The season of giving seemed to begin early this year, when on Friday 22nd my mother rang to tell she just won tickets to see 30 Seconds to Mars, and then within minutes, managed to get Dublin Zoo tickets for just 5 euro each for myself and Niamh. I some how was onto a roll, as I got nearly all my Christmas Presents bought that afternoon too. So the following day, both Niamh and myself were excited as finally after months of waiting, the 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who, the Day of the Doctor was being aired. We decided, we wanted to experience, the atmosphere of the audience in a cinema. So we got our tickets for the Savoy, the buzz around the special was great even with the movie screen. We both agreed it was the right choice to have seen it at the cinema.
On Monday, with tickets in our hands, we made our way to the O2, to go see 30 Seconds to Mars via Harry's Bar. The support act You Me at Six were very entertaining and got the audience fired up for the band. 30 Seconds to Mars lead singer Jared Leto is a real showman, and knew how to entertain the crowd and made the concert very enjoyable. We were very glad, we were able to be there.
As we were going to the Zoo the following day, I stayed the night at hers. We both thoroughly enjoyed the day even despite the winter breeze. We finished our day with dinner in town, and lucky we managed to get home before the rain got too bad.
The following day, as per traditional, we made our way out to our Granny's for the night. It was great to see her again, we gave her, her birthday and Christmas presents along with her Christmas dinner. She was over the moon, to see both Niamh and me, which was great. Doesn't she look fantastic for 91.
Like most things, things have to come to an end, so the following morning, we got the train back to Dublin and reality. As the week went on, and to my surprise, during one of usual searches online, I managed to grab tickets for the sold out, For the Love of Mrs Brown, that had become available that morning, thank you ticket master, was all I could think of. It was a great mid week pick me up, and also was great, as originally both Niamh and me had tried to get tickets previous but had no luck. So by the time Saturday 14th had come around, shock shock, our mother had won another competition. This time, this prize was unreal, as it involved a hotel in a 5 star hotel, 2 tickets to see André Rieu and then meet him afterwards. I lucky enough had enough time, to meet Niamh and for us to make our way to Mrs Brown Boys after I finished work. The show was absolutely hilarious, the whole audience were in stitches. At one point, I was crying with laughter. After the standing ovations and such, the audience were surprised when a member of audience proposed to his girlfriend. Niamh had me laughing when she reminded me about the instance in the Gold Coast. This is becoming something of a habit.
On Tuesday 17th, our mother got the train up to Dublin, where Niamh meet her at the station, and I met them near Mayors Docks. We wanted to get rid of our bags, so we decided to leave them at the hotel, The Marker. To our pleasant surprise, our room was ready, and it was only 11.30 am. So we went to the room, which was exquisite, got somethings ready before heading into town to go shopping.
On our return, our goodie bag which included the tickets and various CDs and DVDs. We then prepared for our night ahead, beginning with a dinner in The Brasserie in the hotel. We had a glass of wine before making our way to the O2, whereas Niamh made use of the hotel spa and pool facilities, which she told us were amazing.
The following morning, just after check out, I bought some Cronuts, which we had all heard some much about from tv shows and reading online, that we just had to try some. A Cronut is a croissant-doughnut pastry which was only invented this May in New York. I can understand the hype, as this pastry is just gastro-heaven. After leaving the hotel, we made our way to the docklands Christmas festival, where we had a festive mulled wine and enjoyed samba music from a local school. When the phone goes off, and mother gets informed she won a prize in The Loop competition, which was a pleasant surprise. After we had dinner in town later that afternoon, we all said our goodbyes, and Niamh dropped our mother off at the Station on route home. It was great to see our mother, we all had a ball and must do it again soon.
On a recommendation of my mother, I entered a competition for the ballet, The Nutcracker, on in the Convention Centre. I got informed then Thursday afternoon, to my shock, I actually won tickets to it. It was my first time being in the Convention Centre, which is quite and impressive building. I was in the Stalls bout 6 rows from the stage and an amazing view. Monica Loughman's The Nutcraker had an elaborate stage production and costumes. The Nutcraker is a two act ballet with a score by Tchaikovsky. The second act music and ballet was just pure magic and so festive. The principle dancers of the cast were just amazing. It was a great production and cast, and really got one into the festive mood.
On Christmas Eve, both Niamh and me, met in town for a spot of food shopping and lunch. We enjoyed a carvey lunch in O'Neills on Suffolk street, whilst swapping our Christmas presents. After lunch Niamh got a nice surprise from work, had received annual leave for Christmas Day. We rounded our day off in town by enjoying a Christmas drink in No. 37 Dawson st before heading back to Niamh's to enjoy a relaxing Christmas. Somehow we managed to stay up till 4 am watching movies on TV and doing puzzles, who knew it could be so much fun, brought us back to our childhood. After a slight sleep in, we finally got up to prepare and cook Christmas dinner. We had a delicious dinner whilst watching Christmas movies on tv. We both ended up with food comas on the two couches and couldn't move. We just about recovered in time to watch the Christmas specials of Call the Midwife and Doctor Who, which was full of emotion and drama with the departure of Matt Smith as the Doctor. To round off this relaxing day, we watched the Mrs Brown Boys special before I had to get a taxi home, as both Niamh and me, were working St. Stephens day.
By the time we next met up, on the following Sunday to organise and book our Belfast trip, I had won a pair of tickets for the NYE Dublin Festival at College Green through one of the sponsors Facebook pages. We managed to get a fantastic deal on a hotel for our Belfast trip, thanks to Hotels.com. The deal included 2 nights B&B at the Park Inn for 112 € instead of 224.
NYE we decided to meet up for lunch and to make a day and night of it. So before we met up, I made my way to collect the tickets for the concert. We had lunch at Wagamama where the drinking shenanigans commenced. From here we walked to No.37 Dawson to continue our NYE fun. Niamh realised she might be freezing later, so we had to make a detour to H&M to buy a cardigan. After we made the short stroll to Dandelion to get our spot, to watch the Procession of Light which consisted of fire-breathers, slit walkers, dancers and a variety of other street entertainers which made its way down Grafton Street. The theme of the procession of light this year, was 'The light is on, come on in.' Once the procession had concluded, we made our way towards College Green to make our way into the concert area. We managed to get a great spot, just in time to see Seo Linn come on stage. As the night processed, and the remaining acts came on before Madness such as The Strypes, Ryan Sherdian, and MKS. Madness took to the stage in time for the countdown to 2014. Although the countdown itself was great craic, the concert on the whole and especially Madness, left something to be desired and definitely wouldn't be worth the money, if we had to pay for it ourselves. What made the night for us, were meeting strangers in the crowd and chatting with them. As was to be expected with a night like NYE, taxis were impossible to come by, we finally managed to get back to Niamh's about 3.40 am. Depsite the let down of the concert itself, the night was a great blast.
It was nice to welcome 2014 in a different way.
On Monday, with tickets in our hands, we made our way to the O2, to go see 30 Seconds to Mars via Harry's Bar. The support act You Me at Six were very entertaining and got the audience fired up for the band. 30 Seconds to Mars lead singer Jared Leto is a real showman, and knew how to entertain the crowd and made the concert very enjoyable. We were very glad, we were able to be there.
Later on that week, I booked my train home for the following weekend and to my surprise, Niamh told me she was able to go home that weekend too, so booked the same train. It was turning into a Christmas filled weekend, with most of presents now wrapped, food ordered for the house Christmas dinner and finally hearing the An Post Walking in the Air advert. To top it off, December 1st, we as a house, all started to decorate the Christmas tree which was fun.
The week started to fly, to my journey home, which was helped by receiving my first Christmas card which actually was from a customer in work, to me watching various different Christmas Movies. I meet Niamh at the train station, on Saturday morning 7th, for our trip home, which was special, as it was only opportunity for either of us to get home for Christmas, as we both working it. We were greeted at the station by our father, who brought us to see our mother. Hugs and kisses all around, so after a quick shop, off home to relax for a while before that evening's fun. To our pleasant surprise, they had already put up the Christmas decorations and tree for us, which we were both delighted with.
Our parents had every little details arranged for us, even down to the kitchen table and our favourite Christmas foods. When everyone was home, and settled that evening, we all sat down for the dinner, with Christmas music even playing in the background. Like years gone by, I went up for seconds and maybe even thirds of the stuffing, I always did love my mother bread and potato stuffing. After dinner, we all chilled watching tv, catching up over wine, especially since, we all hadn't been home together since August.
So before desert, Niamh and me, gave our presents to our parents, the highlight being, the double family crest we had made especially for them, to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. They were delighted with it, which made our night. We enjoyed the rest of the night, and we all agreed, possible one the best Christmas's we had in years.
On Tuesday 17th, our mother got the train up to Dublin, where Niamh meet her at the station, and I met them near Mayors Docks. We wanted to get rid of our bags, so we decided to leave them at the hotel, The Marker. To our pleasant surprise, our room was ready, and it was only 11.30 am. So we went to the room, which was exquisite, got somethings ready before heading into town to go shopping.
We arrived with time to spare, so we went into the priority blueroom bar, which I had pre booked online. Then made our way to our seats, we had brilliant view of the stage and show. The Concert itself was out of this world, the whole production was brilliant, right down to the encore. After the concert, we were ushered back stage, where we met some of the soloists and finally got to met the man himself, André Rieu. Although he had a severely bad cold, he was an absolute gent and signed my scarf and posed for photos. It was surreal meeting him and we both agreed that it was a totally amazing show.
On a recommendation of my mother, I entered a competition for the ballet, The Nutcracker, on in the Convention Centre. I got informed then Thursday afternoon, to my shock, I actually won tickets to it. It was my first time being in the Convention Centre, which is quite and impressive building. I was in the Stalls bout 6 rows from the stage and an amazing view. Monica Loughman's The Nutcraker had an elaborate stage production and costumes. The Nutcraker is a two act ballet with a score by Tchaikovsky. The second act music and ballet was just pure magic and so festive. The principle dancers of the cast were just amazing. It was a great production and cast, and really got one into the festive mood.
By the time we next met up, on the following Sunday to organise and book our Belfast trip, I had won a pair of tickets for the NYE Dublin Festival at College Green through one of the sponsors Facebook pages. We managed to get a fantastic deal on a hotel for our Belfast trip, thanks to Hotels.com. The deal included 2 nights B&B at the Park Inn for 112 € instead of 224.
NYE we decided to meet up for lunch and to make a day and night of it. So before we met up, I made my way to collect the tickets for the concert. We had lunch at Wagamama where the drinking shenanigans commenced. From here we walked to No.37 Dawson to continue our NYE fun. Niamh realised she might be freezing later, so we had to make a detour to H&M to buy a cardigan. After we made the short stroll to Dandelion to get our spot, to watch the Procession of Light which consisted of fire-breathers, slit walkers, dancers and a variety of other street entertainers which made its way down Grafton Street. The theme of the procession of light this year, was 'The light is on, come on in.' Once the procession had concluded, we made our way towards College Green to make our way into the concert area. We managed to get a great spot, just in time to see Seo Linn come on stage. As the night processed, and the remaining acts came on before Madness such as The Strypes, Ryan Sherdian, and MKS. Madness took to the stage in time for the countdown to 2014. Although the countdown itself was great craic, the concert on the whole and especially Madness, left something to be desired and definitely wouldn't be worth the money, if we had to pay for it ourselves. What made the night for us, were meeting strangers in the crowd and chatting with them. As was to be expected with a night like NYE, taxis were impossible to come by, we finally managed to get back to Niamh's about 3.40 am. Depsite the let down of the concert itself, the night was a great blast.
It was nice to welcome 2014 in a different way.
