30.6.09

4th July Party Dublin

Every year we are asked by our American guests for suggestions on where to celebrate Independence Day! So this year we stepped up to the mark and organised the best 4th July party in Dublin. Here's what is planned....
4pm to 5pm: Flair Bar Tending show
5pm to 7pm: Live Band playing the greatest American tunes

BBQ food served all day.
Free popcorn!

Fancy Dress Competition, prize for the best costume!

Buskers Bar, Fleet Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2.
Tel: 01 612 9246

22.6.09

A Tear Duct Cleaner @ the IFI



The Irish Film Institute (IFI) in Temple Bar, does little to promote itself, yet upon entering you feel as if you’re the only person who wasn’t let in on the secret as you eye the diverse range of people seated around the bar and restaurant! The two screens are housed in a large building with exposed stone work throughout which used to be a 17th century Quaker meeting house. Stepping across the threshold is to enter what was once a profoundly sacred place and there is a sense of leaving the world behind.

The glass roofed courtyard is bright and airy and leads onto the bar and restaurant. Every table was full when we arrived early to get some food and there was a buzz from the tables seating a mix of trendy youths and an eclectic older crowd. We lingered for a short while and we got a table in the courtyard. The menu is basic yet inexpensive. You can get a meal here for the price of popcorn and drink in another cinema. It is the sort of place you could pop into for a drink, bite to eat and a spot of people watching and a movie of course!

The IFI shows a mix of Irish and foreign films and they host a variety of film festivals. Last Friday we decided to check out what was on offer at the Documentary Film Festival and ‘Dear Zachary’ was our chosen documentary and to say it was a tear-jerker would be putting it mildly, it has even been described as a ‘tear duct cleaner’! It is an absolutely tragic story and it a labour of love from the film maker for his murdered childhood friend, Dr. Andrew Bagby. The really tragic part is while the film maker is making the documentary (for Bagby’s son, Zachary); Zachary is also murdered by the same woman that murdered Bagby. But it is the presentation of the naked anger and grief of Bagby’s parents that leaves the greatest impact as his father at stages roars at the camera in an outpour of anguish. Stepping back out into the buzzing atmosphere of Temple Bar on a Friday night with bleary eyes was enough to pick my mood back up again! So if you feel like a different kind of movie experience I would definitely recommend the Irish Film Institute.

Walking Time from Temple Bar Hotel to the IFI - a 6 minute stroll, leave 7 if you're in heels (those cobbles need some manoeuvring!)

18.6.09

Clowning Around - Take That Concert, Croke Park



For someone with such a short attention span as myself, Take That’s lavish show on Saturday night in Croke Park Stadium was the perfect antidote. It was a case of not knowing where to look as my attention was being constantly diverted from performance to performance! Once again I cursed my five foot nothingness as I stood on my tippy toes straining to see all that was on show.

It was an amazing feeling to be in the middle of the pitch in Croke Park and to look up at a packed stadium. The girls laughed and me when I observed what it must feel like to be a GAA player looking up at those crowds! It was the largest crowd that the band had ever performed in front of – 80, 000.

We were positioned very close to the centre stage and I was convinced if I waved hard enough that one of the lads would wave back at me…..oh to have go go gadget arms!!!! There were so many parts to the show that I can’t even recall half of it, but I must say that the constructed Elephant was one of the most impressive parts of the show. Take That have really raised the bar when it comes to concerts as it was by far and away the best one I have ever been to!

Walking Time from Temple Bar Hotel to the Croke Park Stadium - 20-25 minute.

17.6.09

Jazzing it up on Bloomsday!



Temple Bar was alive with Jazz bands and Bloomsday celebrations yesterday afternoon.
Distance from Temple Bar Hotel to the Temple Bar - 0 minutes, yes we're in the heart of it!

9.6.09

Getting ready to Bloom!



The highlight of my recent Ulysses walking tour was witnessing one of the greatest supporters of all things Joycean (Senator David Norris) roar a string of expletives as he chased an ‘Out of Service’ Dublin Bus down North Great Georges Street. Apparently the buses are banned because of their potential damage to the underground wine cellars that stretch out underneath the street.

The irony of witnessing such a humorous scene while on a Ulysses walking tour did not escape us as the epic novel is based on humorous observations in Dublin city. Every year on June 16th, Bloomsday is celebrated as it marks the day when all the action in Ulysses took place, when the fictional character, Leopold Bloom wandered Dublin city.

This year the Temple Bar area will host a number of events on June 16th to celebrate the day. Buskers Bar will have a jazz band from 5-7pm and will be serving a Blooms day breakfast all day as well as the famed Gorgonzola sandwich with burgundy wine. Sounds blooming amazing! (sorry, I couldn’t resist!!!).

For more information on events in Temple Bar on Bloomsday, click here.
To download a free iWalk podcast click here
Distance from Temple Bar Hotel to Temple Bar - 0 minutes!

2.6.09

An Evening at the Theatre…..


What better way to distract yourself from the daily grind than to spend an evening at the theatre? The Olympia theatre is located on Dame Street which is less than a five minute walk from Temple Bar Hotel and it is a bonus that so many restaurants in the area offer pre-theatre menus.

There is a feeling of stepping back in time when entering the Victorian style Olympia theatre which is one of Dublin’s most iconic venues and I find it the perfect place to indulge my escapism. Having grown up just three miles from Michael Collins’ birthplace near Clonakilty in West Cork and I also attended the same primary school (albeit 100 years later!) I have always felt a natural affection towards this national hero.

The musical vividly and excellently dramatises the life of Michael Collins. It took about quarter of an hour to get used to presentation of his life in a musical format and after that it is complete absorption. There were stages of it where I felt the desperate need to run home and rummage through my dusty old school history books as the feeling of vague familiarity with certain names left me a tad ashamed!

The standing ovation and the tears streaming down the faces of the actors and audience at the end of the show was enough to make me realise that it wasn’t just because I am from West Cork that I found the show so moving! The theatre was charged with emotion at the re-enactment of The Big Fella’s death. As the fatal gunshot sounded around the ornate theatre I jumped in my seat as if I somehow didn’t know what was about to happen – such was the intensity of the final acts. My hands stung and tingled after a lengthy applaud and my heart was full of pride as I was reminded and remembered the brave men that died for our country.
Distance from Temple Bar Hotel to the Olympia - a 5 minute stroll.