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.
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.
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