Road Trip to Cork

After an uneventful road trip down to Cork, the stay in the hotel itself was quite basic for what was meant to be a 4 star establishment. I was quite disappointed with the food I got for dinner and the lack of organisation over breakfast was outrageous. All in all, I'd be in no rush back, to stay at the Rochestown Park hotel. However on the upside, after the depressing weather on Saturday, luckily enough, we had some glorious sun shine for our trip down to Cobh. When we arrived into Cobh, first thing we saw was St. Coleman's Cathedral, which is one of Ireland's tallest buildings. After parking the car, we strolled along the seafront and we got a fabulous view of Spike Island, which was famously used previously as a prison and also we could see Haulbowline Island in the distance, the main naval base and headquarters of the Irish Naval service. At the other end of the seafront, there was a statue of Mary Moore and her brothers, who was the first person to be admitted to the States through the new immigration centre at Ellis Island in 1892. There is a duplicate of this statue on Ellis Island. We were gonna go to the Titanic Experience, both we felt it wasn't worth the 9.50 € entrance fee, instead decided to continue our road trip back through onto Blarney.

Despite the 12 euro entrance fee into Blarney Castle and Gardens, we decided sure to the heck with it, treat ourselves. I felt although that how expensive the fee was quite Irish. The gardens and Castle grounds themselves were very well maintained and landscaped, and you could see where the money was being pumped into. After passing the badger caves, and typical me bumping my head on the way out, which was quite nasty. We strolled into the fern garden, which has a grassy path lined with wild flowers and was very beautiful and tranquil. As we continued, our walk towards the Castle, we entered the poison garden hidden behind the Castle battlements. The plants in this garden are dangerous and toxic and we are warned to enter at our own risk. The garden contains a collection of poisonous plants from around the world including Cannabis, Opium, Mandrake,and Wolfsbane.  
                      
Then we commenced climbing the steps up the Castle to the top, the steps just kept going and going. When we finally got to the top of the Castle, it was very breezy and high although there was an amazing view of the Castle grounds. I was thinking how would +Niamh or even my mother cope with the height as I was even feeling a tad unsafe and weary up there. It was funny as only me would actually kiss the stone, the rest wouldn't and one was itching to get down as his fear of heights was getting to him. Ironically first thing I did myself was rush to the toilet and wash my hands and rinse out my mouth.

 After our trip to the Castle, we got back on the road and started our journey back to Dublin. Our road trip wasn't over, as we diverted to Newbridge and went into Newbridge Silverware to see KITT the car from Knight Rider and while in the vicinity we had a look around the showroom and the museum of Style Icons which hosts numerous collections and artefacts relating to various celebrities such as Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Princesses Grace and Diana and the Beatles. Once on the final leg of the trip back, we hit a snag, and got stuck in a traffic jam, before Newlands Cross due to a burst water mains, and all the traffic was diverted to Kingswood Interchange. Finally we got at this junction and back on our way after an hour, which felt like an eternity and hell frozen over. Despite the hick up at the end, the weekend as a whole and the road trip to Cork and back, was fun and relaxing, exactly what I needed.  

Unpredictable Weather

Friday evening whilest out for coffee and muffin, we some how managed to win 2 set of tickets to the open air cinema in the south bank this weekend. So after some catching up on Youtube clips including one hilarious Irish parody of 50 Shades of Grey by the Irish comedian Conal Gallen which had us in stitches, must say we were getting some bizarre looks and stares in the media building, The Edge.
When we finally managed to peel our selves off the ground, we went home and watching Tinkerbell and secret of the wings with nachos and salsa to feed our inner child. We both agreed  that thought this film was nearly better than the original.

So we gradually made our way into south bank, the next day, whilest on the bus, the weather took a turn, from gorgeous  sunshine to wet downpour which ended up cancelling our VIP Ben & Jerry studded treatment at the open air cinema which would have been a Channing Tatum double bill - 21 Jump  Street / Magic Mike but at least we got 2 set of pairs of complimentary passes to use at a future screening of our choice. To cheer us up further we ended up in Max Brenner sharing a Chocolate fudge brownie sundae and cookie before heading home to watching Toy Story 3 on tv followed by Hotel Transylvania on my laptop.

I was treated to gorgeous Sunday veggie roast cooked and prepared by Niamh. After which we made our way into town via Coles to get few nibbles for the open air cinema later. Once in the culture quarter, we made our way to the museum to level 0 to the Playasaurus Place where the giant T-rex almost had a fighting match with Niamh. After few other bits, we strolled over to the Brisbane Openair, to collect our comp tickets and to our pleasant surprise, which were told, by the same woman from the previous night who has remembered us and how many times we were talking with her, not sure if that a good thing or a bad thing, that the tickets were actually VIP ones, so we were entitled to beanbag chair, comfy blanket, bottle of sparkling lemon favoured wine and as much Ben & Jerrys one could muster. Prior to the film starting at 7, there was music and games from half 4. All the games had a Ben and Jerry flavour to them, between both of us, we managed to win all the prizes that were available including T shirt, cooler bags, ice cream locks, key ring, ice cream cooler sleeve etc. Even before the film even commenced, we were having a blast, helped too that the weather was dry. Both of us agreed that the fim  - The Goonies, was actually better than we remembered.

The following day we learned Niamh was allowed to use her comp tickets for a different screening this week, so we are going Friday to see The Sapphires. To get in to the Oktoberfest mood, we both had German hot dogs, a Vegan Bratwurst and  NYC style which happened to be on 2 for 1 Tuesdays.

Typical, as were about to go to the farmers market for our now weekly veg shop on Wednesday.. we get soaked in a downpour but at least we got our veggies first :). So we decided to get out of the rain and go for coffee in our usual spot in the culture quarter - the library cafe. whilest we were there chatting away, Niamh got a last minute phone call from the agency, for a shift that night.. so after a quick dash home to get change, dinner etc.. sprinted for the bus and just and me just made the connecting train at central station... had her on the phone.. had heavens when I left her she made the train..

Despite a pleasant change in the weather, it was quite breezy, on Friday.. After our successful outing to the openair cinema on Sunday  we get to use the comp tickets Niamh had won but couldn't use due to the cancelled event on Saturday because of the rain. The film is the new Chris O Dowd film - The Sapphires based on true aboriginal story.