Busiest weekend ever!

First up, Friday evening, Enid and I went to an Oktoberfest event in the Burlington Hotel

It was a lot of fun! I entered a stein holding competition (I came 5th out of 12) and ate a massive ham hock and a massive German sausage.  There may gave been wine and vodka involved in the night too ;-)  Enid had work the next day so we left around 9pm which was perfect.

On Saturday I went for wings in Wishbone with Katie.

The wings were awesome as always.

After dinner we met Enid at the Bord Gais theatre for the last night of the musical of Rock of Ages.  We've seen a few different productions of it over the years, and this show was just as awesome as we expected and as always.

 

And then on Sunday, more loveliness!  I met some lovely folk out in Howth. We had a really nice catch-up and a great lunch of Irish seafood fresh from the sea!

 

Rock of Ages!

Road Trip!!

It was a really lovely sunny day yesterday in Dublin - just perfect for a road trip for Cousin Kasey, myself and Enid

 

When we arrived to Athlone we checked into our lodgings and then went for a stroll along the river.  The weather was not as bright as it was in Dublin but still nice and mild and it is beginning to feel like Spring.

 

Athlone was much more picturesque than I ever imagined - you can see the castle and a large church (cathedral even?) in the background.

 

While on our walk I got a call from mam who said that she was with Dad and Faith in Sean's Bar, so we headed down to see them.

 

 

We had one drink in Sean's Bar and as time was getting on (the show was on at 8pm) we said we'd head back to Murphy's Law where we were staying for some food and to get ready.

 

'twas just pub grub but surprisingly good.  Nice presentation too!

 

From there we headed to the theatre which conveniently was just 2 minutes walk

 

The set - exactly like the London and Dublin productions

 

The show itself was PHENOMENAL!  Athlone Musical Society can be very very proud of themselves.  As you may know Enid and I have seen the London production and the Dublin production and the Athlone version stands up very well to them.  Of course Katie was incredible (I am not biased at all!!!!!!!) and we were all very proud of her.

 

Here is the little superstar herself after the show. 

I posted this photo on facebook and a few people are saying we look like triplets??? I don't see it to be honest.

 

 

Next morning we had coffees and fries in Murphy's Law and got on the road back to Dublin. 

 

 

 

London Day 2

Up nice and early and on to the Tube with a cup of a coffee and a copy of the free Metro paper.  

Look at me like a local :-)

First stop was Covent Garden where the London Transport Museum is located.  Before going into the museum we enjoyed pottering around the lovely shops and the sights and sounds of Covent Garden

The next three photos are from the London Transport Museum.  Unfortunately I would not recommend this museum unless you have children.  I thought it was expensive - £15 - we only spent about an hour there. I also thought it was low on detail and information and also extremely extremely confusing to follow the route around the museum.  

There was a great exhibition of posters from the Underground over the years which was great but when we came out of the exhibition we found that we had missed a whole section of the museum which we had to go back to.

Some great full size old buses etc but not great information on each.

Overall very very disappointing :-(

Chinatown!

Just a small town girl :-)

Completely impromptu ,upon passing the Garrick Theatre, we decided to go to Rock of Ages!!!

We really landed on our feet: we chose "restricted viewing" seats which were the cheapest ticket available.  While the girl on the desk had explained to us what this mean...it transpired that it really was very restricted... Oh dear :-(

So one minute to show start time I ran out and asked could we just move up the back where there were empty seats.  The girl was very nice, although very straight "I told you about them!!!!!" (Me: I know! I know! But we just didn't know howwww bad).

So apparently, normally they charge you an additional "upgrade" charge but she kindly just gave us two unoccupied seats (in the middle) which we could take.

Score!

Seriously though: Thank you Garrick!!!!!

The show:

Amazing! Amazing! AMAZING!!!!!

I am still overwhelmed how brilliant it was.  Every single cast member was phenomenal. The production was superb. While every cast member was great special mention must go to the lead (Sherrie) - great singer and actress who captured the naievty of a "small town girl" and the wonderful Lonny/narrator who was just fantastic to watch and amazingly comedic.

Again: Thank you Garrick!!!

After another quick tube ride home to shower and change, and then we nipped back into to town to meet Kasey and her friends for cocktails in the Soho Hotel.

We then went to Burger & Lobster for dinner.  There are only 3 items on the menu; burger, whole lobster, lobster roll.  Kasey, 

Enid & I got one of each and shared which was great.

My order of preference was lobster roll, burger, whole lobster.

We then went to a nice cocktail bar/restaurant across the road where the barmen didn't mind me posing with the soda water bottle :-)