I have sufficiently recovered from the cold I was lucky enough to catch on my last night in Dublin to write about the trip.
Surprise Birthday Visit
My beautiful friend Anna's birthday falls on the 11th of January and her request was that I came to visit her in Dub Town. She was very adamant that it was the only thing she wanted, so I started looking at flights last November without much luck. Flying from Seville in the winter can be a bit of a pain in the arse, especially when short on time (I could only go for a long weekend due to work commitment and the fact that I do go away very often :D). I eventually found some flights which worked for me, but I thought it would be better to tell Anna I couldn't come and surprise the socks off out of her. I enlisted our friend Hamlet to help me pull off my surprise visit and, with a little more help from more of our friends (thank you, Hamlet, Fi & Maria), I presented Anna with a birthday dance and a hug which she was not prepared for. Although the whole surprise thing turned out to be slightly more stressful than I anticipated, it was absolutely worth it just to see Anna's reaction.
Dub Town Love
I had a brilliant time in the short 3 days I was there. It was one of those weekends where nothing was planned and, yet, everything fell into place perfectly. It was truly lovely to be back in Dublin after one year and to hang with very good friends and new ones all the same. The city has changed again in the last 12 months with new hipster coffee shops and restaurants opening up and my trip was a nice mixture of discovering new spots (Industry Coffee Shop and Sova Vegan Butcher where Sinead, Anna & I had a delish dinner) and revisiting old haunts (ah Anseo, never change and a late trip to Ray's pizza to compliment our earlier vegan meal). I spent Sunday brunching and strolling St Stephen's Green with Hamlet followed by lots of wickedly-good-cakes eating with Sheila. I ended the day reuniting with Hamlet and Sinead to see La La Land (wonderful) and topped off the day with a tasty take-away from Konkan Indian restaurant (it never disappoints).
Anna came back Monday morning from her overnight trip to Wicklow she had booked after I told her that I would not visit, and we spent the afternoon together drinking cocktails, catching up and sharing laughs and insights before heading to the amazingly good Yamamori on the quays. The food there is absolutely exquisite, as once again proven by the vegetarian bento box I ordered. Anna, Steve and I headed home for a nightcap to end my flying visit to the land of the Irish.
A Good Craic Always
It was so much fun, and I am so grateful for the beautiful friends I have there, some of them, sadly, I could not catch up with this time around, but I will be back. Although I cannot cope with the Irish weather I am super fond of the country and its people; It's always a good craic.