Church Street, North King Street, Stoneybatter and Smithfield and occupation of the Four Courts itself and the aftermath and executions are also included with the consideration of the Rising's legacy. Trying to find the open entrance to Round Hall was proving difficult, after getting lost yet again, I asked someone for the third time, where it was and they then realised that as the judges were on holidays for Easter, the main entrance on the quays was closed until Friday. So after getting through security, and finding the Round Hall, the long way around through the Four Courts itself, I was at the exhibit. I think due to the fact it being a Tuesday after Easter and the main entrance closed I had the whole exhibit to myself which was quiet, peaceful and well done. A building I wanted to see the inside for years and was finally open to the public is the Custom House which was open for the 2 weeks of Easter. The Custom House, is the architectural masterpiece of James Gandon and the exhibition inside outlines the history of the building and describes the events in the building during Easter week and considers the history of the building and its occupants from 1916 until 1921 when the building was completely destroyed by fire during the War of the Independence. Once I was finished with the exhibition, I managed to time it perfectly to witness, the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins departing from Liberty Hall, who was there for the Commemoration event for the Irish Citizen Army and James Connolly.

To round off my day of 1916 commemorative exhibitions, I finished with the RCSI's exhibition entitled Surgeons and Insurgents - RCSI and the Easter Rising which tell the story of the rising through the human stories of key figures associated with the college and the Easter Rising. The Exhibition is free and open to the public weekdays. The building is significant as it's the only building directly involved in the Rising that stands as it did in 1916, with all others being rebuilt or demolished. The exhibition consists of personal items from figures such as Countess Markievicz to Margaret Skinnider who were with the garrison of the Irish Citizen Army and housed within the college and describes the lives of key figures from both sides.

To try something different one day after work, Paddy and myself went to the Open Gate Brewery at Guinness on the following Thursday evening, which cost 6€ and included a tasting board consisting 4 different exclusive beers, each with various degrees of success. We both agreed the Dubliner Wheat was the one, we both liked most, so much so we ordered a pint each, costing 5€.

Later in April, on my day off, I finally got the opportunity and chance to check out the renovated old courthouse at the Kilmainham Gaol, which pretty cool to see and observe the historical building mostly untouched from its hay day, with it's original jury balcony and register of convicts sentenced which is opened to page of Constance Markievicz sentence.

Late Wednesday night, +Paddy turns to me and says do you want to go to the +WWE Live event at +3Arena Dublin the following night, if there was tickets still available. I said sure, as this is a big part of you, I'm gonna show an interest and try get involved and get into it. Tickets bought, I arranged to get 2 passes into the Bar Neon to chill in before the event. Once the event got underway, I must admit I got into it more than I thought I would. The atmosphere from the crowd for the wrestlers entrance and during the fights was contagious. The fight between +Roman Reigns and +WWESheamus BrogueKick really got everyone cheering and shouting. It was the perfect way to finish the event, which had been such a fun night, although it was my first WWE live event doubt it will be my last.

The following weekend was my weekend off, Niamh and myself decided to head into town and soak up the atmosphere. On the Saturday on our way to Henry Street shopping, we noticed the Easter Rising Commemorative speech outside the GPO which was organised by Sinn Fein. There wasn't much else on that day but on the Sunday, their was a Reclaim 1916 Event. The event was organised by Reclaim the Vision of 1916 initiative, as a way for the people by the people event, celebrating the 1916 Rising and urging all towards its vision of a republic of equality. We had arrived to O' Connell Street early, and got a very good position for the open air event just in front of the Spire and near to the GPO. As we arrived so early, we managed to witness the musicians have their soundcheck before the event. The event commenced by 4 uilleann pipers and 4 harpists from our 4 provinces. Adrian Dunbar was the MC for the event, which had Fionnula Flanagan give several readings, and Stephen Murphy recite his own poem 'Was It For This?' which had everyone captivated and when he finished the thousands in the crowd, cheered and shouted which was totally justified as it was such an emotional recital.

Music was provided by singers Don Baker, Francis Black and Damien Dempsey and musician Donal Lunny. The event concluded with the national anthem. Later that night, while online, I came across that the nearby St James's Graveyard was opening for a special blessing of a grave, first time that this now closed graveyard will be open in over 25 years.

The following morning, I luckily enough remembered to cross the road to the church, to wait for the Mass to finish before the procession over to the graveyard. The priest decided to wait until 11 am before heading over, which gave me enough time to check out 1916 exhibition - Rising in the Union within Parochial Hall next door to the church. At 11 am, a good crowd crossed the road towards the graveyard, is located behind the new whiskey distillery which is still a building site, so we all had to be careful making our ways towards the grave of Lieut George Fullerton who had been killed during the easter rising. After the blessing of the grave by the priest, a veteran of the armed forces played our national anthem at the grave side using a bag pipes.

Festive Seasonal Fun 2015

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Mon, 7 Dec 2015 21:54:00 GMT

After a last minute invite by my workmate Carol, I ended up going to the Jameson Cult Film Club event at the Round Room in the Mansion House who were hosting a Ghostbusters themed night Thursday November 5th. Myself, Carol and I think nearly everyone there, were acting like such big kids. Everyone got complimentary Jameson and ginger ale and burgers, even I got a veggie one or two. The whole event was quite well laid out and the turnout was bigger than I had imagined.

That weekend, I got the first train home at 7am on the Saturday to Clare to visit the family. It had been months since my last visit home with one thing and another. The train journey home itself was uneventful which was ideal with the bad weather and how early it was. The weekend home as is always the way, flew by way too quick. It ended with visiting my Gran which was the main purpose for the visit home as she celebrating her 93rd birthday that week and I wasn't able to be there for the day itself due to work. It was great to see her as always. The bus journey back seems to take forever but at least went by smoothly. Although I couldn't get down for the birthday, Niamh had a few days off and made the journey down to be there for it. I still can't believe that she is 93 years of age though.

I met +Niamh after work on Sunday 15th for brunch before heading towards Grafton Street and the turning on of the Christmas lights ceremony. The ceremony was preceded by a minute silence as a mark of respect to those who lost their lives in the Paris attacks. The lineup consisted of Hallelujah Gospel Choir, +ZENA Donnelly, Gaiety Panto cast, and The High Kings. After the lights were turned on, Hallelujah Gospel Choir and Zena closed proceedings with 'All I want for Christmas'. There was a large crowd for the event from St Stephen Green area down Grafton Street. Once the event was over, both Niamh and myself finally made our way down Grafton, which finally gave Niamh a chance to have a look at the Brown Thomas Christmas window display. And low and behold, what did she notice in one of the windows but her name on Santa's good list. We both laughed as its such a rare thing to see her name anywhere.

The following week, I received an invite from Arnotts for their Christmas Shopping Night. We both went after a day shopping in town and checking out the decorations in the GPO and on Henry st, so it felt like a good way to finish off the day. The event had cooking demonstrations, discounts off across the store, entertainment with Hallelujah Gospel Choir and David Kennedy and the refreshments in the form of Presecco with me drinking for the both of us, the bubbles were going to my head. On the whole was a fun way to spend an evening.

After work on the following Thursday, I made my way towards the I Believe Tree Lighting Ceremony located down by CHQ Building. I thought I might miss it, but due to a technical glitch I was there in plenty of time in the end. The 50ft Irish Christmas Tree in the water, was donated by Coillte and as it was switched on Córus choir sung nearby. I checked out the various stalls on the water and Kilkenny and Bord Bia stores within the CHQ building itself. From here, I hopped on the LUAS towards Smithfield for the free open-air concert at Smithfield Square.

The crowd were entertained by bands such as The Geddes who even did a cover of Adele's 'Hello'

and The Original Rudeboys before the Lord Mayor switched on the tree in the square. The evening's entertainment concluded with a few songs from Paddy Casey who hasn't changed that much since I first saw him during my college days in Galway. I waited for Niamh to finish work and she met me in Oscars for a late dinner which finished a long but well worth it day and also a great way to destress.

Finally we thought, great we have a night free so we can go to Oscars Christchurch, and see the Freddie Mercury Impersonator. We didn't mind too much how late it was beginning but found out quickly how unprofessional and drunk the act was. We decided possibly after 15/20 mins to just leave and go home as things were just that bad. We weren't even the first to just walk either. We were disappointed as we had been looking forward to it.

Despite the disaster that had been the tribute act, I met Niamh in town after work the next day for the switching on of the O'Connell street Christmas tree. Niamh bought herself a Christmas Jumper and she had brought in mine with her for me to change into, so we could take part, in the world record attempt in the number of people wearing a Christmas jumper. The downpour didn't seem to put off the crowds and especially when it started to clear up slightly. As the event really got going, the crowds really started to gather, we were lucky with our spot for it. The MCS for it were Comedian Al Porter and Dustin the Turkey. The first act on was Melanie McCabe who sang a mixture of Christmas and Pop songs which included an Ed Sheehan cover.

Other acts on to entertain the crowds were the Dublin Gospel Choir, Olympia Panto's cast from Freezin who really got everyone laughing and singing along with a medley of Christmas songs. Before all the teenage girls in the crowd went mental for the boy band Hometown, who all seemed to know every word and lyric of the bands songs, it was quite funny and entertaining to watch. When the switching on ceremony was taking place, and Lord Mayor was bringing on someone to turn it on, the crowds kept shouting for Hometown to do it, even though they were the planned guests to do it anyways, it was so hilarious to experience.

Despite there been over 1000 people taking part in the world record, it was short on the record of 1271 which was set in Dublin at the same event last year which is organised by Debra Ireland. There was a generally great atmosphere and buzz around the place leading up to and during the switching on of the tree. Afterwards trying to get photos taken with the Christmassy Characters was an experience in itself and showed us both, how much of big kids we really are.

As we took part in the record attempt, we got a free LUAS journey home that evening for the effort, which we of course made use of, after a quick drink of course first to try and warm our toes that were wet and frozen. Despite been totally wet and frozen, the whole atmosphere made up for it. After we got home and warmed ourselves up, we kept going with the Christmas fun, by putting up our tree and decorations, always forgetting the hours it takes to do so.

On our both next day off, which actually was the next Tuesday, we decided to try and see more Christmas based things. There seems to be so much more stuff to see and do this year, just never enough time, isn't that always the way sure. So we got on the bus, towards Parnell Square for the Moving Crib which located in the basement of St Martin Apostolate. The entry fee in was a token donation and we both felt after it was the best 3 euro we spent for anything in ages, as neither of us knew what to expect. The layout of the whole thing was very well arranged and thought out.

Before heading towards Custom House quarter, we made a detour towards Power Court to check out the decorations and do some shopping on Grafton st. Despite the walk down towards the I Believe Christmas Market, the weather wasn't too bad however after we exited out of the Lidl Deluxe Magical Christmas Cabin, it had become quite windy. The Lidl Cabin although geared towards children, it really had quite a magical feel to the whole thing. We both left the cabin with such raised spirits and the free chocolate didn't hurt either. After the cabin we checked out the Bord Bia store and several of the stalls on the water before giving into temptation and buying several of the deluxe Lidl products, Hot chocolate with free piece of Praline bread for Niamh and a hot Mulled Wine for myself of course, both of which went down a treat especially with the wind getting so bad . As we were still there at 6pm, we thought we checked out the Après Ski bar which was a Scandinavian themed bar. The hot whiskey was what the doctor ordered and helped warm the auld cockles, before braving the wind to get the LUAS home.

As I was off the weekend of the 5th, we planned to enjoy it with as much Christmas based events as we could fit in. We were afraid that Storm Desmond would get in the way, as I learnt on the way home on the LUAS from work on Friday night, he had planned to, as the LUAS line broke down by Windy Arbor due to a fallen branch across the line. After waiting in the rain for over 30 mins for a bus which didn't turn up, ended up getting a taxi home as the wind and rain was getting nasty. As the weather wasn't as bad as we feared, we started on our fun packed day, beginning with a visit to the +Teeling Whiskey Distillery Craft Fair enjoying the free samples as you do of course. After a quick look and buying a brownie in the Farmer Market The Green Door, next door we got the bus towards Grafton for the LUAS Christmas Express activities and the Canon Snow globe experience. The LUAS stationed at St Stephen Green was all decorated inside with Christmas decorations, free faceprinting, music, photographs and mince pies with Starbucks hot chocolate. We kept on with the fun theme, with joining the queue for the Canon snow globe for our Christmas Photo which was good laugh and fun. We went shopping stocking up on few bits essential for the festive season ahead and finished up with our Christmas Presents shopping, which is all wrapped and put under the tree.

On our route home, we stopped off at +Smock Alley Theatre for their Christmas Fayre and enjoyed the musical stylings of +Tonnta Music who sang Christmas Carols. We headed home for a while to rest before heading out again and reattempting the 12 Pubs after coming so close last year.

We decided to start with the same pub as last year, the Brazen Head. Particular highlights of the pubs were such as Dice Bar Star Wars themed Christmas windows, Turk Head's use of old spirit bottles as candle holders and randomly meeting workmates and other friends out in several pubs. It was a random if some what drunken night. It was with relief, we managed to complete it this year, and when I had 12th drink in the No Name Bar, of course had to take the celebratory selfie.

After a well earned lay in of sorts, and with the hangover not as bad as I feared luckily. We got ready for the day ahead at Farmleigh. Despite the mucky ground in the Farmleigh Estate, the weather on the whole was on our side. As soon as we arrived, we heard the Mellow Chords singing Barbershop Melodies outside next to the Festive Crib. We walked though the Victorian Christmas themed experience out in the Courtyard which was quite fun and very well arranged. As we had time to kill before the Puppet Show, we thought we check out the Food and Craft Market. We got a few bits to eat as we hadn't eaten yet that day, The veggie quiche was only 5 euro and it was such huge slice. We queued for the puppet show but as soon as we got in, we realised how badly organised it was and how inconsiderate some people can be that we just had to leave and enjoy the rest of the Christmas Programme. We joined the queue at the front of the house, hoping it was the one Carol Service, as no one in it was quite sure but we all were hoping it was. After about 10/15 mins we were informed that they'd be letting us in 2 mins which relieved most of us. Once inside the house, we were able to have a self tour of the bottom level of the house before taking our seats in the Ballroom for the Carol Service, we got luck getting seats in the front row. The Carol Service was provided by the Christmas Cracker Choir who were thoroughly entertaining and great fun and was worth waiting outside for. We thought to finish off our day at Farmleigh, we get a free Horse and Carriage ride around the estate which was the perfect way to finish our Christmas filled day and weekend.

During a stroll around town on my day off, I came across the IFA live animal crib outside the Mansion House. The entrance is free, but donations were being collected for the Mansion House Fuel Fund. The black goat was so funny and overly friendly which was adorable to see and experience. With the premiere of the new +Star Wars film, The Force Awakens at the Savoy, the Spire was turned into a blue Lightsaber which was pretty cool to see and of course had to get my photo with a storm trooper, sure any excuse.

To round off our festive Christmas activities in Dublin before the holidays, we were lucky enough to be allocated 2 tickets from a lottery draw for the Farmleigh Christmas Ballroom evening with The Velvettes. The Velvettes are a vocal group based on the classic swing combos of the late 1940's and early 1950's. The setlist was packed full of great American songbook classics made famous by Elvis, Frank Sinatra, and of course the required Christmas songs from that era, to get everyone in the festive mood. We both enjoyed the swing evening more than we thought, as we weren't too sure what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised, how much we got into the music and the band. It was a great way to get into the festive mood.

Orlando - A Rollercoaster Journey

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 15:16:00 +0100

After a slight mishap with ordering the taxi to the airport, we had a very smooth check in with
+Aer Lingus +Dublin Airport, the desk attendant was so pleasant and helpful and was able to get our bags checked in for the whole journey, despite the transfer we had +Gatwick Airport and was able to give us our connecting boarding passes too. At security Niamh got pulled aside for a random drug test. Once through security we all started to relax a bit more and enjoy the benefits of duty free including enjoying a free Jameson Whiskey tasting. The flight over to London was very smooth and quick. Once we disembarked into the baggage claim, it was very confusing where we needed to go next, we ended up going through security again as we didn't know what to do. Typically our luck, we had issues at security over our duty free and +Niamh's bag where they found her perfume which she didn't know was in there, it was quite funny really after the fact. As we waited for our flight to board, we thought we get few drinks from the vending machine and the machine wouldn't take our coins, we finally managed to get our bottle of Coke without losing any of our coins. Once on the plane, and we started taxing on the runway, we got stuck in a queue to take off for almost an hour. However once in the air, our air stewardess April, couldn't be any more helpful to us. The flight over to Orlando +Virgin Atlantic, despite the hour delay was a pure pleasure and delight. Once off the plane, and had to join the long queue for Passport Control which was experience in itself. After collecting our luggage, we rang for our hotel shuttle to collect us, after slight confusion and wrong terminal, we finally found our shuttle. Our Driver Randy was quite chatty and funny. Once we arrived at our hotel Rosen Inn International, checked in and unpacked, we finally could start to relax and enjoy our surroundings. We didn't do much the first night because of the long day and the jet lag.

Early Sunday morning, we set off on the iTrolley towards +SeaWorld, first park of many of our holiday. After we entered the park, and as there was no queue, I hopped straight onto Manta, which is classed as the only flying Rollercoaster. After experiencing the ride I can defo understand why, it was surreal. All 3 of us walked through the Mantra aquarium which has 10 underwater habitats over 100 rays and thousands of tropical colourful fish. After the aquarium we went to Stingray Lagoon where you can feel the Rays even if some of us were too afraid to touch them. We got great seats for the 10am Blue Horizons Dolphin show which involved several Dolphins, Tropical birds and acrobats. Lucky we were just outside the splash zone for the show which was funny seeing everyone get soaked. The show itself was very well orchestrated and done. Unexpectedly something I hadn't in my itinerary was the Clyde and Seamore's Sealion show, which we went to at 11. The high school story line was clever, funny and playful. We managed to make the 12 o'clock One Ocean - Killer Whales Show, the whole layout with its use of technology and storyline was carefully thought out and performed. It was hilarious watching the first 18 rows getting saturated by the whales. As per our luck, after queueing over an hour for the Antaractica Empire of the Penguin, the ride breaks down, after waiting 20 mins more and nearly giving up, we finally all got on the ride which involves a simulator experience of the South Pole which exited at the Penguins colony. Turtle Trek was a 3D journey from the view point of the turtle through its life span which was surprising quite interesting. To finish off the day we queued and queued for Sky Tower, a capsule ride which gives seabirds view of the park. We went for drinks and food at Miller's Ale, although the food was superb, we were so full and still had jet lag we failed to finish the food.

The next morning, we got collected by +Florida Dolphin Tours for our tour of the +NASA +Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex at 8.20am. Our guide Gracie throughout the whole tour was amazing. Apparently we actually managed to arrive ahead of schedule at the visitor complex. Which gave us free time to enjoy the Rocket Garden before our tour of the Atlantis Space Shuttle which is on permanent display in a building built around it. Shuttle Launch Experience is a simulator ride and the closest thing to actually experiencing a launch which was pretty cool. At midday, as part of our ultimate ticket, we got to dine with an +NASA Astronaut; +Tom Jones, who was insightful, entertaining and had several personal antidotes of his time in space. After getting our photo with him, we boarded a shuttle for a KSC Up Close Tour offering a 2 hour access to areas otherwise only open to NASA personnel such as Space Shuttle Launch Pads, VAB building or the launch control Centre. During the tour we got to see gators, manatees, dolphins and owls in the wild. Our bus drive Stan, who has been working at NASA for 40 yrs had the distinct pleasure of driving astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and the family of Neil Armstrong about the site earlier this year. The tour concluded at the Saturn V exhibit area before getting a bus back to visitor complex. The space store in the complex is the largest in the world with thousands of different items. We departed back for Orlando at 5 sharply. It was an out of this world experience kinda day.

As beginning to be a pattern another early start to the day. We caught the free shuttle from the hotel to +Universal Orlando. We went to Universal Studios park first, and decided to get the Minions ride out of the way first, with one of the longest waiting time of 50 mins despite not been even 9 am yet, after photo op with Woody Woodpecker first of course. We bought the souvenir freestyle cup with free refills throughout the day, which we definitely made use of! Once we had Shrek out of the way, queuing time for most of the day wasn't too bad. In between shows and rides, we enjoyed the several photo op opportunities and the Studios Brass Band. We all enjoyed the Blue Brothers Show and Beetlejuice's Graveyard Revue shows. The parade itself we all were a tad disappointed with, we think other theme parks around the world, we had been to has ruined them for us. The ride our mother enjoyed the most was the E.T. Adventure one which I think surprised us all, but again wouldn't expect anything less from Spielberg.

I waited until right after the parade to go on the Transformers 3-D ride, as the queues were horrendous during the day and the single ride line was closed until then. As it was just me doing it, I was in and out in just a few mins which was great. I used the single rider too for the Men in Black ride and was out in no time. We entered +Diagon Alley - The Wizarding World of Harry Potter next and to finish off our first trip to Universal. We all were in awe of the place, enjoyed too the Ice Cream from Florean Fortescue' Ice Cream Parlour, Ollivanders experience and whilst I made use of the single Rider at Escape from Gringotts, our mother and +Niamh enjoyed the pre ride entertainment. As we still had time before the parks closed, we made use of the 2 park ticket and got the Hogwarts Express train over to +Hogsmeade and into Island of Adventure. The train was a particular highlight of our day at the park. As there was hardly no queue for Dragon Challenge, I did the intense one first without knowing it, it was an experience. Which was a surreal way to finish the day off at Universal. To finish off the day properly we had food and cocktails +Jimmy Buffett at +City Walk Orlando Resort.

The next day we went back to Universal to do Simposons Ride first thing before there was any queue. My poor mother and Niamh after the ride were a tad shaken, as it was not what any of us expected however gave Niamh the courage to do Escape from Gringotts which she loved in the end and glad she did, as I know she would have been kicking herself if she hadn't. Before getting the train back over to Island of Adventure, we enjoyed Celestina Warbeck and the Banshees performance. Niamh and me both think, our mother enjoyed the whole train experience more than we did. Once off the train, we explored Hogsmeade more now that we had more time to enjoy it. Before entering Hogwarts for the Forbidden Journey ride, again I made use of the single rider line. Typical of my luck whilst I was on the ride, it broke down but luckily wasn't for too long. After the ride, I dashed across to the Flight of the Hippogriff. As I was queueing I used the free wifi to txt and FaceTime Niamh, who were still enjoying the pre-ride entertainment of the Forbidden Journey and telling me that I gotta do it later. We waited the few mins for the Frog Choir show, which was quite funny and really well done.

After the performance, we exited Hogsmeade into Jurassic Park area of Island of Adventure, where the first thing we did was refill our drink container as it was getting warm. We explored the area and I had to go on the water ride Jurassic Park River Adventure, it was very luck I had a poncho on me as I'd have got soaked other wise. The Ride itself was very cleverly thought out with use of animatronic dinosaurs and an 85 ft plunge in total darkness at the end. This is in contrast to Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls water ride which I felt was lacklustre in comparison, a bit dated however the finish was pretty cool. Something needs to be done with the queueing area inside the building, as their is no air to breath and we all were suffering. Despite wearing the poncho I still managed to kinda get wet, oh well. After using the single rider line for Spiderman, we got our mother into a cab back to the hotel, so she could enjoy the pool and relax and we could enjoy Universal. Once she had left, we got to meet several of the Marvel Superheroes characters especially Wolverine who was very funny asking me if I had brought my Hurley with me from Ireland, which slightly surprised me, that he know what it was. Niamh got her photo with Rogue and Storm.

We sprinted across the park towards the Lost Continent area for the Eighth Voyage of Sindbad Stunt Show, which we just made in time. However we both felt there wasn't anything great about it and that the Mystic Interactive Fountain outside the theatre was better than the whole show. Although Poseidon's Fury an indoor special effect show, an unexpected gem made up for the lacklustre disappointment of Sindbad's Voyage. After this show, we had time to enjoy the performance of the Triwizard Spirit Rally which was better than we figured. After the show, I managed to convince Niamh to go on the Forbidden Journey ride despite being terrified through the whole experience. Before we left for the day, I managed to go on Dragon Challenge twice more, once on the red one when it was still bright and then the intense green one with 3 Irish guys met in the queue for it. We ended up in the front row for it. It was intense but was class. A great finish to the day. Niamh and myself managed to make the last free shuttle back to the hotel, which was handy.

The next morning, we managed to have a slight to lie in, before breakfast at +Denny's before getting the iTrolley to +Aquatica. Once we entered the park, we got access to our River Roa's Cabana, our own private peace of heaven during our stay. After we got settled in, I went exploring the park and queued my first ride, Walhalla Wave a thrill ride, so you can imagine my surprise when my mother and Niamh joined me in the queue. My mother said it was because the woman she asked at the end of the ride, told her it was such an easy one and she would enjoy it. During the ride all I could see was her scared shitless, it was quite a thrilling ride. Other rides I enjoyed were the Dolphin Plunge, Omaka Rocka and the high speed Whanau Way. It was such a relaxing yet thrill day at the water park and we all enjoyed the Roa's Rapids and especially the Loggerhead Lane a leisurely raft ride where we also got to observe exotic tropical fish and 2 Comerson Dolphins which was pretty cool. On the Itrolley back to the hotel, we got talking to this couple who told us bout the coupon for Cici's pizza, which cost for the 3 of us with 2 large drinks and the buffet, 20 dollars and was surprisingly nice. Before we went there, we had a round of mini golf at Pirate's Cove, doing the Blackbeard Challenge. I managed on the 18th hole after coming from behind to win.

Our earliest start was Friday morning, for our stay at +Discovery Cove which began with a taxi at 7 am. From the minute we arrived at the cove, it was like we were in paradise. After our breakfast, we were given a private tour, got our equipment and shown to our private island cabana which was unreal. After exploring the oasis and aviary, it was time for Niamh and me to do the SeaVenture, an underwater walking tour, while wearing a dive helmet. We got to see sharks up close, touch unique animals and the tour ends with schools of fish feeding around us which was pretty awesome. As we needed to recover for at least 2 hours before our dolphin swim. It gave us the opportunity to enjoy the cabana, the oasis and even enjoy a conversation talk about a Sloth and a three-banded Armadillo which was interesting and different.

After the talk, we got to enjoy the Wind-Away River, which we all gotta into, and throughly enjoyed and relaxed in. Even had time to unwind in the cabana before we had to head for our dolphin swim. Even until the last minute, we were too sure if our mother would get in and do it or not. The whole experience was amazing from the start till the end. Both Niamh and myself did the deep swim with the dolphin and our mother did the swallow one. She took part in the whole experience and really enjoyed it. After the swim, we enjoyed the lunch buffet, for once being a vegetarian worked in my favour, as the chef personally took care of my order and I didn't have to queue. By the time, Niamh and our mother came out to me, I had finished, which was grand as it gave me time to collect our complimentary photo, to be told that our cabana host had put two copies in ours for us, which was nice and they gave me another anyways. I enjoyed some wine in the peace and quiet of our private cabana, waiting on the two to return after lunch. Niamh and myself went swimming to checkout the Marmosets and Asian Small-clawed Otters in the fresh water Oasis, before going snorkelling where we got to observe velvety rays, thousands of colourful fish, sharks for a different angles and even 2 eels. This was perfect way to finish off our day in paradise, but all good things must come to an end. So after our showers, we managed to make the next available shuttle back to Seaworld, and even arrived in time for the next itrolley.

Saturday gave us the opportunity to have a lie in, a proper one until 10, first chance all week. After our breakfast, we hopped onto itrolley after my mad sprint back to see if I had left my Disposal camera behind me in Denny's, luckily enough I had. We got the trolley to the last stop on the South route, as we came to check out the Basilica of Mary, Queen of the Universe. I have never seen a church that looks so modern, hi-tech and flawless. After our visit to the church and its grounds was finished, we got on the next trolley to go to the other end of the route and do some shopping at the +Orlando Premium Outlets - International before getting a bus to the +Florida Mall. The plan had been sure we'd get there in no time, everything was going to plan, until the trolley broke down about 4 stops from the end and we had to wait for a replacement one to come collect us. When we arrived, we made up for lost time and got shopping. Before getting the bus to the Mall, we put our mother on the trolley back to the hotel, so she could relax by the pool. It was funny on the bus, the closer we got to the mall, more worried we were about what stop it was, as the journey was taking longer than we thought. Luckily enough a fellow passenger told us exactly when and where to get off. Off the bus and inside the mall, we both were a tad disappointed with the size of the mall, as it wasn't as big as we thought. Although the whole reason was so Niamh could get herself a replacement or should say upgraded iPad mini in the Apple Store. Everything went smoothly, she all sorted and was very happy with it. The only downside was the long wait for the bus back to the hotel. At least once on the bus, the journey back didn't take half as long. To round off the day, Niamh accidentally pressed the stop button a tad too early, however was only 5 min walk from the hotel, so wasn't too bad. We both were very happy with all our purchases, despite the long tiring day.

Sunday morning, involved a roughly 90 mins coach trip towards Tampa for our day at +Busch Gardens. There was so much to do with so little time. We began our day by going to see the Iceploration show, which uses ice skaters, larger-than-life puppets, amazing costumes and animals to tell the story of exploring the world around us. It was breath taking show and still in awe of how it was achieved. After this performance we wanted to get good seats for Motor City Groove, show about the Motown era, after nearly missing the Iceploration show. As it got closer for the show to start, we got informed the show had to be cancelled due to technical difficulties however the cast did come out and gave us, a song from the show, they sung Acappella. As we had time to enjoy some of the park before the next show, we visited the Myombe reserve to check out the Gorillas, before boarding the train for the Serengeti Railway at Nairobi station and gave us relaxing view of large free-roaming herds of African animals such giraffe, zebra, antelope, ostrich and rhinos. Before we departed the train at the Stanleyville Station. As the afternoon wore on, we got to see shows such Opening Night Critters and Treasures of the Mirage which was the unexpected gem of the day. We planted our mother at the Garden Cafe for the Live band, Forrest Hoffar who was performing, whilst Niamh and I finished exploring the other areas of the park. We tried to get back for the next train departing from Stanleyville at 5, but we missed it by a minute, which it seems was a good thing. as we realised then that our mother didn't have my bag with her. I had to literally sprint back to the Garden Gate and talked to the staff. Who rang security for me and told me to go report it at their office. I arrived after another dash, just as my bag was being brought into Lost and Found, pure luck and good timing. I ran back all the way to Stanleyville station and literally just made the train before it was departing. A satisfying end to an enjoyable day despite all the running that was involved. Our day at Busch Gardens was worth the 90 min coach ride there and back to Orlando, only down side not enough time to see and do everything.

Once back in the hotel, we chilled, changed and headed back out again for dinner at +Bahama Breeze. Was a nice way to finish the day with trying several different cocktails, no better way sure.

As Monday was our last full day, Niamh and myself decided to get the shuttle to Universal to finish doing the stuff we had time to do yet. Nearly within 45 mins of being in Universal Studios I had done the 3 rides I had't, Hollywood RIP Ride Rockit, Twister and The Mummy. Niamh was determined to get her photo taken with Shrek, Fiona and Donkey, although we had a wait before that started, we managed to get group one with The Simpsons whilst we waited and of course making use of Souvenir cup and daily $6 refill we bought.

As Niamh queued in line for photo with Shrek and co, I went exploring seeing what was next. When it was our turn with Donkey, he took the piss out of me for a good 10 mins which was so funny, and Shrek had to shut him up. Niamh and me were laughing for ages about it.

At 11.15 for Animal Actors on Location, we thought it was a show but was just a Meet and Greet, which was grand as we got to meet and touch the animals.

We finally got to see the performance of The Tales of Beedle the Bard's 3 Brothers which was worth wait and effort of trying to see it.

Throughout the day, we got to see the various parades and performances for Dora, Hop, Spongebob and the Minions. Both Niamh and myself thought that even these separately were better than the All Star Street parade as a whole. With Hop and Sponge bob ones being particular entertaining.

After the Minions one, we decided to cross over to the Islands of Adventure to finish off our list over there. With the essential one being getting a proper photo of Niamh outside Hogwarts Castle. Despite remembering while we were there to book our seats together for the flights home, we were having some difficult on the website. Luckily enough when we met up with our mother at Aquatica later, got sorted using her iPad.

After leaving Universal for the last time, and walking toward the Wet n Wild iTrolley stop, it actually wasn't until we got onto to the trolley that we realised, we somehow had lost one of our plastic wallet which had our itrolley tickets, one of the hotel keys and our Eat and Play card. Fortunately the driver let us stay on as he could see we were stressed over something. When we finally got to the water park, we didn't have long to enjoy ourselves. So we decided to head back to the hotel, to finally make use of the pool and have a few drinks.

Our last morning, I finally got to meet up with my mate Andrew, who was staying there at the stay time, which was nice to catch up, chat and say thanks for given me help and info during our stay. Once we were all packed, and checked out, we finally made it to +IHOP, which was so worth it, between the pumpkin coffee and New York Cheesecake Pancakes, we all were stuffed. We decided to play one last round of mini golf at Pirate Cove, trying the Captain's Course this time. It was very close throughout the game, which ended up being a draw at the end. On the route back, our mother realised she couldn't find her sunglasses, after a search of the course, there was no sign of them. We were back at the hotel for one last glass of wine and the obligatory photo of me and the green hoodie, which I think is nearly more travelled than me.

The bus back to the airport was quick enough, and checking in of bags was straight forward that we had time to relax before going through security. Once at duty free, we all found the process they have in place for purchasing alcohol a tad confusing but we managed to collect it just before we boarded the plane. The journey to Manchester went smoothly despite a small bit of turbulence. Once disembarked, we made our way to Flight Centre for our connecting flight which was at 11.40 with Aerlingus. We arrived all back into Dublin in one piece, and safely and with all our luggage.

The trip to Orlando was amazing with so many highlights that its impossible to pick any particular one. So glad got a few days to recover though, as I feel need another holiday to just recover and my body back on the right schedule.

Culture Night 2015

noreply@blogger.com (Niamh) — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 22:22:00 +0100

After Liam and I were able to get our shifts changed in work, we decided to try visit some of the buildings that were open for Culture Night Friday 19th September. I met Liam after he finished work in Town, after some shopping and a quick bite to eat, we thought we would get ahead of the crowd and queue early for the Books of Kells at +Trinity College Dublin. We got there just after 4pm, which was about an hour before the start of Culture Night, the queue was already down to the Arts Block and was getting gradually worse by the minute. Then by the time they opened for the event, which they had to do earlier than planned was down past the Postgrad Library building.

Once they opened the door, we were inside within about 10/15 mins, we entered the 'Turning Darkness into Light Exhibition which showcases Books of Kells and other manuscripts which are over 1000 years old. Despite queueing for the Books of Kells itself, Liam and myself both felt that it wasn't that impressive and were a tad disappointed. Although the visit was worth it in the end, after entering the main chamber of the Old Library, the Long Room which is nearly 65 m in length and houses over 200,000 of the Library's oldest books. Half way down the room is a harp which is the oldest to survive and dates from the 15th century. We spent 3 times the amount of time in the Long Room, then we had in the Treasury Room for the Book of Kells.

After our self tour around the old Library, we left Trinity, and strolled through Temple Bar, towards +Smock Alley Theatre, which faces onto Wood Quay. We arrived with just a few mins before the next tour at 6pm, which was given by the Event Manager of the theatre itself, Conor. Conor started the tour outside the theatre, where he gave us the history of the area, of the building and the people who shaped it's fortunes. Throughout the tour, he showed us pictures and artefacts of the theatre at different stages over the years, from being a Theatre Royal, and church. The tour concluded in the Banquet Hall with a musical interlude provided by +Tonnta, the resident choral group of the theatre and a last minute acting sketch, which was a particular highlight, as it was full of comedic timing. The tour of the theatre for both of us, was the highlight of Culture night. As we left and on our way to our next event, we saw the crowd for the next tour at 7 pm was nearly 3 or 4 times the size of group we had.

As we had time before we visited Christchurch, Liam decided we should walk out to Blackhall Place, the home of the +Law Society of Ireland. We were lucky to be allowed to join up with the tour that had departed 5 mins beforehand instead of having to wait 30 mins more for the next one. The tour itself was a quick history and guided one around the building. Although it was on the whole a quick tour, it was nice to see the inside of the renowned building of the old King's Hospital. Again it seems luck was on our side, as the crowd waiting for the next tour was double the one we were on. We walked back into town towards +Christ Church Cathedral.

With the small queue outside and as we didn't realise that the recital was only 10 mins long, which we missed. We took it in turns, to sit and rest after all the walking between all the venues, while one looked around the Cathedral, the other looked after the shopping. In the background, the resident organist played some music during our visit, before we both went around the crypt before exiting. The crowds queueing to enter as we were leaving was very long. It seemed on the whole, we were quite lucky with tours and queues. At this stage of the night, we both had sore feet from all that walking, so went to Oscars for a drink and to watch some of the rugby.

Despite all the walking, it was quite an enjoyable fun way to spend an evening, taking in some culture and history at the same time. Definitely a good way learn about one's own country without realising you are.

Heritage Week 2015

noreply@blogger.com (Niamh) — Thu, 3 Sep 2015 15:14:00 +0100

From the 22nd of August, there was a week of heritage events to celebrate Heritage Week. So I decided to try to visit as many buildings or tours that I was able to. Starting with St Patricks Cathedral tour of the Belfry which had to be booked in advanced. Luckily we got the last 2 spots for the 10 am tour as this was the only one +Liam could do before work. The tour gave us a brief history of bell ringing, the cathedral and a demonstration of bell ringing. It was a quite an interesting experience and mostly important was free. As Liam had to rush off to work, I decided to check out the exhibit at City Hall and join a tour at St Audeon's Church.

As Liam was working Sunday morning, I had great plans of doing the Arbor Hill tour however the horrendous rain put me off doing it which was a tad disappointing, although I had a great duvet movie day which helped me to deal with the weather. I later heard on another tour that despite the rain 65 people had turned up for that tour. Poor Liam was struggling to do and see many of the events he wanted, due to the hours he was working that week. As I had time before the +RCSI tour at 2pm, I left early and headed to +St Patricks Cathedral for their free midday tour of the cathedral. My tour guide Andrew was funny, interesting and put his own spin on the tour and at the end of the tour tried to get us to come back for that evening's Evensong. I would have stayed for the lunch time recital, if I hadn't to make my way to the RCSI for my tour. I made my way towards RCSI by cutting through Dublin Castle, who had a Sand Sculpture Exhibition on display. Seems I was lucky to see the exhibit as Liam txt me on Tuesday that due to the weather the sculptures had to be removed.

The tour I had pre-booked originally for the Wednesday however I couldn't do it as it clashed with my tour of the Freemasons' building, but was luckily enough was able to change it so Liam could do it and was able to join the Monday afternoon one instead. The Head Porter of the College, Frank was the tour guide who gave us the history of the college and events which involved the building over the years. After the hour long tour, a 30 min presentation called 'Dublin in the Rare Auld Times given by Meadhbh Murphy, the Archivist of the college, who spoke about the medical instruments, artefacts and documents from the RCSI Heritage Collections that are on display and what the living conditions were like for Dubliners a century ago and instruments used for surgical procedures. This presentation concluded the tour of RCSI.

On my advice, Liam went and did the tour of St Patricks on his next day off, which happened to be the following day. As he had the time and possibly because of the downpour outside, decided to stay for the lunch time recital which that day were The Eldson Duo, which comprised of Sarah Busfield, Soprano and Victoria Green, the Guitarist. The programme Liam told me was well thought out and the soprano had some voice on her. Seemed it was well timed as soon as the recital was over, the rain had ceased and made his way towards to Dublin Castle hoping to check out the Sand Sculpture Exhibit however he told me that it had been removed due to the rain and was disappointed to have missed it. After his day in town, he went back to St Patrick's for that evening's Choral Evensong at 17.30 with the service mostly sung provided by the Close Chorale choir. Liam told me the service is used for reflection and of course prayer.

After I dropped Liam off at RCSI for his tour of the College, I made my way to the Freemason's Hall for my 2.30pm tour of the building. Our tour Daniel, the poor guy didn't know what he let himself in for, when he said don't be afraid to ask any questions. As what was meant to be a brief hour tour of the building, ended up being over 2 hours after all our grilling. Daniel said at the end that he never had such an intense tour in all his time, the poor guy. By the time I was finished Liam was waiting for me in the Freemason Bar for ages. Despite the length of the tour, it was worth doing and the building itself is a must see. As I was later leaving than we had originally thought and had planned for, we ended up unable to make it to Blackhall Place, home of the Law Society. As we got ready for the Medieval Walking tour we had booked, the weather decided to put a damper on things and start pouring. We took shelter in +Krüst Bakery, our first time there and we both were very impressed by the service, the pastries, price and the general atmosphere. Although we missed out on the walking tour, Krust provided us with shelter and some time to finalise things for our trip to Orlando. As both Liam and myself were working the next two days, I wasn't able to do anything next until the weekend.

Saturday morning after a well earned sleep in, made my way towards Merrion Square for the Open Day celebrating the heritage of Merrion Square and its surroundings although most of talks, and walks were booked out which was a pity. After a short stroll around the park, made the short walk to the +National Museum of Ireland - Archaeology who were celebrating the 125th Anniversary of the museum being open to the public. The museum had several hands-on activities, talks and demonstrations to celebrate the collections of the Museum. The activity sheets provided made tracking down some of the most iconic objects in the museums, with 2 different ones to chose from, The Treasury Trail and The Viking Challenge, more fun. As I had the time I did both activity sheets. Some of the Curators' Gallery Chats were very interesting and unusually especially Nessa O'Connor chat on Prehistoric Ireland and Gold exhibition and Andy Halpin's one on Medieval Ireland. I was very impressed more than I thought I would be, with all the various events that museum had on to celebrate the occasion.

Before the 2 pm tour of the National War Memorial Gardens in Islandbridge, I wanted to check out two Georgian restored buildings operated by the Irish Landmark Trust as self catering holiday accommodation. I went to Merion Mews - 63 Fitzwilliam Lane first, which originally was a coach house or mews which has altered little since being built in 1792. The ground floor accommodated the horses and coaches with the living quarters above. The intact condition of the whole complex was quite a pleasant surprise especially with rarity of 18th century Dublin Townhouses that have survived. I left here to visit the other property that the Trust were showcasing, The Georgian Townhouse in town. No.25 Eustace Street is one of the few remaining houses within Temple Bar. Unlike the Georgian houses in Merrion Square, it had a feel of modesty and simplicity. When the Trust acquired the building it was in dire bad state of repair but there was enough original features and information to reconstruct the original features.

As I had plenty of time before my tour at 2, I decided I'd enjoy the sun and walk out to Islandbridge. The talk focused on the context of Ireland's involvement in WW1 and dedication of the gardens to Ireland's war dead. The Memorial is beautifully laid out and peaceful. By the time I got back into town, Liam had just finished visiting both the Landmark Trust buildings.
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It was quite an interesting week filled with such history and heritage. Every week should be heritage week for the local irish people, as its so important to know ur culture and heritage.

Shows of the Summer

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 22:59:00 +0100

With the weather so changeable, I decided on my day off and the weather had been so sunny, To get the bus to +Glasnevin Cemetery Museum and walk around the cemetery before going into the +National Botanic Gardens through the connecting gate. It was so peaceful and warm, that I took out my blanket, laid down and finished reading my book.

As the week progressed, I was so glad to make the most of the sun, as the weather became so changeable. On the upside, the week flew by and before we knew it, it was time for +Fleetwood Mac at +3Arena Dublin on their last European date. After a mad dash from work, all the way to the 3 Arena where +Niamh had been queueing to get in. Luckily as we had a 3 number we were able to get into the arena 30 mins before the rest, so about 50 of us were able to run in and get our spot for the concert. From the onset the band had the crowd in a frenzy, I was so delighted where I was. We were only a few feet from the stage, right in front of +Stevie Nicks mike stand. Unfortunately for poor Niamh, she was getting a tad light headed and needed to move from where we were because of the heat. We talked about it, that I would stay were I was and she could make use of the bar we had access to, Bar Neon and recover before enjoying the rest of the concert. The band played non stop for nearly 2.5 hours, playing all their big hits. It was unreal especially because it was 16 years since +Christine McVie last played with the band. Even more special as the reunion was a result of talks that happened in Dublin last year. After the amazing concert, both Niamh and myself went into the bar for a drink, as the crowd dispersed outside and relaxing chatting with everyone there which was a good laugh, before starting the long walk home as it was after midnight, luckily enough it was dry.

As Niamh was off the weekend, she went into Merrion Square on the Sunday, for the +Dublin Spectacular, as the rain on the Saturday was horrendous. I ended up meeting her there after work, as she was texting me, the fun she was having there. She wanted in particular to show me 2 comedic acts that she really enjoyed. Trampoline Mission 3 are a Belgian trio dressed as super heroes, who use acrobatics, juggling and comedy to entertain the crowd. My highlight was Mario Queen of the Circus who uses his love of Queen and Freddie Mercury and build a show around it, using juggling, duelling and unicycling which for sure entertained me and got the whole audience laughing with his sense of fun and skill. Although the Spectacular this year wasn't as good as previous ones, these 2 acts helped to save it for us.

Niamh met up with her friend +Emma for Afternoon Tea at the +Royal Marine Hotel, as this is the hotel that Emma is having her wedding reception next year. It was funny enough that they met this day, as it was 2 days before +Ed Sheeran concert, when they would be meeting up anyways. From what Niamh was telling me, she was impressed by the hotel and the layout of the afternoon tea.

After a slight scare, I managed to get a swap in work, and got the Friday off for the concert. When Niamh's friends arrived up from Clare for it, we made our way into town for lunch before hand. We finally made our way to +Croke Park where we joined the waiting queues at about 5 pm. All we seemed to be doing as we got closer, was join another queue, after the 3/4/5 queue we were finally escorted, yes escorted by the stewards into the pitch area. Despite all the queueing, we were lucky enough to get quite a decent spot for the concert and just in time for +Gavin James, the first support act to come on at 6 pm. He managed to get the crowd going and really got people screaming when he duetted with Jamie Lawson, who was the support act for the Saturday concert. I just had enough time before the next support act to rush to the toilet which was out by the entrance, I managed to talk to one of the stewards to get back in without having to join the massive queue at this stage for the pitch. I was determined after this, not to drink any more or leave my spot as the crowd on the pitch was getting big. Bell X1 came on stage just after 7 pm, although they weren't as popular with the crowd as Gavin James, they did get people singing with their biggest song, The Great Defector. The crowd totally erupted into chants and screams, the second Ed Sheeran came on stage just before 8.30pm. From the second, he started playing and singing, he had the audience eating out of his hands. A particular highlight for me, was when he brought +Kodaline on stage for a duet singing All I Want, and the 80,000 plus people sang along in unison which was such a surreal moment to be apart of. By the end of the concert, it was the general consensus, it was such an amazing concert, one of the best.

The following Tuesday after the concert, Niamh and myself went to the opening night of +Ill-Advised Theatre Company production of Spring Awakening at +Smock Alley Theatre, the oldest theatre in Dublin. A place I had been looking for an excuse to come and check out, and no better one than a musical I adore. This production of the musical was quite professional, well staged, acted and some of the cast had great voices.

Our Mother came visiting for few days as a favour to bring up a few items, collect few others and most important tailor few items for me. On the Sunday during her visit, my mother and Niamh went on the +CityScape Tours, as they got €10 August special ticket. I met up with them after work in town, where they hopped off at College Green. After some lunch, we made our way to the +Irish Whiskey Museum, where we got a free upgrade to the VIP tour ticket, thanks to the cityscape tour ticket. Our guide Dan from the start of the tour until the end of it, was hilarious, informative and professional. Both my mother and myself were both quite impressed with the tour and especially with the guide. Once leaving the museum, we went on a mini pub crawl, taking in Dawson Lounge Dublin's smallest bar, The Palace Bar an original Victorian pub, next onto the Vat House where we got a free glass of Guinness thanks to the same cityscape tours ticket which was nice and smooth which helped it go down easily. The final stop was the Foggy Dew which is also a Victorian pub with live band and the cost of the drinks was surprisingly not too bad. It was a nice way to finish off a Sunday.

Once our father arrived up, we spent the day enjoying the sun and sights of the city, before getting them discounted tickets to Tuesday nights performance of And Then There Were None at the +bgetheatre, as we were going and wanted them to join us, to enjoy in our fun. It was a good fun night out with a great performance by the cast.

Pride of Ireland

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Fri, 3 Jul 2015 15:39:00 +0100

Not long after our parents left on the bus back to Clare, I was wondering what will I do with my week off. After a suggestion from +Niamh, I emailed Enniskillen Hotel about a prize I won in the Rte Guide a few months ago, just hadn't the time to use previously. As I still hadn't heard back by lunchtime on the Monday, we decided to organise backup plans in case. Just as we were finalising plans, and heading to book a tour, I get a reply back saying the Bronte Suite was available for the nights I wanted which was great. I confirmed the booking immediately. Now only issue was, was what to pack. I met Niamh after her meeting the following morning, and we quickly got few bits before getting the 13.30 Bus Eireann bus towards Enniskillen. After a slight delay we finally arrived to the hotel just before 5 pm. The Bronte Suite was fabulous no wonder it is the hotel's best room. As part of the 2 night stay, I also got a nice bottle of white wine and dinner. I kept wine for later in the week to use to celebrate Pride. That night we had dinner at the nearby Wethespoon's Linen Hall, which was exactly what we needed after all that travelling on the bus. After dinner we went exploring around the town on the way back to the hotel, which I had arranged for a Bushmills whiskey tasting with the hotel's whiskey expert Alex. Throughout the tasting he was so funny and made the whole experience quite fun. We called it a night after that as we were both wrecked and wanted to do and see a lot the next day.

We went down for breakfast a tad later then we planned, and decided after the nice breakfast to make the effort to really enjoy it properly the next morning. After breakfast, we set out to see what sights the town had for us. Being me of course I visited the two main churches within the town, before paying a visit to the headhunter barbers which is home to the railway museum. This museum within the barber impressed both myself and Niamh, as it told the story of the railway in the area until it closed and the amount of artefacts was quite extensive. From this museum we strolled down to EnnisKillen Castle before walking towards Portora Castle via the Portora Royal School which in the past had been Home to both Samuel Beckett and Oscar Wilde at different times as students. On the way to and from the castle we saw the playing fields which was used for General Eisenhower's visit to inspect the American soldiers stationed there before Invasion of Normandy.

After exploring around the castle, we made the trek back towards Forthill Park, as I wanted to climb Cole's monument to see the view from the top. I nearly winded myself climbing up the 108 steps to the top. Although after the run up those steps I was out of breath, and the wind which I was greeted with was unexpected , the view from the top was breath taking especially seeing all of Enniskillen and River Erne. We took a few mins to recharge our batteries, after which we started the trek to try and find Castle Coole which was about a 40/45 mins walk away. As we found the wrong entrance, the nice guy at the pedestrian entrance was very nice to let us in, although we hadn't any cash on us, we both think he felt sorry for us, as it looked like it was about to start pouring, luckily enough was only a very quick passing shower. To be fair on the young lad, he tried to sell us the National Trust passes, although we had no interest we listened, as he let us in for free and the fact he was cute did no harm either. We ended up doing nearly all of the walks around the estate, from around the lake, down to the ice house, around the house before we left through the same entrance again. The long walk back to the hotel for dinner was made via a visit to the local ASDA, where we stocked up on low cost meds and few treats. We had the complimentary dinner in Wilde's bar, as it was off season for the hotel, the meal it self was lovely except for my Risotto which I personally found very bland, although the hotel staff were great about it and I got sorted which was nice. After dinner we were both exhausted as it was such a long day with all that walking.

We did actually get up early for breakfast, and it was even better than the previous one. We even had time for a post breakfast snooze before check out. The receptionists at the hotel throughout our stay were all very friendly and helpful. As we had some time before next bus, I wanted to get few vegetarian products at ASDA which I had never seen before and wanted to try. Like the bus up on Tuesday, the bus back to Dublin was late in this case nearly 30 mins. The journey back itself was very uneventful and relaxing. Once we arrived back, on the way back to the apartment, we stopped off at the Wild Rovers office on Bachelors Walk to book our tour to Belfast and Giants Causeway for the following morning. We were able to both get students tickets which saved some money which was great. We then had to rush home to quickly change and put the food away before heading out to Miele Gallery in Citywest for the Neven Maguire Demonstration evening. I must say I personally was more impressed about the event then I thought it was going to be. We got some cool recipes and even got chance to talk and get our photo taken with Neven. After this event, we had to wait for bus back into town, where we were meeting cousins from Australia who had met our parents and other members of our family previously in the week. It was strange yet interesting meeting Jamie and his wife Josie, before we knew it hours had passed and was time to leave the Brazen Head as we all had early starts the next day. It was great to finally meet them after the emails and calls.

Friday morning we both were up before 6 am to get ready for tour, it was great that the pick up spot was only about 15 mins away and we knew where to go. I was happy out that had prepared a packed lunch and drinks for the day as I knew it was gonna be about long day and we could buy sandwiches at the morning coffee break before we crossed the border. After we boarded the brand 151 bus and got settled and everyone was picked up, we made our way up the motorway passing through the Boyne Valley, our tour guide Robbie told us all the itinerary for the day beginning with Belfast, where you had the option to do a Black Taxi political tour or the Titanic Museum. We chose the Black Cab as we had done Titanic before. We made a coffee break at Applegreen where we got a 5 euro sandwich deal which sorted food for later on the trip. We arrived into Belfast about 9.40 where we got into the Black Taxi with 3 others with our driver Pat. Pat was brought up on the Falls Road, he brought us on a personal political tour of both the Falls and Shankhill Roads, bringing up close to some of famous murals on the Peace Wall, where we got to sign our names on to the Peace Wall. It was quite an interesting tour especially from someone actually who grew up in the area. We met the rest of the tour group at the Titanic Quarter, with even time to have a quick glance around the building.

Once everyone was back on the bus, we departed Belfast and started the Coastal part of the tour, beginning with a stop at the Dun Luce Castle used as a film location as House of Greyjoy for The Game of Thrones. During this pitstop, the sun finally decided to make an appearance and the rest of the day was sunny and warm. During the coastal drive, Robbie and the Bus driver Ritchie, highlighted other film locations used for Game of Thrones such as Ballintoy used as Village of Pike and Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge as House of Baratheon. We stopped for our lunch at the Giant's Causeway, just before we disembarked Robbie told us the 3 different stories about how the Giant's Causeway were formed, the Creationist, Scientific and of course the famous Mythological Fionn Mac Cool which got the biggest reaction on the bus which was funny. We had about 2 hours stop here for lunch, Niamh and myself decided to walk and explore about first and eat after. Luckily we decided to do that, as we got distracted by walking further and further enjoying the coastal landscape. By the time we actually got down to the Giant's Causeway itself which is Northern Ireland's only UNESCO World Heritage Site, time was going against us, we still were able to enjoy it fully and make it back on the bus with time to spare and then able to eat. Our last stop of the day was at the Carrick-A-Rede Rope bridge which was only about 10/15 mins down the road from the Giant's Causeway. The rope bridge from the main land to the island is connected by a rope bridge over a 30 m deep and 20 m wide chasm. Poor Niamh who has a slight fear of heights was unable to attempt the bridge, I felt the steps down the bridge itself more unnerving than the bridge itself. Once I crossed the bridge I was able to walk around the island to enjoy the cliff top views, before queueing back to cross the bridge again. After leaving this spot, we started the long drive back to Dublin, on the journey back Robbie was telling everyone about fairy trees and fairy rings and stop the bus at one stage to show a fairy tree which historical is always a hawthorn tree. We finally made it back to Dublin just before 8.30 pm although it was an extremely long day, it was worth the money, effort and the tiredness and it was capped out by the banter and expertise of Robbie and Ritchie.

After a slight sleep in, I got up with an air of excitement for Pride. We made our way to my mate Colm's place for a Pre-Parade Brunch via a quick stop off at smithfield. Whilst in Fresh in Smithfield, and at the ATM I got distracted and left the money behind me at the machine, I luckily got it back. After a tad confusion, we finally found Colm's place, there was a great atmosphere and buzz. There was a steady flow of people coming and going which kept the party atmosphere. Niamh left after a while to get her spot to watch the parade. The rest of us helped Colm tidy up before making our way to the parade, before joining the LGBT Helpline banner, as some of the group knew several of those behind that banner. After a few mins who did I see in the crowd but Clare, her brother and her cousin who were joining the same banner, the people I met at Dublin Castle on May 23rd for the Referendum Result, which was so random and fun. Then literally a minute or two later, I saw Niamh along the route on O'Connell St. I rang Niamh after I reached the finishing area at Merrion Square, who was telling me the Parade had no sign of finishing. I heard after that 50,000 were out for the parade and lasted for almost 2 hours which is amazing. The atmosphere at Merrion Square was quite laid back and chilled. The Speeches and music got the crowd going. When I finally met Niamh, we had a good walk around Merrion Square to get back in as there was only one entrance. I met some people in Merrion Square throughout the day, who hadn't seen in years which was unreal. Niamh and myself finally met up with our group, and made our way towards Front Lounge where we spent most of our evening, getting quite merry and enjoying ourselves. We topped off the night, trying the new bar called Front Door where we remained until closing time. When I finally got home about 4 am, I was exhausted and quite tipsy when I realised was up for work in 4 hours. I think I have never been so hungover and my shift at work couldn't finish quick enough. However as the day processed I started to feel a lot better and the Chinese takeaway that tonight was the perfect way to finish off the weekend.

Going the Extra Mile

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 01:10:00 +0100

After a last minute swap at work, I was able to support +Niamh, my mother and Clodagh, who were doing the VHI Women Mini Marathon. Before the start of the 10km, we went via the Mansion House, so Niamh was able to collect her t-shirt for Laura Lynn and also gave me a final chance to have a sneaky look inside. Of course the girls had to have a picture taken outside of the Mansion House before the race. Niamh and Clodagh had entered as joggers, so set off about 15 before my mother did, so I waited until she started and decided to walk with her to keep her company. However at UCD I saw Niamh and called her as she was about to pass the 6 km point mark. In the process of chatting with Niamh, I lost my mother and tried to find her again and finishing the chat with Niamh. so somewhere between the 5km and 7 km I lost both of them. I tried running to catch up with Niamh, with the calls I had with her, I just seemed to be about 0.5 km behind. At least at the finishing line, we were able to find each other just about. All of them finished faster than last year and should be very proud of completing the 10 km especially this year in that horrible wet and windy weather. Well done girls!

As the weather was so nice on my day off on the 9th of June, decided to make the of most of it having a summer themed gin based cocktail over lunch at Yamamori, before going shooping to get some last few bits before Niamh's birthday. Somewhere between the Brother Hubbard, Panti and Oscars, I managed to lose my shopping, which would only happen me. As we were both off the next day, we decided to celebrate Niamh's Birthday a day early and go to the zoo and experience the brand new Sea Lion Cove.

Despite a slight queue at the entrance, once we were inside the zoo, it was off a flying start as the weather cleared up and the sun came out. We got to enjoy all the new habitats and baby animals dotted around the zoo. Between the sun, playfulness of the animals especially the penguins, sea lions and rough housing of the monkeys, Niamh seemed to be having a chilled out birthday day out. As the weather was so nice, we strolled back into town and stopped in Oscars Smithfield for a drinks and meal which was scrumptious especially the Maltster cheesecake which topped the day perfectly. When we got home, I gave Niamh her birthday card and her present, A necklace, bracelet and watch set.

I met Niamh after work on her birthday, for an early evening birthday meal at a place she wanted to try for ages, FX Buckley, where I was able to surprise her with a birthday desert which was nice to see the surprise on her face. For Saturday Niamh had won free finger food and private booth in Whelans which made a pleasant change.

After a busy weekend in work, was nice to chill and actually enjoy Bloomsday for once. We spent a lot of it, at Meeting House Square for songs, performances and reading from Ulysses which was hosted by Panti Bliss. Later in the week I was finally able to hear my friend Graham J Norton sing live at the Sugar Club. I was just blown away by his voice, his whole gig was captivating from start to finish, especially his debut single Life on Mars, his duet with Mary Coughlan Under Clery's Clock and an original I Miss You Most on Sundays. Graham is someone to watch.

Our Parents arrived up on Friday the 19th for my father's birthday, luckily enough Niamh was able to meet them off the bus, as I was working late. I of course met them all for a quick after work drink before the walk home. I managed to have the apartment kitted out with banners, balloons and have a birthday cake waiting, which I was able to have lit before my dad got into the apartment. He was surprised and delighted as he wasn't expecting it. The following morning, as we waited for Niamh to finish work, my folks and myself decided to do the +Teeling Whiskey Distillery Tour. My parents did the Small Batch tasting one and I did the Trinity small batch on. Our guide Maire, was very informative, funny and helpful. After our whiskey tour, we checked out the nearby food markets before heading to Christchurch for the Dublin Garden Festival, which had some impressive food carts and other various stalls. We meet Niamh for lunch near Temple Bar, although the musician was very good, the food on the whole was below par and over priced, so shocker really for the location. We made use of the sun by walking down Quays towards Sir John Rogerson's Quay which was hosting the Mexican Navy vessel, ARM Cuautémoc for the weekend with free entry. We ended up doing a pub crawl on the way back home, finishing it with a takeaway pizza and of course a night cap. The following morning being Father's Day, we gave our dad, his card and presents to celebrate, before eating and relaxin prior to our parents getting the return coach back to Ennis. We all agreed was such a lovely weekend, especially getting the opportunity for all of us to hang out together.

Ireland Said Yes - #IrelandSaidYES

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Sun, 24 May 2015 20:29:00 +0100

My postal vote for the referendums arrived after my mother posted them up to me, so on my next day off May 12th, I went to the nearest Garda Station to me and got the required form stamped, so I could vote. Once I voted in both the Marriage equality and Presidential referendums I posted it soon afterwards at the GPO, to the Returning Officer in County Clare. I felt great being able to do my part for the cause.

With days to go to the Referendum, everyone was doing their part to get everyone involved. Especially the national and local groups of YES Equality, political parties and even certain companies such as +Ben & Jerry's who were promoting the yes vote with free ice cream at various locations around Dublin every day beginning with the One Family Day at Wolf Tone Square. A big help in the national canvassing by the YES Equality group was the bus that was raised by donations from ordinary people, which toured 66 locations around 26 counties with 27 days in the lead up to the vote. The amount of hard work that was undertaken during the campaign showed the heart and passion from all groups and both sides in this referendum. What got us to this moment, has only been possible thanks to people such as David Norris, Colm O'Gorman, +Katherine Zappone, +Panti Bliss, Grainne Healy, Brian Sheehan, Eamon Gilmore and various other politicians.

A pleasant break from all the referendum talk, was watching the +Eurovision Song Contest semi finals that was held in Vienna Austria, even if some of the acts were good, bad and plain weird. I somehow ended up in +TheGeorgeBar watching the results of the 2nd semi final on Thursday. Unlucky poor Molly didn't qualify for the final although it was a good laugh being out. It was surreal waking up to seeing and hearing about all about the #hometovote and the thousands coming home from abroad to vote especially on the most important civil issue of our generation. I was near tears reading all the hashtags and stories on social media, the extent people were going to vote. Waking up Saturday morning to all the buzz and excitement across every news outlet that there was such an early indication of a Yes result from referendum and that even the no side had conceded was amazing. After enquiring how my only local polling station at home in Clare did, I was beyond thrilled to hear that it was passed by 57.7%.

I decided after lunch to make my way towards Dublin Castle, where the crowds were gathered for the final official result was being announced. Soon after I arrived despite a mishap involving my water bottle bursting, I soon made friends with various people especially after the arrival of Panti and her interview by the press which was done just in front of me which itself was an unreal moment in time.

During the wait for the result, the atmosphere within Dublin Castle was getting more and more excited. Throughout the afternoon various important politicians and people arrived to be interviewed by the international press in particular Colm O'Gorman, Senators Katherine Zappone and David Norris who had such a warm welcome from the crowd when he arrived as none of this would have been possible without his 40 year struggle towards this day. +Niamh got the bus up from Clare at lunch time and was trying to make it up and into Castle before the big moment. Luckily enough there was a slight delay, my phone died but people I was with were nice enough to let me use their phone to contact her. She was waiting to get in, as soon as she was off the bus with her suitcase and all, as she got nearer the phone coverage went into meltdown. Even from outside the castle, Niamh could hear the crowds from within booing when Roscommon-South Leitrim turned red on the map meaning they had voted against the amendment. I hugged her with relief and joy to see that she got in before the announcement. The poor thing had been queueing for over 70 mins trying to get into the castle. Come 6 O'Clock and even after the arrival of Minister Leo Varadkar, the most prominent gay minister, we were still waiting on the results from 3 Cork constituencies. The crowd were getting restless and antsy waiting for the announcement, when someone started singing the National Anthem Amhrán na bhFiann, soon everyone joined in the singing including the politicians. Finally at 18.50, Returning Officer Ríona Ní Fhlanghaile declared that Ireland had passed the Same-Sex Marriage referendum by 1,201,607 votes (62.1%) to 734,300 (37.9%). We all within the grounds of the castle descended into cheers and celebration. It was an amazing moment and feeling to being actually present when such an important announcement was made and even more so that I was able to celebrate it with my sister. That moment cemented Full Citizenship to all gay Irish citizens.

After the announcement, the crowds started to disperse to continue the celebrations, however it was finally time to get Niamh home with all bags and charge our phones. However soon as I got home realised it was almost time for Eurovision, so decided to finish off the perfect day, rushed to get a bottle of wine and watch it. Even though neither of us went out, we were still up drinking celebrating at about 3 am and finding pictures of me in the background of the crowd during the Panti interview from around the globe. Finally getting up about midday, we decided to continue the celebratory tone of the weekend by going to +Brasserie Sixtysix for Sunday Brunch where I had Espresso martini, sure needed the cure as I was #hungoverforequality, when I noticed the Sunday papers and had a browse, what did I notice within the Sunday Independent, was one of the picture of me in the crowd. It was really the perfect end to such an amazing weekend, one that I will remember for years to come and where I was on the 23 May 2015 when the referendum was announced and passed.

Mallorca Sunshine and Darkness into Light

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Tue, 12 May 2015 23:17:00 +0100

When our mother retired, she wanted to celebrate it by going on a holiday, I was only one who had time off around the time. So I booked a last minute holiday for both of us to Palmanova in Mallorca for the end of April. The day before the holiday, our mother got the bus up from Ennis, although it was raining when she arrived, once it stopped we made our way into town and showed her around. We finally managed to get her to House, a bar on Leeson Street and see if our cousin whose the manager there, was working and luckily enough he was on duty. It was great to catch up with him, we hadn't seen him in years. After a few disagreements on where to eat, we finally settled on a place our mother picked, a bar called Darkey Kelly's where the food, music and staff were great and the general atmosphere in the bar was brilliant. Although we only went into food, we ended up staying for hours as the night was so good.

After such a lovely weekend, it was a great way to start the holiday, the coach to Terminal 1 at the airport and through security went smoothly except me getting randomly picked for a pat down which was funny enough, the security guy doing was so nice bout it. As we waited for our flight, we made use of the chill out zone in duty free. Once we boarded the plane and departed the 2.5 hour flight over to Mallorca was so quick and painless, that my mother joked the flight over was quicker then the 3.5 hour bus journey up to Dublin from home. The coach bus to our hotel, Ola Hotel Bermudas which is an all inclusive one, was a quick enough one and our receptionist was kind enough to tell us that to go the bar first as there was food laid out and the bar was serving for 15 minutes more. Once we checked-in, and got settled int our room which we were very happy with, it was time to call it a night to the perfect first day. From the onset after breakfast, and sunbeds sorted by the pool, the hotel animation entertainment team were introducing themselves to us by the pool and what the fun events for the day ahead were. Through these events, we got to know several of the guests in the hotel, which was fun. Some how by the end of the Monday night, we ended up tagging along with a hen party into Magaluf. Although we some how ended up in Magaluf the following night as well, it was to check out the strip as a whole was like, it became obvious how dangerous Magaluf can be and this was not even high season yet.

By Wednesday morning and on our 3 different types of sun oil/lotion which I this time picked myself, we were onto a winner and stopped burning as easily. Life by the pool with the sun, drink and great company was starting to make this holiday into a great one. Later that afternoon, my mother won one of the activities and won one of the coveted entertainment diplomas. Before dinner we went for a stroll the length of the beautiful beach not even 2 minute walk from hotel and back which built up quite an appetite. After that nights entertainment, I some how ended up going out again, which itself is ironic as I rarely go out from one week to the next and here I was going out for the 3rd night in a row. This time a group of us from the hotel decided to stay locally as we had our fill of Magaluf, so we tried Banana Joe's just around the corner from the hotel. We all were having fun and some how I was dragged up on by some random French girls up the stage and shown how to pole dance which was hilarious in itself.

We decided the following morning, to get the local bus to Palma to check out the Cathedral de Mallorca. Despite the early start, I had yet to suffer a hangover on the holiday which was itself a promising sign. After waiting a small while for the bus, the journey itself to Palma was quite an interesting bumpy ride. However once off the bus, which was right across the road from the Cathedral, it was smooth sailing. The Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma is a Gothic Roman Catholic one built on the site of a pre-existing Arab Mosque. The entrance fee into the Cathedral, museum and Cloister was 7 euro which comes with a audiobook for self guiding. My mother at start was taken back by the cost but once inside she immediately said it was worth the money. The cathedral is 121 metres long, 55 metres wide and its nave is 44 metres tall. The construction began by King James I in 1229, but only finished in 1601. In 1901, reforms of the Cathedral were carried out by architect Antonio Gaudí and his influence is seen everywhere from the huge ceramic mural, stained glass windows and even down to the furnishings especially the wrought-iron canopy. The cathedral has a tower with nine bells with the size of one called N'Eloi weighing 4,517 kilos. Besides the cathedral itself, the museum and cloister are both worth visiting during your visit. The museum has several artifacts dating back to the 13th century and cloister which is a covered open arcade had a photo exhibition showing the differences and development of Palma over the years from the same vantage point. The Cathedral of Light is worth a visit if visiting Palma and you will not be left disappointed.

After leaving the cathedral, we explored around the ground outside and the palace next door before making the short stroll to the Poor Clare's Nunnery, which was not anything neither my mother or myself expected and totally complimented the tour of Cathedral we had just done. My mother said leaving the convant that she nearly enjoyed the visit to convant more than the cathedral. Walking back towards to the port we came across the old Arabic Baths and the entrance fee in was 2.50. The baths are situated in the narrow streets of the medieval quarter of the city and is the only remaining Moorish-built building in Palma. It was such a random find that there was a peaceful and quiet columned garden next to the Cupola or dome in the otherwise bustling city. The dome has various round apertures to allow steam to escape as the surviving room was used for hot baths. The Arab bathhouse is such a rare unique building thought to formed part of the palace of a noble Moslem,
from the time of the occupation of the Moors and is worth a visit. Once we left the baths, we made our way to the port to have a wander, the port just seemed to go on for ever. We decided it was time to get the bus home, when finally found the bus stop bout a 20 minute walk along the port, it was another 40/45 minutes before the bus finally turned up and as is typical not just one bus turned up but two. At least the journey back to Palmanova was quicker and a lot smoother. When we got to the hotel, the sun was just getting hotter, so we timed it well. As it was so hot, I finally gave in and tried out the pool, although it was freezing at first, it was exactly what I needed with that heat. That night we enjoyed the night time entertainment at the hotel, which was running Mr Ola Bermudas which ended up being quite funny. As my mother was wrecked from all the walking, I ended up meeting people for a drink, at the bar near the hotel, it was a perfect end to the day.

The following morning, the Friday and last full day and night of our holiday, we decided to make most of the sun, drink and pool. I somehow finally managed to get my mother into the pool, still not quite sure how I did as it was quite the ordeal but once she finally got into the coldish pool, she started to enjoy it and cursed herself for waiting so long to get in. When the clouds were blocking the sun, a small group of us did the afternoon entertainment activity indoors, a movie themed version of charades which our team won by a Point which was a fun but tough game at times. After dinner we went to go sort out our boarding passes for the way home however it just failed epically, luckily I was able to contact +Niamh to do it for me and email it to the hotel who were able to print it out for me, the stress of it all. Despite the hassle, we were able to enjoy the other parts of Palmanova. We made it back to the hotel for the evening entertainment which is so had to explain but was so much fun which involved answering the questions and running the stage first. In the final came down to me and other guy and somehow I managed to win it. I was so embarrassed with all the fuss but was so entertaining.

Our final morning, we packed up and did some last minute shopping before checking out at 12 as we were not able to get a late check out. Luckily enough one of the people we got to know offered to mind our bags in their room for the day which was so kind of them. As we enjoyed the 31 degree sun by the pool for a while, we decided after lunch to go play mini golf as we noticed the place on one of our walks. The course was very well done, and it got quite competitive between myself and my mother. In the end she somehow managed to win the game by 1 stroke. When we got by to the pool to enjoy some last bit of sun and drink, my mother fell asleep I had To wake her up as she beginning to burn. We were able to use the couresty room which was funny enough as it was one of the gang we got to know old room. Not long after we finished people started to depart for the airport. We were the last to leave for the airport at 8 pm didn't take too long to get to the airport. The coach just before the airport passed by the cathedral in Palma one last time. After we got through security and duty free, we actually met most of the gang from the hotel in our terminal. We said our good byes and waited to board our plane. The Aerlingus flight only had 14 people on the flight home although I heard the flight the following day was full, it's was so empty as it was Aerlingus first flight of the season from Palma. The flight itself both of us slept most of the way back to Dublin. Once we exited the airport at 1 am, we were met by 8 degrees and rain what a welcome home. The taxi journey was quick which was great as I needed to get home to bed as was up at 7 am for a full day at work, sure no rest for the wicked. The holiday was an unexpected gem, the people we met were so nice and were great to interact with, the bar and entertainment staff were so much fun and helpful and sure the sun and drink helped too. I've made some friends from this holiday that I'm still chatting with since.

The Saturday morning at 2.30 am both Niamh and myself got up to get ready for the +Pieta House +Darkness into Light 5km walk in the Phoenix Park. The money raised for the Pieta House charity is used in the prevention of suicide and self harm. Over 10,000 people did it in the Phoenix Park and 80,000 nationally and internationally as far a field as Sydney and New York. The atmosphere and buzz in the park was electric which was great to see and be part of. Through out the 5km there were lights and music provided by a choir between the 3-4 km mark which was a pleasant unexpected surprise. After the end of the 5km there was a great feeling of accomplishment but we both had to rush up as I needed a nap before work and Niamh did before her exam. Despite the tiredness I had during work I felt great having done it.

Right Place Right Time

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Mon, 11 May 2015 23:24:00 +0100

After the holiday to Lanzarote, I decided it was about time to check off the remaining churches that I wanted to see and had eluded me so far, around the city. In particular the insides of the Pepper Canister church, St Paul's Smithfield which is the church Eamon de Valera got married in and University church near St Stephen Green which I didn't know much about before hand. It was during lent when I was able to visit the church so waited until after it's lunch time service to have a proper look around. The church really was quite an unexpected gem with its beautiful wall decorations and elaborate sanctuary and nave.

At the end of February, on one of my usual random walks checking out historical buildings and monuments, I happened to stumble onto the remains of the Isolde's Tower, a 13th century medieval tower that was part of the old city walls, however the remains are obstructed from view, as the remains have been incorporated into an apartment complex. To finish of the month, I was lucky enough to get tickets during presale for Ed Sheeran concert in July, worth getting up a tad earlier before work to get them. However my crowning moment came later that night when I made my first ever dairy free spelt bread, which to my relief and culinary delight turned out perfectly.

After a hectic start to March, I decided on my day off for once to do some retail therapy and enjoy myself and take a break from my usual historical wanderings for a week. I purchased a Tayto Sandwich that I got from the Tayto popup shop, which was set up for a few weeks and proceeds raised were donated to the Simon Community, so that was my snack sorted for later. On my way home, I tried a different coffee place for a change called Kaph and attempted my first almond mocha which I was pleasantly surprised by.

As soon as the next day, I was back to my old ways of exploring museums and historical buildings, I realised that morning, I hadn't been to the IMMA and the Royal Hospital Kilmainham grounds since I last lived in Kilmainham years previously. Luckily enough the day I was there, which is only about a 10/15 mins walk from our apartment, it was sunny and peaceful. I was able to enjoy the walk around the grounds and gardens before I checked out the new OPW exhibit called the Old Man's House which tells the history of the Royal Hospital. On leaving I notice a poster for a free guided tour of Bully's Acre for later in the month. Luckily I emailed the guide whilst having coffee and trying another almond infused food item, gluten free chocolate brownie, in the museum coffee shop, as there wasn't many places left.

As both Niamh and Myself were off on St Patrick's Day, we said we head in for the parade and we got a nice viewing spot on Dame Street. The theme of the parade this year was celebrating the present and the Grand Marshal was Brendan O Carroll, famed for Mrs Brown Boys. Although the parade started a tad late, it was so worth the wait, especially the floats from Spraoi being a particular highlights for both of us. We were both ravenous ,so went to Bakehouse which just over the Ha'penny Bridge, from which we saw the crowds trying to get into Temple Bar. We both were never so delighted to be no where near the place.

After the food, we decided to have a quiet drink on the route home, it was a lot more relaxed which was nice and seeing the buildings going green for the day, on the walk home was nice.

As the weather was so nice on the Thursday after St Patrick's Day, I decided to make a theme for my walk and explore old military graveyards and buildings, beginning with old British military cemetery at Grangegorman, a place I'd been trying to visit for years. The graveyard is maintained by the OPW, who do a fantastic job with the place and during my visit the groundskeeper was so helpful with information and answering my questions. The Cemetery is place worth visiting. After exiting here, I continued on towars Arbor Hill, the final resting place of 14 of the executed leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising.

To round off my military filled themed day, I finished it with a visit to Collins barracks, a former military barracks now a national museum with exhibitions on various military events and experiences throughout the years including a temporary one called Recovered Voices, describing the stories of the Irish at War 1914-15. As I was leaving the museum and passing through Clarke Square, I stopped and watched a reenactment of drills by soldiers before they left for the War during 1914-18. On my way out, I was able to get a lovely view of Croppies Acre, is a memorial to the rebels or Croppys boys of the 1798 rebellion. As you can imagine I was wrecked after such a day.

Before I knew it, it was the end of March and time for that free tour of Bully's Acre. Although it was a rainy type Sunday day, there was a great turn out for the tour. Bully's Acre is the oldest cemetery in Dublin and our guide Paul who is the resident OPW historian in the RHK. The cemetery is located within the grounds of the RHK, the former retirement home for soliders who served in the British army. The tour consisted of visiting various different graveyards, beginning with plot for soldiers and then Bully's Acre itself which was a large public area used as a burial ground right up till the Cholera epidemic when Bully's Acre was closed down. The tour concluded with the Officer's Cemetery. Our guide along the way gave us information and interesting stories about the place. The total area comprises of 3.7 acres and is hidden behind locked gates and high walls within the ground of RHK. Despite the weather, the tour was quite interesting and our tour guide Paul was funny and made the whole experience quite enjoyable. If ye get the chance try and do the tour.

Going on the advice of a mate, on my next day I decided to strolled and check out the new DIT campus out at Grangegorman, which was cool especially how they converted the old church there into a new lecture hall. Easter Sunday as we both we off work, we enjoyed our Easter eggs watching movies, only way the day should be spent. That night we booked our tickets for the Pieta Darkness into Light 5 km walk at the start of May. As the sun was out on my next day off, I decided to do a practice of the 5 km circuit in the Phoenix Park, as I was finishing near the Papal Cross it was 17 degrees and there was a herd of cute deer all around the place.

Later that week on Saturday, Niamh, her friend Clodagh and myself were getting excited on the Luas towards the +3Arena Dublin to see +Olly Murs. Once we all were inside, we made our way into the Neon Bar that Niamh got passes for online and we got a booth upstairs in the bar. While we were enjoying ourselves there, a psychological Magician called Shane Black performed a few tricks for our booth. He had given Niamh something to hold and had thought nothing more about it. Then at the end, he said to me think of a name and see if he could guess it which he did and opened the wallet that Niamh had been holding and the name was on a card in it. We all had a laugh over it and definitely was a great way to start the night. Soon after that, we made our way out to our seats. Olly Murs got the whole audience singing and dancing and all had a great night. After the concert I made the short walk to Ballsbridge where work was having a party to celebrate 10 years. Was a great way to finish the night even if it was struggle to get up at 7 am for work.

Lanza30th

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 23:00:00 GMT

Friday the 6th of February, after work while waiting on our mother to arrive, +Niamh surprised me with an early birthday dinner at Jimmy Chungs on the quays, which was a great way to begin my holidays and 30th celebrations. After collecting our mother from Heuston station, we had a few drinks before I was yet again surprised with an early birthday Pizza. About lunch time the next day, we all decided it was time to head out and get a bite to eat. Our mother, kept asking where was this restaurant, HerbStreet, as the walk seemed to take for ever. However once the food came out, she did admit it was worth the walk and wait as we were all completely stuffed afterwards.

As we continued to enjoy the rest of the day and evening, as the clock struck midnight I wondered why, the lights in the living room all suddenly went out, to discover my mother and Niamh singing Happy Birthday with a cake, candles and all. Then my father face timed us about the same time, which was perfect timing and was so funny. It ended up been quite a late night, which would have had us rushing in the morning if we hadn't already packed. After saying our goodbyes to Niamh, my mother and myself, got the Airlink from Heuston to the Airport. After a slight mishap over my mother's ticket and her phone, that I got sorted at the +Aer Lingus check in desk, we joined the queue at security. As per usual, my mother would get stuck with the wagon at security, lucky I had my wits about me and all got sorted. Once in duty free, my mother finally managed to relax a bit. After purchasing a few duty free items for the holiday, we got the obligatory drink and relaxed waiting for our gate. Once aboard the plane, despite some turbulence, it was a smooth enough flight to Lanzarote.

Once arriving into Lanzarote, we made our way through baggage claim, out of the airport and got a taxi to our accommodation, the La Morana Apartments near Murphys bar. Which would be become our local bar for the majority of our stay in Puerto del Carmen. After unpacking and getting settled. it was time for some nourishment. The place we tried, the Blue Marlin was a total disaster from the off. Luckily enough after this disaster, everything else that night was such fun. We ended up leaving Murphy's Bar about 2 am that night after listening to Sean Boland and the famous Jimmy Barry Murphy, the white nigger from Cork, which I had heard some much about, singing his famous Langer song. It was a perfect ending to my birthday and was looking forward to the rest of the holiday.

The next morning, while discussing plans for the week, my mother wasn't feeling well, so we began the trek to the pharmacy in new town and got some tablets which did wonders for us both. When I suddenly remembered who had the apartment key, we rushed back and to our great relief, the key was exactly where I left it in the reception area. Which gave us the excuse to have a few drinks by the pool and catch some sun. Thats evening I booked a tour for the following morning, the short South Tour around the National Park of Timanfaya. After this we strolled towards the old town and ended up having a meal at The Crafty Cow on the recommendation of a co-worker, which we both agreed was just perfect and showed how bad the previous night's meal was. As we were eating, a female singer started to perform and she had such an amazing voice on her. We went exploring, and had a glimpse into the Blarney Stone and Blarney Grill where we saw the Dublin City Ramblers and Bianca Sutton and at the end of the night we yet again, ended up in Murphy's Bar.

The following morning we got the bus at 9.15 am for our tour with the first stop being in the heart of the National Park, home to the island's 300 craters and volcanoes. One of the demonstration was a volcano geyser in action. Continuing around the park, we almost got stuck behind a bus which was having some difficulties, luckily it wasn't for long, before we finished our journey in the park and made our way to the Camel Park at the base of the Fire Mountains. I decided this time to go on a camel ride, after turning down the option to years previously. It was a 20 mins ride, all was uneventful until I was getting off the male camel, and he hit his head against mine, wasn't sure to laugh or to be scared.

From the Camel Park, we had brunch on route to La Geria, the island's wine district, where we stopped for wine tasting however the wine tasted more like vinegar than wine. We returned back into Puerto del Carmen around 2 pm just as the sun was coming out, which was perfect timing for some sunbathing and swimming in the pool. A particular highlight food wise so far was the Mexican, Cantina Don Rafael where everything was superb from the cocktails to the fried breaded goats cheese.

As Wednesday was the best day weather wise, it was spent sunbathing drinking sangria and pizza by the pool, which was pleasant after all the walking and touring the previous day. Despite having a horrible cold dinner, we all had a blast in Murphy's Bar, with Linda Grey performing and us making some new friends, was a great end to the day.

The following morning, although we attempted to enjoy the sun, the sun wasn't with us, it was perfect walking weather. We began our walk towards Matagorda with a stroll along the Playa Grande. On our walk back towards our apartments, we stopped off at a cocktail bar called the Golden Corner and the Long Island cocktail and chocolate which were perfection. As we were on a roll, we decided to do a mini pub crawl on our route back. As my mother wanted to go for a 'quick' nap before heading out later, which of course ended with her staying asleep. I decided to go off exploring more of old and new town and see what The Island bar was but to my surprise, the bar is closed on Thursdays. On top of the walk to Matagorda earlier in the day, I walked another 5.5km exploring both old town to the harbour and towards the other end of the new town of the strip.

With both of us well rested, and wanting to do the famous the Puerto del Carmen to Puerto Calero walk, 6.5 km from the apartments, so we set off early enough as to make most of the day. I was pleasantly surprised how scenic, peaceful and relaxing such a walk was and especially in the morning sun. After arriving into Puerto Calero harbour, we were looking about before getting the water bus to back Puerto del Carmen, although the journey was a tad windy, it was something different. We managed to make it back to the apartments about lunch time, so before we got ourselves comfy sunbathing, we got a pizza and sangria by the pool which was starting to turn into a habit.

I got to enjoy the pool one last time, before getting ready for our night ahead, we had a few drinks and nibbles from the nearby Chinese. Luckily we had, as the Italian we ended having our meal at was horrible, possibly the worst meal of our trip. Once we arrived at Fitzers Irish Bar, things started straight away to pick up with the start of The Glamour Girls Comedy Drag show, which from the onset had the whole audience in stitches till the end, I've not laughed that much in so long. After the show got to chat and have my photos taken with the drag queens. We made some new friends, who we ended up meeting up with later that night.

It was time to head to the next bar, on our pub crawl, Island bar our next stop, where Rory Gallagher formerly of The Revs is the co-owner and resident musician. Our final bar was Mulligans which was quite full with Bill Hughes performing who had the whole bar singing and dancing. It was here we met up with our new friends from Fitzers bar, and we were the last to leave at 4.30 am, which was our latest night out.

Even with the lack of sleep, we were all up, packed and fed before the check out time at 11am, which gave us the opportunity to catch last few rays of sun before our trip to the airport. We were able to relax in duty free purchasing some duty free alcohol. Despite some confusion with last minute change of gate and delay in taking off, which managed to arrive into Dublin still on time at 11pm. We were able to get the last Airline bus home and were welcomed home by Niamh who had a hot water bottle in my bed waiting for me as she knew I was up at 7.30am for work.

Despite the lack of sleep, I had one hell of a week away, no better way to celebrate my 30th.

OH! Ho! Ho! that Christmasy Feeling

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 21:08:00 GMT

You would expect things to go back to normal once I put our mother on the coach home, however I went off shopping to sort a few last bits for the Christmas tree and soak in the christmasy atmosphere on O'Connell Street for the turning on of it's Christmas Tree and whilst getting a free packet of Tayto, I got my photo taken with Mr Tayto, sure be rude not to. On the route home, hopped into the Church of Adam and Eve, the National Shrine to St. Anthony, to check it out.

The craziness continued on, with Bernadette, Helen and Myself going for a night at the dogs in Harold's Cross on the Tuesday for a mini work night out, which I had free entry into, thanks to my bus ticket from my last journey up from home. After a few mins of checking things out, we all got settled in and started placing a few bets on and getting the drinks in. We all had such a laugh and fun and there was a slight Christmas atmosphere about the place, due to the Christmas Parties around. I surprisingly managed to finish out ahead with my bets which was a pleasant surprise and capped off a great night out. Later in the week, on the Friday night was the Hospitality Staff Christmas night out, although Nicole and myself were working late in work, we both got changed and met everyone else out in town later. By the time, we met them most people were on a good buzz and for some reason ended up in a club in Portobello called Rain. Didn't take us too long to get into the spirit and fun of the night. It was such a random and interesting night, the way most work nights out are. The following day was spend recovering watching crap on TV under a duvet, only way a hangover day should be spent. To finish off my weekend off decided to go shopping and treat myself to a mini Christmas pressie.

To start off the week right, +Niamh managed to get us 2 tickets for Fleetwood Mac, I booked our train tickets home for Christmas and we received our first Christmas Cards of the season. By time Friday came, we were excited to go see Gloria, a GLB choir who were performing at +StPatricksCathedral Dublin for their Christmas Concert, which was turning into an annual tradition. The concert itself was sold out with over 1300 people in attendance. A particular highlight was the all male version of Santa Baby and like every year, Gloria gave an amazing festive filled performance.

After literally a day from hell in work on Saturday, luckily I had Niamh's home made cake with ice cream to make things better while watching Strictly, which made me happy out. To top off the week, Niamh and myself decided to attempt the 12 pubs of Christmas after I finished work on that Sunday. The fun all began, in the Brazen Head, which is Ireland's oldest pub and worked our way through various pubs which all started to mesh together.

Things started to get a tad foggy after around pub 10/11 but all and all, it was quite a fun night experiencing such different pubs, some which I had never been in before. Surprisingly enough I felt right as rain the next morning which was a shock to both Niamh and myself.

Lucky enough I had no hangover as I had to work that evening, which was a tad annoying as I had won tickets for +Dumb To thanks to +cluborange and +Universal Pictures Ireland in the +Savoy Cinema, lucky enough Niamh went instead, was happy that the tickets weren't wasted despite slaving away in work, so she could enjoy herself.

Luckily enough that Niamh noticed that she had a missed call from the electrician during her shift at work, I quickly rang him back, and he was nice enough to call around straight away and finally sort out our issue with the boiler, although he didn't get finished until midnight and we both were up at 5.30 am for work. It was worth the lack of sleep as in the morning, I had the best shower in weeks which was like heaven. Although I was working so early, at least I was finished and home before work became crazy altogether which was nice. I ended up having a nap on the couch under my new fleece batman dressing gown and then when I woke up, I was all set and ready for my Chinese takeaway and heading into town to meet Niamh at the +TheGeorgeBar Dublin for Bingo and the Christmas show which was great craic as ever. Although Niamh went home towards the end of the show, I decided to stay out as I met up with mates of mine and somehow ended up in 4 Dame Lane until 3 am, despite getting up at 7 am for work, will I ever learn, seems unlikely. Niamh and myself were chilling when our dad rang, if we could get him a few bits from town, although we were finished ourselves, off out into town we went shopping, which ended up being fun, as always the way ended getting more than we planned and had a lovely meal out too, before finally getting home about 10.30.

At least we both had a slight lie in, the following morning we organised everything for our journey home for Christmas. When we arrived at Heuston Station to board the train, we got a plenty surprise to discover that we were travelling home 1st Class. People only on the list were even allowed to enter the 1st class carriage and was been guarded by the conductor. The journey home was so comfortable with the extra leg and we had fun and laugh with other passengers around us which was nice. After arriving into Ennis, we were collected by our dad, and then we dropped into our mother at work, to wish her a Happy Birthday, which made her day. Later that night, after a home cooked meal and surprising her with a cake, we headed out to a Christmas Party night at An Shibeen in Doora, where I actually won a prize for best Christmas Jumper. We all had such a brilliant night and our mother said best birthday in years.

When we were leaving the next afternoon for our Granny's, a neighbour's big dog started climbing onto the car, which definitely showed to me that I was back in the countryside. For my first Christmas mass in over 4 years, we went to a wee country church which was packed to the rafters for the Children mass which had an amazing singer, band, kids choir and Fr. Ted Crilly type priest, wasn't sure if it was like a concert or a religious event, which was hilarious to witness. As it tradition, later that night ended up back at the local pub, the Bogdale House near our Granny's. It was almost 3 am before we got home to bed, I would say that was a rare thing, but my last Christmas home 4 years ago, was about the same time then too. Before bed as is tradition, we swapped our Christmas presents, everyone seemed happy with their presents which is always good. Christmas morning was all go from the onset, with the calls and visitors wishing our Granny a Merry Christmas and preparations for the dinner underway.

After only a slight lie in, before the calls and visitors began to arrive at my granny's. The merriment and drink which started so early, should have told me how the day was to pan out. We finally made our way down to my Uncle's for Christmas dinner which was a joint effort between my mother and aunt. With all the food and the heat, the food coma had settled in and didn't want to go. I nearly swear I've never eaten and drank so much on Christmas day. We finally got back to my granny's about 9.30 that night, after a visitor arrived down and played some music. People started to drift off to bed gradually, as per usual I was last to bed. It was definitely one of the best Christmas in years, fun and craic was had by all.

The Westend Trap

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Sat, 29 Nov 2014 23:56:00 GMT

With life finally getting back to normal now, everything unpacked, settled into the new place completely, thought it was time to finally pay the donation I owed Padre Pio, that I promised him, during the stress of finding a place to live. Managed to find a Capuchin Order Friary on Church Street near Smithfield.

As is usually my nature in the lead up to Christmas, I went Christmas shopping around the October mid term. As I am working in retail too long, that I won't think of doing it after mid November when all the offers I'm after are over. We soon found out we were better prepared than we thought and thought we'd unwind after a hard day, decided to crave out a pumpkin, something neither of us had done before, which was kinda fun and put us into spooky Halloween spirit. To my shock and painful horror, on Bank Holiday Sunday night when talking to Niamh from the Kitchen, I didn't notice a loose skirting on the floor and caught the soles of both my feet, which tore and hurt like hell. Luckily Niamh was on hand to take care of the wounds. It definitely pays to have a nurse in the family.

Thanks to my mother, I won a competition in the Sunday Times for a +TullamoreDEW whiskey tasting masterclass in the Palace Bar on Fleet Street. The whole event was quite entertaining and informative and I left with a Tullamore DEW goodie bag with a hip flask and glasses which was nice. About 2 days later, i enjoyed my first mince pie of the season +M&S followed by the complimentary whiskey I received from +tullamoredew, which was a surprisingly delicious mixture.

After a hard busy week, I was looking forward to the comfy train journey home to Clare despite the 6am rise. After a quick coffee with the mother on her morning break, it was off home, where I thought I was just home to relax, where I quickly found out, I ended up helping my dad move some of my stuff over the years, that was a trip down memory lane. To round off my weekend home, we visited my Gran, who didn't know I was home and surprised her with a birthday cake and presents from Niamh and myself for her 92nd birthday. I seemed to bringing back more stuff on the bus journey than I had going home, isn't that always the way.

A play I've been dying to see for years was Mousetrap, finally got a chance to go see it at the Bord Gais Theatre, the set and the cast were amazing. The whole mystery plot and the disclaimer they tell the audience at the end to keep the secret over the plot is a clever one, which doesn't spoil the show for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. we already planning our next trip to the Bord Gais on the Luas home. Then on Thursday when got the members email about offers for 1 Man 2 Guvnors. I contacted them by email that evening about the offer, and of course received missed calls back and forth Friday and Monday. But when I also got an unexpected missed call from my mother around same time, I rang her back to find out, she won a pair of tickets to that show and was able to change them for me for the Thursday performance, which gave us something to love forward to. Come Thursday I met Niamh on route to the Grand Canal, where we got a nice bite to eat at Herb Street before the show followed by a pre show drink. Throughout the show and even during intermission the shows Skittle band The Craze performed who were very good. A particular highlight was the improv which Gavin Spokes performing as the lead Francis had to perform due to a sketch that went pear shaped, which however had the whole audience in stitches. Between the music, the band, the improv and comic timing, I not laughed so much in an ages exactly what the doctor ordered. When we got home, we watched the Glasnevin documentary One Million Dubliners which I felt was a quite powerful and emotional film and nearly had me in tears at the end over Shane Mac Thomais.

Which was starting to turn into a weekly trip to BGE Theatre, this time to see Westend Women, Joanna Ampil, Ria Jones and Kerry Ellis, 3 leading ladies of the Westend, who have starred in some of the biggest shows such as Wicked, Cats, Evita, Les Mis and Miss Saigon. I was dragging Niamh to the show to see Kerry Ellis, as I was lucky enough to see her as Elphaba in Wicked in Westend. The feel of the show was fun, and ended being such unforgettable magical night with everyone singing and dancing along during the encore.

On Wednesday, our mother came up to visit for a few days, with a few touristy things planned during her stay and her promise of home cooked food, which had us excited. As I was working, My mother was lucky enough to collect my keys from the concierge. After a quick change and had some of my mother's freshly home made soup, we made our way into town towards Arnotts, for their special Christmas evening event. At this event, there was live music, gimmicks and free whiskey throughout the night and weren't shy with the whiskey pour.

First on the agenda, was on Thursday Morning, after a quick stroll to the Guinness Storehouse. As we booked an early bird ticket with 20% off admission online, we went straight to the pre paid machine, to collect tickets and start our tour. The tour is self guided and commenced by standing at the bottom of the world's largest pint glass in the Atrium, which rises up through the centre of the seven story building and if full would hold 13.4 millions pints of Guinness. On the fourth floor, we got the opportunity to pour of own pint of in the dedicated Perfect Pint Bar. In the Arthur's Bar on fifth floor got to see views of the brewery, nearly as spectacular as the views from my own bedroom. When we reached the Gravity Bar, we were able to sit back with the pint of Guinness included in price of admission despite the early hour and take in the breath taking panoramic views of Dublin City, in my opinion nearly the best view within Dublin itself.

After all this Guinness history, we both were stuffed from breakfast so I rang brasserie 66 to reschedule our lunch for the next day when Niamh could join us too, as its a place we enjoy and thought our mother would too. After sitting back a tad longer enjoying the view from the Gravity bar, we continued on with our tour of the storehouses, with the Old Jameson Distillery in Smithfield our next stop. On route, I brought her to the St Augustine and John church and Capuchin Order Friary on Church Street near Smithfield. The Friary is located right next the distillery which was quite handy. Our booked tour was at 3pm, and was a guided one which lasted about an hour and included a whiskey comparison with Johnny Walker Scotch, Jack Daniels Bourbon and of course Jameson and what the differences between them are. And most important, the complimentary Jameson drink which made my day being a Jameson whiskey drinker.

Niamh had a full mini Christmas dinner waiting for us, in honour of our American friends for Thanksgiving. Once we were filled up, we got the bus towards town, for a private event Tommy Hilfiger with music, canapés, drinks and caricaturist, which was busy and fun. +Niamh got a caricature done which came out quite well. During the weekend, we went for the lunch at Brasserie 66 where we managed to get 5€ off thanks to Vouchercloud, followed after with Bewleys for a Christmas drink Candy Cane Latte, CHQ building for Lidl Christmas markets, and a Christmas Market at Catherine Church.

After an intense day in work and later shopping with the family, we finally put the Christmas tree and decorations up in the Apartment, being supervised by our mother superior, which made the place feel quite Christmasy while listening to Christmas FM.

New Beginnings

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 22:42:00 +0100

With the excitement of Italy behind us, we came home to the joys of accommodation hunting which was proving difficult separately and +Niamh starting her new college course in Healthcare Informatics. When we started to look for a place together, although still hard was more promising. We still had time to enjoy ourselves, with a reception at Harvey Nichols and cinema tickets to see Before I Go To Sleep in Dundrum. My weekend off, was a quiet affair, just spent watching Clare U21 hurlers winning 3 in a row All Ireland titles, followed by a day spent at the zoo, as Niamh put it baby hunting, which was more fun than I thought it was gonna be.

After a few weeks with no luck, it all came together on Wednesday the 17th, when despite Niamh ringing a particular estate agent that morning with no luck, I chanced my arm ringing after work at 3. I got a call back just before 4, for a viewing 30 mins later, which couldn't have suited us any better. We nearly fell in love with the apartment as soon as we entered it. I couldn't have ran any quicker to the ATM and back with the holding deposit. On Friday lunchtime, after spending the previous two days packing up my life, we signed our lease for our place and got the keys, which was a great relief after a stressful few weeks. As I had time to kill after unpacking, I decided to make most of culture night, and finally go see the Freemasons buildings on Moleworth Street, a building which has eluded me over the years as their open days never suited me until now. Despite getting totally soaked to the bone, once inside, from the onset it didn't disappoint. Over the 3 levels, the history of the Grand Masonic Lodge was everywhere to see and the Freemasons themselves were on hand to answer any questions. I ended up spending longer here, then I had initially planned. On the route home, as Niamh had ordered thai takeaway, I made a slight detour into the city hall exhibition. An exhibition I was not willing previously to pay into, once inside my reservations were correct, as this exhibition is not worth any price of admission.

Our parents made the journey up that evening for the weekend, which was nice that the whole moving in was quite the family affair. Whilst I was working all day Saturday, which itself was an ordeal with no delivery and the never ending queues. At least the parents and Niamh had a more enjoyable day, spending it at the zoo at the request of our mother, who not been there in 20 years. However it was poor Niamh's second trip in less than a week. After their eventful trip to the zoo, they strolled from the Phoenix Park towards Collins Barracks museum, which neither of our parents had been to before. Just before exiting the park, Niamh attempted to give 2 strangers directions and somehow they ended up inside the new criminal courts. By Saturday night, both Niamh and myself had moved out of our old places and unpacked and moved into our new one.

After a few technical issues with our UPC order, over the weekend, through social media on Monday and early Tuesday morning, I received the horizon box and got everything sorted, now the place really feels like home. On Friday, our mother decided to visit for the weekend again, which was starting to turn into a habit, arriving just after 11.30pm. The following day, we got up and took her by her request on a hop on hop off tour, which I managed to get on Living Social for 7 euro each for all 3 of us. My mother and myself meet Niamh outside the Little Museum on St Stephen Green, who came after college that morning. The ticket to the museum was included as part of the hop on hop off tour one. Our mother really enjoyed the guided tour of this particular museum, we followed this by continuing on the bus tour, followed by the Docklands one, which Niamh and me hadn't done previously and was a pleasant surprise. Disembarking at the Grand Canal, we strolled over to George's Dock, where Oktoberfest was on. The crowds and the atmosphere was electric and the first time I've drank a Stein glass of beer. This was a nice way to finish a week off work and settling into the new place.

Things were definitely on the way up, as on October 4th, it was time finally to see +Ed Sheeran in the +3Arena Dublin. Im not sure who was more excited myself or Niamh, and this after we both saw him, the May Bank Holiday Monday in +Vicar Street. Ed really knew how to get the crowd going, which made the whole experience electric. Just like the intimate gig at Vicar street, we left the gig singing all the way home.

Getting used to our surroundings, we noticed the historical structures, churches and buildings nearby on James and Thomas St, such as Guinness' St James' Gate of course, St Patrick's Smock Tower, St Catherine Church site of Robert Emmet execution and John's Lane Church where there a relic of St. Nicholas and the twelve statues in the niches on the tower are the work of James Pearse, father of Padraig Pearse.

Medieval and Renaissance Florence and Pisa

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 17:41:00 +0100

The train journey from Rome to Florence took just over 90 mins, after we embarked from the train, we headed to the tourist info to get a map of the city. We then attempted to find the Uffizi Gallery located near to Palazzo Vecchio, and collected our tickets which we booked online for the gallery. There was a security check point and the required cloakroom. Once inside the gallery we ascended the stairs upto the second floor which the renaissance paintings and sculptures are housed. The gallery houses works such as Boticelli's Birth of Venus, Leonardo di Vinci, Michaelangelo amongst others. At the end of touring the gallery, the view on the terrace gave a glance of the Il Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio nearby.

After collecting our bags, we exited into the Piazza della Signoria where there are the Neptune fountain known as Fontana del Biancone and Equestrian Monument. From near here, we entered the Loggia dei Lanzi, a building on a corner of Piazza della Signoria adjoining the Uffizi Gallery. This building consists of wide arches open to the street and is a sculpture gallery of antique and Renaissance art. On the entrance to Palazzo Vecchio is a copy of Michaelangelo's David, the original is housed safely within the Galleria dell'Accademia. Like the Uffizi gallery, bags had to checked into the cloakroom for safety of the art. The ticket we bought was the museum and tower combi, and Liam again managed to get me a student ticket. Straight away entering the museum, you are bombarded with paintings by Leonardo di Vinci's Battle of Angliari and Michaelangelo's Battle of Cascina on the walls of the Salone dei Cinqueccento or Hall of the Five Hundred, works which neither were completed. Before we exited this room, there the statue of Michaelangelo's Genius of Victory and Vasari's Another particular highlight for us, was Dante Death Mask, located in a small hallway, as all mentioned in Dan Brown's Inferno. From the museum, we climbed the steps of the tower, which showed the nearby Il Duomo perfectly. At this stage of the day, we were both wrecked, so decided to get the train to Pisa, we just missed one, got the next available one, although tad longer than previous one, gave us the opportunity to sit back and relax. We only noticed half way through the journey, we were meant to have validated the ticket before boarding the train, little we could do about it now. Arriving into Pisa, we followed our mate Giulia directions to our hotel, which couldn't be any more precise. Receptionist was very helpful, with directions and helping us with the map the hotel provided. The hotel still has that old family feel within a modern setting. After unpacking, we went for pizza at a place called Dabbe followed by Gelato in Piazza Garibaldi in small place called La Bottega del gelato, both which were divine and suggested by Giulia. To finish the night off, we had a drink on the terrace of our hotel.

The following morning, with a well earned sleep in, we went exploring the areas of Pisa. From our hotel the Royal Victoria, our first port of call was the nearby, Piazza dei Cavalieri, small square with historical buildings which hosted political powers during the renaissance, with the Palazzo della Carovana, the main building with an elaborate facade designed by Giorgio Vasari. From here we countinued our stroll towards the Piazza dei Miracoli or Field of Miracles, UNESCO heritage site containing the Leaning Tower or Torre Pendente. Soon after arriving into the Piazza we purchased our ticket and were given a 4.15 time slot. As we had time to kill, we got the combi ticket for 8 euro to visit the Battistero or Bapistry, Camposanto Monumentale and Museo seller Sinopie. The Camposanto in particular was quite interesting, as it a huge cemetery with ancient Roman sarcophagi, frescoes and sculptures. With both Leaning Tower and combi tickets, gave us free admission into Duomo di Pisa. After our late lunch, it was nearly our timeslot to climb the tower and see the view over Pisa, although we were up and down within 30 to 40 mins, felt like more. Back at the hotel, the owner gave us some suggestions of where else to visit. As we wanted to relax before dinner, we went to visit the Scotto Gardens, a fortress coverted into a public park. We went to a cafe, we noticed on route back from the Leaning Tower, we ended leaving as the service was so bad. As it was getting late, we ended up eating by the Tower, although food and service wasn't the best, at least can say ate by the Leaning Tower. To improve and finish the night properly, we had gelato in Piazza Garibaldi at what was becoming our favourite gelato place.

Our earliest morning yet, was Tuesday at 6.15 am as we had to make our way to Florence by train, for our jam packed day, beginning at the Academy Gallery at 9.15am to view the Hall of Michaelangelo's work, of course in particular the statue of David. On leaving the gallery, we made the 5 mins walk to Florence's Cathedral, Il Duomo and were met with a long queue waiting for Brunelleschi's Dome. Niamh quickly joined it, while I hurried off to get the 10€ ticket for access to all the buildings. It took almost over an hour, before we even entered to begin the 464 steps climb to dome, viewing Vasari's Last Judgement beneath the dome closer on route. Once finally at the top of the dome, and on the platform on the outside, gave views of Florence, which was almost outdone latter in the day by views from the Giotto's Bell Tower, Boboli and Bardini Gardens. After our descend from the top, we rushed towards the Bargello Museum, as the information online said it closed at 18.00 not 12.50. This museum was a last minute addition to our initinery after hearing and reading about it since our arrival into the region. The museum houses other statues of David by Donatello and Verrochio, in the city of Florence there 4 such statues, 2 in this museum, 1 in the Academy Gallery and a replica of Michaelangelo's one outside the Palazzo Vecchio. After our visit here, we joined the que for the Bell Tower, which moved a lot quicker than one for the dome, we queued and reached the top within 45 mins, however it felt like the climb would never end. On reaching the street level again, we went to the Bapistry, admiring the east doors designed by Gilbertini? who Michaelangelo once described them as been fit to be the Gates to Paradise. After a quick visit the cathedral and it's crypt, we walked over the Ponte Vecchio and towards the Pitti Palace, where we got the ticket for the Boboli and Bardini Gardens which cost 10 euro. It took us about 3 hours to see only about half the Boboli gardens, but we made it to Porta Romana, the Buontalenti Grotto and the secret grey exit door from the Palazzo Vecchio, all of which are mentioned in the book Inferno. The view from both of these gardens are superb and in particular of the Duomo. We managed to make the 19.30 train back to Pisa, although it was a long and tiring day, was worth all the climbing of steps and hills. Once in Pisa, at this stage we were hungry and went to the first restaurant we met, which actually wasn't half bad. To finish the day, we had the required gelato from our favourite place.

To finish off our visit to Pisa and Italy, we enjoyed last few sights such the church of Santa Maria Della Spina and church San Michele , another leaning tower within Pisa. During our trip in this city, we seen all 3 such leaning towers. Before getting the bus to the airport, we sat back and relaxed with our final gelato in Italy before our flight home back Dublin from Galieli International airport. It was only while queueing to board, I thought to check my mobile boarding pass and noticed we had priority queuing, although it had closed, we still were able to skip the long queue which was a relief.

All Roads Lead to Rome

noreply@blogger.com (Niamh) — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 17:21:00 +0100

Once off the train in Roma, and navigated our way through Termini station, we collected our Roma Pass for 2 attractions and use of the public transport for 72 hours. We soon learnt that GPS and maps would become our friend during our stay in Rome. With such help, we got our hotel, Hotel Tirreno, the location was convenient to the Metro and to Termini Station and the room itself was bigger and more luxurious than our one in Sorrento, and only learned when packing up that there had been a mini bar in the room, think maybe lucky we hadn't known. We quickly enough unpacked and commenced our exploration of the eternity city, that is Rome. We strolled back towards the nearby basilica to check it out, to find out that it was one of the items on our initinery, the basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore which is largest church dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary in Rome or our Lady of the snow. From here walked towards to the Pantheon, we arrived to a building which we thought was the Pantheon, but only realised after it was the Vittoriano, the Italian war memorial, located in Piazza Venezia. Around from the war memorial, were the steps up to the Piazza del Campidoglo, located on capital hill, which is a square that was designed by Michelangelo. From this hill,this gave us our first surreal viewpoint of Ancient Rome and in particular an excellent view of the layout of the Imperial Forums. Walking down Via dei Fori Imperiali, towards the Colosseum, enabled us to see the Roman Forum on the right and Trajan's forum and market on the left. By the time we reached the colosseum, it was sunset, which illustrated the monument in a beautiful light. To the right of the colosseum is the Arch of Constanine and the beginning of Palatine hill.

From this area, we walked straight south along Via di Sin Gregorio which brought us to Circus Maximus, which these days has become a peaceful park. We walked through the park but it had become too dark to take pictures, so decided to return to take a selfie another day. At this stage, we became hungry, so headed to find a place to eat, which surprisingly enough was near enough to the Trevi Fountain. When we got the Trevi Fountain, we hadn't known that the fountain is currently under going some cosmetic reconstruction work but the city still provided a place to throw a coin, which took a few attempts to manage. Our first night wandering around Old Rome, helped us get our bearings for the following morning. Seeing some of the main attractions lit up at night was a good start to our visit. Although took us long enough to find our hotel after our excursion out, in the end was possible mainly thanks to google maps, which wouldn't be the last time, it would come to our rescue.

After making use of the complimentary breakfast at the hotel, we strolled towards the colosseum. We were able to bypass the queues, thanks to the Roma Pass as there was a separate line for pass holders. Once inside, Rick Steves' guided and navigated us through the attraction, as he would with the majority of the attractions within Rome and the Vatican. From the 2nd level, we were able to look out from the colosseum onto the rest of the surrounding areas in particular Arch of Constanine and the nearby Imperial Forums and Palatine hill, which was our next port of call, as it was included in the same attraction price as the colosseum. After our mandatory selfie within the colosseum, we exited from here after our 90 min visit and strolled the short distance to the Forums Via Sacra. Again Rick Steves' helped us through the Forums before we went unguided walking about the Palatine Hill. Particular highlights of these two attractions were the Arch of Titus, Arch of Severus and the view from Palatine Hill overlooking Circus Maximus. We exited the Forums at the north west corner, next to the flight of steps leading to Piazza del Campidoglo, which is also the location of the the Mamertine Prison also known as Tullianum. This prison is famous for having been the location where St. Peter was imprsioned before his martyrdom. This 5 euro guided tour, provided info on the history of the prison, the roman walls, chapel of the crucifix and the location itself of the Tullianum or maximum security prison of Ancient Rome. After this tour, the war memorial/ Vittoriano was opened, we went in out of curiosity, which gave us an overview of the surrounding areas, and how close we were to the pantheon the previous night. On route to the pantheon, with a pit stop first at Largo di Torre Argentina which is a square that hosts 4 Republican Roman temples and remains of Pompey's theatre Curia, the spot where Julius Caesar was assassinated.

About ten mins walk further, we finally managed to find the Pantheon. The pantheon is famed for its large dome which is the largest masonry dome in the world, is still a functioning church and hosts the final resting place of Raphael's tomb. Once exiting the pantheon, we walked 5 mins towards Piazza Navona, which in it's centre lies Bernini's Fountain of the Rivers. Bernini's sculptures and fountains would become a running theme throughout our stay. Soon after seeing this Bernini fountain, I remembered the use of Bernini in Dan Brown's Angels and Demon and decided that we must them see all. At the other end of Piazza we exited and strolled towards Piazza del Popolo in the North Center of Rome, which at its centre is an Egyptian obselisk that originally was in Circus Maximus. As our feet were beginning to hurt, we sat down in the Piazza to gather our composure before continuing on. Liam mounted the stone lion near the obelisk, was funny watching him try to climb back down. After seeing all these obelisks, we hopped onto the metro to San Giovanni, where the tallest obelisk in world is located outside the Lateran basilica. We finally crawled back to our hotel, for a siesta before heading back out later that night. Trying to tick items off our to do list, we got the metro to to the Spanish steps, where we climbed and descended the 135 steep sloped steps, after doing this, gave us quite the appetite however it was late, trying to find food was proving difficult. Luckily enough for us, the Irish bar Trinity College was still serving food and it was surpringly nice too. On the way to get the metro at Barberini station, we noticed the magnificent Bernini fountain, one of his not to be missed in Rome.

Early rise the next morning, quick breakfast and metro to Ottaviano, the stop closest to the Vatican. Once inside St. Peter's square, soon discovered we were a tad too early, so explored the square itself, which has free access before we passed the police checkpoint, followed by the Swiss guards. This tour only can be booked in advance and holds ten people at a time. The Scavi tour under St. Peter's Basilica included visiting the Necropolis and culminating at the site of St. Peter's tomb. On exiting his tomb, we were brought outside the Irish chapel under the Basilica. In the Papal grotto, we saw St. Peter's tomb from a different angle, 3rd so far that morning and the final angle in the Basilica itself. Luckily enough on leaving the tour and Papal grotto, we were able to enter the basilica without having to queue, which at times can take 3 to 4 hours. Particular highlights of the Basilica were the art work, structures, Pieta Chapel and the dome. On seeing the dome from a distance, we decided to pay the 5 euro and climb the 551 steps to the top of the dome, stopping off on the way for a closer view of the inside of the dome. Then climbed the remaining 320 steps to the top of dome, which gave us the opportunity to step out onto a platform and view the Vatican from a height. Liam didn't realise we had more steps to climb after the first set which was funny. On descending the 320 steps part first, we stopped for well earned pit stop and call our dad from the top of Basilica, before finishing the descend down which brought us back inside the Basilica. After our day one visiting to the Vatican was complete, we strolled towards Castel Sant'Angelo, famed for being the Mausoleum of Emperor Hadrian and fortess for popes. Here we used our Roma Pass to gain access as our 2nd attraction. On our journey back towards the main part of Rome, we passed over the Bridge of Angels and the noticed a sign for relics of Padre Pio, by the time we found the church it was closed and we were determined to visit it the next day. To finish off the day we revisited Piazza Navona, Pantheon and finished at Trevi fountain joining the que with gelato in hand, to walk across the boardwalk over the fountain giving us a closer look at the statues and of course a selfie.

Slightly earlier start, but reached the Vatican with time to spare, to make a quick detour to the obselisk in St. Peter's square, for a photo at the air element mentioned in Angels and Demons. As we had a prearranged guided tour of the Necropolis via Triumphalis, before visiting the Vatican museums, which was self guided, we were able to skip the queue of people waiting for museum to open to purchases tickets. The guided tour was better than we expected and finished at the entrance to the museums which was ideal. The amount of paintings, sculptures and artefacts on display was unreal, even before we reached the Raphael rooms, finally accumulating in the masterpiece that is the Sistine Chapel which has to be seen with your own eyes to believe the beauty of Michaelangelo's work. Although neither of wanted to leave, there was places and things we wanted to see. A quick trip on the metro to Piazza del Popolo, to the church of Santa Maria del Popolo in particular Chigi chapel as it was designed by Raphael and finished by Bernini and the earth element used in Dan Brown's book. To finish off our tour of locations mentioned in the book, we went to the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, which we had to wait to be opened. The Ecstacy of Saint Theresa by Bernini in the Cornora chapel is used to illustrate the element of fire in the book. Our attempt to find the metro got us somehow atop the Quirinal, highest of the famous Roman hills and next to the Quirinal palace. Walking down Via dei Fori Imperiali, past the Colosseum, got us to Circus Maximus for a daylight selfie and attempt to find this gelato place recommended on TripAdvisor, il gelato di Claudo Torce, which seemed forever to find but was worth the wait. At the other end of Circus Maximus, Santa Maria in Cosmedin is located, best known for the Bocca Della Verita or mouth of truth in its porch. Although when were arrived it was closed 2 hours earlier than mentioned online, was just about able to get a picture of the sculpture. As we still had time, we hopped onto a bus to the church of San Salvatore in Lauro, when we got there, they were in middle of mass but in the end managed to get to see the Padre Pio relics. On our route for food, it started raining buckets, we ran to get shelter at the Pantheon but were already soaked. A drink was well earned after that, and ended up in the Irish bar, Scholars Lounge to recover before food, followed by the stroll back to the hotel.

After breakfast and check out, we made our way to the Termini Station, to catch the train to Florence.

From Sorrento with Love

noreply@blogger.com (Niamh) — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 12:53:00 +0100

After a slight panic trying to get a taxi to the airport, we arrived with loads of time to spare. Taxi ended up being free due to a promotion. We made it seemlessly through security, and got few bits for plane, as neither us were really hungry because it was way too early to eat. We were unlucky not to sleep beside each other. Liam nodded off for a bit, however, I was unlucky to be stuck beside, the most annoying two-faced, self-centered shrew I ever met. I was never so glad to get off a flight in my life. Until, we met the travel agent at the airport who was unhelpful and rude but we got sorted in the end with our 3 day tourist travel pass. What is ironic, Liam sub-consciously told the agent I was 25,forgetting I had turned 26, so was entitled to a young person pass, which was 7€ cheaper. With a sprint, we finally made the ALBIUS bus from the airport into the centre of Naples.

We attempted to try find a pizzeria that was recommended on trip advisor, after a detour or two,finally found it, however it was closed, which was surprising, as it was lunchtime on a Saturday. As I have never seen Liam so nervous or anxious, as we strolled around the city, we made a beeline for the train station, to catch the circ.. to Sorrento. As everyone packed on the train, we were very lucky to get seats, as it was getting pretty full. On the journey, one of the passenger across from me, opened a water bottle, which sprayed everywhere, spraying me in particular, which was a welcome relief and was something of a conversation starter. Somewhere on the way, traditional Italian type musicans boarded the train, and began playing stereotypical Italian music. Once we arrived finally into Sorrento, after what seemed like an eternity, with our 2 new friends in toe, we departed the station and attempted to find the Foreiger's Club hotel, which was recommended in the Rick Steves' guide book, something Liam and our new friend Anna, had been reading, with Liam leading the way, following the directions laid out in the book, which were spot on, and we all got to the information point with ease, collecting all the required info. After this, we finally made it to our hotel, where we parted company with our new acquaintances. We quickly checked-in, unpacked and went off exploring the town, the view from the rooftop of our hotel, was breathtaking of the mountains in the distance,which we soon learned was nothing to the view from the marina. As we climbed down the steps from Piazza Tasso towards the port, which was some trek, but was a fun experience, we saw the Sorrento city train and gave us idea that we must do that and both agreed, glad we did it even if it was tiring.

We explored the marina, port and surrounding beaches, before attempting the scary but beautiful climb back up to the town, which seemed to last for ever. Ironically, if we had brought our travel passes out with us, could've got the bus back for free. We found the first place that looked decent for food, as at this stage, we both were famished. Soon after the meal, unsurprisingly we found the obligatory Irish Bar, Chaplin's. Not long after this, as it'd been quite a long day we were wrecked, and had an early start the next day, so off to bed we went. On the stroll back to the hotel, approx. 9.30pm we noticed the evening rush hour traffic, which we both laughed and joked about.

After an early start the following morning, we headed to the train station, having consumed the complimentary breakfast. We got the train to the Pompei Scavi stop, collected our tickets at the Porta Marina using our tourist passes. Once we got into the site itself, we began using Rick Steves' audio tour and map, which directed and guided us around the ruins, which we found invaluable at times, as it's quite easy to get lost and confused due to the vast size of the ruins. This audio tour, highlighted 18 key ruins which showcased the site perfectly, especially the house of the faun, house of the vetti, brothel (or Lupanare with such erotic art drawings on the walls) and the theatre. After this audio tour finished, we trekked to the other end of the site to the Villa dei Misteri which luckily enough was worth the walk. Before we knew it, we had spent almost 4.5 hours at Pompei, nearly an hour over the time, we originally planned. The walk from Villa dei Misteri back to the station, was nearly more strenuous on us then the 4.5 hours within the site.

Once we finally got the station, the next train that was due was cancelled, which gave us time to recover before our next outing in Ercolano, to visit the site of Herculaneum. What is quite ironic, on the walk to the site, seems we took a wrong turn, and ended up in the wrong end of Ercolano for almost an hour, we nearly gave up trying to find Herculaneum when out of no where, we walked passed it. We both nearly cried with laughter and relief at finding the site finally! During our time at Herculanum, Liam was almost in tears when his home button on his phone became lost. He was such a grouch for the rest of our time at the site. The site is more intact in parts. Then Pompei, preferred certain aspects of this site, mainly less crowded, had the women's baths as well as the men's (Pompei only got the men's), however the baths in Pompei were more extravent then Herculanum. The statues were amazingly intact and so ornate. The trip back to the station was so much quicker and less eventful then getting to the site. On the train, Liam finally saw the funny side of it, as he joked about leaving a part of his phone at a Roman ruin.

When we got back to Sorrento, the fun didn't stop as we jumped onto the City Train Sorrento. Which gave us a scenic audio guided road train trip around Sorrento. The first time we sat down and chilled all day was over a drink at what seemed to turn into our local, Chaplains. We finally managed to get something to eat, at a place we noticed the previous night, La Fenice, despite the quite slow service, the food itself was perfect. To complete the perfect day, we went to a gelatari Bougainvillea, that was recommended by Hotels.com iPhone app as we booked a hotel in Sorrento.

Last minute change of plans, afforded us the ability to spend the day, travelling along the Amalfi Coast. Our day started off with pure luck, as we got the last 2 seats on the bus leaving Sorrento towards the coast, as we didn't want to stand the hour journey to our first spot, Positano. We soon learned, we got off at the wrong bus stop, after a detour or two, finally started the descend towards the beach, Spiaggia Grande, where the cathedral Chez Black, despite the long trek down, the beauty of the duomo made the effort all the more special. The shorter trek up the hill to the bus stop, was timed perfect as we made it as the bus pull up and we hopped on towards Amalfi. The cathedral of Amalfi, dedicated to St Andrew the Apolstle was a particular highlight of our visit, with this complex housing the Cloister of Paradise built in the Arabian style holding ancient sarcophagus, mosiacs and in the middle of the northern side of the cloister gave the perfect glimpse of the cathedral's bell tower, in the crypt the preserved remains of the apostle are hidden under the altar covered by heavy slab of marble and cathedral itself to the right of transept is the chapel of the relics housing relics of saints brought with the body of St. Andrew. At the bus terminus, we had to wait awhile to get a bus to Ravello because of the queues. When we finally got there, we took in the breath taking views of the surrounding areas from the hills above Amalfi. As the village of Ravello is such a small town, it's explored by foot. After a well earned coffee break in the Piazza Duoma, we dediced to just visit the Villa Rufulo due to time restraints. We were able to get the group admission rate due to our Artecard card into the estate, which gave us outstanding views of the Bay of Salerno. The panic of people boarding the bus, meant we had to wait for the next one, where again pure luck we were able to get seats for the journey back to Amalfi. Nearing Amalfi, with the roads so small our bus driver has to reverse for what felt like an eternity, but everyone on the bus gave him a round of applause as it was no mean feat. The crowds waiting for the connecting bus to Sorrento were outrageous, when the bus finally arrived, pure chance we were able to get onto the bus, however we ended up standing until we got to Positano as crowds on the bus were jammed packed. After getting back to Sorrento we went straight for food, as were fanished where were we serenaded by a female singer, and Liam had both limencello which I think went straight to his head. After our nightly visit to the irish bar and Bougainvillea, we gave into tempetation and try the Queen Amsterdam chips as there was always a queue on the walk home. That was until we heard and saw a real life Italian tenor, singing in the private courtyard of a residence club, in the Piazza Tasso singing Nessa Dorma, which had Liam emotional as he always loved that song.

With our last full day in Sorrento, we decided to go visit the island of Capri, we bought our tickets at the marina, like with everything else, the queues were unbelievable and disordered. The hydrofoil took just over 25 mins to the island, and had our tickets for the 9.45 am tour around the island and to the Blue Grotto which cost 30 euro each with 13 of that paid directly to the grotto. The tour leads to the White Grotto, Arco Naturale, Faraglioni rocks, Green Grotto before stopping and giving us to option to visit Blue Grotto and see the magic of the water from within before returning back to port. From here trying to follow the recommended intinery by attempting to catch the bus to Anacapri after 3 buses and 45 mins queuing, we jumped on the next available one to Capri and get a connecting one from there. Although the queues were as bad, the frequency of buses was a lot more frequent, that we were on buses with seats even, quite quickly. Once departing the bus at Anacapri, we got on the chairlift to Monte Solare, purchasing return fares. Liam told me at the top, and his finger nearly got caught on the bar as he entered the chairlift. Although the views from the summit were amazing, my vertigo had kicked in, on the journey up and wished to walk the descend instead. Over half way down, the ironic thing happened, I slipped and fell on my backside. Liam was at first, not quite sure what happened, before he realised to help me up. The journey down was properly more dangerous, twice as long and more painful on the feet than the chairlift would have been but we finally reached the bottom and brought us right to the Villa San Michele our next stop. That was until we saw the price of admission, and thought wasn't worth the money because all we wanted was the panoramic view. Then to our surprise, we saw the viewpoint which was free and the view was outstanding. We decided to tough it out and stroll back to Capri which took roughly 35 mins. In Capri we got a cannolo, al baba and lemon slushi, before joining the que for the funicolare railway, back to the port. At the port, after getting the ticket for boat back, maneuvering through the crowds waiting for the Napoli ferry, was near impossible and riots nearly occurred, only for crew did any of the passengers for the Sorrento ferry make it through. Despite the ups and downs of our visit to the island it was worth the effort.

To finish off our trip in Sorrento, next morning we went to visit the church of St. Anthony, whose the patron saint of Sorrento, before boarding the train for Napoli. In Napoli, while waiting for our connecting train to Roma. We tried to see if da Michele the pizzeria was opened this time, but was closed due to vacation. So tried another one nearby, after waiting 30 mins to order, another 40 mins for food before we decided to walk out as we had our train to catch. Ironic thing was when we got to Napoli Centrale station, our train was delayed bout 40 mins before we departed for Rome.

Any Dream Will Do!

noreply@blogger.com (liir) — Thu, 14 Aug 2014 23:37:00 +0100

After a tiring weekend working over the August bank holiday weekend, was great to have a well earned me day. Began the day with a short visit to the Irish Sand Sculpture 2014 at Dublin Castle, with a particular highlight being the sand sculpture of Albert Einstein. After putting it off for years, decided to finally give Odessa a try for lunch. The one time I go, I had the whole restaurant to myself for the entire time, which was funny but was nice. The food was what I expected which was perfect.

While I was relaxing after my meal, ended up tweeting 37 Dawson about their red velvet cake, as I've being having dreams about it, asking them if there was any left. The conversation between me and the bar's twitter account was hilarious about the cake. As you can imagine, I gave into temptation and went to get the last slice of this mouth watering cake. It was better than I even remembered. The following day met up with +Niamh for some lunch at Bewleys Cafe, which we both agreed was nicer than we thought it would be and both loved the Guinness soda bread. After lunch we decided to enjoy the summer sun, strolling around town. I brought Niamh to the sand sculpture event in Dublin castle.

After work on the Thursday, met with Niamh for some pre theatre dinner at Herbstreet in Grand Canal dock, we both were a tad disappointed as it wasn't up to their usual standard. After the food, we strolled across to the Bord Gáis theatre for Avenue Q. From the onset, the cast had the audience in stitches with laughter. I've not laughed so much or so hard in such a long time. Can't recommend this musical highly enough. I had tweeted members of the cast and they all replied which was very nice of them.

Monday morning I kept hearing a vibrating next to me, and was wondering what was the noise, so checked my phone to discover 8 messages before 9 am. So no lie in for me, ended up in town before work for a lunch at Captain Americas followed by tour of Leinster House. On the bus journey into town, got a phone call from Bord Gáis about my enquiry for discounted tickets for, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. So ended booking 2 tickets for the Wednesday evening show for 20 euro each and no booking fee which was even better. As the tour over ran, I had to literally run to make work on time, which lucky I did. Despite the weather ruining my day off, particular highlight was when I got my haircut, I got a free beer, umbrella, beard trimming and hot refreshing face towel, I didn't wanna leave. To cheer myself up, I treated myself to a Bewley's coffee and scone, before having to rush home, to attempt to dry my uniform, which had been out on the line throughout the downpour.

After a quick change in work, met Niamh at Brasserie 66 on the Wednesday 13th for our dinner booking, which we made as we got a 25 euro voucher on Facebook, which the restaurant had running during the Garth Brooks debacle. We both jumped at the opportunity to finally try this restaurant, after hearing so much about it over the years. The food was what we both expected, after which we strolled towards to Bord Gáis theatre to see the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. We collected our tickets from box office, followed by a drink at the bar. It was surreal to finally hear all the songs from the musical on the stage. After the show we strolled across to the Marker hotel for a drink at the rooftop bar and enjoying the beautiful view of the city lit up at night, wrapped up in the complimentary blankets provided, also the ambiance around us.

To round off the week before the holidays, decided on a recommendation from Niamh, to go and see the musical, Title of Show, on in the New Theatre in Temple Bar, which had our friend +Mark T Cox playing Larry the pianist in the show. The show was pure genius, it had everyone in stitches, I'm sure I nearly wet myself with laughter. After show, went for a quick bite to eat as was starved, however I missed the bus by a minute, so had to wait for the next one 30 mins later in the cold.