Bonfire, Music, Rugby and Christmas

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

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.