The Westend Trap

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.