Dont forget, later on our Fishy tales giveaway, with Sully's Pet shop, Cornmarket Street comes to an end with a self cleaning Aquarium up for grabs to one lucky listener. There may even be another chance to squeeze into the final!!!
A huge response to the Turban topic last night on the show, with over 70% of listeners voting YES, to the fact that the Gardai should be allowed to ban religious head gear as part of the standard issue uniform. Like anything, theres 2 sides to this tale. For a Sikh to be a member of the force they have to remove the Turban, but their religion forbids them to do this. So, as it stands if a Sikh wants to be a Guard, they cant. On the other side of the coin, the Gardai are making the point that there in line with the National Racism Plan. They say its a standard issue uniform and thats that more or less. Then on the third side of my magical three sided coin, its been done for years in the UK, parts of the US, Malaysia and so on. Maybe its something, in time that will evolve over here, who knows. The one thing that did shock me to a certain extent is the amount of texts and callers which kept using the words, They and Them. They come over here, They abide by the rules etc.etc. Theres still a large amount of dislike for Foreign Nationals coming to Ireland. The usual bullshit of "They take or jobs and our woman" crops up on a daily and nightly basis. The jobs that the Irish dont actually want, the jobs that the Irish think are beneath them. Right. The woman that are being stolen off Irish men, maybe if some of the Irish blokes visited a shower more than once a week, went off a bought a can of Lynx and actually used it and actually had some personality then maybe the woman wouldnt be stolen by "Them". Gimme a break! Some others were roaring about history. None of us live in history, we create history and a certain percentage of cowards use history as an excuse to hold up progress and thats one of the reasons this country is behind the times. Many parts of history include fellas rampaging around the place swinging sacks of spuds, but they bate each other around the place, for what they believed was right to move the country forward.
Some people took issue with one of my comments last night about how I almost prefer to get served in a shop by someone thats a Foreign National. At times, yeah, tis true. Sure, there are plenty of staff that cant speak proper English, but there are plenty of Irish that cant seem to speak it either. Well unless a few grunts rates as English!
Tonight, a brand new feature kicks off on the show, called Sexually Speaking. Basically, Anne Sexton from Hotpress will be on the phone taking YOUR calls about all things sexual. So if your looking to spice up your sex life, spice it down or even want to know how to swing off a chandelier than Anne, will be on air with my goodself at 11:15.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
The one with Stag, Boar and Ostrich
I wont begin by moaning about the weather, as the sun is shining. But I will moan and possibly praise other things.
The Cobh regatta was on during the weekend, and thankfully the whole thing wasnt washed out, for a change. I took a stroll in there on Friday and was astonished at the amount of cool stalls peddling all kinds of goodies on the side of the road. At first, I thought it was the usual farmers market in Cobh, which to be bluntly honest isnt exactly mind blowing. But no, aload of Italians and French had set up stalls, well either they were genuine French and Italians or just a few locals putting on the oul Mama Mia accent for a bet. One of the stalls was flogging various tops of sausages, from Stag to Boar to, yes you've guessed it, Ostrich. Thankfully there were more than enough free samples floating around, to keep the American tourists happy and even for a hungry individual like meself. Boar, weird taste. Stag tasted like dog shit actually. Well, its about as close to dog shit flavor as I can imagine. As for the Ostrich, well it was a bit tough, which is surprising for a bird that spends most of its day with its head stuck in the sand. Contrary to what The Discovery channel will tell you about its super acceleration and all that.
Theres a new health kick after kicking in...again. Who knows how long this one will last, but heres hoping it should last longer than the last one. Last Thursday night was more or less the first visit to the land of healthier eating and it took great strength and willpower not to wander into Hillbillies after the show. That said, the wise words of Karl Spain did spring into my head, after I got home. Have the Breast n A Bun and not the chips. One or the other. Very wise words indeed, almost Jedi like. Come to think of it, I'd swear Yoda has hollered out those from time to time, or something similar.
"Breast N a Bun or Chips Luke. You must chose, one or the other..hehehe. There is no try, for if two consume you do, then to the CUH....lead you to it, it will.!
On another note, maybe somebody reading might be able to explain the extremely common occurrence of young males wearing baseball caps, pointed almost 90 degrees off their little shaved heads. Initially, I thought this was a public service, organized by Nasa or the European Space Agency. Given the recent shenanigans with the Space Station etc.etc. I originally thought that these near vertical baseball caps were pointing to the location of the ISS. Obviously I was wrong! Where do the various scobes get their fashion sense? Is there a magazine out there that instructs them on what degree its best to tilt their hat at. Or have they come up with it, all by their lickle selves. Maybe its a Celtic thing? As most of these near vertical hat wearers are donned out in a Celtic jersey. Chances are they don't even know who, or what Celtic are. For all they know it could be the latest Fashion designer!
T-shirt by Celtic €49.99, but your parents got a knock off for a fiver, in Santa Ponza
Tracksuit bottoms by Nike €19.99
Runners by HiTec €14.99
Hat blown off your thick head because you think tis daycent to wear it at an acute angle, by a gust of wind - Priceless!!!
On a final note, for those of you who didnt believe that actually WAS James Blunt last night...heres the proof. Blunt is the Red hairy guy!
The Cobh regatta was on during the weekend, and thankfully the whole thing wasnt washed out, for a change. I took a stroll in there on Friday and was astonished at the amount of cool stalls peddling all kinds of goodies on the side of the road. At first, I thought it was the usual farmers market in Cobh, which to be bluntly honest isnt exactly mind blowing. But no, aload of Italians and French had set up stalls, well either they were genuine French and Italians or just a few locals putting on the oul Mama Mia accent for a bet. One of the stalls was flogging various tops of sausages, from Stag to Boar to, yes you've guessed it, Ostrich. Thankfully there were more than enough free samples floating around, to keep the American tourists happy and even for a hungry individual like meself. Boar, weird taste. Stag tasted like dog shit actually. Well, its about as close to dog shit flavor as I can imagine. As for the Ostrich, well it was a bit tough, which is surprising for a bird that spends most of its day with its head stuck in the sand. Contrary to what The Discovery channel will tell you about its super acceleration and all that.
Theres a new health kick after kicking in...again. Who knows how long this one will last, but heres hoping it should last longer than the last one. Last Thursday night was more or less the first visit to the land of healthier eating and it took great strength and willpower not to wander into Hillbillies after the show. That said, the wise words of Karl Spain did spring into my head, after I got home. Have the Breast n A Bun and not the chips. One or the other. Very wise words indeed, almost Jedi like. Come to think of it, I'd swear Yoda has hollered out those from time to time, or something similar.
"Breast N a Bun or Chips Luke. You must chose, one or the other..hehehe. There is no try, for if two consume you do, then to the CUH....lead you to it, it will.!
On another note, maybe somebody reading might be able to explain the extremely common occurrence of young males wearing baseball caps, pointed almost 90 degrees off their little shaved heads. Initially, I thought this was a public service, organized by Nasa or the European Space Agency. Given the recent shenanigans with the Space Station etc.etc. I originally thought that these near vertical baseball caps were pointing to the location of the ISS. Obviously I was wrong! Where do the various scobes get their fashion sense? Is there a magazine out there that instructs them on what degree its best to tilt their hat at. Or have they come up with it, all by their lickle selves. Maybe its a Celtic thing? As most of these near vertical hat wearers are donned out in a Celtic jersey. Chances are they don't even know who, or what Celtic are. For all they know it could be the latest Fashion designer!
T-shirt by Celtic €49.99, but your parents got a knock off for a fiver, in Santa Ponza
Tracksuit bottoms by Nike €19.99
Runners by HiTec €14.99
Hat blown off your thick head because you think tis daycent to wear it at an acute angle, by a gust of wind - Priceless!!!
On a final note, for those of you who didnt believe that actually WAS James Blunt last night...heres the proof. Blunt is the Red hairy guy!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
The one that needed an edit, because I forgot the title
Another absolute miserable day. Hang on, its brightening, whats the point at this stage. Things have been pretty busyish of late with PPI entries being sorted out and the likes, so thats the excuse for the lack of updates!
I was inundated with calls and texts from people last night giving out about Cork city center. Those of you living in the county, consider yourself blessed. Some were arguing that the city center is to large and you should be able to drive from various car parks on either side of the city with ease. Whatever happened to walking? To get from, say, Merchants Quay to the North Main Street takes all over 10 minutes. Most of the calls were geared about the possible pedestrianization of Pana in 2 years time. Some people even commented that the North side and the South side would be near impossible to get to, given that Pana would be closed off to traffic from the hours of 11am to 5pm. Now, I don't know about you, but I certainly wouldn't be using Pana to get from one side of the city to the other Theres a piece of land in the city called the quays, as a matter of fact, quite a number of cities would have these. Thats what you use to get from one end to the other. Come to think of it, a fair few of the Corks multi story car parks are located near the quays. Maybe theres a shortage of city driving knowledge out there, but we're certainly not living in a freeway surrounded metropolis, where if you get off the wrong exit you have to travel light years into the future to turn around again. That said though, yes the public transport system in Cork is shite. The train to Cobh for example will take you home at around 10.30pm. After that your walking, getting a taxi or just hoping to get lucky!
On another note, it all started today! For the last few weeks the talks of when and where, have been taking place. How much and how many. Turkey and Ham, Beef or Salmon. No matter what I do, I cant get away from it! I mean that in a good way. Im not a big fan of fuss, so the easier this goes the better, but, yes, Wedding bells are in the air. We had our first of many meetings with a wedding coordinator today. The weeks ahead hold many more meetings all over the place. I still dont understand the fuss of organising a wedding. Theres a remote possibility that, that may change in the coming months. But essentially, Hotel, Entertainment, Church, Cake, Flowers, Dress, Suit and thats kinda it. Oh yeah, I forgot the priest. Maybe Im jumping the gun a bit, but it must be one of the easiest jobs in the world to be a wedding coordinator in a hotel. People ring to see you, they turn up, you give em the spiel and they either like it or hate it. Nothing to do with the attitude of the coordinator, but its more to do with the grounds and the hotel.
Anyways, thats about it for today, but dont forget we've teamed up with Ubisoft for the next few nights giving away loadsa video games for the 360, PS2 and the DS, including Surfs up. Ubisoft are also running a competition around Surfs up, so get clicking the link below...
I was inundated with calls and texts from people last night giving out about Cork city center. Those of you living in the county, consider yourself blessed. Some were arguing that the city center is to large and you should be able to drive from various car parks on either side of the city with ease. Whatever happened to walking? To get from, say, Merchants Quay to the North Main Street takes all over 10 minutes. Most of the calls were geared about the possible pedestrianization of Pana in 2 years time. Some people even commented that the North side and the South side would be near impossible to get to, given that Pana would be closed off to traffic from the hours of 11am to 5pm. Now, I don't know about you, but I certainly wouldn't be using Pana to get from one side of the city to the other Theres a piece of land in the city called the quays, as a matter of fact, quite a number of cities would have these. Thats what you use to get from one end to the other. Come to think of it, a fair few of the Corks multi story car parks are located near the quays. Maybe theres a shortage of city driving knowledge out there, but we're certainly not living in a freeway surrounded metropolis, where if you get off the wrong exit you have to travel light years into the future to turn around again. That said though, yes the public transport system in Cork is shite. The train to Cobh for example will take you home at around 10.30pm. After that your walking, getting a taxi or just hoping to get lucky!
On another note, it all started today! For the last few weeks the talks of when and where, have been taking place. How much and how many. Turkey and Ham, Beef or Salmon. No matter what I do, I cant get away from it! I mean that in a good way. Im not a big fan of fuss, so the easier this goes the better, but, yes, Wedding bells are in the air. We had our first of many meetings with a wedding coordinator today. The weeks ahead hold many more meetings all over the place. I still dont understand the fuss of organising a wedding. Theres a remote possibility that, that may change in the coming months. But essentially, Hotel, Entertainment, Church, Cake, Flowers, Dress, Suit and thats kinda it. Oh yeah, I forgot the priest. Maybe Im jumping the gun a bit, but it must be one of the easiest jobs in the world to be a wedding coordinator in a hotel. People ring to see you, they turn up, you give em the spiel and they either like it or hate it. Nothing to do with the attitude of the coordinator, but its more to do with the grounds and the hotel.
Anyways, thats about it for today, but dont forget we've teamed up with Ubisoft for the next few nights giving away loadsa video games for the 360, PS2 and the DS, including Surfs up. Ubisoft are also running a competition around Surfs up, so get clicking the link below...
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
The one about Inquizition
Welcome to Autumn, heres hoping its going to be nothing like the Summer. Wettest July since records began according to some boffins. Im sure you, as well my good self, can do with out any large brained individuals informing us of how crap our Summer was. If I recall correctly, it all went downhill when I bought a new umbrella parasol thing for the garden at the first sign of sunshine, around late April. Hands up who went off and bought an expensive BBQ. You know the one thats too big to fit into your car, its got 9 gas burners and eats its way through an entire bottle of gas after incinerating a few chicken wings. Just out of curiosity, has anyone cooked on their new Barbie yet, sampled some sticky ribs off its hotplate or even managed to get the thing out of the box. Probably not. I think Bertie and the lads should have come back from holidays a bit earlier and done a Putin on the whole thing. Shoot the rain clouds out of the sky. The Russian head honcho has done this on many an occasion, including a Paul McCartney gig. Wouldn't it be great if you could ring the cloud dispersion hot line.
"Hello, your true to the cloud dispersion hot line. All our operators are busy, please hold the line. Your call is important to us"
34 minutes pass by
"Hello, this is Tom. How can we be of assistance"
"Yeah, here ah, an oul big fucker of a cloud there hanging over Ballyphehane and I want ta get me chicken wings sorted out"
"No problem Sir, Mastercard or Visa?"
Anyways, on another note Im going to be launching Mark Evans new book, Inquizition in the Crane Lane on Thursday night @ 7pm. I've been dishing out copies all week long and have been making my way through the book. Great read so far and a tonne of questions and answers and bus loads of trivia to boot!
"Hello, your true to the cloud dispersion hot line. All our operators are busy, please hold the line. Your call is important to us"
34 minutes pass by
"Hello, this is Tom. How can we be of assistance"
"Yeah, here ah, an oul big fucker of a cloud there hanging over Ballyphehane and I want ta get me chicken wings sorted out"
"No problem Sir, Mastercard or Visa?"
Anyways, on another note Im going to be launching Mark Evans new book, Inquizition in the Crane Lane on Thursday night @ 7pm. I've been dishing out copies all week long and have been making my way through the book. Great read so far and a tonne of questions and answers and bus loads of trivia to boot!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
The one with The one in the title and not much else
A week back on the show and 2 odd weeks back in the country! It was actually difficult enough to get back into the swing of things, but my 2 feet are know dug in to the plush carpet of the station. To coin a popular Cork phrase, since coming home Ive been "Alerge" to the place. Ive been in NYC before and it made a big impression and it made a bigger dent in my impression section this time round. We were out at all times of the day and night, from the Bronx to Staten Island and not once did we come across any trouble, fellas wandering around with their hoods up or even more surprisingly drunk people. For a city that was built by the Irish, its fantastic to be able to wander around without some pissed up fool vomiting up against a shop window, pissing in the middle of the road or roaring "Hereeee bbiiiysssshhhh, watchhhhh me ppuuut thisssshhh rroooadd coone uuppppppp meeeee hooollllllllllleeeeee". Even the simplest of things like breakfast are a big deal over. Take a garage or shop in Cork and they all flog the same breakfast, a roll stuffed with a few sausages, rashers and black pudding, with the ketchup put on last, so it can conveniently destroy what your wearing. Its not as if the Delis were making strange concoctions with bizarre, only found in Wyoming ingredients. Its simple stuff, eggs, bagels, toast, bacon, pancakes. The last time I checked all of these things were available here. Maybe as a nation we're not ready for a New York style breakfast. We need a few more choices to be available, it cant hurt can it. And thats only for breakfast! Can you imagine walking into a garage "deli" and asking for your eggs sunny side up. Of course you cant, because no doubt you would be the butt of said garages jokes for the next week. "C'mere Scoooooter, dya hear yer man there did ya, he wants his eggs sunny side up, for fuck sake. Sunny side up meee hhoooooollllleee. So, ah, we going out getting locked tonight again are we". Oh yeah, I forgot, the only egg you can get in a garage are deep fried that goes into a nice mush in your breakfast roll! The ones in a box don't count.
I know theres a selection of you now saying "Well Feck off over there so, if things are so crap here". Maybe I'm already looking into it! That said, its not the easiest thing in the world to do. To pack up sticks and leave friends and family behind. Its not as if theres a famine on or anything. To boot, I didnt find any places flogging snack boxes either!
I know theres a selection of you now saying "Well Feck off over there so, if things are so crap here". Maybe I'm already looking into it! That said, its not the easiest thing in the world to do. To pack up sticks and leave friends and family behind. Its not as if theres a famine on or anything. To boot, I didnt find any places flogging snack boxes either!
Thursday, July 19, 2007
The one about tonight
Final episode of the Sopranos airs on RTE tonight! Make sure you tune in to Cork Talks Back on RedFM @11.05 for an hour of music from the greatst show in the history of television, mixed up with some of the most memorable moments!
Monday, July 16, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
The one on holidays
Righto, the blog is back on a once off for the next week. Before I go into great detail (all cheers) we're just back from New York, well we got back Tuesday morning. Great trip and, hold onto yer butts, we got engaged. Yup, yours truly went down on one knee and Ger said Yes. More on all that later. Im posting this trip report elsewhere, so the usual humor and swearing wont be in the following....
I promised to write everything down that we did, day by day, but alas forgot, or couldnt be bothered so all this is coming from memory.
Monday
We flew in to JFK 30 minutes earlier than planned with Aer Lingus. Fantastic flight, personal TVs, half decent food and all this just in economy. Loving the new Airbus. Went through customs like a laxitive and within 40 minutes we were landed outside our hotel (The Night Hotel)in midtown Manhattan. Stunning hotel and a savage room, complete with plasma TV, Bose Wave Radio / CD and a minibar with a canister of oxygen for $35. Bags dropped and out the door. 45 seconds later, we're into Times Square. Ger wanted to stop off in Toys R Us and to be honest its a mad place altogether. Granted we didnt bother getting into the full size ferris wheel. Not long after this we got our metro cards for the subway and took a quick trip to Macys. Ive been on the subway before but Ger hadnt so it was just breaking her into it easily. From there we decided to grab something to eat and ever since I spotted Jamie Oliver munching away on a giant sandwich in the Carnegie Deli, that was the first port of call. Found it without much trouble and got seated straight away. As Mr.Oliver before me, I order the Woddy Allen, which basically is 2 slices of bread and about 9 inches of Pastrami and Corned beef in between. I managed to struggle through most of it as if truth be told, I wasnt too impressed. It was just a big arse sandwich. Granted the Pastrami was good, but that was it really. Headed back around broadway and got a few photos and done some more wandering and the like. Around 11pm that night we headed for the Empire State Building, thinking it might be quiet. After all, I had purchased my tickets online, months in advance. Well that made little difference. We stood in a queue for the elevators for nearly an hour and a half. At this stage my feet were in pieces, but once we got to the top, the view was breathtaking and soothing to say the least. We got back to the hotel sometime after 12 and hit that hay.
Tuesday
This day had been in my head for along, long time. This was engagement day. Months of thought had gone into this and truck loads of hours reading tripadvisor.com had helped seal the deal. We headed to the Cranberry Deli for breakfast on 45th and I got some grub to came the nerves. I talk to thousands and thousands of people every night when Im on air with little or no nerves. I never thought I would be asking the love of my life to marry me. Anyways, we made for Central Park and I had my destination planned out, thanks to google earth. The Bow Bridge, what some call the most romantic bridge in the world, which was to be original proposal spot ended up being my backdrop. We took a few photos on the bridge and I told Ger I was running up ahead for some photos. I was checking ahead to see were people coming, but as I was I spotted a beautiful boat shelter. Unfortunately it was occupied but some lady with a cat. I thought about asking her to move, but decided it wouldnt be fair. Anyway, the cat looked like it could tear my kneecaps off. So I headed back onto the bridge and as I did, I looked back and a little further down from the boat shed and there was little inlet with a big rock. I pointed it out to Ger and said, cmon lets get into the shade and relax for 10 minutes. As soon as we sat down on the rock, I took a few pics of her (last one just before I done the deed). I adapted a piece of poetry from one of her favourite poems, spieled it out and asked "Will you marry me?". She said YES and we hugged and kissed with tears in our eyes as the Bow Bridge lingered (well what else was it gonna do?) in the background. After 20 minutes we decided to get out of Central Park and purchase a ring. We ended up by The Natural History Museum. We got a pretzel and some drinks and chilled out for a while on the steps of TNHM, still taking things in. A long trudge up and down Fifth Avenue we finally got a ring and between sizing and everything, it was due to be collected on Thursday evening. We done some more shopping around Fifth Avenue before heading back to the hotel and ringing friends and family with the good news. Ger needed to lie down and get over the shock for a while. 2 months previous I had booked Gordon Ramsay at the London for our engagement dinner. So we strolled uptown, enjoying the sunshine, dressed up to the nines (gentlemen had to have jackets etc.etc.) and arrived on time (for a change) at Gordon Ramsay at the London. Jean Baptist was swaning around, but alas no Gordon. We were promptly seated and after exceptional service and food which I still cant describe, it was that good, the staff in the restaurant outdid themselves. On the way into the restaurant the host asked me what we were in town for. I told her to get engaged and she said congrats and that was it. After out final course, she arrived out with a little dish and a tiny sorbet with a candle on it and congratulations spelt out. Wonderful touch. The food, the food, what can I say. We opted for the 3 course meal, but they kept bringing out samples and palate cleansers and the likes. All in all we had around 6 courses. The food itself was tender and delicate and my suckling pig dissolved in the mouth. After nearly 3 hours we headed out and started a nice romantic stroll down through the lights of broadway, before hitting the hotel.
Wednesday
Another bright and early start and a trip to The Empire Diner. After some seriously good French Toast with Bacon it was time to head back to the hotel and head for Yankee Stadium, for the Yankee / Twins game. 50,000+ fans and an amazing atmosphere. To be honest, we didnt have much of a clue of what was going on but we figured it out eventually, I think. It didnt matter though, the Yankees lost, but we did manage to see a few home runs hit! We headed back for the subway with plenty of disgusted Yankee fans and made for the hotel. We decided to head for the Macys 4th of July fireworks and after walking in the total wrong direction for 30 minutes, we got on the right track and made it pretty close to the fence on the edge of the FDR. The fireworks kicked off around 9.30 and it was belting down with rain, thankfully a nice Scottish couple pulled us under their umbrellas and kept us dry for a while. After an hour, things were wrapping up and along with 3 million other people, we headed back for the hotel. It took ages to get back, due to the volume of people, but it was well worth it.
Thursday
This was the day we had planned for Woodbury common, but so many people had said we were mad to head out there and stay in Manhattan where there are plenty of bargains. So we scrapped the trip to WC and stayed in the city. Another wonderful breakfast at the Cheyenne Diner (yes, the one from the Tropicana ad) was had, while sitting side by side with the NYPD. After this we made our way down to the WTC site. Very sad and very emotional being there. I felt the eyes well up for a while, but afterwards we made our way to Century 21. Plenty of bargains to be had. A gruelling trip back to the hotel was had with tonnes of bags and we dropped em off and made back out for Macys and everywhere else in between. More bags, more sweat and extremely sore feet. At this stage, the hotel room looked like it needed an extension with all the stuff we had bought. Then it was off to collect the engagement ring, which fitted perfectly. That night, we made for the Gotham Comedy club to see Tony Rock. After 5 too many drinks and a great show, we staggered into a cab and made back for the hotel.
Friday
Back to the Cranberry Deli for breakfast again and headed for the Sex and the city tour. A great tour and some amazing cup cakes. A trip on the Staten Island Ferry, yes its free and on Friday night we headed back down to the West Village for more drinks and ended up in Cielo. More drinks again and another drunken trip back to the hotel at 4am.
Saturday
Time was nearly up, so we made for the Top of The Rock in the morning, which has amazing views, better than the ESB I thought. A trip to the NBC store and a quick stop off back at the hotel and then we made our way to Pier 84 for the NYC water taxi. After some great views of Manhattan we finally ended up in Brooklyn. A stop off at the Brooklyn Ice cream factory proved uneventful. Not a patch on Hagen Daz, according to her good self. There was too much of a queue for Grimaldis so after that we made our way to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked across. From there we made our way back uptown and down some more shopping. That night we headed for the Cutting Room, got some decent dinner and kept the jukebox going.
Sunday
Last full day in the big apple and most of it was taken up with the Sopranos tour. Great tour, really loved it. The highlight had to be getting some cannoli's and getting into the Bing. The icing on the cake was hearing Journey - Dont Stop Believing in Satin Dolls (The Bada Bing) while sitting at Tonys spot at the counter before we left and picked up some t-shirts. Sunday night we headed back downtown and made for Lombardi's for some perfect Pizza and stopped off at Rice to Riches for desert. Hesitantly, we made our way back to the hotel as our last night in New York came to an end.
Monday
Last minute run arounds and we headed for JFK at around 2.30. After a very uncomfortable, stuffy flight we made it back into shannon and another 2 hours later we were back in Cork, battered and bruised.
I cant remember which days, but we also ate at BB Kings, The Brooklyn Diner and Katz. Of all the eating experiences, Katz was a disaster. Food was OK. The place itself was a nightmare, looked dirty and pictures actually fell off the wall when we were there. I'm after forgetting the hundreds of shops we went into, but judging by the state of our feet we hit a lot of em.
Right, onto some pics....
Me with Peter Franklin, the Gabby cabby
Me with Tony Rock
Where we got Engaged, Bow Bridge off to the right
On Carries Stoop
Me with Vito from the Sopranos
More pics to follow....
I promised to write everything down that we did, day by day, but alas forgot, or couldnt be bothered so all this is coming from memory.
Monday
We flew in to JFK 30 minutes earlier than planned with Aer Lingus. Fantastic flight, personal TVs, half decent food and all this just in economy. Loving the new Airbus. Went through customs like a laxitive and within 40 minutes we were landed outside our hotel (The Night Hotel)in midtown Manhattan. Stunning hotel and a savage room, complete with plasma TV, Bose Wave Radio / CD and a minibar with a canister of oxygen for $35. Bags dropped and out the door. 45 seconds later, we're into Times Square. Ger wanted to stop off in Toys R Us and to be honest its a mad place altogether. Granted we didnt bother getting into the full size ferris wheel. Not long after this we got our metro cards for the subway and took a quick trip to Macys. Ive been on the subway before but Ger hadnt so it was just breaking her into it easily. From there we decided to grab something to eat and ever since I spotted Jamie Oliver munching away on a giant sandwich in the Carnegie Deli, that was the first port of call. Found it without much trouble and got seated straight away. As Mr.Oliver before me, I order the Woddy Allen, which basically is 2 slices of bread and about 9 inches of Pastrami and Corned beef in between. I managed to struggle through most of it as if truth be told, I wasnt too impressed. It was just a big arse sandwich. Granted the Pastrami was good, but that was it really. Headed back around broadway and got a few photos and done some more wandering and the like. Around 11pm that night we headed for the Empire State Building, thinking it might be quiet. After all, I had purchased my tickets online, months in advance. Well that made little difference. We stood in a queue for the elevators for nearly an hour and a half. At this stage my feet were in pieces, but once we got to the top, the view was breathtaking and soothing to say the least. We got back to the hotel sometime after 12 and hit that hay.
Tuesday
This day had been in my head for along, long time. This was engagement day. Months of thought had gone into this and truck loads of hours reading tripadvisor.com had helped seal the deal. We headed to the Cranberry Deli for breakfast on 45th and I got some grub to came the nerves. I talk to thousands and thousands of people every night when Im on air with little or no nerves. I never thought I would be asking the love of my life to marry me. Anyways, we made for Central Park and I had my destination planned out, thanks to google earth. The Bow Bridge, what some call the most romantic bridge in the world, which was to be original proposal spot ended up being my backdrop. We took a few photos on the bridge and I told Ger I was running up ahead for some photos. I was checking ahead to see were people coming, but as I was I spotted a beautiful boat shelter. Unfortunately it was occupied but some lady with a cat. I thought about asking her to move, but decided it wouldnt be fair. Anyway, the cat looked like it could tear my kneecaps off. So I headed back onto the bridge and as I did, I looked back and a little further down from the boat shed and there was little inlet with a big rock. I pointed it out to Ger and said, cmon lets get into the shade and relax for 10 minutes. As soon as we sat down on the rock, I took a few pics of her (last one just before I done the deed). I adapted a piece of poetry from one of her favourite poems, spieled it out and asked "Will you marry me?". She said YES and we hugged and kissed with tears in our eyes as the Bow Bridge lingered (well what else was it gonna do?) in the background. After 20 minutes we decided to get out of Central Park and purchase a ring. We ended up by The Natural History Museum. We got a pretzel and some drinks and chilled out for a while on the steps of TNHM, still taking things in. A long trudge up and down Fifth Avenue we finally got a ring and between sizing and everything, it was due to be collected on Thursday evening. We done some more shopping around Fifth Avenue before heading back to the hotel and ringing friends and family with the good news. Ger needed to lie down and get over the shock for a while. 2 months previous I had booked Gordon Ramsay at the London for our engagement dinner. So we strolled uptown, enjoying the sunshine, dressed up to the nines (gentlemen had to have jackets etc.etc.) and arrived on time (for a change) at Gordon Ramsay at the London. Jean Baptist was swaning around, but alas no Gordon. We were promptly seated and after exceptional service and food which I still cant describe, it was that good, the staff in the restaurant outdid themselves. On the way into the restaurant the host asked me what we were in town for. I told her to get engaged and she said congrats and that was it. After out final course, she arrived out with a little dish and a tiny sorbet with a candle on it and congratulations spelt out. Wonderful touch. The food, the food, what can I say. We opted for the 3 course meal, but they kept bringing out samples and palate cleansers and the likes. All in all we had around 6 courses. The food itself was tender and delicate and my suckling pig dissolved in the mouth. After nearly 3 hours we headed out and started a nice romantic stroll down through the lights of broadway, before hitting the hotel.
Wednesday
Another bright and early start and a trip to The Empire Diner. After some seriously good French Toast with Bacon it was time to head back to the hotel and head for Yankee Stadium, for the Yankee / Twins game. 50,000+ fans and an amazing atmosphere. To be honest, we didnt have much of a clue of what was going on but we figured it out eventually, I think. It didnt matter though, the Yankees lost, but we did manage to see a few home runs hit! We headed back for the subway with plenty of disgusted Yankee fans and made for the hotel. We decided to head for the Macys 4th of July fireworks and after walking in the total wrong direction for 30 minutes, we got on the right track and made it pretty close to the fence on the edge of the FDR. The fireworks kicked off around 9.30 and it was belting down with rain, thankfully a nice Scottish couple pulled us under their umbrellas and kept us dry for a while. After an hour, things were wrapping up and along with 3 million other people, we headed back for the hotel. It took ages to get back, due to the volume of people, but it was well worth it.
Thursday
This was the day we had planned for Woodbury common, but so many people had said we were mad to head out there and stay in Manhattan where there are plenty of bargains. So we scrapped the trip to WC and stayed in the city. Another wonderful breakfast at the Cheyenne Diner (yes, the one from the Tropicana ad) was had, while sitting side by side with the NYPD. After this we made our way down to the WTC site. Very sad and very emotional being there. I felt the eyes well up for a while, but afterwards we made our way to Century 21. Plenty of bargains to be had. A gruelling trip back to the hotel was had with tonnes of bags and we dropped em off and made back out for Macys and everywhere else in between. More bags, more sweat and extremely sore feet. At this stage, the hotel room looked like it needed an extension with all the stuff we had bought. Then it was off to collect the engagement ring, which fitted perfectly. That night, we made for the Gotham Comedy club to see Tony Rock. After 5 too many drinks and a great show, we staggered into a cab and made back for the hotel.
Friday
Back to the Cranberry Deli for breakfast again and headed for the Sex and the city tour. A great tour and some amazing cup cakes. A trip on the Staten Island Ferry, yes its free and on Friday night we headed back down to the West Village for more drinks and ended up in Cielo. More drinks again and another drunken trip back to the hotel at 4am.
Saturday
Time was nearly up, so we made for the Top of The Rock in the morning, which has amazing views, better than the ESB I thought. A trip to the NBC store and a quick stop off back at the hotel and then we made our way to Pier 84 for the NYC water taxi. After some great views of Manhattan we finally ended up in Brooklyn. A stop off at the Brooklyn Ice cream factory proved uneventful. Not a patch on Hagen Daz, according to her good self. There was too much of a queue for Grimaldis so after that we made our way to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked across. From there we made our way back uptown and down some more shopping. That night we headed for the Cutting Room, got some decent dinner and kept the jukebox going.
Sunday
Last full day in the big apple and most of it was taken up with the Sopranos tour. Great tour, really loved it. The highlight had to be getting some cannoli's and getting into the Bing. The icing on the cake was hearing Journey - Dont Stop Believing in Satin Dolls (The Bada Bing) while sitting at Tonys spot at the counter before we left and picked up some t-shirts. Sunday night we headed back downtown and made for Lombardi's for some perfect Pizza and stopped off at Rice to Riches for desert. Hesitantly, we made our way back to the hotel as our last night in New York came to an end.
Monday
Last minute run arounds and we headed for JFK at around 2.30. After a very uncomfortable, stuffy flight we made it back into shannon and another 2 hours later we were back in Cork, battered and bruised.
I cant remember which days, but we also ate at BB Kings, The Brooklyn Diner and Katz. Of all the eating experiences, Katz was a disaster. Food was OK. The place itself was a nightmare, looked dirty and pictures actually fell off the wall when we were there. I'm after forgetting the hundreds of shops we went into, but judging by the state of our feet we hit a lot of em.
Right, onto some pics....
Me with Peter Franklin, the Gabby cabby
Me with Tony Rock
Where we got Engaged, Bow Bridge off to the right
On Carries Stoop
Me with Vito from the Sopranos
More pics to follow....
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