A Day on the Corrie Cobbles...

Last week the family and I headed across the Pennines to explore the lovely but seemingly always rainy city of Manchester and then strut down Corrie Cobbles! We were one of the first families to bag tickets to the tour of the old Granada studios and look round the Corrie set and being big Corrie Fans we booked them for sooner rather than later as we were excited to follow the path of Ena Sharples, Karen McDonald and good ol' Tracey Barlow!

After touring the dressing rooms, green room, costume department (I actually touched Carla Conner's Wedding Dress made by Hayley Cropper!) we were able to see inside some of the internal sets that were used for filming corrie! We were able to see Carla's Flat, The Platt's House, The Factory, The Rovers (I even had the chance of Pulling a Pint!), the Barge (from Ken's Lover) and the Duckworths back room (which now belongs to Ty & Fizz!) We also saw the standard coffin with a number of plaques, Becky McDonald's Jordan-style Wedding Dress and many other famous artefacts and props from the Soap! 

Then we were allowed onto the street, onto those famous cobbles! Where we could explore the Kabin, Nick's Bistro, the Alahans Corner Shop, Websters Garage and all the houses that littler the street and provide homes for our much-loved Corrie Characters!

After peering through the windows and posing outside the doors of all the houses, we were able to strut down the street a la Kylie Platt and mock a cat fight a la Gail and Eileen!

Surprisingly, the Set's seemed rather shabby and it was weird to think that behind those doors were empty rooms of nothingness - not the rooms we have an insight into on the soap usually!

What surprised me the most, was the fact that the view under the bridge was merely a canvas print giving an illusion of continuing streets!

Its safe to say we had a fab time on Coronation Street, it was fascinating to see the street up close and personal and I will never watch Corrie in the same way again! Whether you are a Corrie fan or not, it is well worth the visit, if you can get tickets before the exhibition closes!

2 pints of Guinness and a packet of Mini Cheddars Please...

Apologies for my delay in the final blogging of the rest of my trip to Dublin but I have been away for a while to Leeds - both to gather more blogging material and to get a bit more completed on my Dissertation! (Only 8 days to go until its due!)

So on the final day in Dublin, we went to the Prison which was used to film scenes in the Italian Job - cue plenty of quoting "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" 

The Kilmainham Gaol was an intriguing and moving place. I was fascinated by the guides speech about the history of the Gaol and it has spurred me on to read further into the Rebellions in Dublin and the politically turbulent times. I was particularly fascinated by the story of Constance Markievicz who eventually became the first ever female MP and served time at the Gaol during the uprisings...This photo is a view through the spy-hole of her cell.

After a long walk back into the centre of town (as the Gaol is quite far out from the centre of town where we were staying - worth the walk though!) we settled down to a hearty italian lunch at a small bistro just off the main shopping street. Then we ventured up O'Connell street to see the Spire of Dubline, the Bullet Holes on the Old General Post Office, the Parnell Monument and the Memorial Garden.

I'd like to Thank my Lovely Housemates for accompanying me on my Birthday trip as I forged lasting happy memories and thoroughly enjoyed celebrating my 21st Birthday!

Where the Girls are so Pretty...I first set my Eyes on Sweet Molly Malone...

Day 2 in Dublin

The weather wasn't so great on our second day in Dublin. The rain didn't deter our tourist spirit and we set off to explore Trinity College. Along the way we passed the Molly Malone Statue and I insisted on having a photo with dear old Molly because of the ol' Irish tune which I am naming my Dublin Blog posts after! 

So Trinity College reminded me a little of the Oxford and Cambridge Universities with the large, imposing and grand buildings littering the campus - inset with a few vile 70's additions! After wandering round taking in the sights we followed a route straight through the campus to exit at the east end and venture to Merrion Square and the Oscar Wilde Monument.

 The Oscar Wilde statue is located on the west corner of Merrion Square which is surrounded by gorgeous georgian terrace houses and is next to the large old buildings that make up many of Dublin's free Museums - the National Gallery was straight opposite dear Oscar and so that became our next location in order to shelter from the rain! Purely because we were beginning to look like drowned rats and my glasses don't yet have windscreen wipers attached!

In the National Gallery we had a wander round one part of the collection and I overheard a few art historians giving groups talks about specific paintings which was very interesting. 

My favourite paintings in the rooms we perused were a Van Gogh which features rooftops in paris and a Picasso.

 In one part of the Gallery was a children's area providing paper, clipboards and colours. Like any students we are still all kids at heart and set about creating our own masterpieces. Dec drew Hannah, Ashley drew a car, carrot and dog, Hanna drew an eye and I drew a cartoon of the 4 of us!

In the afternoon, we headed to Jameson's Distillery to learn about the distillation process required to make whiskey before sampling a dram of the Irish tipple! I was one of the lucky few selected to complete a taste test comparing Jameson's to a scottish whiskey and then to Jack Daniels - I have to say Jameson's was probably my favourite! I recieved a certificate to recognise my new taste testing abilities and then settled to a long drink of Jameson's with Ginger Ale and Lime - which is one of my favourite drinks!

Since we were in the Smithfield area we decided to head further West along the Liffey to visit the war memorial at Phoenix Park.

Minnie Mouse Madness

After years of berating my Mother for her poor attempts at a birthday cake for me compared to the masterpieces she created for my sister...she finally got herself sorted and created a beautiful cake for my 21st!

I loved my cake - it was a loose take on Minnie Mouse and that was perfect since I love Disney so much! The inside was red velvet cake and it was covered in white and red fondant icing and filled with cream cheese frosting! 

The only downside was I didn't get to scoff the lot!

In Dublin's Fair City...

Day 1 in Dublin

After getting up at just after 3am and getting a taxi and a plane from Leeds, we eventually arrived in Dublin, dropped our bags at the hostel and headed out for Breakfast! It was only 8:30am in the morning still so the streets of dublin were still relatively quiet as the city was still rubbing its bleary eyes and beginning to prepare for the day ahead. We arrived on Tuesday morning - April Fool's Day. It was a glorious day in the city, with plenty of sunshine as it warmed through our bones and made us get our sunglasses out.

First of all though...Breakfast! When travelling with two hungry men - you cannot escape the call of the belly and must settle down to eat some grub at regular intervals! Having already had my breakfast (even if it was hours before at the airport) I was relatively full and merely needed my morning cuppa which is sustenance enough! However the boys and Han required some scran and we hunted down 'Meet and Meat' in one of the quaint back streets in Dublin's Temple Bar area (South William Street to be precise)! The place was relatively trendy with tiled walls - a little reminiscent of the hospital scenes in Patrick Stewart's Macbeth and vintage style decorations littering the space. I loved that the sugars were all in old golden syrup tins and there were old food boxes framed and on the wall! What the other 3 ordered looked and smelled delicious! Dec had a huge bowl full of Greek yoghurt, coulis and granola - which I would have definitely ordered had I been hungry! Hannah and Ashley had these whopper bacon/egg/sausage sarnies! 

Meet & Meat

Corner of Exchequer St & South William St. Dublin 2
Ph: 00353 1 969 6888

After Meet & Meat we headed to the 'Medieval Area' of the city and wandered round the selection of churches scattered around and took in the sights of Dublin Castle - though as my Sister exclaimed when looking through my holiday snaps - "it doesn't look much like a castle!"

We then headed to the Guinness Factory and after a wrong turning wound our way to the Guinness Storehouse! We booked online before we went meaning that we got a small discount on our tickets - but regardless - it is well worth a visit! Especially if it is a lovely day as the view from the Gravity Bar is amazing! 

After learning how Guinness was made, developed, advertised and sold, we came to the part of the tour which allowed us to 'taste test' and 'pull our own pints'. 

I am a fan of Guinness so was looking forward to that last bit - although the lack of sustenance in my stomach wasn't so I was stuffing mini-cheddar's in before I sunk the pint! 

We each took it in turns to pull our own pints before letting it settle and putting the froth on top! 

Then we took our pints to the top of the tower for the best view over the City of Dublin!