Cara December 2013/January 2014

cara magazine December 2013/January 2014

December 2013/January 2014

actor Will Ferrell irish techies

Customer magazine of the year

the Burren new york High line

The sky is the limit

Walk New York’s High Line

Skiing in courmayeur

Wild and wonderful

Explore the Burren landscape

White mischief

copenhagen

Off piste in Courmayeur

Best christmas ever

Season’s greetings

From Tommy Bowe, Bressie and more

Bristol málaga chris Hadfield

The

Full Irish

PLUS

Commuter Belter How tech folk go the distance

Will Ferrell traces his roots complimentary copy

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Contact Details: Diarmuid O’Neill, Head of Corporate Banking Ireland Tel: +353 1 641 4808 Email: diarmuid.e.o’neill@aib.ie Web: www.aibcorporate-fdi.com

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Contents December 2013/January 2014

48

60 On a high in NYC

Set in stone – the Burren

36

The I.T. crowd

Check in

Features

Regulars

06 ARRIVALS Dublin Airport’s T2 welcomes the Aer Lingus International Hurling Festival players and fans

30 THE KING OF COMEDY Will Ferrell tickles Tony Clayton-Lea’s funny bone about fame and Irish ancestry

104 48 HOURS IN BRISTOL Frances Power squeezes in street art, cider houses and pork pies

09 CHECK IN Event highlights, plus food trends and hotel news

36 THE TRANSATLANTIC TECHIES When Dublin meets Silicon Valley by Karlin Lillington

107 AN INSIDER’S GUIDE TO MÁLAGA The best bits by local Finola Sloyan

48 ROCK OF AGES Limestone cowboy Neil Hegarty explores the Burren, Co Clare

111 AER LINGUS INFLIGHT All the movies, TV, music and information you need for a great flight

60 THE HIGH LIFE Patrick Rogers’ views from the top – New York’s High Line

136 TRIP OF A LIFETIME Astronaut Chris Hadfield’s holiday best

22 ON MY TRAVELS Tour stories from Villagers’ Conor O’Brien 24 MY TRAVEL NOTEBOOK Broadcaster Maia Dunphy’s hotspots 26 SMART TRAVELLER Donal McSharry gets down to business in Dubrovnik, plus top Birmingham hotels 28 SHELF LIFE Bridget Hourican browses owses Small Hotels in Greece, and talks text with Donal Ryan Music maestro

30

72 OUTSIDE THE LINES Nicola Iseard slaloms into Italian ski resort Courmayeur 84 NORDIC NOIR Copenhagen’s The Killing tour, Mark O’Sullivan in hot pursuit 96 HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Five Irish names select their favourite festive destinations

72 Ski set

Contributors EDITORIAL Editor Frances Power Deputy Editor Lucy White Editorial Assistant Niamh Wade Contributors Sive O’Brien, Amanda Cochrane, Liz Dwyer Group Editorial Director Laura George ART Art Director Clare Meredith Creative Director Bill O’Sullivan ADVERTISING Commercial Director Clodagh Edwards +353 (0)1 271 9634, clodagh.edwards@image.ie Advertising Manager Noëlle O’Reilly +353 (0)1 271 9621, noelle.oreilly@image.ie Advertising Copy Contact Derek Skehan +353 (0)1 855 3855, dereks@typeform.ie

Born in Canada, Karlin Lillington grew up in Silicon Valley. As a reporter and columnist with the Irish Times, she’s covered the political, social, business and cultural side of information and communication technologies for nearly two decades. Like the Irish technologists she profiles on page 36, she hops on to planes regularly between Dublin and San Francisco. “It doesn’t surprise me at all that a strong, tech industry link has developed since the 1990s, between the Valley and Ireland,” she says. “Both places value informality, creativity and a biting sense of humour.”

Pa Patrick Rogers is a magazine editor in

Ne York City, and was an instant fan of the New Hi Line – a park built on an abandoned High ele elevated train line. “I remember stumbling out of clubs in the bad old days and wondering wha had gone on up on those silent steel what tr tracks down in the Meatpacking District,” he sa Today, the High Line has given up its says. se secrets.

But Rogers welcomed the chance to explore the park for Cara. “Because it’s ou outside, and subject to the weather, you have an element of natural unpredictability. And th whole human parade too, since the place the is as big a draw for locals as it for visitors.”

Publisher Richard Power ADMINISTRATION Head of PR & Promotions Linda McEvitt, +353 (0)1 271 9643, linda.mcevitt@image.ie Events Manager Roisin Finnegan Financial Controller Olga Gordeychuk Credit Controller Lisa Dickenson BOARD OF DIRECTORS Managing Director Richard Power, richard.power@image.ie Chairman Robert Power Directors Ann Reihill, Gina Traynor, Patrick Dillon-Malone, Laura George PRINTING Boylan Print Group ORIGINATION Typeform Cara magazine is published on behalf of Aer Lingus by Image Publications, 22 Crofton Road, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, Ireland, +353 (0)1 280 8415; advertising sales, +353 (0)1 271 9625; fax +353 (0)1 280 8309; image.ie, email info@image.ie.

Company registration number 56663 © Image Publications Ltd. All rights reserved. Editorial material and opinions expressed in Cara magazine do not necessarily reflect the views of Aer Lingus or IMAGE Publications Ltd. Aer Lingus and IMAGE Publications Ltd do not accept responsibility for the advertising content.

Please note that unsolicited manuscripts or submissions will not be returned. All material is strictly copyright and all rights are reserved. Production in whole or part is prohibited without prior permission from IMAGE Publications Ltd.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield has served as Commander of the International Space Station, where he conducted a record-setting number of scientific experiments, oversaw an emergency spacewalk and became known for his breathtaking photographs, tweets and educational videos about life in space. The Canadian colonel also made a foray into music, his zero-gravity version of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” receiving over 10 million views in its first three days. Hadfield’s new book, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth (Macmillan) is out now. He writes for Cara (page 136), ahead of his visit to Dublin in January 2014, about a family trip to Japan.

December 2013/January 2014

Cara magazine is a member of Magazines Ireland.

IMAGE Publications Ltd is a member of the Press Council of Ireland and supports the Office of the Press Ombudsman. To contact the Press Ombudsman, visit pressombudsman.ie or presscouncil.ie

Customer magazine of the year

The sky is the limit

Walk New York’s High Line

Wild and wonderful

Explore the Burren landscape

White mischief Off piste in Courmayeur

Season’s greetings

IMAGE Publications Ltd –

PUBLISHING COMPANY OF THE YEAR 2010 TO ADVERTISE PLEASE CALL NOËLLE O’REILLY ON +353 (0)1 271 9621 OR EMAIL NOELLE.OREILLY@IMAGE.IE

From Tommy Bowe, Bressie and more

The

Full Irish

PLUS

Commuter Belter How tech folk go the distance

Will Ferrell traces his roots complimentary copy

ON THE COVER

Will Ferrell photographed in Amsterdam by Richard Gilligan, assisted by Al Higgins.

who? Laois man Kevin Campion, left, and Clare-born Martin Duggan, right Flying in From ... London looKing ForwArD To ... Playing for the Kilburn Gaels – and their new hurls!

who? Caoimhe Flanagan, left, and Clara Della-Chiesa, right, with Galway senior hurler Conor Cooney here For ... These young fans travelled from Galway to Shannon to cheer the arrival of the London teams.

who? Daniel Whyte and Gwen O’Connor Flying in From ... Sydney.

Galwegian Daniel began work down under (literally) in the mines five years ago, while Corkian Gwen is a primary school teacher in Sydney.

Arrivals

Sixteen international teams ga gathered in Galway for the Aer Li Lingus Hurling Festival 2013. We met players and supporters at Du Dublin’s T2 and Shannon Airport.

WORDS By NIAMH WADE / PHOTOGRAPHS By ANTHONy WOODS & ROBBIE REyNOLDS

who? Wis Wisconsin’s in’s Tedd Teddy Ruet Ruetz, left, and Liam Raasch, right Flying in From ... Milwaukee looKing ForwArD To ... Picking up some hurling tips at Semple Stadium, Cork. who? Back row from left, Martin Duggan, Martin Finn and Ruari Costello with flag holders Ella McAllen, left and Eva McInerney, right here For ... The craic, with London teams St Gabriels, Kilburn Gaels and Robert Emmetts.

who? From left, Jimmy Whelan and Sean La Hert Flying in From ... Sydney looKing ForwArD To ...

Both Irish lads are glad to be back to play on the oul’ sod. d.

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december 2013/January 2014

who? From left, Ciarán, Damien and Aoife Moroney with Natalie Lipman, right Flying in From ...

Sydney here For ... Captain of the Australian team, Damien, is not just home to play hurling, but to wed his fiancée, Natalie, in Co Clare.

who? Sisters Catherine, left, and Bríd McGourty, right, and their dad, Seán here For ... This Co Down family are re-uniting with their Perth-based bricklayer brother (and son) Brendan, before playing in the 40th Annual All-Ireland Kilmacud Crokes Sevens.

Clodagh’s Kitchen

Orla Kiely

Appleby

Coach

Whatever’s next, since 1843.

This iconic building on Dublin’s Henry Street is Ireland’s largest and longest established department store. Arnotts is home to the world’s best in beauty, fashion for men and women, homewares, all the latest in technology and Ireland’s largest and loveliest shoe department, The Shoe Garden. There are several places to eat, including Clodagh’s Kitchen, in which everything is homemade by celebrity chef Clodagh McKenna. In other words, Arnotts is more than just shopping. It is an experience.

Shop online www.arnotts.ie Arnotts, 12 Henry Street, Dublin 1 / 01 805 0400

Like us on Facebook!

‘Arnotts Department Store’

Follow us on Twitter! ‘@arnottsdublin’

Blarney Castle & Gardens Renowned for bestowing the gift of eloquence

See and feel Irelands heritage, built nearly six hundred years ago by one of Ireland’s greatest chieftains.

Spend the day exploring the extensive grounds and gardens.

Open all year round 5 miles from Cork Open Monday- Sunday 9-6 www.blarneycastle.ie info@blarneycastle.ie n

n

n

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Find out what’s on, where and when in December and January

PHOTOGRAPH BY VALERIE O’SULLIVAN

Snow patrols

There’s no better time to wrap up and walk off those puddings and pies than in a winter wonderland. If you’re in Killarney during the holidays, start at St Mary’s Cathedral, across from the King’s Bridge entrance to Killarney National Park, and head some 2 kilometres towards Ross Castle, pictured – the monument is closed from April to October but makes a statuesque landmark to walk beside.

Other rambles on Ross Island include the Copper Mine Trail, Library Point and Governor’s Rock. Turn to page 18 for our round-up of Ireland’s best New Year’s Days walks.

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aRt

beauty

Pretty as a picture

Rabbiting on

“DAILy CARe” ACRyLIC on CAnvAS, 2013, CoURTeSy oF MoTHeR’S TAnKSTATIon

There’s something immensely comforting about the works of Dublin-based Japanese artist Atsushi Kaga. Seeing his animal characters at Mother’s Tankstation, on Dublin’s Watling Street, is like reacquainting with old friends, their often droll, frequently heartbreaking speech bubbles and text at once entertaining and provoking. Familiarity never breeds contempt though, and Happily Skipping Backwards exhibits complex emotions for a post-tsunami Japan: Kaga’s work is so rich in humour and sincere tenderness that humanity triumphs. Until February 1, 2014. motherstankstation.com.

Inspired by Pierre Hardy’s iconic avant-garde prints, PIeRRe HaRDy FOR NaRS bLuSH PaLette, IN ROtONDe, below, perks up washed-out winter complexions. €40

GueRLaIN CRaZy PaRIS MÉtÈORIteS PeaRLS, above right, combines beige and rose powders to

even out tone; mauve to refresh, white to lighten, gold to illuminate and pink for a healthy glow. €49 An homage to his travelling fashion exhibition, the GIORGIO aRMaNI eCCeNtRICO FaCe PaLette, below, boasts five hues of blush, which blend together to create a cool cheek contour. €65

By Liz Dwyer

Stay

4 best artist hotels

Artist-designed rooms make for some great eye candy …

Au Vieux Panier

Marseille, France Rooms don’t get much more distinctive than at this Maison d’Hôtes whose five suites are each redesigned by a different artist every twelve months. Slapbang in the middle of Marseille’s bourgeois bohemia, this 17thcentury property also boasts a gorgeous sun terrace with sea views. Rooms from €105. +33 491 912 372; auvieuxpanier.com

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Hotel Fox

Copenhagen, Denmark The design brief for the 21 international artists was simple: do what you like. For the most part, the hotel’s 61 rooms are a riot of colour and aimed squarely at younger travellers who want to be in the thick of Copenhagen’s action – City Hall is just a five-minute walk away.

Rooms from DKK795. +45 3313 3000; brochner-hotels.dk

December 2013/January 2014

The Gladstone

toronto, Canada Right in the throbbing heart of Toronto’s arts scene is The Gladstone boutique hotel, where no two rooms are the same. Local artists have run amok in each of its 37 rooms; the 19th-century property also houses exhibitions, book launches and DJ dance parties.

Rooms from $189. +1 416 531 4635; gladstonehotel.com

Artist Residence Guesthouse

brighton, uK The famous West Pier is just a stick of rock’s throw away from this friendly, great value bed and breakfast, whose twelve individually designed rooms are bright and airy – some even look out on to the sea. There’s also a sister guesthouse in Cornwall.

Rooms from £70. +44 1273 324 302; arthotelbrighton.co.uk

www.keanes.ie

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THEATRE

Ireland takes centre stage Irish theatre is (still) having a moment at London’s Donmar Warehouse, which uproots two of its Conor McPherson plays into two new venues following successful summer runs. Now showing off-Broadway in New York’s Atlantic Theater at the Linda Gross Theater is The Night Alive, which sees a divorced wheeler-dealer (Ciarán Hinds) strike up an unlikely friendship with a “working girl” (Caoilfhionn Dunne) in their dodgy Dublin flat-share (until January 26, 2014; atlantictheater.org). The Weir at the Wyndham’s Theatre in London’s West End also has a female protagonist unsettling the menfolk: a pub lock-in turns sour when a stranger (Dervla Kirwan) challenges the locals (Ardal O’Hanlon, Brian Cox, Risteárd Cooper and Peter McDonald) to impress her with their ghost stories (from January 16, 2014; theweirlondon.com).

ROBE DE CRêPE DE CHINE BLANC GARNIE DE RENARD, GEORGE BARBIER ©TRusTEEs OF THE CBL

DING DONG! Christmas gifts can be found in a carefully curated ted spread of flora, food, fashion, n, beauty, homeware, and more, re, right, at Makers & Brothers & Others store on Dame Lane in Dublin, and also online, until December 24 (makersandbrothers.com).

Elsewhere, gift vouchers for the Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food and Wine are on sale now, ahead of Yotam Ottolenghi and Noma’s René Redzepi holding court there from May 16-18 (litfest.ie).

s will be SettING treNDS Style maven oods at kw quaking in their Nicholas Kir t Chester Beatty Library’s curren which exhibition, Costumes Parisiens, s of tion stra illu n celebrates the fashio Belle a , des Journal des Dames et des Mo 4). Some 150 Époque lifestyle bible (1912-191 play at the fashion illustrations are on dis including tle, Cas library, housed in Dublin Barbier, rge those of chief tastemakers Geo de Monvel.

Léon Bakst and Bernard Boutet .ie Runs until March 30, 2014. cbl

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December 2013/January 2014

FAMILY

Grand designs Coat hangers fashioned into designer lamps … Basketball courts created in old matchboxes … These are among the spatial oddities that can be found at Drap-Art (drapart.net), Catalonia’s tenth international festival of recycled art.

Held at the Centre for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona from December 13 to January 5, 2014, 19 artists and nine designers prove that so-called trash can become masterpieces, alongside workshops, conferences and live performances for all the family. And in Ireland, Kilkenny Design Workshops celebrate 50 years at the forefront of Irish craft with Vernacular, a showcase of works by more than 20 designers – including Designgoat’s Cian Corcoran and Ahmad Fakhry, below – working in furniture, wood, textiles, glass and more at the National Craft Gallery until January 15, 2014 (nationalcraftgallery.ie).

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Coffee bars

Bean there, done that ...

AL HIGGINS / CAFÉ GRUMPY /COUTUME CAFÉ BY ROBIN DELESTRADE

We quiz Al Higgins – a Dublin-based photographer, barista judge and Irish representative at 2012’s Coffee Tasting Championships – on his favourite coffee bars.

DUbLIN Coffeeangel A few minutes’ walk from St Stephen’s Green, on Pembroke Street Lower, this is the newest offering from former Irish barista champion Karl Purdy.

Think Scandinavian design, North American customer service and fantastic Irish hospitality.

There’s no menu, as such – request your drink the way you like it and enjoy. ask for Single origin option, which changes seasonally. coffeeangel.com

LoNDoN Prufrock Ask the baristas what’s best on the day – the coffees and brew methods change daily. The staff at this EC1 coffee shop on Leather Lane (near Chancery Lane tube station) are amazing: both passionate about what they’re making and telling you how they’ll do it. ask for A seat at the brewbar – busy but worth it – and the barista’s favourite filter/brew method. prufrockcoffee.com

LoNDoN Talkhouse Positioned at the top of Portobello Road, this is a perfect spot to check out either before or after a visit to the market.

Great pastries and simple, fresh decor make this a must-go.

The coffee is supplied from various roasteries, and available on espresso, filter and iced. ask for A custard-filled doughnut and a cappuccino. talkhousecoffee.com

NeW YorK Café Grumpy This is a roastery/bakery/café with several locations across the city and a Brooklyn base. Having an in-house roastery ensures you’re getting seasonally great coffee, made by people who know what they’re talking about. ask for A “filter flight” – a set served with a beautifully designed tasting card, letting you compare one to the next. cafegrumpy.com

ParIs Coutume Café This is a great find on Rue de Babylone, on the Left Bank, one of the most beautiful areas of Paris. The friendly folk here have it nailed: the coffee is roasted on site, the treats are incredible and the location itself really is outstanding. Try to get there for a Sunday morning brunch. ask for Macchiato and a slice of carrot cake. coutumecafe.com

, a bar/restaurant on Leeson Street that’s also HOME STRETCH Dublin’s hippest new dwelling is House . Guest speakers from the worlds of business, hosting Salon Evenings on the first Tuesday of every month 7, 2014, sports. housedublin.ie the arts and food offer their expertise; the topic on January TreND

Portmanteau pastries Just when the world started waking up to cronuts – a croissant/doughnut hybrid – did crookies (croissant/cookie), duffins (doughnut /muffin), wagels (waffle/bagel) and townies (tartlet/brownie) appear. This cross-breed trend is one we fervently approve of, despite playing havoc with our waistlines. Oh well. Blame NeW YorK’s Dominique ansel (dominiqueansel.com), who started the cronut craze in 2013 – also seen at The Marker Hotel DUbLIN, which has astonishingly good glazed gems, left, (themarkerhoteldublin.com). The devoutly sweet-toothed should make a pilgrimage to the birthplace of the crookie – ToroNTo’s Clafouti patisserie (clafouti.ca), where Double Stuffed Oreo indulgence awaits – while the decadent duffins, top, at bea’s of bloomsbury, LoNDoN (beasofbloomsbury.com), has seen pastry chef Bea Vo lock horns with Starbucks over patenting. Furious competition means only one thing: totes fashionable.

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December 2013/January 2014

STAR APPEAL What happens when a grand English dame (Claridge’s hotel) teams up with a trailblazing British chef (Simon Rogan)? Expect great things when the twicewinning Michelin star dynamo – for Cumbria’s L’Enclume – spearheads the London hotel’s new restaurant in spring 2014. claridges.co.uk/simonrogan

EUROPEAN clUb RUgby fiNAls wEEkENd

Cardiff Arms Park Friday, May 23rd K.O. 20:00

Millennium Stadium Saturday, May 24th K.O. 17:00

Tickets on sale Now For more ticket information visit

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3 hip stays ...

SPOTLIGHT GALWAY

opUleNT g Hotel From the outside, the g resembles a conference centre but inside is a riot of shocking pink, black marble, mirrored surfaces, jewel-coloured upholstery – and a tank of Connemara seahorses. Galway born milliner Philip Treacy designed the interiors, and it shows: rooms are all Hollywood glamour, and its spa, chiaroscuro chic. Rooms from €90pps. 091 865 200; theghotel.ie

Top Table aniar, right, on Lower Dominick Street is not just the only Michelin-starred restaurant in the west of Ireland, it is also a cooking school. Minibreakers can avail of one-day courses led by chef Ultan Cooke (yes, real surname), from how to cook the perfect Christmas dinner, to bread-making, to nose-totail dining at home. 091 535 947; aniarrestaurant.ie b&b the stop This eclectic B&B at Kilcullen House, a fiveminute walk from the city centre, is hipster central. Original artworks and restored furniture abound, while its homemade breakfast is among the best in the county.

The property dates back to the 1930s but there’s nothing old-fashioned about the stop.

In fact, it couldn’t be more zeitgeisty than if it donned a moustache, strummed a ukulele and took a selfie on Instagram. Rooms from €35pps. 091 586 736; thestopbandb.com

3 seasonal highlights ...

KIDS ‘Twas the Night before Christmas is the brand new, bilingual show

by Irish language theatre company Branar Téatar do Pháistí. Entertaining young audiences across Ireland since November 29, it rolls into Taibhdhearc na Gaillimhe, December 20-22, for its last shows of the year – cue highly physical performances, singing, dancing, storytelling, live music and puppetry based on the famous festive verse.

Tickets from €8, 091 562 024; antaibhdhearc.com

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STaRGaZING Galway astronomy Festival welcomes stargazers from far and wide to Ireland’s largest amateur astronomy gathering on February 1.

Professor Brian Cox has certainly helped make astronomy and physics sexy but this lunar love-in has been gaining momentum since 2004, and this year is held at Westwood House Hotel. The series of talks, and two observation sessions at nearby Moycullen, costs €20. galwayastronomyclub.ie

December 2013/January 2014

SHoppING Sirona, a luxury, ethical fashion boutique on Market Street, is catnip for Christmas shoppers or, indeed, anyone looking to spend their Chrimbo money on gear that’s sustainable and stylish. Labels include People Tree, Noir and Ada Zanditon, with vegan leather bags by CoraLlei and footwear by Melissa + Vivienne Westwood, plus vintage finds. Out-oftowners take heart – there’s an online store. 091 563 957; sironaboutique.com

FUN House Hotel Just steps away from the harbour and a five-minute walk from Eyre Square, this fourstar boutique hotel has location, location, location. More than that though, its welcome is warm, its interiors girlie, and it has a cocktail bar from which budding mixologists can learn the tricks of the trade. Rooms from €49.50pps. 091 538 900; thehousehotel.ie

Elegance is an attitude Chi Ling Lin

The Loop, Terminal 2 Dublin Airport +353 1 944 6463 路 www.hourpassiondublin.com

Conquest Classic

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outdoorS

3 best seasonal swims ...

2

Coney Island Every January 1, America’s oldest winter bathing organisation, the Coney Island Polar Bears, hosts a New Year’s Day Swim.

These salty stalwarts brave the Atlantic from November to April, with non-members welcome to join their New Year’s dips.

Suggested donations $20, all proceeds to Camp Sunshine. polarbearbeachclub.org

3

Lido Beach New Year’s Day at Venice’s Lido starts off elegantly, with a Viennese waltz, before descending into the madness of sub-temperature seas and – often – novelty costumes. Each year at 11am, the “Ibernisti” swimmers submerge themselves into icy oblivion before having their cockles warmed by wine and a stew of sausages and lentils. lidovenezia.it

sche: The Heritage – FAST LOVE Expo Ferdinand Por oworld, Brussels, charts the From Electric to Electric at Aut boasts 40 vehicles, seven rise of the sports car legend and . and late-night pop-up events generations of Porsche 911s, 4. ferdinandporsche.be December 6 to January 19, 201

FAMILY

The great pretenders

RICHARD HAUGHTON

The acts at the 38th London International Mime Festival couldn’t be further removed from the white-facestripe-sweater image popularised by Marcel Marceau.

Contemporary, cutting-edge and for all ages, the innovative programme kicks off with Compagnie Non Nova’s L’AprèsMidi d’un Foehn, which sets airborne, plastic bag “ballerinas” to Debussy (January 8-11). What follows is 25 days of eyepopping performances, including eight UK premieres and six London premieres, such as Amit Lahav’s dance piece Missing, about a woman coming to terms with her past in order to confront her future, pictured. The festival runs January 8 to February 1, 2014. mimelondon.com

PHOTOGRAPH BY VALERIE O’SULLIVAN

1

the Forty Foot Fortunately, the waters below The Forty Foot promontory in Sandycove, Dublin Bay, are no longer the “snot-green” of James Joyce’s Ulysses – but they’re still not for the fainthearted.

Hardy bathers go for a bracing dip each Christmas Day as per the time-honoured tradition, although you can see swimmers here all year round too. outdoorswimming.ie

WALKS

A breath of fresh air Who ate all the (mince) pies? Come January 1, something’s got to give, and not just our waistbands. So blow away those Christmas cobwebs and extra kilos this New Year’s Day with a brisk walk in some awe-inspiring scenery. Ireland boasts some of the most handsome guided treks – weather permitting – among them through Co Carlow’s Blackstairs Mountains, Mount Leinster, above. Starting from The Old Rectory Killedmond, Borris at 2pm, €45 per adult, €12 for children over twelve, free for kids under twelve, price includes festive drinks and afternoon tea (ecoactiveireland.com). Hidden Ireland Adventures is hosting two different rambles on New Year’s Day, one a three-hour mind-clearing schlep through the Gap of Dunloe, the Black Valley and Killarney Valley, meeting at Kate Kearney’s Cottage at 10am, €35; the second, a moderate fourhour hike around the Dingle peninsula, meeting at the Dingle Tourist Office at 10am, €50 (hiddenirelandadventures.com).

How charming!

SCooter €39

SYdNeY oPerA HouSe €39

SAIL BoAt €45

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December 2013/January 2014

StAtue oF LIBertY €39

All charms are by Pandora, and are available at Marks & Spencer and pandora.net.

0818 44 44 44

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Wish you were here Twenty-eight year old Roel Tw Spee, Sp left, is originally from fr the Netherlands, and mo moved to Dublin nearly four ye ago to join Facebook. years Hi photograph was taken His in the village of Lutry, just tside Lausanne La outside in Switzerland.

Roel says: “I wanted to capture the movement of the boat as it sailed away from the pier. The boat is the best way to get around beautiful lake Geneva, which is known for great white wines, water-sports and as a gateway to the Alps. The green/blue colour of the crystal-clear glacier water balanced nicely with the blue and white of the sky. The bright red flag of Switzerland is a nice detail.

Afterwards my girlfriend and myself sat down for lunch at one of the pretty lakeside terraces.”

Have you a stunning photograph of your trip to an Aer Lingus destination to share? Send it to us at cara.wishyouwerehere@image.ie and we’ll publish our favourite shot in the February/ March issue.

The technicals Photographs must be a 300-dpi high resolution file and accompanied by a portrait of yourself and 100 words about the story behind the shot.

The editor’s decision is final.

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December 2013/January 2014

December 2013/January 2014

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On my travels

Musician and lead singer of Villagers, Conor O’Brien, shares the ways of the world with Sive O’Brien.

RICH GILLIGAN

Dubliner Conor O’Brien’s smooth and distinctive vocals give the Irish indie folk band Villagers their own infectious sound. Regulars on the music festival circuit, the band has toured the globe and supported some of the world’s hottest bands, such as Bell X1 and Elbow, while their second album {Awayland}, bagged a nomination for this year’s prestigious Mercury Prize. Villagers tour Europe this month, including two dates at Dublin’s Vicar Street, December 17-18; wearevillagers.com. y most memorable holiday was with … my family as a child in Mallorca.

I remember my dad teaching me how to swim – the joy of finally leaving the shallow pool – the sun and the ice cream, and the feeling that it was never going to end.

We travel … a lot. This year we’ve been all across Europe, the US, Australia and Japan.

I’ve only ever … lived in Dublin and don’t have plans to leave anytime soon. It’s my escape from all the madness. The more I travel, the more I love it, and I’m always drawn back home.

The best thing about travel … is that I feel myself questioning my own reactions to the world around me. It opens up your mind and gives you a context in which to explore how the social

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conventions of your home town have shaped your modes of thought. That, and food.

Every culture has … its own idiosyncrasies and I’m far too ignorant a person to judge one particular culture to be more interesting than any other.

I suppose we all find other cultures that are drastically different to ours interesting.

Dolphins seem to have something interesting going on.

We once crossed … the US/ Canadian border three times, in three days, going from Toronto to New York because of flights getting cancelled. While we were waiting in line I saw The Black Eyed Peas arriving with their entourage. They skipped the whole queue. I remember wondering if this incident filled me with more rage than their

actual music. That passed the time for a little while!

Kyoto in Japan … will forever be emblazoned on my mind.

We had a day off to take in the ancient temples and shrines. It was a very peaceful day.

I’ve been dreaming of travelling … around South America; I hope to do that sometime soon.

I’m at my happiest … when I’m in the middle of a creative patch. It doesn’t come easily but when it does, it feels like something else is driving you and your energy levels go through the roof.

My advice to the global traveller is … to keep an open mind and pace yourself.

I never travel without … plectrums and a good book.

I wasted a few weeks … recording multiple versions of the same song, only to return to

3 best winter music events ...

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This year’s 21st Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow is more cosmopolitan than ever, featuring Malian duo Amadou & Mariam, Bobby Womack, Suzanne Vega, and our very own James Vincent McMorrow, left, and Imelda May; January 16 to February 2. celticconnections.com

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Back by popular demand, Dublin collective 3epkano perform an original live soundtrack to a screening of GW Pabst’s silent masterpiece, Pandora’s Box at The Button Factory on December 27. As sassy showgirl Lulu, Louise Brooks is here as timeless as she is luminous.

3epkanomusic.com

the original one at the very end.

The single most inspiring songwriter and performer … outside my band mates, is John Grant. Singing with him has had a huge impact on my new songs.

The one song that reminds me of a special place is … “Paranoid Android” by Radiohead. I have a very specific memory of looking out over Lake Garda in northern Italy with it blasting out of my headphones. I was there the year OK Computer was released and listened to that album obsessively all day long, every day.

My next holiday is … in Ireland.

I’ve been thinking about travelling around Ireland recently. There’s so much I still haven’t seen.

Top three places on my wish list are … The Grand Canyon, the Cliffs of Moher, and the Moon.

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The subtitle of Berlin shindig CTM – Festival for Adventurous Music and Arts – is quite a mouthful and this year’s theme, Dis Continuity, is no less lofty.

Expect a happy medium though of accessible acts, including Chris Salter (US), talks and workshops; January 24 to February 2. ctm-festival.de

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My travel notebook

TV producer and broadcaster MAIA DUNPHY is having something of a moment.

When not donning her MasterChef apron or working on her hit documentary series, What Women Want, Maia and her husband, comedian Johnny Vegas, left, are forever scheduling in European city breaks or long-haul adventures.

FAVOURITE RESTAURANT IN THE WORLD? “I would have to say The Mirabelle in Rome, because it’s where my husband proposed.

Strictly for once-ina-lifetime occasions though, as the prices aren’t even printed in the menu!”

Clean Edge Fedora hat, €38 at Topshop

packing “My capsule s, a handful . short essentials .. and a Wolford of vest tops d I’d be fine an Fatal dress, nd a wideA k e for a we ! traw hat.” d brimme s

ZARA beaded interwoven necklace, €22.95

THE HOLIDAY THAT cHANGED cH YOU? “A year spent working in Sabah in Malaysia Borneo at the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary with my best friend Alice. How cute is Algore, right?!”

Crepe dress, €58 at Topshop

Leigh Le h Tucker Tuck Willow Shorts, Wil €15, €15 Dunnes Stores

BEST TRAVEL MEMORY? “When I was seven we moved to Paris for a couple of years – a childhood highlight.”

BEST PLAcE FOR SHOPPING? “El Corte Inglés, glés, hands down my favourite department store in the world. rld.

Also, ZARA in Spain has better, er, cheaper stock than ZARA anywhere else!”

MOST AMAZING HOTEL YOU’VE STAYED AT? “We went to Vietnam on honeymoon on a couple of years ago and spent six days of pure rest and relaxation at The Nam Hai in Hoi An; it’s heaven on earth.”

Maia’s carry-on essentials ...

1 Guerlain Crazy 68 Rouge G de Guerlain Exceptional Complete Lip Color, €33 2 La Roche-Posay Ceralip Lipid-Replenishing Lip Cream, €9 3 Pilot vest top, €15.99 4 Marc by Marc Jacobs silicone iPad cover, €70, net-a-porter.com 5 Longchamp Le Pliage Shopping Bag, €83

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December 2013/January 2014

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Smart Traveller|

Dining in Dubrovnik or doing business in Birmingham – Lisa Hughes hears where it’s at.

LittLe BLack Book DuBrOVniK Donal McSharry co-founded Funky Christmas Jumpers in 2008 and has since counted One Direction and the Kardashians as fans. The company ships worldwide but Donal’s favourite city is Dubrovnik.

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BEST BUSINESS STAYS IN BIRMINGHAM

1 Best business lunch …

Dining in Dubrovnik is very much fish, fish and more fish. Buffet Kamenice (Gunduliceva Poljana 8, +385 20 323 682) offers the best seafood, as you can tell from the never-ending queue.

For a change, try Taj Mahal (Ulica Nikole Gucetica 2, Iva Vojnovica 14, +385 20 323 221) in the old town. This Bosnian restaurant is a real carnivore’s delight.

Best business drinks …

Located inside the old city walls, Austro-Hungarian café GraDskavana (Ulica Pred Dvorom 1, +385 20 321 202; mea-culpa.hr) is famous for its coffee and great cocktails.

For the most spectacular views, head for Buza Bar (Crijeviceva ulica 9, +385 98 361 934). A bit of a hidden gem, this bar is

on the outer rocks of the old city walls and you can watch cliff divers jump into the crystal clear blue water below.

Getting around … There’s no traffic allowed inside the old city walls so Dubrovnik is best explored by foot.

Best business hotel …

Hotel Excelsior (Ulica Frana Supila 12, +385 20 430 830; adriaticluxuryhotels. com) is perfectly located, just a short walk from the old town, and is a popular choice among business people and celebrities. Unsurprisingly it’s expensive, so for an equally impressive stay at a kinder price, I recommend the Grand Villa Argentina (Ulica Frana Supila 14, +385 20 430 830; adriaticluxuryhotels.com)

LENS FLAIR the new nikon D5300 is the perfect travel buDDy. with a 24.2 megapixel cmos sensor for pin sharpness, it is also the first Dxformat D-slr with built-in wi-fi anD gps – makes sharing your aDventures a cinch; from €899.

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for its relaxed atmosphere, fantastic service and amazing views of the sea.

For a boutique hotel in the old town, The Pucic Palace (Ulica od Puca 1, +385 20 326 222; thepucicpalace.com) is luxurious. However, you might need to top up your credit card ...

Tipping… Croats are not accustomed to tipping so ten per cent is very much appreciated in restaurants.

Wi-Fi …? Unfortunately WiFi is quite limited so expect to rely on roaming outside your hotel.

On your downtime … Sail from the old city harbour across to Lokrum, a small island 600 metres off Dubrovnik. There is a botanical garden, an old monastery and a fort to explore.

THE rOTunDA Like a home from home and a trendy hotel rolled into one, Staying Cool at the Rotunda’s serviced apartments offer Wi-Fi, spacious rooms and stylish creature comforts. The apartments are kitted out with original artwork and bespoke furniture, and include a well-equipped Poggenpohl kitchen, pristine white bathroom and Francis Francis espresso maker. Best of all, each has floor-toceiling glass with priceless city views.

(150 New Street, +44 121 285 1290; stayingcool.com) HOTEL inDiGO Nestled on the 23rd and 24th floors of the Cube building, Hotel Indigo boasts 52 slick bedrooms, a members-only health club and spa, a Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill and champagne bar. Take meetings to the Laurent Perrier Champagne Bar on the 25th floor and treat clients to a 360° view. (200 Wharfside Street, The Cube, +44 121 643 2010; hotelindigobirmingham.co.uk) HYATT rEGEnCY BirMinGHAM If a four-star, city-centre hotel is what you’re after, here you go. Guests can book one of 10 meeting rooms with personalised catering services. Opt for a Regency Club room and enjoy access to the Club Lounge, which serves complimentary evening drinks with canapés. (2 Bridge Street, +44 121 643 1234; birmingham.regency.hyatt.com)

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Mark O’Sullivan

Gina Conheady

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Check in

Shelf Life|

A new guide to Greek hotels makes Bridget Hourican want to stay in every one.

Who’s reading what?

THE ImaRET, KavaLa

Tipperary-born novelist Donal Ryan.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR NEW NOVEL, THE THING ABOUT DECEMBER? It’s a year in the life of Johnsey Cunliffe, who has inherited farmland with a notional value in the tens of millions due to a dodgy rezoning decision. The narrative is in the third person but is delivered as a thoughtby-thought exposition of Johnsey’s soul.

DID YOU SUFFER FROM “SECOND BOOK” SYNDROME? Luckily, The Thing About December was written before The Spinning Heart, so I was under no pressure.

The decision to publish in reverse was made by my publishers, and has proven to be the right one.

WHERE’S THE MOST UNUSUAL PLACE JACOLINE’S SMALL HOTELS YOU’VE WRITTEN? In my car, parked in IN GREECE the gateway of a house at the side of a busy

by Jacoline Vinke road with a German Shepherd who seemed This is the Dutch writer and longGLOBAL to want to eat me, barking and slavering at time Greek resident’s third book on WARNING my passenger-side window. I had an idea Greek hotels, and I haven’t found Eco warriors – and that I knew I’d forget so I pulled over and a better guide (Papasotiriou worriers – take heart: Paddy wrote it out on a scrap of paper.

Publishing, €17.91). Her choices Woodworth, author of Our Once BEST BOOK FOR A JOURNEY? The are “personal and totally and Future Planet (University last time I was on a plane I took The subjective” – she likes hotels to be small (no more than of Chicago Press, €30), talked to Good Father by Noah Hawley and it 20 rooms), comfortable, hospitable, characterful and scientists, activists and policy was a perfect companion. For nervous well-located; and she doesn’t make value-for-money makers working to find flyers I’d recommend A Confederacy of judgments. She covers all Greece, finding hotels in solutions to climate change.

Dunces by John Kennedy Toole because converted seminaries, historic town houses, working Doom, gloom and it’s absorbing and hilarious. farms and Renaissance palazzos. Most are between €70 hope ... and €150 per room per night; the cheapest €45, the most

expensive €340, and between the gorgeous photos (taken

by Dutchman André Bakker) and Jacoline’s warm, pithy descriptions, you feel like staying in every one.

Donal Ryan’s debut novel, The Spinning Heart was long-listed for the Booker Prize. The Thing About December, is published by Doubleday Ireland.

Three women, three cities How Now Brown Frau (A (Allen & Unwin, £14.62).

Mo Months after meeting a “t “tall, attractive Bavarian, with impressively straight wi teeth”, Australia’s Merridy te Eastman Ea went to live with him in Munich Mu – pregnant, and speaking no German. Cue charming, if sometimes over-detailed account of motherhood and Bavarian mores.

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December 2013/January 2014

Breathless: An American Girl in Paris (Seal Press, £9.88). Bittersweet tale of £9 author Nancy K. Miller’s au “escape” to Paris in the “e ea early 1960s. She hopes to sa sample Paris breathlessly à la Jean Seberg Seberg, but finds more disappointment than romance ...

A very funny, cautionary memoir, by the feminist and literary professor.

My Venice and Other Essays (Atlantic Press Monthly, £16.05, out Mo December De 3). Crime writer wr Donna Leon, creator cr of Commissario Gu Guido Brunetti, muses on her adopted city of 25 years in 50 short, sharp essays. Of course it’s all canals and beautiful walkways ... but mind the garbage and dog dirt.

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The

Kingof Comedy When it comes to laughs, Will Ferrell is Hollywood’s go-to guy.

But every once in a while, he casts off the trappings of stardom and returns to his roots in Co Longford. Tony Clayton-Lea gets a bellyful. Photographs by Richard Gilligan.

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ity the comic actor or stand-up comedian who has to go about his day knowing that, at some point, he will come face-to-face with a member of the public. And not just an ordinary member of the public, but one who is an avid fan, and whose life will be enhanced a thousand-fold not only by meeting his or her hero but by the hope of some witty banter with him. Someone as famous as American actor/ producer/comedian Will Ferrell encounters such fans on a regular basis and has long since made peace with himself on the issue.

“I don’t really worry about that expectation,” he says, when I catch up with him during a promotional schedule for Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, which once again focuses on the deadpan comic adventures of a group of media men, led from the front by Ferrell’s acclaimed comic creation of hapless newsreader Ron Burgundy. Anchorman 2 is the sequel to his hugely successful Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, which was released nearly ten years

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December 2013/January 2014

ago to the sound of loud applause from critics and audience. Ferrell is in Amsterdam, has just finished the cover shoot with Cara’s photographer and is clearly in somewhat of an Irish mood. He is also on a mission to explain and clarify rather than aim for the funny bone.

“There are moments when you encounter people and you feel like being funny, and there are moments – like when you’re in a hurry to go somewhere, or if you’re engaged in something that doesn’t require jokes – when you don’t. I live my life how I like to live my life and I don’t really let that sense of expectation get in the way, but there are definitely moments when I know I’ve totally let people down by not being amusing. Their reactions are like, ‘Oh, you’re so normal’. And I’m like, ‘Yes, I am’. But other times? Oh, I’m a riot.”

Born 46 years ago in the middle-class Californian suburb of Irvine, the son of a teacher mother and a musician father of Irish extraction, Will Ferrell has rarely suffered from lack of popularity – he started making people laugh at school in first grade, when he learned the comedic

December 2013/January 2014

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IntervIew

trick of opening a door, having it hit the bottom of his foot and then snapping his head back suddenly as if it had banged into his face.

Along with tricks like this, he recalls he was large for his age and quite athletic, playing for the varsity football team and captaining the varsity basketball team. Come high school, between wearing pyjamas into class and being voted Best Personality in his senior year, it was clear where Ferrell was heading.

He graduated with a degree in Sports Information, and considered a career in media/journalism (with a sports bias) but quickly moved on.

“I don’t think I had the courage to admit to myself that I really wanted to do comedy for a career,” says Ferrell, “so I went off to college to do the degree. I was always fairly athletic, played on sports teams in high school and I loved watching sport, so I thought the degree would get me a blend of what was a real job and something that was slightly entertainment-based. Immediately upon graduating, though, I had this nagging feeling that if I didn’t give comedy a shot I’d regret it. I never got the sports thing off the ground but I was fine with that.”

An understanding home life helped Ferrell with the transition from college to comedy. Although his parents had divorced when he was eight, his father and mother were supportive of his attempts to get his career as a gagman off the ground.

“They were really good about it. I didn’t have a job coming out of college, so I moved back home and lived on the couch for a couple of years. My very understanding mother said she would treat that time at home as my graduate school, and that as long as I continued to do things such as taking acting classes or going out and trying stand-up comedy in clubs, then she could support that. I was lucky enough to have someone who allowed me to take those risks without a massive, underlying, financial burden.”

And what about his father, a working musician who had played with acts such as The Righteous Brothers? “Well, he’s been a 32 |

December 2013/January 2014

musician for over 40 years, so he knows all about following the career path that you really want. When I told him I wanted to get into comedy and give it an earnest go, he said that if it were all based on talent then he wouldn’t worry about me. He advised me, however, that success in anything, particularly in the entertainment industry, is also based on luck. It wasn’t much of a ra-ra-ra speech, but it certainly took the pressure away.”

In 1991, Ferrell dragged himself off his mother’s couch, moved to Los Angeles, where he suffered more than several ego-grinding auditions (“one guy said, ‘I’m not trying to be mean but you’re not good’”), joined the improvisational comedy group,

The legend continues – funny man Will Ferrell strikes again in Anchorman 2.

“To be honest, we’re a bit of a mutt, but ... we do claim Ireland, symbolically or otherwise, as the home of our roots.”

The Groundlings, and by 1993 had started to work on the late-night, television comedy show, Saturday Night Live (SNL). He remained an integral member of SNL for seven years and remembers this early period of his career as a mixture of confidence, ignorance, uncertainty and typically youthful bravado.

“I approached it as if it were a tough thing to do,” he reveals, “a tough thing to succeed at but that I would give it a shot and have fun with it. I knew it was such a crapshoot anyway and so I thought I’d just see what happened. I worked really hard, though, took it very seriously, and yet in many ways I didn’t take it seriously at all. I just tried to have fun with whatever was thrown at me and that seemed to serve me very well.”

And then there’s his connection to Ireland. Yes, he has been known to wear the Irish rugby jersey around LA and, yes, during one of his many visits to Ireland he received (in 2008) the James Joyce Award from University College Dublin’s Literary & Historical Society. (“As I perused,” he began his acceptance speech, “my leatherbound volumes of Ulysses, Finnegans Wake, Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, standing in my mahogany library, a lot of feelings ran across my head – like, man, I should have read these books.”) Yet unlike other hugely successful Hollywood stars we could name, Ferrell has a genuine, emotional attachment to Ireland.

It emanates from his father, whose roots are in Co Longford.

“I’ve been to Ireland about eight times,” says Ferrell, “and every experience I’ve had has been just terrific. In fact, some of my fondest travel memories in Europe are in Ireland. I’ve gone on a couple of trips with my dad and my brother where we’ve tried to trace the Ferrell line back to Longford. I’m not sure we were hugely successful, in that we can’t say with a degree of certainty that there’s a specific moment where my family starts.

To be honest, we’re a bit of a mutt, but that said, we do claim Ireland,

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PHOTOGRaPHS By RICHaRD GIllIGan aSSISTED By al HIGGInS

INTERVIEw

symbolically or otherwise, as the home of our roots.”

Ferrell fondly recalls his first visit to Ireland more than 20 years ago.

In his first season of SNL, he and SNL colleague Adam McKay and writer friend David Koechner (each of whom Ferrell has continued to collaborate with) flew into Shannon Airport for a week’s rest and recreation along Ireland’s west coast.

“The only reservation we had was a car rental. We drove up and down the coast, and we just pulled into towns along the way, bedded down in a B&B or a hotel – and we had the best of times. We made our way up to Connemara and Galway, and so on, so that whetted the appetite for coming back. The next time after that was a trip with my father – I’d asked him where in the world did he want to take a special trip to and, without a moment’s hesitation, he said Ireland. So we came back and explored the Ring of Kerry, Dingle, and Dublin as well. Genuinely, Ireland is quite a special place for me, and I love going there.”

There is about Ferrell a sense of being rooted in the here and now.

With huge movie successes such as 2004’s Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and 2007’s Blades of Glory (the funniest movie about ice skating you’ll ever see), he may be one of the highest grossing comic actors currently operating out of

Longford lad?

Will’s family tree leads back to the Midland county.

Tinseltown, but there’s a sincere common touch about him that is borne out of having experienced more than several years of hard knocks. Family, a sense of belonging and of loyalty, seem crucial to him.

He’s not just a one-trick pony, either, as highlighted in more serious roles in the likes of 2006’s Stranger Than Fiction and 2010’s Everything Must Go. He must surely look back on his early days as a struggling actor and comedian with something like a smile. Would he change anything?

“I don’t know if I would really have done anything differently,” he muses. “I grew up in southern California and stayed in Los Angeles. I knew that city very well, whereas other cities such as Chicago and New York might have been foreign entities for me. In LA, I discovered The Groundlings, and I think I did that exactly right.

So somehow – and I’m not really certain how – I landed on my feet with all of this.”

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues opens across Ireland, UK and Europe December 18.

The Likes of Will Ferrell ...

MUSIC “I’m really getting into ukulele music. I know it might not be the most current or trendy music out there but that doesn’t matter to me – I like its simplicity and it talks to me, if that makes sense. I like music and occasionally perform some in various movies of mine. I mean, who can ever forget my flute solo in the first Anchorman movie?”

BOOKS “I tend to have a few on the go at the same time, but the one that has really perked up my interest most recently is The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared,

by Swedish author Jonas Jonasson.

The title pretty much gives the plot away, doesn’t it, but it’s a brilliant book, quite absurd and farcical, but

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December 2013/January 2014

also something of a moving fable.”

MOVIES “I really like westerns and I’m not exactly sure why – maybe I’m the age where I grew up with them on television. One of my more recent movies was a Spanishlanguage comedy western called Casa de Mi Padre, which translates as My Father’s House. Was it a huge success? Well, it worked for me!”

RESTAURANTS “Oh, don’t ask me to pick just one … Hmm, well, if we’re talking about Ireland and Dublin then I’d have to say it’s the city centre restaurant with President Kennedy’s rocking chair in it.

What’s that place called? Oh, yeah, Shanahan’s on the Green, top right (119 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2; shanahans.ie). Is that restaurant still around? It is? Oh, good. Great steaks – and the Kennedy chair rocks!”

FASHION “Contrary to popular

opinion, there’s nothing wrong with Ron Burgundy’s dress sense. But we’re talking about me, so I have to say I have a thing about shoes. Clothes, too, but it’s mostly with shoes. I’ll make sure I wear each pair of shoes a certain time and then I go to the next pair of shoes in line. It’s from growing up with a single mom; you didn’t know when that next pair of new jeans or footwear would arrive. I had nice clothes but I’d kinda wear them out, whereas now I give every item of clothing equal wear.

Wasn’t that revealing, that OCD kinda thing? Did you like that?”

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DUBLIN

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LONDON

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CHICAGO

people

Patrick Collison

Co-founder, Stripe

“It was just myself and John and a couch. It was like a small bedroom, really,” laughs Patrick Collison, recalling the office in Co Limerick’s Castletroy Technology Park, where he and his brother started their company while still in school. Three months later the siblings moved to Silicon Valley. “It was really the draw of the epicentre for the industry, and we also felt pretty footloose,” he recalls. The company, Auctomatic, sold for $5 million when the brothers were just 17 and 19.

John finished school, then went to Harvard, while Patrick attended MIT. But inspiration struck again. They set aside their studies and returned to California to start Stripe, now one of the most hotly-tipped companies in Silicon Valley, valued at around $500 million.

Stripe enables anyone with a website to take online payments immediately.

“Our goal is to build a better platform for starting and running a business online,” says Patrick, Stripe’s chief executive. “We felt there could be more businesses online, people who couldn’t yet participate in the internet economy.”

Backed by A-list investors – including PayPal founders Elon Musk and Peter Thiel – Stripe launched in Palo Alto, then moved to San Francisco, a favoured location for early-stage internet companies. Patrick travels to Ireland regularly but both Collisons could be back and forth more often if Stripe establishes a base in Ireland.

Dublin is “really hopping” as a tech scene, Patrick notes, and Ireland’s business infrastructure and low corporate tax rate “are very important in attracting multinational companies.

The combination of those advantages in one of the most vibrant tech centres in Europe makes Ireland a pretty strong proposition.”

The transatlantic Techies

Ireland’s relationship with Silicon Valley has never been closer.

Key movers in the two-way tech traffic across the Atlantic talk to Karlin Lillington about an exciting new age of co-location.

Photographs by Sean Breithaupt and Yvette Monahan. s long as there’s been a technology industry in Ireland, there’s been a reliance on, and a relationship with, Silicon Valley.

These days, though, it’s a much deeper and more important relationship,” says Irish technology entrepreneur turned venture capitalist Brian Caulfield, who represents one of the Valley’s oldest and best-known technology venture capital firms – Draper Fisher Jurvetson – in Ireland.

The fact that DFJ and other Valley funds are on Irish soil illustrates that changed relationship. While Ireland has long been firmly on the international map as a major technology hub, initially it was primarily due to the success of the Irish government, through state agencies IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, in bringing Valley technology giants eastwards. Companies such as Intel, HP, Oracle and Apple were early arrivals in the 1980s and 1990s. Then, a new generation of internet companies landed.

Scattered around Ireland is a veritable Valley who’s who: PayPal, Cisco, eBay, LinkedIn, Dropbox, Zynga, Twitter and Facebook amongst them.

Google is also a major employer, at the centre of a rapidly growing urban cluster of technology and internet companies in Dublin’s revitalised docklands. Along with the established names there are numerous earlystage, high-growth Irish and San Francisco Bay Area start-ups. IDA Ireland now targets this youthful brigade in California,

A

recognising that a broad technology ecosystem is important and that out of such start-ups may emerge the next Facebook or Google.

“Our intent is to put in the next phase of these companies in Ireland and our most fertile ground is the west coast of the US. We wrap our arms around them in California and then we have the team in Dublin to handhold them over here,” says IDA senior vice-president Barry O’Dowd.

A growing number of Irish tech companies are heading to the Valley and San Francisco, too, in search of funding, fresh product markets and partnerships. There, they can draw on a range of support activities and services from Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Technology Leadership Group – a network of Irish and Irish-American Valley technology executives, chaired by former Intel chair and chief executive Craig Barrett.

“Many relatively early-stage start-ups are now effectively co-located between the Valley and Ireland,” notes Caulfield. “But I don’t think it would have grown to anything like the scale it has without the influence of foreign direct investment in Ireland. Those companies trained a generation, who learned a tremendous amount from Silicon Valley firms and now bring those skills into the Irish economy.” Long may this special transatlantic technology relationship continue.

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people

Jennifer Kelly

Global real estate and workplace services director, Google “The design of the facilities we provide is what forms part of Google’s culture,” says Jennifer Kelly.

The Irishwoman has the enviable job of overseeing the building of Google’s famously creative and colourful, global workplaces. More than 80 Google offices across the world come under her remit – every Google site except the original Googleplex, the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, California. Her task is to design comfortable spaces that promote collaboration and creativity.

Based in Google Ireland – which has just celebrated ten years in Dublin – Kelly selects the sites, negotiates leases, and then oversees the construction and design of Google workplaces, famous for their slides and fireman’s poles, curious nooks and crannies for impromptu meetings or games, quirky furnishings and cosy snack and café areas (food is, famously, all provided for free).

“No two days are ever the same. I’m very proud to tell people I work for Google,” notes Kelly, who has spent a decade with the company. She works with a project development team “who help drive the design and decisions. And we also engage with some super architects and designers around the world.

I think they get very excited about working on Google offices.”

Kelly’s regularly out to the huge Googleplex campus, a place “full of energy” – and, happily, brimming with Irish Googlers. “When I go there, I see so many faces that I know from Dublin. I’ll never be lonely!”

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December 2013/January 2014

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Steven Collins

Co-founder and chief technology officer, Swrve

Irish-based serial entrepreneur and Trinity College Dublin academic Steven Collins has a close affinity with the San Francisco Bay Area: all three of his companies have had their US offices in the region.

“We’ve slowly migrated north,” he quips, from San Jose in the south, to Palo Alto and Redwood City midway, with current company Swrve in San Francisco. In 2007, Intel acquired his previous company, Havok, which makes software tools for creating realistic action in computer games (such as Halo 2 and Half-Life 2), and special effects in movies (including The Matrix).

Swrve, the latest venture of Collins and co-founder Hugh Reynolds, focuses on the mobile market. “We provide a solution for application developers to communicate in real time with the users of their mobile apps,” says Collins. “Think of it as a marketing platform built inside the apps themselves.”

Collins flies over to California every six weeks, spending one or two weeks doing “a combination of meeting customers, and also meeting with the US office. I’m the director of technology strategy and product strategy, so talking to them and getting their feedback is important.” There’s no place quite like the Silicon Valley region for a tech entrepreneur, he says.

“The thing that always amazes me is the density of similarly minded people and companies. You give yourself over to it when you’re in it,” he says. “There’s very little distinction between life and business, but when you’re in the startup scene and running hell-bent for leather, it’s the only place to be.”

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December 2013/January 2014

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Sonia Flynn

Head of Facebook Ireland “When I say travel is important to me – well, it’s actually been the theme of my career,” says Sonia Flynn, who runs Facebook’s operations in Ireland and is also director of user operations for Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia Pacific.

Her dual role at Facebook means she goes out regularly to its headquarters in Menlo Park, just south of San Francisco. “But there’s a high volume of people coming in here to Dublin too.” That has included Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, who, Flynn says, enjoyed walking around Dublin and, like many a tourist, sampling Irish hospitality in a local pub. The Menlo Park office has a good number of Irish employees.

“There’s a lot of movement within the company – we’re a big fan of that. And we’ve had a few romances and a few marriages now,” between Californian and Irish Facebook workers.

Some 400 people work in Facebook’s Dublin office, where the main focus is ensuring that the Facebook site is up and running so that users around the globe can post, comment and like without glitches.

“Some really interesting technology pieces of the company are run from here,” she notes.

Unusually, Flynn does not have a background in technology, but studied German language and literature, and applied languages. “I’m not a techie but I find myself in the tech industry,” she laughs. She also finds herself a brand new mum. “So, efficient travel and time with family are even more important.” It has her looking forward to the shorter journey time and convenience of Aer Lingus’ direct Dublin to San Francisco route.

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Deirdre MacCormack

Chief marketing officer, Mcor Technologies

On a rainy Dublin day, Deirdre MacCormack sits in a café, enjoying a coffee and a banana. Or so it appears. The steaming coffee is real but the life-sized, seemingly ripe fruit is an impostor (see right), the product of a 3D printer. MacCormack is chief marketing officer for Mcor Technologies in Dunleer, Co Louth, which manufactures 3D printers that produce objects from tightly compressed paper.

“It’s easier and easier to get things 3D printed,” she says of a technology that still seems more Star Trek than start-up. “You can even scan an object for printing using an Xbox game console with a Kinect [motion sensing accessory]. A few years ago, specialised scanners cost $14,000.” Objects in a special 3D file format can be printed out on a Mcor printer, which cuts the object layer by layer, from sheets of paper. The paper adheres together using an eco-friendly gluing process and the surprisingly strong items can be printed in full colour – from a bas-relief ultrasound portrait of a baby, to action figures, medical models, contour maps and product prototypes.

A major deal with office supply chain Staples brings Mcor’s 3D printing directly to consumers, too.

Mcor has offices in the Irish Innovation Center in Santa Clara and MacCormack is back and forth regularly. “The office is very well located for us in Silicon Valley. In technology, if there’s anything you want to do, it’s really happening there. The possibilities are endless. And there’s a really good understanding of what we do.”

With sales up 800 per cent this past year, MacCormack spends a lot of time on planes. But she loves it. “The industry is wildly exciting at the moment.”

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people

Paul O’Riordan

Country leader, Oracle Ireland, and head of business intelligence & analytics, UK and Ireland “Over the years, the roles and business functions here have evolved and matured,” says Paul O’Riordan, head of technology giant Oracle’s Irish operations. “And the types of jobs have moved right up the value chain.”

Oracle, one of Silicon Valley’s largest and most successful companies, was also one of the first to expand into Ireland, following a pattern of development that has been repeated by many technology multinationals. Starting with a tiny Dublin sales team in 1987, Oracle gradually grew its operations and now encompasses around a thousand employees across Dublin, Galway and Belfast.

Why such steady growth? “We’ve never let the company down,” says O’Riordan, an eleven-year Oracle veteran. “The business units and the people here have been a success and, in many areas, we’ve been a hotbed of innovation.”

Oracle Ireland employees also have a strong record of spinning out start-ups of their own or going on to lead other established companies, as well as taking on leadership roles in Oracle globally.

Irish predecessors in O’Riordan’s job are now Oracle country managers in the UK and in South Africa. “We Irish have the ability to embed ourselves anywhere in the world,” he laughs.

Oracle Ireland is full of different nationalities, testimony to how Ireland has become a major world technology hub, he notes. “But the Bay area is also very attractive to the Irish.”

O’Riordan, who travels almost every week, adds: “Whether I’m walking down a street in San Francisco, or in our offices in Silicon Valley, it’s amazing the number of Irish accents I’ll hear.”

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December 2013/January 2014

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Great outdoors | burren

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Rock of ages

The ancient limestone landscape of the Burren in Co Clare is not only a fount of natural wonders but also a centre of artisan food production. Neil Hegarty finds sustenance for both body and soul in this magical place. Photographs by Anthony Woods.

A rugged vista of Mullagh M贸r, typical of the Burren's unique topography.

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Great outdoors | burren

hat’s a heath spotted orchid. The bright one is bloody cranesbill, and there’s juniper, and harebell, gentian, lady’s bedstraw, mountain avens…” It’s a spring afternoon and we are on our hands and knees on a hillside in the west of Ireland.

Above us, the land climbs to a crest marked dramatically by a dry stone wall stretching in both directions as far as the eye can see; below, a landscape of stones and lakes vanishes into a haze.

But my friend and I have eyes only for the little patch of turf, thronged with wild flowers, in front of our knees. When we look out across the countryside, the same story is repeated – this landscape is packed, spangled with blossom and extravagant colour. We’re on the Burren – a rocky landscape that stretches over 200 square kilometres of Co Clare and is one of the tremendous terrains of the world. The name derives from the Gaelic word boireann, meaning

T

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“great rock” – the rock in question beingg limestone, the bright, heat-radiating surface of which has been gouged by time and water into craters and narrow fissures. Great limestone boulders lie scattered across this landscape – giants’ footballs, I hear them called later, though glacial erratics is the proper term; I know which I prefer – but the blooming wildflowers soften what might otherwise be a harsh, otherworldy place of stones.

Our guide is Tony Kirby, who runs Heart of Burren Walks (087 292 5487; heartofburrenwalks. com). He has already underlined the remarkable biodiversity of the Burren, where Alpine, Arctic and Mediterranean flowers grow cheek by jowl, the result of aeons of continental drift and more recent Ice Age glaciation. This range of flora sets the Burren apart from

Set in stone – Poulnabrone dolmen, above, a portal tomb dating back to the Neolithic period.

Left, heath spotted orchids make for a pop of colour amidst the limestone, and below, ou our man Neil Hegarty, at one with nature.

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Great outdoors | burren

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similar karst plateaux elsewhere in the world. Tony has also explained the origins of the Burren: standing here on the limestone, “we’re standing on the skeletons of millions of sea creatures, compressed slowly into stone by the pressure of millions of tonnes of seawater: and all of this millions of years ago” – when the rock that is now Ireland lay submerged in tropical seas.

Tony points out that below the Burren lie intricate kilometres of largely unexplored cave systems and he mentions the turloughs, or lakes, that appear and disappear with the seasons. “They empty into the caves in summer and are replenished from them in winter.”

Tony is an engaging guide, moving nimbly from geology to poetry to environmental concerns. And we’re glad of his company: the Burren is a place that requires a guide to decode its strangeness.

Later, we drive to Kilfenora and the excellent Burren Centre (theburrencentre.ie). The exhibition here is A Walk Through Time and now we return to a human scale, exploring the Burren’s more recent history: a mere 7,000 years of it, which, after our lesson in geology, seems like a flick of the eye. Some ancient human traces have come to

symbolise the region’s deep past: the mysterious Poulnabrone dolmen, for example, which is at least 5,000 years old. Others, such as the ruined Cistercian abbey at Corcomroe, are more recent though still evocative; others still, like the holy wells scattered through this landscape, are both old and new, their Christian associations grafted onto pagan origins.

We are feeling peckish after our walk and our history lessons; lucky for us, then, that the Burren has yet another string to its bow, as a centre of artisan food production. So we make tracks for Lisdoonvarna, home to the Burren Smokehouse (burrensmokehouse.ie).

Birgitta Hedin-Curtin has operated the Smokehouse for 25 years, in partnership with her husband Peter, who runs the Roadside Tavern (roadsidetavern.ie) next-door. Over samples of delicate hot- and coldsmoked salmon, she describes the place of the Smokehouse in the Burren’s scheme of things. “We

Opposite, dryy stone walls of the park and d surrounding ng farmland. nd.

Clockwise ise from right, Billyy Archbold hass a moment of reflection at the e Roadside Tavern; rn; Heart of Burren en Walks' Tony Kirby; y; Simon Haden in the Corkscrew Bar at Gregans Castle Hotel.

Stay at …

SPLURGE Gregans Castle Hotel, left, nestled in the countryside a few kilometres outside Ballyvaughan, is the prime hotel in the Burren region.

Come here for excellent service and facilities (including massage and reflexology choices), all amid quiet, beautiful surroundings. And with only 21 bedrooms and suites, it’s an intimate sort of place too.

Doubles from €170. (Gregans Castle Hotel, Ballyvaughan, 065 707 7005; gregans.ie) MID-PRICE The Aran View Hotel lies just outside Doolin, on the southern edge of the Burren. The original 18th-century house has been modernised by the Linnane family in recent years and now features 13 comfortable bedrooms (plus selfcatering options in the grounds) and glorious views of the Aran Islands and Atlantic. Doubles from €100.

(Aran View Hotel, Doolin, 065 707 4061; aranview.com)

Hyland’s Burren Hotel, in the centre of Ballyvaughan, is an agreeable, low-key and convenient country hotel, with comfortable rooms. The hotel comes with a good restaurant, and a bar with open fire.

Doubles from €80. (Hyland’s Burren Hotel, Main Street, Ballyvaughan, 065 708 1768; hylandsburren.com) BUDGET The many good hostels on the Burren cater to groups large and small, with private and family rooms now offered as standard. Good options include the Boghill Centre, with its strong environmental ethos and range of courses and activities where doubles cost from €35 (Boghill Centre, Kilfenora, 065 707 4644; boghill.com) and the equally ecofriendly Clare’s Rock Hostel at Carran, in the heart of the Burren, where doubles are priced from €48 (Clare’s Rock, Carran, 065 708 9129; claresrock.com).

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Great outdoors | burren

CLIFFS OF MOHER AND DOOLIN pITCH AND puTT BY BIG SMOKE STuDIO

Eat at …

think of our products as a wine producer thinks of the local terroir: what do our salmon eat? Where do they swim? These facts, and our patented smoking process, explain the ng flavour.” We nod, stuffing ourselves; I could devour this salmon forever.

Our first day on the Burren ends at Doolin, us the seaside village famous for its traditional music pubs – and at the Aran View Hotel, which has been run by the Linnane family for four generations. From our comfortable hotel room we have sweeping views of the Cliffs of Moher (cliffsofmoher.ie), as well as the Aran Islands of Inis Oírr, Inis Meáin and Inis Mór floating on the Atlantic. We sleep well that night, filled not only with smoked salmon but with sea air and the memory of bright flowers like jewels gleaming on limestone.

A sea fog rolls in overnight – but 54 |

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Top, the magnificent Cliffs of Moher.

Above, great scenes from the green at Doolin Pitch and Putt, an 18-hole links golf club on the road to Doolin Pier, and, left, Birgitta HedinCurtin of the Burren Smokehouse.

our trip to the visitors’ centre at the Cliffs of Moher is still worthwhile.

The Atlantic Edge exhibition in the centre’s echoing central cavern is good to see, while mist obscures all views outside. Afterwards, we return to Doolin, where a treat awaits us.

We have been told by friends that we must visit Fabiola’s Patisserie (Doolin Craft Gallery, Ballyvoe) just outside the village (“you’ll see a pair of Citroen 2CVs parked outside”) and, while we are not exactly suffering hunger pangs after our excellent breakfast at the Aran

sPLurGe The Wild Honey above on the edge of Inn, above, Li Lisdoonvarna is a st stand-out option and while it's a lowke place, it holds a key Mi Michelin Bib Gourmand.

Ai Aidan McGrath serves bist bistro-style cuisine, with good seafood choices (crab claws, smoked haddo haddock); his wife Kate fronts the operation.

Good bar food and lunch option too. There’s also options acco accommodation: double rooms from €80. (Wild Hone Inn, Kincora Road, Honey Lisdo Lisdoonvarna, 065 707 4300; wildho wildhoneyinn.com) MId-PrICe No shortage of choice here. L’arco in Ballyvaughan offers casual, excellent Italian fare in a buzzing environment; special offers and early birds are generally available. (L’Arco, Main Street, Ballyvaughan, 065 708 3900; burrenrestaurant.com) budGet The locally owned doolin Café is one to try. Behind a traditional cottage façade lies a modern restaurant, with excellent, friendly service.

Imaginative breakfast (try the homemade baked beans) and lunch menus, always competitively priced, with dinner options (melt-in-themouth beef and good vegetarian options) most evenings. (Doolin Café, Doolin, 065 707 4795; thedoolincafe.com)

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Great outdoors | burren

Don't miss ...

1

The Burren’s cave systems are an intrinsic aspect of the area’s character and, while most of these caverns are unexplored, several have been opened to the public. The largest of these is the aillwee Cave (065 707 7036; aillweecave.ie aillweecave.ie), with added extras in the shapes of

This page, above, Jamie Bailey with Batty the bateleur eagle at Burren Bird of Prey Centre, right, Margaret O'Loghlen of O'Lochlainn's pub, below, Doolin Cave's visitor centre.

Opposite, clockwise from left, master baker Fabiola Tombo; a crock of bloody cranes bill; jeweller Brian Hackett; sheep a-grazing on the coastal road.

View, we fall upon Fabiola Tombo’s coffee, smooth Brazil nut fudge and raspberry marshmallows as though we haven’t eaten in a year. The café is like the marshmallows: small and sweet and brightly coloured; Fabiola hails from Burgundy – and came to the Burren, she laughs, “as if by magic, and fell in love with the place”. Later, we visit the adjoining jewellery shop run by Brian Hackett (owner of the other Citroen 2CV) and admire his fine silver rings and bracelets set with gleaming citrine, blue topaz and amethyst. A silver penannular pin catches my eye: it reminds me of the famous Tara Brooch, and Brian tells me that it is in fact a replica he has created of an ancient brooch dug up from a nearby field only 60 years ago.

We sense an emerging theme.

Well, two themes. One is of course 56 |

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cheesemaking and falconry.

The smaller doolin Cave (065 707 5761; doolincave.ie) boasts one of the longest stalactites in the northern hemisphere. o’Lochlainn’s of Ballyvaughan (Ballyvaugh Road, Ballyvaughan, 065 707 7006) is only open after 8pm – but is one of the most atmospheric pubs in the Burren area. Small, intimate and with a dizzying range of wh whiskeys, this is definitely a joi joint to check out.

The burren national Park (Information Point at Corofin, 065 682 76 7693; burrennationalpark.ie) co covers only the south-eastern co corner of the Burren, but it enc encompasses all the varieties of scenery that have made the area famous: limestone pavements, rare flora and fauna, turloughs and cliffs.

Waymarked ways, ranging from easy to strenuous, snake through the landscape; and the Burren Bus, which runs

2 3

throughout summer, will pick up tired walkers (for free!).

Fine sandy beaches are at a premium on the Burren’s rugged shore – but the Blue Flag beach at Fanore is an exception to this rule. With limestone cliffs and rolling dunes, this is a magical spot for a walk or picnic.

There is safe swimming and surfing, with lifeguards on duty throughout the season, and it’s 12 km from Ballyvaughan.

The Michael Cusack Centre at Carran (065 708 9944; michaelcusack. ie) celebrates the life and legacy of one of the founders of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). Explore Cusack’s restored thatched homestead, absorb his legacy in the modern visitors’ centre, and walk the six-kilometre Cusack Way, beginning and ending at the centre. An excellent means of absorbing another aspect of Burren – and Irish – history.

4 5

my insatiable appetite – an appetite that happily, the Burren seems capable of satisfying. The other is of a careful, skilful attention to detail shared by the people who live and work here – and brought out by the landscape of the Burren itself. And, as it happens, this idea is articulated later in the day by Sadie Chowen-Doyle, who runs the exquisite Burren Perfumery (Fahoe North, Carron, 065 708 9102; burrenperfumery.com). “The Burren is a sensitive ecosystem,” she says, leading us into a herb garden planted with lavender, borage and meadowsweet, “and we abide by its

studies combine at Fancy some social climbing? Activities and field runs caving, climbing, the Burren Outdoor Education Centre, which rammes. burrenoec.com kayaking and hill walking alongside ecology prog

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illustration by Fuchsia Macaree

biG sMoKe stu dio

s

Great outdoors | burren

Top, the shimmering At Atlantic makes for a scenic coastal route, and Jane O'Donoghue of the Tea and Garden Rooms.

Left, Sadie Ch Chowen-Doyle of Bu Burren Perfumery, below, with da daughter Celeste.

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needs. Quality is the only thing that counts on the Burren.”

After more coffee and more cakes in the pretty Perfumery tea rooms, Sadie shows us the perfumes formulated as customers watch, the soap-making room, the shelves of creams and bright soaps like gemstones. “I think we’re hungry nowadays,” Sadie remarks, “for the qualities the Burren can offer: authenticity, connectedness, purity.”

Later, we take the dramatic Atlantic coastal road that leads to Ballyvaughan. On one side, the Burren limestone falls away into pounding surf; on the other, the road is lined by Ireland’s ubiquitous hedges of fuchsia. At Ballyvaughan, the coast breaks up into quieter bays, with the famous Flaggy Shore of rocks and smooth stones just across the inlet at New Quay. We pause at the Tea and Garden Rooms (An Fear Ghorta, Ballyvaughan, 065 707 7157; tearoomsballyvaughan.com) on the waterfront for yet another pit stop. The beautiful gardens are worth a visit in themselves; so too

is the café, its counter as we enter lined with home-baked cakes. Jane O’Donoghue has run the Tea and Garden Rooms for five years – but though she works hard, she finds time for the Burren. “We have our own hens and eggs; my ideal day is to make some egg sandwiches, go into the Burren and picnic on the limestone.”

We leave the Burren, pausing at Lady Gregory’s former estate of Coole Park (Gort, Co Galway, 091 631 804; coolepark.ie), home of the famous Autograph Tree, with the initials of WB Yeats and others carved into its bark. Gregory’s house is long gone – but a turlough is there, draining now as summer approaches; and on the far bank, the ground begins to rise towards the Burren.

We think of Yeats standing here, and imagining how the waters “Run underground, rise in a rocky place / In Coole demesne, and there to finish up / Spread to a lake and drop into a hole …” It is a beautiful place, the Burren, and inspiring: providing food not merely for a greedy stomach – but for the soul too.

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city break | New york

the

HigH Life

New York’s High Line park is a place to see – and somewhere to be seen. Patrick Rogers takes to the re-purposed train track for a totally different view of Manhattan life.

Photographs by Jason Florio.

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A place to see and to be seen in – New York's High Line viewed from Chelsea art district.

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city break | New york

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River waterfront, is a place with a certain snob appeal. Maybe that’s because the territory it covers is a former industrial district now thick with fasionable boutiques and art galleries, and maybe it’s because of the park’s height – up to nine metres above the ground. “You get such an incredible view,” says Tom Hammar, a wedding photographer who has arrived from Stockholm on a clear morning with a groom and bride in tow, both of them gorgeously decked out for the occasion. “You’re over the street, viewing it from a different perspective. And it’s fun for them,” he says, nodding to the attractive newlyweds, “there are so many people looking at them get married.”

Many people, indeed. From the day it opened in 2009, after a tenyear battle waged by preservationists to save the once derelict trestle

Top, an unusual view from the Standard hotel.

Clockwise, from above, Patrick Rogers enjoying the sun; Sardinian artists Gianluca Vassallo and Michela Carla, touting for business; Chelsea Grasslands, between West 19th Street and West 20th Street, looking North.

IWAN BAAN © 2009

here’s a curious structure in lower Manhattan, a relic of the city’s industrial past made of long concrete and old steel, that calls out to a certain sort of visitor. Do you like to ride in hot-air balloons?

Do you dream of living above the fray in a penthouse apartment?

Then climb the stairs at the corner of Gansevoort and Washington Streets, in the Meatpacking District, and wander a while in the High Line park as it skims above the streets and wiggles through canyons of tall buildings. If you listen, you may notice that the throb of the city has ebbed slightly and the people on the pavement below look somehow remote. You may even feel a bit superior – your very thoughts seem elevated – because up here, to put it bluntly, you’re not down there.

The High Line, a park built on top of an abandoned, elevated, train track that extends for two-and-ahalf kilometres along the Hudson

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city break | New york

from destruction, the park, now beautifully refurbished, has been an instant hit with natives and tourists alike, attracting some four million visitors last year alone. I should know – I’m one of them. In summer, the High Line is a place to gawk and be gawked at, and you’d better be ready to use your elbows to get a good spot along the Art Deco railing, or a glass of wine or gelato from one of a carefully curated selection of food carts, or a ringside seat to watch the parade of buskers and prancers whose stage and catwalk it has become. But plan to visit in the autumn, when the goldleafed, grey birch trees quake in the gusts off the Hudson, or in early winter, when the bob-tail and thick clumps of sea grass, among some 200 plants species, whisper under skies the colour of a navy blazer, and you will experience the High Line as the park’s creators intended it – a bit of Zen above the rooftops.

The place to start the journey is at the park’s southern entrance, between a thicket of shiny blue bicycles from the city’s vastly popular new Citi Bike (citibikenyc. com) bike-share programme, and the unruly construction site where the Whitney Museum of American Art’s new home, designed by architect Renzo Piano, will give the area a much needed jolt of class once the works by Edward Hopper, Jasper Johns et al make their move from midtown sometime

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Anti-clockwise from left, buildings designed by Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel and Shigeru Ban flank the High Line; Citi Bikes on Washington Street, in the Meat Packing District; givin' it all that – fresh catch at The Lobster Place.

Eat at …

Don’t try to escape from New York without eating pizza – it’s futile. At artichoke basille’s, the pies range from standards like Margharita ($28 for a pie serving two-three) to twice-baked Burnt Anchovy ($29) and the signature Artichoke ($30). The latter, a heavy stew of artichoke,

spinach, and cream browned on top of a thick crisp crust, is a guilty pleasure. They can be delivered to your hotel room, from noon to 11pm, if you happen to be staying in the neighbourhood. (114 Tenth Avenue at 17th Street, +1 212 792 9200; artichokepizza.com) the Lobster Place in Chelsea Market is a wholesale fishmonger, a restaurant with fresh oysters and sushi, and the unofficial picnic purveyor for the High Line. Steaming cauldrons at the back yield blushing Maine lobsters, served with drawn butter and lemon, or dressed with mayonnaise and chopped celery in the market’s popular lobster rolls (at market price). Cream-filled chocolate Whoopie Pies ($4),

another Maine specialty, are in the fridges near the cash registers. (75 Ninth Avenue at 15th Street, +1 212 255 5672; lobsterplace.com) The rippling crimson curtain that stretches across the entrance of Morimot, the sushi palace of Iron Kitchen chef Masaharu Morimoto, is but a hint of the drama inside.

Crispy rock shrimp tempura in Korean kochujang pepper sauce ($19) and yosedofu ($16), a clear broth that magically turns to silky tofu, are good starters, followed by Australian wagyu beef steaks ($60 to $80), plus sushi and sashimi of every variety ($6 to $200). It has a fine wine list, sake and craft beers. (88 Tenth Avenue at 15th Street, +1 212 989 8883; morimotonyc.com).

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city break | New york

in 2015. Up a flight of steps (or take the elevator), you will emerge under a thick vault of foliage that throws the newly initiated into darkness, only to then pull back for the big reveal. “It’s like being in a tree hut that extends for a mile,” as George Jackson, a bearded banjo player from New Zealand, described it on a recent Saturday afternoon.

To the west, old shipping piers bask in the sun along the river, including one at Little West 12th Street with ghostly white lettering that spells out “Cunard White Star,” where survivors of the Titanic disembarked in 1912. The last of Manhattan’s wholesale butchers, such as Weichsel 66 |

December 2013/January 2014

Beef, offering “fresh and boxed lamb [and] suckling pig,” go about their business next to high-end retailers such as Tory Burch, Christian Louboutin, and Diane von Furstenberg. (Look up “juxtapose” in the urban dictionary and this is the very definition.) But never mind those, because a more riveting sight is straight ahead, where the 18-storey Standard Hotel literally straddles the park, without actually touching, like a broadshouldered colossus.

Shortly after the High Line opened, locals and tourists began exhibiting odd behaviour on this particular stretch, straining their necks to spy on the goings-on in the glass-fronted guest rooms overhead. The New York Post described the rash of voyeurism under the memorable headline “Eyeful Tower!”

At 20th Street, a photographer whose apartment faces onto the park, soon set up a stage on her fire

Top, the 18-storey Standard hotel or "Eye-ful Tower".

Left, a window display at the Tory Burch store on Little West 12th Street, and, below, a pair of Christian Louboutins – not advisable for a walk on the High Line, though one of his boutiques is nearby.

escape and presented cabaret acts, lowering a plastic bucket on a cord to collect tips from spectators below.

All further proof of the obvious: that this new park was a place to see, and also a place to be seen.

If the wind is too brisk, you may want to consider a quick dive into the Standard’s German-style beer garden, open year-round directly below where you are now standing.

Here, I once heard a patron, having just ordered a pretzel large enough for a whole family, ask a waitress if he could have more mustard. “For $16, you can have as much as you want,” was her saucy reply. But don’t stay long, for there are more attractions ahead.

In a nod to the park’s past, the team of architects that won an international competition to restore it have created a pathway

What is the stars? Telescopes and flasks at the ready as the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York gives some astral answers Tuesday nights, April through October, at dusk (weather permitting) at 10th Avenue; for more info, visit nycgo.com.

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December 2013/January 2014

thousands of tiny bulbs strung along its red-brick arches. You’ll need to leave the park to enter the market at street level but it’s worth the detour.

Robert Hammond, co-founder of the Friends of the High Line, moved into an apartment within sight of what is now the park nearly two decades ago, back when the derelict train tracks were off limits to the public. In the summer of 1999, he tells me, he read about plans to dismantle the abandoned tracks and decided to pay a visit. The wild flowers growing on the tracks stood waist-high. “I fell in love with the combination of city and nature,” he says. “You go to Central Park and it’s an escape from the city, it’s bucolic.” On the High Line that day, “it wasn’t the countryside, I was in the middle of New York, where nature had completely taken over.”

Soon, Hammond joined forces with a travel writer he ran into at a community meeting, and together they hatched a far-fetched plan to create a park. At the time, politicians and landlords viewed the blighted rail line as a Berlin Wall beyond which no right-minded citizen would chose to live. But today, Hammond proudly points out, the High Line not only passes harmoniously through three of the city’s designated historic districts, it is at the same time the ideal perch from which to take in the view of an entirely new stretch of residential real estate, with striking buildings by architects such as Jean Nouvel,

Opposite, a slice of sky atop the High Line. Above, Tony Stinkmetal of Artists and Fleas at the Chelsea Market, below, founding Friend of the High Line, Robert Hammond, and, bottom, The Tenth Avenue Square, with amphitheatre-like like seating and an unusual view up Tenth Avenue at 17th Street.

IWAN BAAN © 2009

of concrete beams that mimic the tracks of a train, the last examples of which chugged along here for the final time in 1980. At intervals, rails, rusted and brutal, emerge ghost-like from the blanket of everchanging vegetation that covers the ground. At 15th Street, the High Line swings over a stretch of Tenth Avenue that has lately become famous for its high-end restaurants, including Colicchio & Sons, where Tom Colicchio of the TV show Top Chef presides, and Mario Batali’s haute Italian dining room, Del Posto. Both establishments are housed in buildings that were formerly part of the Nabisco bakery, a complex of sturdy buildings, some linked by picturesque bridges above the street, where America’s favourite cookie, the Oreo, was invented more than a century ago.

Just looking for lunch? The bakery’s loading dock, where all those cookies were presumably hauled aboard trains for shipment to the heartland, now shelters carts where you can pick up a coffee, a beer, or a popsicle – all of the modern, small-batch, scrupulously sourced variety – and take in views of the river all the way to the Statue of Liberty. Inside, you’ll find Chelsea Market, a block-long bazaar with dozens of restaurant, vegetable stalls, bakeries, and specialty grocers. During the holiday season, the warm and inviting interior resounds with live music and glows in the light of

Frank Gehry and Shigeru Ban. This play of old and new architecture hits a crescendo at 23rd Street, in the flourishing Chelsea art gallery district, where the top of a shiny metal-clad condominium building appears to thrust out over the High Line, as if to invade its space. (In fact, it’s an optical illusion.) I suspect that Alfred Hitchcock, who directed the peeping Tom thriller Rear Window, would appreciate this section, where the park plunges between apartment buildings so close to the rails, it seems, you can almost reach out and touch them. It’s hard to avoid stealing a glance into strangers’ kitchens, and Deborah Whitmore, who I meet as she strolls along with a friend, tells me that this, along with the people watching, is undoubtedly part of the park’s appeal. “There are apartments that are clearly, I’ll say, arranged to attract attention,” she says. “They’re deliberately playing to the group walking on the High Line.”

Before a final curve

December 2013/January 2014

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city break | New york

ILLuSTRATIoN BY ANNA SImmoNS

Stay at ...

Free in NYC this Christmas Eve? Download the smartphone app The Gaits: A High Line Soundwalk then head to the southern section for 4.30pm on December 24 – each footstep will create a different instrumental sound.

For more info visit thehighline.org. delivers you to 30th Street, where the park ends, the park’s creators have designed one more ingenious feature. By now you have passed teak benches from which you can see up an avenue, or looked through an observation window all the way along a side street to the East River, or admired an art installation on the frost-covered Twenty Third Street Lawn. At the Falcone Flyover, a grated steel ramp rises up over a canopy of sassafras and bigleaf magnolia, lifting the path an additional two-and-a-half metres into the crisp air – above all those other park-goers who still happen to be on it. Now, who’s looking down on whom?

Construction has begun on a new section of the park. Describing 70 |

December 2013/January 2014

what's to come, Hammond tells me that some of the train tracks will be stripped of concrete to create areas for children to pl play. “It’s “It’ our first feature for kids; I’m excited about that,” he says. It hadn’t actually occurred to me until then that the High Line – this 21stcentury climbing frame created from an industrial ruin, with its craft beers, mango-chilli popsicles, and provocative art – has been until now, unfairly, a playground for adults. It makes me smile to think that will soon change. So here’s to the next generation of visitors: come on up, the view’s great.

SPLUrGe The 337 rooms at the Standard High Line Hotel have floor-to-ceiling windows, above, some with views of the Statue of Liberty. And the Top of the Standard (the Boom Boom Room to regulars) and Le Bain dance clubs are two of the city’s most exclusive. Rooms from $595 per night.

(848 Washington Street at 13th Street, +1 212 645 4646; standardhotels.com/high-line). coNVeNieNt A new boutique hotel with old-world ocean liner vibe, the Jade Hotel has compact rooms and a great location among the brownstones, restaurants and high-end shops of the West Village. Wi-Fi internet is free and the hotel also offers free walking tours of the neighbourhood. Rooms from $340. (52 West 13th Street, near Sixth Avenue, +1 212 375 1300; thejadenyc.com) HiStoric A former seminary, built in 1895, th the High Line Hotel has handsomely renovated guestrooms and is a National Historic Landmark. Every ro room has a fireplace (sadly, ju just for show) and the coffee in the lobby bar is from cult Se Seattle brewer Intelligentsia.

Ro Rooms from $285. (180 Tenth Av Avenue at 20th Street, +1 212 929 3888; thehighlinehotel.com).

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Ski | courmayeur

PhotograPh by Lorenzo beLfrond/archivio cmbf

Downhill all the way – Courmayeur has 36 kilometres of piste, just right for a long weekend of skiing. But the real draw is the off piste.

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Outsi de th e Li n es

It’s all about quick hits and powder in the Italian ski resort of Courmayeur. Nicola Iseard whoops it up off-piste amongst some of Europe’s most spectacular glaciated scenery.

December 2013/January 2014

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PhotograPh by Lorenzo beLfrond/archivio cmbf

Ski | courmayeur

magine this. It’s 24 hours after a snowfall. It’s a blue-bird day. You have made your way up, via a series of lifts, to Cresta Youla at the top of the resort, where you board the tiny cable car to Cresta d’Arp at 2,755 metres, along with just a handful of other people. As it travels upwards, a vast expanse of untracked powder stretches below you. Your feet twitch in anticipation. You exit the cable car, click into your bindings, and you’re off. You take one of the many gullies that lead to a vast powder-filled amphitheatre that feels like it’s hundreds of miles away from civilisation. The snow is billowing around your waist. You find you are whooping. Welcome to Courmayeur.

If you travelled back in time a couple of centuries and asked visitors to Courmayeur what their

Top, the view from the slopes to the pretty, cobbled streets of downtown Courmayeur, and left, powderhound Nicola Iseard.

I

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favourite thing about the to town was, some people would say, proudly, “the mountaineering”; ever since August 8, 1786, when two locals from neighbouring Chamonix – Jacques Balmat, a chamois hunter, and Michel Gabriel Paccard, a doctor – conquered the Mont Blanc peak that towers above the town, Courmayeur has been considered the Italian capital of mountaineering. It’s likely, however, that most people would have said, rather excitedly, “its spa baths”. It was at the end of the 17th century when Courmayeur got its first taste

of tourism, as visitors fled from across the globe to experience the well-being of its mineral-enriched natural springs.

Fast forward a few centuries to 2013 and those waters still exist – visitors can kick back in the thermal baths of the Terme PréSaint-Didier spa, five kilometres from Courmayeur. But, I challenge you to find one visitor who says it’s their favourite thing about the resort. What is it? No, not the mountaineering (though, it is still popular). Not the views (however, they are spectacular: the south face of the Mont Blanc, lit by the morning sun, is a sight to behold).

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Ski | courmayeur

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Top, and above, the area has some of the most spectacular glaciated scenery in Europe, and, of course, the famous Mont Blanc.

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December 2013/January 2014

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Not the restaurants (though, they are world-class). Yes, it’s the thing that has skiers and snowboarders giddy with excitement, which they spend all summer daydreaming about and all winter trying to find: powder.

For more accomplished skiers and snowboarders, it’s the considerable off-piste runs – regarded as among the best in the world – that is Courmayeur’s ultimate attraction.

It often gets the same snowfall as Chamonix but, crucially, there are many fewer powderhounds here. So, the deep stuff tends to get tracked out much less quickly.

There is plenty of easy-access off-piste spread throughout the resort. For example, there are often stashes of powder to be found in the trees just off the side of the blue Val Veny piste as it descends to the Zerotta chairlift – ideal for lesserexperienced skiers, who can have a play in the soft stuff, re-joining the piste when their legs start to feel the burn.

The skiing in Courmayeur is spread across two sectors. The east-facing Checrouit area is best for sunny morning skiing, with open, above-the-treeline slopes; the northwest-facing slopes of Val Veny, which have great views of

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Ski | courmayeur

Clockwise from right, simply the best, La Clotze restaurant; picturesque Courmayeur; the cable car up to Torino Refuge, start point for the Vallée Blanche descent.

Mont Blanc, are popular in the afternoon, when you can follow the sun over. There are 36 kilometres of pistes in total – not a huge amount, compared with Chamonix’s 155 kilometres, but plenty to keep you amused over a long weekend or midweek break (which, being just one hour 20 minutes from Geneva, is easily do-able).

Piste-accessed off-piste is all well and good but the best runs in the resort are located away from the beaten path. Three excellent itineraries – to Val Veny beneath Mont Blanc, the hamlet of Dolonne and the village of La Balme just outside La Thuile – are accessed by the Cresta d’Arp cable car. A guide is no longer compulsory to ride the lift, however it’s easy to get lost on these routes and there is an everpresent risk of avalanche, so hiring a guide is highly recommended.

One of Courmayeur’s most famous descents is the Vallée Blanche, an off-piste glacier route that starts at Punta Helbronner and ends in Chamonix, 22 kilometres later (it has a vertical descent of more than 2,700 metres).

To access the starting point, drive for ten minutes from Courmayeur (or take the local bus) to the hamlet of La Palud, near the entrance to 78 |

December 2013/January 2014

the Mont Blanc Tunnel, and take the two-stage cable car up to the old Torino Refuge (there’s a new refuge of the same name 50 metres higher up). Having paused for a photo session (the views are panoramic and awe-inspiring), and a fresh brioche and cappuccino in the refuge bar, scale the staircase up to the new Torino Refuge – the setoff point for this incredible run.

As you descend, you will pass through some of the most spectacular glaciated scenery in Europe: gaping crevasses, seracs (ice boulders) the size of two-storey

Eat at …

BuDGeT Bar du Soleil is a laid-back restaurant situated right on the slopes. If you don’t want to waste precious ski-time on a long lunch, nab a seat in the bar area and order one of the tasty homemade sandwiches, such as smoked ham and brie for €4.50. If you need a sugar hit, this is the place to get it – fresh croissants, chocolate dumplings, apple pie, to name a few. (Plan Checrouit, +39 0165 843 571; bardusoleil.it) miD-Price Located at the Pavillon lift station (the midstation of the Monte Bianco cable car) ristorante Pavillon

(Pavillon du Mont Fréty, +39 0165 844 090; montebianco.com) is a gem of a restaurant. Expect dishes such as beef fillet infused with juniper, and wine-braised deer stew with polenta. If you’re blessed with clear skies, request a table on the terrace, with its tumbling views of the valley. Or try maison Vieille (Col Checrouit, +39 337 230 979; maisonvieille.com), housed in an old shepherds’ hut at the top of the lift of the same name and run by Courmayeur’s most charismatic chef, Giacomo Calosi. The pasta dishes are excellent. In town, cadran

Solaire (122 Via Roma, +39 0165 844 609) serves up innovative interpretations of regional dishes in a sophisticated but relaxed atmosphere.

SPLurGe It’s worth the effort to get to the familyrun La clotze, in Val Ferret, a 15-minute drive from Courmayeur, because it is simply the best gastronomic restaurant in the area. Using local and seasonal ingredients, it is popular for its fish dishes, such as tuna with lime sauce.

A fiery glass of grappa rounds off the meal in true Val d’Aosta style. (21 Località Planpincieux, +39 0165 869 720; laclotze.com)

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ski | courmayeur

houses and stunning 4,000-metre peaks: Mont Blanc, Mont Blanc de Cheilon, Mont Maudit, Grandes Jorasses and Aiguille Verte. Anyone who can ski parallel confidently, and can handle the odd patch of ice and mogul, can tackle it (again, a guide is essential). Once down, hop on the bus from Chamonix back to Courmayeur and do it all over again.

The Torino Refuge is also the access point for the Toula Glacier – a series of vast snowfields, crisscrossed with crevasses and a series of huge rollers that eventually take you down to the Pavillon lift station at 2,173 metres, where your reward for all that effort awaits. The restaurant here, called the Pavillon

Restaurant, is exceptional, with dishes such as stew of polenta, deer, sausage and mushroom, and ravioli with borage, cream cheese and dried beef. In fact, if the off-piste skiing is Courmayeur’s main draw, then its restaurants are a close second.

A firm favourite among visitors is Maison Vieille, an old shepherds’ hut located at the top of the lift of the same name. Wonderfully rustic, it is run by a charismatic chef, Giacomo Calosi, and the walls are plastered with photos of their famous patrons, from singer Kylie Minogue to motorcycle racer Valentino Rossi. Try Giacomo’s trademark pasta, a tasting of three different homemade dishes.

Five best ski trips ...

Best for groups arinsal, andorra With its link to neighbouring Pal, the ski area has 65 kilometres of pistes, mainly reds and blues, most of which are above 1,900 metres – so you can expect snow even if the forecast is looking questionable. Famed for its affordable, lively après-ski, Arinsal has dozens of bars, most of which double as eateries, ideal for groups who are self-catering. Topflight (01 240 1784; topflight.ie) has seven nights self-catering at Residence Daina Apartments from €437pp, including Aer Lingus flights from Dublin to Toulouse and return transfers.

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Best for families Val d’isère, france Val d’Isère ticks all the family-friendly boxes: a charming town, which is easily explored on foot; 300 kilometres of pistes that cater for all levels of skier and allow you to ski right down into the village at the end of the day; great après-ski, including a cinema, ice-skating rink and sports centre with an indoor pool. Highlife (01 677 1100; highlife.ie) has seven nights all-inclusive at Chalet Jasmin from €760 per adult, €634 per child, including return airport transfers from Geneva. Highlife can arrange Aer Lingus flights upon request.

December 2013/January 2014

Best for foodies saalbach-Hinterglemm, austria Saalbach and its nearneighbour Hinterglemm boast a large (200 kilometres) interlinked circuit of intermediatefriendly pistes. Ski hard and work up an appetite – there are more than 40 huts dotted along the circuit, many of which serve excellent Tyrolean dishes (the Wiener Schnitzel is a must-try). Topflight (as before) has seven nights half-board at Berger’s Sporthotel from €881pp, including Aer Lingus flights from Dublin to Salzburg and transfers.

Best for freeskiers morzine, france Part of the enormous Portes du Soleil ski area, Morzine offers more than 650 kilometres of piste.

As well as long, cruisey ones and challenging mogul fields, it's linked to Avoriaz, which has four snowparks. The newest, The Stash, is located in the trees and made entirely of wooden features. Highlife (as before) offers three nights all-inclusive at Chalet Lolana from €519 per adult, €469 per child, including return airport transfers from Geneva.

Highlife can arrange Aer Lingus flights, on request.

Best for tHrillseekers kitzbühel, austria This is a big, diverse area that will suit intermediates and advanced skiers best – especially those who like a dose of adrenaline every now and then.

The resort is famous for its World Cup downhill course, the Streif – a steep, un-pisted, often mogul-filled run that promises to get your heart-rate up. Topflight (as before) has seven nights half-board at Hotel Strasshofer from €778pp, including Aer Lingus flights from Dublin to Salzburg and transfers.

December 2013/January 2014

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Ski | courmayeur

illustration by tom jay

Sleep at …

The restaurant is also open in the evening, when Giacomo will pick you up from the resort base and drop you back by snowmobile. (Not for the faint-hearted – the highspeed return journey is enough to give you grey hairs.)

Down in the town, the feast continues. Cadran Solaire on Via Roma – the pretty, cobbled and pedestrianised street of downtown Courmayeur – is another musttry, run by the affable Mimmo. It has a wonderful atmosphere, with a vaulted ceiling of 16th-century stone and antique wooden furniture.

Expect innovative interpretations of regional dishes, such as ravioli filled with ricotta and walnuts and smothered with butter and sage. The spacious bar is perfect for a pre- or post-dinner tipple. Alternatively, you have dozens of other bars to choose from in town.

Courmayeur has a lively evening scene – especially at weekends, when Italians flock from Milan and Turin.

Many come here for the shopping as much as the skiing; you’ll find them 82 |

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milling around Via Roma searching for this season’s must-have shades or jacket. Designer, of course – after all, Fendi, Prada, Yves Saint Laurent and Marc Jacobs all have posts here.

Whatever mood you’re in, there is a bar for it; whether it’s the sinkinto sofas of Bar Roma (which offers a free – yes, free – buffet in the late afternoon), or the eyewatering cocktails at Le Privé.

However, no matter where you end up for your nightcap, don’t stay out too late – you have a lot of powder to ski in the morning. aer LinGuS flies from Dublin to GeneVa Daily; from Dublin to milan linate Daily anD from Dublin to milan malPensa, four times a WeeK.

BuDGeT tucked down a cobbled lane just a short walk from the slopes, Hotel edelweiss has been in the roveyaz family for more than 50 years. it has 30 simple but spacious en-suite rooms; request a room at the front of the hotel for a balcony with views over the town to the ski area and mont blanc beyond. after a day on the slopes, unwind with a G&t in the bar, reading room or garden. Doubles from €80, including breakfast. (+39 0165 841 590, 42 Via marconi; albergoedelweiss.it) miD-Price Bouton d’or, above, is a small b&b near the main square. it has a friendly owner and 35 goodsized rooms, including three family rooms, each of which has a balcony or private garden and is decorated with local antiques. the breakfast is worth putting an alarm on for: everything is either home-made or home-grown.

Hop on the complimentary minibus in the morning to the slopes. Doubles from €130 per night, including br breakfast. (+39 0165 846 729, strada st statale 26, n10; hotelboutondor.com) SPLurGe With an illustrious SP gue list including Queen regina guest ma margherita and Giosuè Carducci, ro e Golf, left, opened in the royal earl early 1900s and still retains its gr grand appearance with opulent bed bedrooms boasting mountain vi views, a spacious bar with live music, a luxurious spa and outdoor pool. it is located off Via roma; take the complimentary ski bus to the lifts, 600 metres away.

Doubles from €240 per night, including breakfast. (+39 0165 831 611, 87 Via roma; hotelroyalegolf.com)

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Partners in crime – this page, Dieuwertje Visser and Lise Lotte Frederiksen of Peter and Ping, which runs The Killing walking tours, and opposite, Copenhagen's Police HQ, which has become a character in its own right on the popular TV series.

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Nordic Noir If you’re a fan of Scandinavian thrillers, you’ll love The Killing tour. Irish crime writer Mark O’Sullivan goes walkabout on the far from mean streets of Copenhagen – and drops into the shop that sells Sarah Lund’s iconic jumper.

Photographs by Christoffer Askman.

culture | copenhagen

ordic Noir is everywhere these days. Dark, moody and atmospheric, it also dares to be intelligent and to reflect real societal concerns. In a market bloated with slick, shallow thrillers, this cool blast from Scandinavia has reawakened the zest for crime fiction in many readers.

The Swedes led the way when Steig Larsson’s phenomenally successful Millennium series kicked things off. The resurgence of interest in all things Scandinavian then brought Henning Mankell’s Wallander novels to a wider

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readership. Subsequent TV adaptations in Swedish and English confirmed the appetite for a more mature take on crime fiction. But the Swedes were not alone.

Norway gave us the grittier Jo NesbØ’s Harry Hole series. And from Denmark came The Killing, in which the incomparable Detective Inspector Sarah Lund patrols the mean streets of Copenhagen.

In truth, Copenhagen has fewer mean streets than most cities. It’s a safe, orderly, civilised place. An air of tolerance and social responsibility prevails. There’s a pleasant sense

Top, The ghostly outline of Øresund Bridge; above, crime writer Mark O'Sullivan in an attempt to "out-jumper" Sarah Lund.

Serial offeNderS – THe readiNG liST Per wahlÖÖ Martin Beck series by Maj sjÖwall and kell kurt Wallander series by henning Man uM inspector sejer series by karin Foss Harry Hole series by jo nesbØ berg patrik HedstroM series by CaMilla laCk 86 |

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of reticence, style and decency about its people. From ticketed queues in bakeries to urban transport, things run smoothly and unfussily here.

The city is architecturally fascinating, has arguably the world’s best restaurant, Noma (Strandgade 93, +45 32 96 32 97; noma.dk), and a passion for design without equal. In short, Copenhagen has got so many things right that it might easily be smug about itself. It isn’t. It’s a city in a country that constantly questions its own values and direction. In the public forum, in art, literature and film this self-examination is a constant. In The Killing we get not only a complex mystery with real depth of character, but also a critical reflection on the society itself.

There’s no better way to get a feel for the series and its setting than to take The Killing tour organised by Peter and Ping (Krusemyntegade 25; peter-og-ping.dk), a company owned by Lise Lotte Frederiksen. It

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culture | copenhagen

also offers tours focusing on other hit Danish TV series, Borgen and The Bridge, as well as literary walks.

The Killing tour varies in its itinerary but centres mainly on the Vesterbro area of the city in which much of the action in the series takes place.

Not quite as edgy as Christiana, the once-radical hippy colony on the city’s east side, Vesterbro is an old red-light district that might now be better described as an eclectic mix of

Clockwise from right, the 19th century terraced houses of Humleby, in the Vesterbro district; Istedgade at dusk; the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel; the Axel Guldsmeden.

Sleep at …

Splurge The five-star First hotel Skt petri is located in the heart of the Latin Quarter.

Flowers, abstract art and exclusively designed furnishings fill the light, airy rooms. The sunny atrium offers a wonderful view across medieval Copenhagen. Room prices from €165. (Krystalgade 22; sktpetrihotel.com) MID-prIce Environmentally aware from its food to its furnishings, the Balinese-themed axel guldsmeden hotel is ideally situated close to the transport hub of Central Station. A 100 per cent organic breakfast sets you up for the foot-rush ahead and there’s a pleasantly

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relaxed spa to unwind in. €130-190 a night for a double room. Breakfast is an optional extra at €25. (Helgolandsgade 11; hotelguldsmeden.com/ axel/) BuDget The small, Copenhagen-dedicated company hay4you offers high quality home apartments for long and short stays at very reasonable prices. If stylish domesticity is your preference for holiday accommodation, this is the place to go. The livedin feel of the apartments, the standards of service and quick response times to queries add up to a pleasant and authentic experience of life in the city. (Vimmelskaftet 49; hay4you.com)

december 2013/January 2014

old reputations and new aspirations.

Our tour begins at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel (Hammerischsgade 1; radissonblu.com) on the corner of Hammerichsgade and Vesterbrogade, Vesterbro’s busy main traffic artery. Conceived

by Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen, the hotel displays examples of his iconic chairs – the Drop, the Egg and the Swan – in its lobby.

The panoramic shots over the night city that punctuate the series and combine so effectively with the spiralling tension of Frans Bak’s score (Forbrydelsen Montage on soundcloud.com) were filmed from its top floor.

From Vesterbrogade, by way of Central Station, we head towards the parallel Istedgade, where some vestiges of its seedier past remain, though the area has now been largely gentrified. Cool cafés, design and clothes shops predominate. Among its restaurants is Sticks’n’Sushi (Istedgade 62; sushi.dk), which offers a uniquely Danish take on Japanese food. Along the connecting streets between Vesterbrogade and

Istedgade, much of the first series of The Killing was shot. The Larsens, whose daughter’s murder forms the central plot, lived here and were in the process of moving to the nearby but more affluent Humleby enclave of Frederick Bøttger-designed

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culture | copenhagen

terraced houses. This area, west of Central Station, is home to many hotels of varying quality (we stayed at the upper-end Axel Guldsmeden, an eco-friendly establishment but not in a po-faced way).

South of Istedgade, we come to the Meatpacking District, one of the up-and-coming areas of the city and a location strikingly familiar to fans of The Killing.

One memorable chase scene in the second series sees Lund follow a suspect through the hanging carcasses in one of these abattoirs, the swinging chunks of raw meat adding a chilling touch of gore to the action. Once home to the meat industry, the area has, through the last decade, been transformed into a cultural hub encompassing art, food and nightlife. Higher rents have driven out most of the

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old businesses and threaten to do the same to the independent artists and collectives who took their place. Still, there remains a determination to retain something of the old in the new developments.

The functionalist buildings of the White Meatpacking area built in the 1930s are listed for conservation.

Old features and signage are to be retained as, for example, at the Bio Mio (Halmtorvet 19; biomio.dk) restaurant, which is housed in a building formerly used by Bosch to produce light bulbs. With its long wooden tables, minimalist décor and open kitchen, the restaurant is 100 per cent organic and among Copenhagen’s most popular eateries.

Among the many other restaurants worth trying in this rapidly developing area is Kødbyen’s Fiskebar (Flaesketorvet

Below left, restaurant Bio Mio, which was once a light bulb factory, middle, Japan meets Denmark at Sticks‘n’Sushi, and, right, hip happenings abound at the Meatpacking District.

Eat at …

Splurge Located in the mainly residential Frederiksberg area north of the city, restaurant radio is run by an ex-Noma chef and has earned quite a reputation for its modern Danish cuisine. The décor may be unprepossessing but the food is of the highest calibre and outstanding value at the price. Main courses at lunch from €13; five-course evening tasting menu costs a little over €50. (Julius Thomsensgade 12; restaurantradio.dk) MID-prIce Offering a uniquely Danish take on Japanese food, the small café/bar Sticks'n'Sushi has an extensive menu (including takeaway options) and an inventive use of ingredients in its fine sushi, sashimi and yakitori. Small single plates begin at €12 and large shared boards go up to around €60. (Istedgade 62; sushi.dk) BuDget The popular fish restaurant Kødbyen's Fiskeb in the MeatFiskebar, Pack district, has been Packing awar awarded a Bib Gourmand (Mic (Michelin Value for Mone Money). It describes itse as relaxed, itself atmo atmospheric and affor affordable – it is all of tho those and more. Main co courses at lunch start at €12. (Flaesketorvet 10 fiskebaren.dk) 100;

A watercolour painting by Róisín O’ Shea © 2012

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culture | copenhagen

Don’t miss ...

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100; fiskebaren.dk), one of the city’s best fish restaurants, which has been awarded a Bib Gourmand (Michelin Value for Money).

For a more quaint experience, try Tante T (Flaesketorvet 22; tante-t.dk), a charmingly ingly atmospheric little café and tea shop with a wide selection of its own selected teas and coffees for sale.

For livelier spirits, there’s the Karriere (Flaesketorvet 57; karrierebar.com) nightclub with its hip bar and arty ambience. The venue is the brain-child of artist Jeppe Hein and is, by day, a café// restaurant/bar offering ing a more relaxed setting in which to experience its art holdings. It’s also one of the many locations in this area used in The Killing.

Swinging east below Central Station and the Tivoli Gardens, we reach the Police Headquarters on Otto Mønsteds Gade, another prime location from the series.

Built in 1918-24, it’s an austere, 92 |

december 2013/January 2014

canal anD harBour tour The view from the water is a particularly spectacular one in Copenhagen. The old harbour of Nyhavn with its half-timbered gabled houses and busy pavement cafés, the modern architectural delights of the waterfront Black Diamond and Operaen buildings and that most attractive area of the city, Christianshaven, with its network of canals and its laid-back charms. Of the several companies offering guided tours, we used netto-Bådene (sightseeingbyboat. dk) whose one-hour tour costs a mere 40 DKK (just over €5).

StatenS MuSeuM For KunSt The national gallery of Denmark, the Statens Museum has a vast collection of holdings spanning seven centuries. From the old Dutch and Flemish masters to the 20th-century greats, there’s so much to see that one might easily overlo overlook the Danish and nord nordic art 1750-1900 rooms.

The melancholy Nordic ligh light captured by Vilhelm Hamma Hammaershøi, the stoic silenc silence of Anna Ancher’s figur figures, the reflective fema female sitters in late 19thce century Danish art, are all str strongly reminiscent of the at atmosphere created in The Ki Killing. (Sølvgade 48-50; sm smk.dk – free except for sp special exhibitions)

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Top, A.C. Perch's Thehandel, above, Designmuseum Danmark, and, right, the colossal dome of Marmorkirken.

Opposite, see the sights on a canal tour.

3

DeSIgnMuSeuM DanMarK Here you can follow the evolution of Danish design across the spectrum from furniture to textiles to household items and much else. Everywhere, the subtle blend of functionality and style is apparent. On Bredgade, too, there’s the magnificent Marmorkirken, its dome the largest in Northern Europe and worth checking out for frequent performances of choral music. (Bredgade 68; designmuseum.dk – closed Mondays) DaY-tIp to MalMÖ Don’t miss the road or rail journey across Europe’s longest bridge stretching 7.8 km across the strait between Copenhagen and the Swedish coast and on to Malmö.

The city itself has many attractions, not least the Gamla Staden (Old Town) and, in particular, lilla torg, a picture-postcard square of period buildings with outdoor cafés and restaurants. The Form/Design center (formdesigncenter.com) here at No 9 is especially worth a visit with its exhibition spaces and its upstairs craft and design shop. alternatIVe cItY centre eXperIence If the busy main drag of Strøget isn’t your scene, try its side and parallel streets where the pace is more relaxed and there’s much to discover in the way of alternatives to the bigger stores.

Among the many design and clothes shops there’s Fn.92 Vintage (Larsbjørnstraede 6; fn fn92vintage.com) with its vintage Hollywood collections. The Sab Sabine poupinel shop – where th the Sarah Lund style Gudrun and Gudrun sweaters can be fo found – is in this area too. Across th the street, you'll find a.c perch’s th theandel (Kronprinsensgade 5; pe perchstearoom.dk), a wonderful te tea shop run by the same family si since 1835.

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culture | copenhagen

Traveller’s Tips

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Cycle lanes are ubiquitous in Copenhagen and are easily mistaken for extensions of the pavements. Always, always, look right when you get off a bus or step out of a taxi. Copenhagen cyclists are generally careful – but move pretty briskly.

Take a river boat tour at the beginning of your stay and get a feel for the city and its geography – as well as its history and great beauty.

In the Visit copenhagen Tourist Information office at Vesterbrogade 4A (visitcopenhagen.com; across the street from Central Station) you can get great-value late offers of discounted hotel prices.

IlluSTrATIon by STeVe mcCArThy

2 3 grey Neo-Classical colossus. In many ways, the building is an architectural oddity in a city whose structures, old and new, tend to touch the eye more lightly. The only significant decorative element is the pair of gold-painted stars attached to the grills of two ground-floor windows – symbols of the nightwatchmen. Its interrogation rooms were used as locations in the series, as were many other state-owned properties. The makers, Danish National TV company DR, enjoyed pretty much the freedom of the city’s streets. A dash of grey Nordic light, a sprinkling of mist and Bak’s music sufficed to create the vividly authentic atmosphere of the series.

A short walk away, we find ourselves on Strøget, the commercial heart of Copenhagen.

It lays claim to being the longest pedestrianised shopping strip in Europe and its main artery is not for the faint-hearted. Along the many side streets, however, there’s a more relaxed atmosphere. Here we find the Sabine Poupinel 94 |

december 2013/January 2014

shop (Kronprinsengade nprinsengade 12; sabinepoupinel.dk pinel.dk) – home of the iconic Gudrun and Gudrun designed Faroese sweaters which characterised ed Lund’s individuality and her independence dependence of spirit.

Her choice of these sweaters, at once casual and stylish, over the more formal rmal dress of senior-ranking king female police officers, cers, was just one of many contributions ons actress Sofie Gråbøl øl made to the development ment of the character, er, right.

Perhaps Gråbøl’s åbøl’s real achievement ement was to allow the viewer to “see” her thinking rather than be loaded down with the usual avalanches of exposition or emotional nal turmoil; Clint Eastwood wood is said to have been en a model for her approach proach to the role. However, in her reticencee there’s

no sense of ego. Lund follows the advice of the 19th-centry Copenhagen phil philosopher Søren Kierkegaard: “Be that self which one truly is”.

The same migh might be said of this city. It isn’t loud, it doesn’t brag, it doesn’t smothe smother you. Cool, clear dist distances matter here – in the urban spac spaces, in homes and apartments. People apa matter too; concerns ma are shared, acted upon. up And there is the assurance that th the streets are safe th under the reflective un vi vigilance of Detective Inspector De Sara Sarah Lund! mark o’Sulliv o’Sullivan’s crime novel Crocodile Tears Te (Transworld Ireland, £12.99 £12.99) is out now.

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being there | christmas

Happy Holidays ‌ !

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They say there’s no place like home – but it isn’t always so at Christmas time. We quiz five Irish stars about their favourite festive destinations.

Richard Mosse The photographer loves to head to his home turf.

“My favourite Christmas is always at home in Kilfane Glen, Co Kilkenny, in Ireland. After a long year of hard travelling, I love to return to this romantic garden to try to catch my breath. The last years have been much colder than usual and have seen the waterfall freeze over, left, which has proven sublime. My father (the potter Nicholas Mosse), is a great fan of the chainsaw and usually spends time around Christmas culling old trees. I have been known to help but, generally, I spend my days inside by the fire enjoying my pa’s home brew, gossiping about the art world with my mother, Susan. A couple of years ago, Nick felled, chopped, and sorted 40 tonnes of timber over the twelve days of Christmas. Almost entirely singlehanded. I can’t reveal where he is storing the timber for fear the relatives will come and ask for their fair share.”

Richard Mosse represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale 2013 with the multi-media installation, The Enclave, which is showing at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin, January 28 to March 12, 2014 and at Limerick’s Ormston House, March 27 to May 3. richardmosse.com

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being there | christmas

Bressie the singer/songwriter/The Voice mentor likes it hot – Lanzarote.

“I’ve a really strong childhood memory of playing Jesus in the school nativity play and my legs hanging over the crib, because I was a huge child. I’m pretty sure they could have gotten a smaller Jesus but, no, they were not having any of it. I particularly love spending Christmas Eve at home – it’s like a school reunion – so in order to take me away from Ireland, the destination needs to be pretty special … But I love sun just that little bit more so I’m heading out to Lanzarote, right, on December 18, to a resort called Club La Santa, a training facility for triathletes and athletes in tinajo. I’m doing my first Ironman next May, in Austria, so I’ll be spending nearly three weeks at La Santa with my coach – there’ll be a lot of Skyping. It’s on the quieter side of the island, which has some amazing scenery, but I’m not a fan of just sitting by the beach, I need to be active. Also, nothing is safe around me food-wise at Christmas – I have a massive appetite and literally only take a break from eating to sleep. I’m not sure how much Christmas is celebrated in Lanzarote but I’m bringing reserves with me so at least I can have my traditional meal!”

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What is unique at River Medical?

The care and focus we put into each treatment is unique however must have treatments at River Medical are Coolsculpt and Laser Hair Removal.

COOLSCULPT Coolsculpt is frequently copied but never equalled in terms of it’s results. Coolsculpt is your answer to the removal of stubborn fat around the tummy, love handles and back. Developed by Harvard scientists, our unique, FDAcleared, patented procedure

uses a targeted cooling process that kills the fat cells underneath the skin, literally freezing them to the point of elimination. Only fat cells are frozen. The result is a 40% to 50% reduction in any area that goes into the Coolsculpting applicator. As it’s FDA and CE approved Coolsculpt has past rigorous testing in the US and the EU to achieve this superior classification.

At River Medical Coolsculpt is carried out by a registered general nurse so you can be confident you’re in the right medical hands for this treatment.

LASER HAIR REMOVAL Not all laser hair removal is the same – far from it! At River Medical we are the experts.

Your treatments are carried out by a Registered General Nurse using the highest medically graded lasers for the longest lasting treatment.

We understand the importance of long term removal and using the Alexandrite and Nd:YAG lasers we ensure a quality treatment for every skin type.

The River Medical difference is…

We treat all skin types dark, medium and light skin Your treatment will be in depth and not rushed Money back guarantee– for up to 12 months after receiving treatment We offer you a €50 voucher towards any non surgical treatment when you book your course of treatment Enjoy a River Reward Treatment – after your last treatment we invite you back for a Jet Peel treatment to truly revitalise you Unlimited maintenance up to 12 months. You receive double Loyalty when you book a course of laser hair removal treatments Refer a friend get €100 off your laser hair removal course free of charge!

For a free consultation on any surgical or non surgical treament including the revolutionary Coolsculpt or Laser hair removal call us today on 1850 88 50 50.

River Medical, 114 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.

What services do we offer?

We offer a full range of surgical and non surgical procedures. These include breast augmentation, breast alignment, uplift & reduction, liposuction, tummy tuck, otoplasty, rhinoplasty and eyelid surgery on the surgical side and for the face and body, Coolsculpt, Jet Peel, Pelleve Peel, Thermage, Fraxel & Fraxel Dual, Anti Wrinkle injections, Fillers, IPL & Laser Hair removal on the non surgical side of the clinic.

being there | christmas

Tommy Bowe

pHOTOGrApH BY HuW EVANS AGENCY

nothing beats swansea, reckons the irish rugby union player.

“Christmas in Wales certainly does not sound quite as appealing as eating your turkey after skiing like a world champion down the Alps, or sizzling in 30˚c heat by a pool … but it turned out to be a great time for our family to get together. Between 2008 and 2012 I was playing rugby for a team in Wales called the Ospreys and the biggest match of the year in Wales is the local derby between the Ospreys and the Scarlets on December 26, so it made getting home for Christmas very difficult.

When I could not get home, my family decided to come to me, which really put me under pressure to make sure that they would enjoy it. We decided to save them from the mess of my apartment and rent a small old cottage

by Three Cliffs Bay beach in the gower, right. The cottage was perfect: we could go for a walk on the beach in the mornings, sit down and relax in front of a fire after a big dinner and then head for a few drinks in a wellknown seaside town called Mumbles – unfortunately I had to be designated driver! For all sorts of reasons that I would need an essay to explain, it was a Christmas to remember, and I think Wales certainly did not disappoint.”

Alison Jameson author autho of Little Beauty has fond memories of a bavarian christmas … bava “My sister’s Bavarian boyfriend was shocked by our ability to consume beer but we were younger in 1995.

We flew fle into Munich and checked out the famous Hofb Hofbräuhaus and then headed on to Oberammergau, dazzled dazzle by the snow-covered Alps, the dainty Hansel and Gretel style houses and sparkly Christmas trees. We Gr were in high spirits and excited because the beer came and gummy bears so, to calm us down, the with bratwurst br Bavarian took us on a mountain hike – rewarding us at the top with a hot chocolate and a roaring fire. The descent by toboggan was hair-raising, a bit like Heidi in a Ferrari. I used my new snow boots as foot brakes and left one of the soles up there. On New Year’s Eve, the Germans like to eat fondue and watch Dinner for One on TV but we had other ideas. Outside we had the mother of all snowball fights and the boyfriend disowned us. I do remember clocking him with a snowball though as he walked away. Best New Year ever.

We got a warm welcome with no shortage of ‘Gemütlichkeit’.

You’ll know what it means when you’re there!”

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December 2013/January 2014

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JCD, 1104 City Gate, Mahon, Cork T: +353 21 461 4726 E: info@clearydevelopments.com COMMERCIAL PROPERTY DEVELOPERS

W: www.clearydevelopments.com

being there | christmas

Orla Brady Ooo la la – the actress favours christmas in Paris with her maman. “‘Will it be very cold?’ my mother asked when I proposed bringing her to Paris for Christmas in 1995. ‘Mmm, shouldn’t be too bad …’ I replied in a vague way and with no research, reasoning that it couldn’t be that different from Ireland.

So off we set with a few jumpers and our best wool coats. Arriving to one of the coldest winters on record, a glitter of frost lay on the ground every morning and a biting wind drove us into café after café – not that that was a bad thing when good coffee was still an almost unknown treat in Dublin. I think it lives in my memory as one of the great Christmases because I remember it through my mum’s eyes, recalling the delight she took in it. We found the pharmacy she had visited when she was 21 and bought the same perfume – Le Dix by Balenciaga. We chatted to a woman at the next table in Café Flore, who fed her Pekinese from its own plate of steak. We sang Edith Piaf songs on a bench in the Place des Vosges.

On Christmas morning, after mass at notre Dame, right – which seemed to involve 70 priests, twelve bishops and half the incense in India – we had lunch of white wine and a platter of fruits de mer, which she claimed was the best thing she had ever tasted. I think this had more to do with the fact that it was the first time in 30 years that she had not had to get up early to cook. Now that was worth getting frozen for.”

Orla Brady will feature in the Christmas Day special of Doctor Who, BBC1.

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December 2013/January 2014

D

ublin is well known for being one of the best places to spend Christmas and the New Year. It comes alive with festive spirit, smiling faces, spectacular street lights, carol singing, pantomimes, Santa’s Grottos and maybe even a bit of snow. The New Year’s Eve celebrations promise to be bigger and better than ever this year, and we’re right in the middle of everything.

What better way to enjoy this festive fun than a visit O’Neill’s, one of Dublin’s most famous and historic pubs. Whether you’re a visitor, native Dubliner or coming home for Christmas, when you visit O’Neill’s you’ll receive a warm and friendly welcome.

Drop in for a mince pie and mulled wine or a delicious traditional Roast Turkey and Baked Ham dinner with all the trimmings. We have some real crackers on the menu this year, in fact, Lonely Planet rate us as one of the Top 5 Places to find ´Real Irish food in Dublin´.

Food is available throughout the day, starting at 8.00am with our ‘Really Good’ Irish Breakfast Menu, until late every evening.

We also have Traditional Irish Music seven nights-a-week, a fully heated Roof-Top Beer Garden and Smoking Area, the largest selection of local Irish Craft Beers on tap in Ireland and a connoisseur Whiskey Bar. On top of that we offer free Wi-Fi to all our customers just to help you keep in touch!

Our fully-refurbished Heated Roof-Top Beer Garden & Smoking Area

Sure where else would you want to go?

M.J. O’Neill Suffolk Street, Dublin 2 Tel. 01 679 3656 www.oneillsbar.com

Mon-Thurs: 8.00am-11.30pm Fri: 8.00am-12.30am Sat: 8.00am-12.30am Sun: 8.00am-11.00pm SatNav 53.343958, -6.260796

“Top 5 places to find Real Irish Food in Dublin”

2013 Les Routiers Pub of The Year

Being there | Bristol

With a buzzing street art scene, a thriving food movement and that famous suspension bridge, Bristol is a city with plenty to shout about. Frances Power spends the weekend there.

48 hours in

Bristol

PHOTOGRAPHS BY DESTINATION BRISTOL/JASON INGRAM/WhereTheWall.coM

Don’t miss ...

street sMArt Bristol is the city that gave us Banksy and there’s plenty of other artists’ provocative, witty and jaw-dropping work to enjoy on the city’s buildings. Browse the outdoor gallery along Nelson Street (including “The Duel of Bristol” by Irishman Conor Harrington, above), check out more political works in the underpass at the Bear Pit, or take a tour and get the inside story on the art form. Tours run Saturdays, 11am; wherethewall.com. the BriDge The city is a showcase of works by Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and the Clifton suspension Bridge, completed in 1864 after his death, is the jewel in the crown. Walk across it and pop into the Visitor Centre

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December 2013/January 2014

(cliftonbridge.org.uk), or enjoy the view of its 214-metre span across the Avon Gorge from the terrace of the White lion bar (Sion Hill, +44 117 973 8955; theavongorge.com).

WAter WorKs The legacy of Bristol’s history as an inland port is clear in the web of locks, the canals that run off from the River Avon and, its centrepiece, a floating harbour. These days, many of the old warehouses have been redeveloped into apartments, restaurants and pubs, as well as a science museum and a gallery of contemporary art, the Arnolfini; all of which make perfect pit-stops on a stroll around Harbourside. Check out SS Great Britain, Brunel’s iron ship, or take a tour on The Matthew, a replica of the 15th-century caravel in which John Cabot discovered Newfoundland.

Moored outside M Shed Museum (matthewbristol.co.uk)

This page, clockwise from above, Brunel's memorial, the Clifton Suspension Bridge; tapas with a conscience at Poco; The Matthew under sail; "The Duel of Bristol" mural by Conor Harrington.

Eat at …

hiPster Set in the ground floor of community hub, art and music venue Hamilton House, the Canteen is the place to hang out, hook up and get a great home-cooked feed of locally grown produce. Choose from slow roast pork belly, Cornish mussels, frittata … And check out “Breakdancing Jesus”, a stunning mural by Cosmo Sarson. (80 Stokes Croft, +44 117 923 2017; canteenbristol.co.uk) olD stYle Bristol is the birthplace of Pieminister, the mission of Jon Simon and Tristan Hogg to bring tasty pie and mash to the public. Pulled ham hock or fish pie anyone? A must.

(St Nicholas Market, Corn Street, +44 117 302 0070 and 24 Stokes Croft, +44 117 942 3322; ) eCo-ChiC Run by eco-chef Tom Hunt (fish is sustainably sourced, 95 per cent of waste is composted/recycled), Poco is a tiny tapas spot that doesn’t stint on flavour or flair. Sharing dishes from £3-5. (45 Jamaica Street, Stokes Croft, +44 117 923 2233; eatpoco.com)

Sleep at ...

This page, clockwise from right, dark good looks at Number Thirty Eight; home of the glorious Pieminister; masterstrokes

by ROA; an update on one of Bristol's many Georgian sweeps.

LUXURY It might have just ten bedrooms, but Number Thirty Eight is a cut above your average B&B. Sitting on a sweep of park and playing fields on Durdham Down, at the posher edge of Bristol, this fivestorey Georgian house has a rooftop terrace, wood-panelled bedrooms and serves a sumptuous breakfast.

Doubles from £300. (38 Upper Belgrave Road, Clifton, +44 117 946 6905; number38clifton.com) HISTORIC In a restored 18thcentury Sugar House, the Hotel du Vin has 40 luxed-up rooms, all with roll-top baths, and a fine restaurant. Doubles from £129.

(Narrow Lewins Mead, +44 844 736 4252; hotelduvin.com)

CONTEMPORARY Overlooking the floating harbour, The Bristol Hotel is a comfortable, modern three-star spot run with charm as part of the Doyle Collection. It has a busy bar, a fitness suite plus free Wi-Fi, while its River Grille restaurant serves up top-notch food (do not bypass the splendiferous puds). Rooms from £99.

(The Harbourside, Prince Street, +44 117 923 0333; doylecollection.com)

Drink at …

MAKING HISTORY The firstever Aer Lingus flight? From Dublin to Bristol on board the DH84 Dragon EI-A81, called the Iolar or "Eagle", back in 1936.

Bristol is home to two universities, which translates into a lot of cafés, bars and clubs. Top of the menu is the variety of craft beers and ciders on offer.

CIDER HOUSES Check out The Stable (Canon’s Road, +44 117 927 999; stablepizza.com), which serves up taster trays of five types of cider, ranging from cloudy to clear and rough to smooth, in its warehouse space (alongside great pizza for soakage).

Delicious. Or visit the Apple (Welsh Back, +44 117 925 3500; applecider. co.uk), which serves 40 types of cider, including its own Old Bristolian Cider, perries and brandies on its deck aboard a converted Dutch barge, and the adjoining quayside.

HISTORIC Named after the spyhole where a lookout would be stationed to watch for press gangs and the customs, The Hole in the Wall is dripping in history. Visit on a sunny afternoon for an al fresco pint. (2 The Grove, Queen’s Square, +44 117 926 5967; theholeinthe wallbristol.co.uk)

AER LINGUS flies from dublin to BRISTOL UP TO THREE TIMES DAILY AND FROM CORK, DAILY.

December 2013/January 2014

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HAMMAM AL ANDALUS BATH & MASSAGE is decorated with lovely Moorish arches, murals and mosaic tiling. You can enjoy a 90-minute bath with a 15-minute relaxing massage for just €43.

(Plaza de los Martires, 5; +34 952 215 018; malaga. hammamalandalus.com)

PHOTOGRAPH BY JeSúS DOMíNGuez/MuSeO PICASSO MáLAGA

MÁLAGA CATHEDRAL is the largest and most important Catholic church in the city; a hybrid of Spanish Renaissance, Gothic architecture and Baroque decoration. Referred to as “La Manquita” (Little One-Armed Lady) – the original plans envisaged two bell towers but only one was completed – it hosts a belen, which is a magnificent version of our own crib and features street scenes from Bethlehem. (Calle Molina Larios, +34 952 215 917)

Three hotels I like in Málaga are all in the city centre and within walking distance of everything: the four-star HOTEL DON CURRO (Calle Sancha de Lara, 9, +34 952 227 200; hoteldoncurro.com) and ROOM MATE LARIOS (Calle Marqués de Larios 2, +34 952 222 200), which has a great roof terrace bar between October and May, and its three-star sister hotel, above, ROOM MATE LOLA (Calle Casas de Campos, 17, +34 952 579 300; room-matehotels. com), a five-minute walk to Málaga’s beach.

The PORT OF MÁLAGA (Muelle 1) is a new promenade filled with shops, cafés, restaurants, child-friendly areas and a beautiful palm tree garden. I like to visit for Sunday lunch, followed by a little shopping … although if you want some peace and quiet, go during the week. There are a couple of upmarket restaurants, such as RESTAURANTE JOSÉ CARLOS GARCIA . (Plaza de la Capilla, +34 952 003 588; restaurantejcg.com)

An insider’s guide to

Málaga

Finola Sloyan gives us a whirlwind tour of the Andalucian city.

The city’s famous PICASSO MUSEUM is housed in the 16thcentury Buenavista Palace, near the artist’s birthplace, Plaza de la Merced.

(Calle San Agustín; +34 902 443 377; museopicasso malaga.org)

More about Finola

The five-star VINCCI SELECCIÓN POSADA DEL PATIO is something special. During renovations, builders discovered the remains of Málaga’s old Arab walls and it was decided to leave them visible at reception. The area has been beautifully preserved and the bedrooms are stylish indeed.

(Pasillo Santa Isabel 7, +34 951 001 020; vinccihoteles.com)

Kilkenny woman Finola Sloyan, who has been working and living in Málaga since 2006, runs her own business as a Holiday & Golf Travel Planner. Before Spain, ain, Finola lived in Paris, New York, Dublin and Accra. Socially, she runs ns a “foodie club”, which meets every month, and is also is a member of a hill-climbing club. Finola comes from a big golfing family in Ireland and has kept up the tradition in Málaga with friends. She is a member of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland and representative of the Spanish Irish Business Network (SIBN) for the Costa del Sol area.

December 2013/January 2014

| 107

PEDREGALEJO is an old fish village in Málaga fishing East, East about a ten-minute drive from Calle Larios (or driv take the No 11 bus from central cent Alameda). Seafood rest restaurants line its long be beach, including sardines barb barbecued on jabegas – trad traditional fishing boats.

Enjo Enjoy a manzanilla (dry sher sherry) and plate of olives righ right beside the sea, bliss!

Pop up to Gibralfaro hill for a drink or afternoon tea and enjoy the views at PARADOR DE MÁLAGA-GIBRALFARO one of a national chain of hotels in former monasteries, castles, fortresses and other preserved historic buildings. It overlooks Málaga city, port and the Plaza de Toro, Málaga’s huge bullring. Rooms from ¤100. (Castillo de Gibralfaro, +34 952 221 902; parador.es)

You don’t have to be a car nerd to enjoy the AUTOMOBILE MUSEUM a private collection of 95 vehicles, many with historic links, including the limo that drove Grace Kelly to the palace in Monaco the day before her wedding. There’s also a collection of vintage haute couture, from Dior to Schiapirelli. (Tabacalera Building, Avenida Sor Teresa Prat 15, +34 951 137 001; museoautomovilmalaga.com) Take the CITY SIGHTSEEING hop on/hop off red bus, which stops at all the main tourist attractions. It’s a great way to see the city, and tours are in English; adult tickets €17. (+34 902 702 071; malaga-tour.com)

Bustling wi with noise and colour, colour vendors at MERCADO CENTRAL DE ATARAZA ATARAZANAS (Calle Atar Atarazanas) shout out th their produce and banter, with every kind of fruit, vegetable, vegeta fish, spice, chee cheese, meat and more fo for sale.

My favourite place to go for a glass of wine is LOS PATIOS DE BEATAS BODEGA (Calle Beatas 43, +34 952 210 350; lo lospatiosdebeatas.com), atiosdeb ta ), which is set in two beautifully renovated old houses. Big plus? The head sommelier’s wife Mabel rents apartments next door so you can make a night of it. Rooms from €60; apartamentos@lospatiosdebeatas.com.

EL PIMPI in the heart of the city’s historic district, oozes character and atmosphere – I like to stand at the old bar and order plates of manchego cheese and jamón (ham). The adjoining section is a bodega with barrels signed by celebrities such as Paloma Picasso and Antonio Banderas, and the outdoor terrace looks up at the Al Alcazaba. (Calle Granada 62, +34 952 228 990; elpimpi.com)

The 11th-century Moorish ALCAZABA FORTRESS ab above, and right, is one of tw two in the city, the other being bei the CASTILLO DE GIBRALFARO left.

The walk up to the Gi Gibralfaro is lovely, and so are ar the views – but wear comfortable co shoes.

AER LINGUS fLIES fRoM DuBLIN To MÁLAGA DAILY; fRoM CoRK ThREE TIMES A WEEK; fRoM MARCh 30, fRoM ShANNoN TWICE A WEEK; AND fRoM APRIL, fRoM BELfAST SIx TIMES A WEEK.

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December 2013/January 2014

Unicorn Since 1938

Unicorn restaurant has been at the heart of the Dublin restaurant scene for generations. Whether it’s a long leisurely lunch, an important business dinner, or a family get together, Unicorn is a unique place right in the heart of Dublin.

Providing Italian & Irish cuisine, from our pan fried scallops to our lobster linguini; a dining experience in Unicorn should be at the top of your list when visiting Dublin.

• Open for dinner Monday - Saturday from 5.30pm each night • Pre-Theatre menu available until 7pm 2 courses €20 - 3 courses €25 • Full À La Carte available • Open for lunch Tuesday to Saturday from 12.30pm with our famous late lunches Thurs, Fri and Sat. 12b Merrion coUrt, Merrion row, DUblin 2 w: UnicornreStaUrant.coM t: +353 (0)1 6762182 e: theUnicornreStaUrant@gMail.coM

For enquires email sales@mercantilegroup.ie

28 Dame Street, Dublin 2

+353 (0)1 670 7100 | www.mercantilehotel.ie

Hotel | Bar | Restaurant | Venue

/themercantile

@the_mercantile

Located in the heart

of Dublin City beside Temple Bar

One of Ireland's biggest

late night bars Live music daily

Finest Irish food & drink

Dublin’s Original Live Music Venue EST 1894

The Village

NIGHT CLUB / RESTAURANT / VENUE

HOSTING DUBLIN'S BEST CLUB NIGHTS WEDS - SAT

Mumford & Sons - Arthurs Day 2012

Entertainment 7 nights a week /Whelanslive

@whelanslive

25 Wexford Street, Dublin 2 Phone +353 (0) 1 478 0766 www.whelanslive.com

Scan for Listings

www.thevillagevenue.com /thevillagevenue

@thevillagevenue

26 WEXFORD ST DUBLIN 2

+353 (0) 1 475 8555

INFLIGHT

Inflight

For your guide to our new and exciting On Demand movies and television programmes, including Man of Steel (pictured), turn to page 116.

inflight

Welcome Aboard for your comfort and safety Please pay attention while the cabin crew demonstrate the use of the safety equipment before take-off. Also, make sure to read the safety instruction card, which is in the seat pocket in front of you.

Seat belts must be fastened during take-off and landing, and whenever the “Fasten Seat Belts” sign is switched on.

We recommend that you keep your seat belt loosely fastened throughout the flight.

Your seat must be in the upright position during takeoff and landing, but can be reclined by pressing the large button in the armrest. Other buttons (in the armrest or above your head, depending on the aircraft) may be used to operate your reading light and air vent, or to call a cabin attendant.

ar mhaithe de do chompord agus le do shábháilteacht ... ... iarraimid ort aird mhaith a thabhairt, ar an bhfoireann cábáin ag tús na heililte agus iad ag taispeáint conas an fearas slándála a úsáid. Iarraimid ort an cárta threoraca slándála atá i bpóca an tsuíocháin os do chomhair a léamh chomh maith.

Caithfear criosanna sábhála bheith ceangailte le linn éirí agus tuirlingthe agus ag aon am a bhíonn an comhartha “Fasten Seat Belts” ar iasadh.

Molaimid duit an crios sábhála bheith leathcheangailte agat i rith an turais.

Le linn éirí agus tuirlingthe, ní mór do shuíochan bheith sa suíomh ingearach. Ag am ar bith eile, is féidir an suíochán a chur siar ach brú ar an gcnaipe mór atá ar an taca uillinne. Tá cnaipí eile ann (ar an taca uillinne nó os do chionn, ag brath ar an eitleán) chun úsáid a bhaint as an solas léitheoireachta nó as an ngaothaire, nó chun glaoch ar bhall den fhoireann cábáin.

Portable electronic equipment Portable electronic equipment may interfere with aircraft equipment, creating a potentially hazardous situation. With safety as our priority, we ask you to pay particular attention to the following: Mobile phones and all other personal electronic equipment must be switched off and stowed safely as soon as the aircraft doors are closed. It is not permissible to use any electronic device to transmit or receive data during the flight, however devices equipped with flight mode, or the equivalent, may be used. Flight mode should be selected before the device is switched off.

Devices PermitteD at any ✔ time: Devices powered by micro battery cells and/or by solar cells; hearing aids (including digital devices); pagers (receivers only); heart pacemakers.

Devices PermitteD in flight ● but not During taxi/takeoff/initial climb/aPProach

lanDing: Laptops with CD ROM or DVD drive, palmtop organisers, handheld calculators without printers, portable audio equipment (eg Walkman, CD-player, Mini-disk player, iPod and MP3-player). For the comfort of other passengers, audio devices should be used with a headset. Computer games (eg Gameboy, Nintendo DS). Video cameras/ recorders, digital cameras, GPS handheld receivers, electric shavers, electronic toys.

Bluetooth devices with mobile phones in “Flight” mode, devices with “Blackberry” technology with “Flight”/Flight Safe” mode

selected, laptops, PDAs with built-in Wi-Fi with “Wireless Off” setting selected.

Devices ProhibiteD at all ✘ times: Devices transmitting radio frequency intentionally such as

walkie-talkies, remote controlled toys; wireless computer equipment (eg mouse, keyboard); PC printers, DVD/CD writers and Mini-disk Recorders in the recording mode; digital camcorders when using CD write facility; portable stereo sets; pocket radios (AM/ FM); TV receivers; telemetric equipment; peripheral devices for handheld computer games (eg supplementary power packs connected by cable); wireless LAN (WLAN). Laptops with built-in WLAN (eg Centrino) may be used during flight, provided the WLAN option is turned off and subject to the restrictions associated with the use of laptops detailed above.

a330 aircraft fitted with Wi-fi and a mobile network Wireless settings on your personal electronic devices can be turned on in-flight.

If availing of the Mobile Network, phones should not be switched to “Flight” or “Flight Safe” mode.

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December 2013/January 2014

Aer Lingus is delighted to welcome you on board Tá áthas ar Aer Lingus fáilte ar bord a chur romhat

Food and bar service

Seirbhís bia agus beáir

A new range of food items – including sandwiches, confectionery and a range of snacks – is available for sale on all Aer Lingus scheduled services to and from the UK and Europe. A charge applies for all drinks on UK and European flights in Economy class. On long haul flights, there is a charge in Economy class for alcoholic drinks, while soft drinks are complimentary. Details of all items available for purchase are contained in an information leaflet, which is in all seat pockets.

Tá raon nua bia ar fáil anois ar sheirbhísí sceidealta Aer Lingus a dhéanann freastai ar an Riocht Aontaithe agus ar an Eoraip.

Ina measc, tá ceapairí, milseogra agus rogha sneaiceanna éagsúla. Ní mór íoc as gach deoch sa ghrád barainne ar na heitiltí seo. Ar eitiltí Trasatlantacha, tá costas ar dheochanna neamh-mheisciúla go fóill ar fáil saor in aisce. Tá sonraí faoi gach rud is féidir a cheannach ar bord foilsithe sa bhileog eolais atá i bpóca an tsuíocháin os do chomhair.

News, music and movies

Nuacht, ceol agus scannáin

On long haul flights, we offer you an extensive programme of viewing and listening options. For full details, turn towards the back of this magazine.

Ar eitiltí Trasatlantacha tá clár leathan féachana agus éisteachta ar fáil. Le hagaidh tuilleadh eolais, féach deireadh na hirise seo.

Fearas iniompartha leictreonach Is féidir le fearas iniompartha leictreonach cur isteach ar threalamh an eitleáin, rud a d’fhéadfadh bheith contúirteach. Agus sábháilteacht mar phríomhchúram ag Aer Lingus, iarraimid ort aird sa bhreis a thabhairt ar an mír seo a leanas: Caithfear gach guthán póca agus gach fearas pearsanta leictreonach a mhúchadh agus a chur i dtaisce a luaithe agus a dhúntar doirse an eitleáin. Ní ceadmhach úsáid a bhaint as uirlis leictreonach ar bith chun sonraí a tharchur nó a ghlacadh i rith na heitilte. Is ceadmhach, áfach, uirlisí le cumas “mód eitilte”, nó a chomhionann sin, a úsáid. Caithfear an lipéad “modh eitilte” a roghnú sula múchtar an uirlis.

GLéAsAnnA A bhfuIL ✔ ceAdAIthe I GcónAí: Gléasanna a bhaineann úsáid as

micreaceallairí agus/nó fotaichill; cluaisíní chúnta (gléasanna digiteach san áireamh); glaoirí (gleacadáin amháin); séadairí.

GLéAsAnnA Atá ● ceAdAIthe I rIth nA heItILte, Ach nAch

bhfuIL ceAdAIthe Le LInn don eItLeán bheIth AG GLuAIseAcht Ar tALAmh/AG éIrí de thALAmh/ AG tAbhAIrt fAoIn dreApAdh tosAIGh/ AG dírIú Ar thuIrLInGt/ AG tuIrLInGt: Ríomhairí glúine le tiomántán dlúthdhiosca (CD ROM) nó diosca digiteach ilúsáide (DVD). Eagraithe pearsanta boise. Áireamháin láimhe gan phrintéiri.

Clostrealamh iniompartha (ms Walkman, seinnteoir CD, seinnteoir

Mini-disk, iPod, seinnteoir MP3). Ar mhaithe le compord na bpaisinéiri eile, níor choir na gléasanna seo a úsáid ach amháin le cluaisíní. Cluichí ríomhaire (ms Gameboy). Níl cead gaireas forimeallach a úsáid le cluichí láimhe ríomhaire am ar bith (ms paca forlíontach cumhachta a cheanglaítear le cábla). Físcheamaraí agus fístaifeadáin, trealamh digiteach san áireamh. Ceamaraí digiteach. Glacadóirí láimhe chóras suite domhanda (GPS). Rásúir leicreacha. Bréagáin leictreonacha (seachas bréagáin chianrialaithe).

Gléasanna “Bluetooth” i gcomhar le gutháin phóca agus iad i “modh eitilte”; uirlisí a bhaineann feidhm as teicneolaíocht “Blackberry” agus “mód eitilte” nó “slánmhód eitilte” roghnaithe orthu; ríomhairí glúine; ríomhairí boise (PDA) le Wi-Fi ionsuite agus an lipéad “raidió múchta” roghnaithe orthu.

GLéAsAnnA A bhfuIL ✘ cosc IomLán orthu: Gléasanna a tharchuireann

minicíocht raidió d’aon turas.

Siúlscéalaithe. Bréagaín chianrialaithe. Aonaid fhístaispeána le feadáin ga-chatadóideacha.

Trealamh ríomhaire gan sreang (ms luch). Printéirí PC. Schríbhneoiri DVD, CD agus taifeadáin Minidisk atá sa mhodh taifeadta.

Ceamthaifeadáin digiteacha agus iad ag athscríobh dlúthdhioscaí.

Steiréónna iniompartha. Raidiónna póca (AM/ FM). Glacadóiri teilifíse.

Trealamh teiliméadrach. Ní cheadaítear fearas LAN gan sreang (WLAN) a úsáid. Is féidir ríomhairí glúine a bhfuil WLAN ionsuite iontu (ms Centrino) a úsáíd le linn na heitilte ar choinníoll go bhfuil WLAN curtha as agus faoi réir na srianta a bhaineann le húsáid ríomhhairí glúine (thuas luaite).

Tá ár n-eitleán A330 feistithe amach le WI-FI agus líonra móibíleach.

Tá ár n-eitleán A330 feistithe amach le WI-FI agus líonra móibíleach. Is féidir leat an líonra gan sreang ar do ghléas phearsanta leictreonach a chur ar siúl nuair atá an t-eitleán san aer. Má tá tú chun úsáid a bhaint as an líonra móibíleach, níor chóir do na fóin a bheith casta chuig an mód ‘Eitilt’ nó an mód ‘Eitilt Slán’.

SmokINg In line with Irish government regulations, Aer Lingus has a nosmoking policy onboard its flights.

Smoking is not permitted in any part of the cabin at any time. tobAc De réir rialacháin Rialtas na hÉireann, tá polasai i réim ar eitiltí Aer Lingus nach gceadaítear tobac a chaitheamh.

Ní cheadaítear d’aon duine tobac a chaitheamh in aon chuid den eitleán ag aon am.

We hope you have a comfortable and pleasant

flight. Thank you for choosing to fly with Aer Lingus.

Tá suil againn go mbíonn turas compordach taitneamhach agat agus go raibh maith agat as taisteal le hAer Lingus.

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INFLIGHT

Aer Lingus news Sizzling hot Summer Schedule Time to get planning those summer breaks. Sun-seekers flying from Dublin now have more choice with additional frequencies added to customer favourites, including Bilbao, Lyon, Paris, Faro, Alicante, Lanzarote, Bordeaux and Corfu, right. Aer Lingus passengers will also be able to explore Croatia and Germany some more, with new destinations added to Pula, flights commence April 19, and Hannover, 30 March.

For those wanting to travel further afield, from January 2014, Aer Lingus is to increase frequencies on transatlantic routes from Shannon to New York and Boston, almost doubling the schedule and operating all year-round. Customers will also benefit with access to up to 40 destinations in North America with partner airline, JetBlue.

From April 2014, two new destinations to North America take off.

Routes from Dublin to San Francisco

For more information on our great fares and schedules, visit aerlingus.com

and Toronto will make for easy access to west coast USA and Canada, and also bring a boost to visitors from North America.

More good news, passengers travelling from Cork airport will now have more choice with extra flights available to London Heathrow every week. Daily flights will continue between Ireland West Airport, Knock and London Gatwick.

From Belfast City Airport, Aer Lingus will fly twice a week, every Tuesday and Saturday, to Palma, Majorca, six days a week to Malaga (excluding Tuesdays), and daily to Faro.

Aer Lingus will continue to serve the London Heathrow route and maintain the vital London Gatwick route from Belfast City Airport, flying four times daily to Heathrow and three times a day to Gatwick. From Shannon, a new route to Spain has been included. Shannon to Malaga flights begin March 30.

Happy Birthday!

Mo Movement November wouldn’t be Movember without a ‘tache or two. Aer Lingus got behind the Movember campaign to support men’s health and raise vital funds and awareness of prostate and testicular cancer and mental health. Aer Lingus called on both customers and staff to ditch the razors and become a Mo Bro for Movember. Collections took place onboard all flights during the last week of November so that together – employees and customers – could join in the campaign in an effort to make a real difference.

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December 2013/January 2014

From left, cabin crew member Julie Davidson, on, Andrea Hunter, Business Development Manager of Aer Lingus NI, Brian Ambrose, Chief Executive of George Best Belfast City Airport, and cabin crew member Richard are McCarroll Murphy, share ing a bespoke cake featuring Belfast landmarks to celebrate Aer Lingus’s ing first anniversary of flying from the airport.

, the annual Northern AwArdS! For the fourth consecutive year d Aer Lingus the “Best Ireland Travel and Tourism Awards vote was also voted third Airline to Europe ex. Belfast”. Aer Lingus category in the place in ‘The Best Economy Class Airline’ les all round. prestigious Guardian Travel Awards. Smi

Fresh and tasty, left, carrot cake muffin and butter scone, below, toastie and panini.

Dine in the Sky with Clodagh McKenna

Chef Clodagh McKenna with Aer Lingus cabin crew members Claire Sutton, left, and Leanne Donnelly, right, launch a new onboard menu on short haul flights, known as Bia.

Foodie fans will relish the new onboard menu designed by chef and restaurateur Clodagh McKenna in collaboration with Aer Lingus. Now available on short-haul flights, Bia, as the new menu is called, offers a tasty range of lunch and snack options at exceptional value. Irish croque monsieur known as a Cheesy Mister, a caprese panini or a pastrami and pickle sandwich are all priced at €5, while sweet treats include Clodagh’s signature carrot cake muffin, at €3, Cadbury’s chocolate and homemade bars and cakes by Broderick’s,

including rocky road and a chocolate brick. There’s a Gubbeen cheese board served with oatcakes, priced at €4.50, and savoury snacks that include Tayto crisps and Manhattan Popcorn.

Produce for the new menu has been sourced from all over Ireland, with suppliers including Carroll’s ham from Co Offaly, Gubbeen cheese from Co Cork and Wrights salmon farmed off Clare Island in Co Mayo as well as a delicious butter scone made fresh daily with Kerrygold butter. And there’s something for craft beer lovers too with

the arrival on the menu of Tom Creans Irish Lager, brewed in Dingle, Co Kerry.

In addition, Clodagh is also developing a selection of pre-order meals which will launch for sale on aerlingus. com in December. The menu is now available on all short-haul Aer Lingus flights and will change twice yearly to reflect seasonal changes.

There’s one thing that hasn’t changed though – the much-loved Irish breakfast is still firmly on the menu.

Bags of room

Fr From left, Bernard Brogan, Be St Stephen Cl Cluxton, Kevin Mc McManamon, Jo Jonny Cooper, Pa Paul Flynn, Eog Eoghan O’Gara an and Cian O’ O’Sullivan al alongside Aer Li Lingus’ Katerina Ba Baltramiejune an and Anne Be Behan and, of co course, those al all-important tr trophies.

From December, Aer Lingus will introduce the first phase of a new checked baggage policy on short-haul flights, which aims to offer customers greater choice and flexibility. Customers can choose from a range of products including different weight categories, ranging from 15kg to 40kg, and the number of checked bags, to suit their travel needs. Baggage can be booked at the time me age of booking or at any time pre-departure through ‘manage my booking’ , by calling reservations or at the airport. The e long-haul checked baggage policy remains unchanged, as does the hand baggage allowance.

Clash of the Ash goes to US Aer Lingus flew members of the 2013 All-Ireland winning Dublin GAA side, to Chicago recently to showcase Gaelic games in North America. They took along some valuable hand luggage – the Football League Division 1 Cup, the Leinster Football Championship Cup and the Sam Maguire. The famous

trophy went on tour in various clubs in the Windy City and the Big Apple, whilst the players hosted kids’ coaching sessions in both cities.

Aer Lingus is very proud to be the official travel partner to Dublin GAA and we congratulate the team on their fantastic success this year.

December 2013/January 2014

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INFLIGHt

Movies

FLIGHTS TO THE UNITED STATES BLUE JaSMINE

Drama (PG13) 98 minutes Blue Jasmine follows a the story of a former New York socialite, Jasmine, who has just moved to San Francisco to live with her sister. She is virtually a lost soul, having previously led an affluent lifestyle with her wealthy businessman husband Hal. Adjusting to her new life brings many challenges, including dealing with her sister’s arrogant boyfriend, developing a relationship with new flame and understanding what it feels like to hold down a job.

Director Woody Allen is inventive with the narrative, as he shifts between Jasmine’s old life in New York and new one in San Francisco, thus allowing viewers to fully experience the different worlds that each character inhabits.

StarS Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Peter Sarsgaard DIrECtOr Woody Allen

BYZANTIUM

ELYSIUM

EUROPA REPORT

Drama (R)

Action (R)

Thriller (PG13)

StarS Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Arterton, Sam Riley

StarS Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley

StarS Sharlto Copley, Michael Nyqvist, Christian Camargo

PACIFIC RIM

RED 2

Action (PG13) StarS Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi

CHILLY CHRISTMAS Family (G) StarS Tom Arnold, C. Thomas Howell, Brooke Langton

116 |

GIRL MOST LIKELY Comedy (PG13) StarS Kristen Wiig, Annette Bening, Matt Dillon

GODDESS Comedy (PG) StarS Laura Michelle Kelly, Ronan Keating

HOUSE PARTY: TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT Comedy (R) StarS Jeremy Boado, Alanka Craffert, Raja Fenske

WOLVERINE

WORLD WAR Z

Action (PG13)

Horror (R)

Drama (R)

Action (PG13)

Action (PG13)

StarS Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich

StarS Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ron Livingston

StarS Michael Shannon, Chris Evans, James Franco

StarS Hugh Jackman, Will Yun Lee, Tao Okamoto

StarS Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz

THE CONJURING

DR. SEUSS’ HORTON HEARS A WHO

ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT

VOICES OF Jim Carey, Steve Carell, Carol Burnett

VOICES OF Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo

Animation (G)

December 2013/January 2014

Animation (G)

THE ICEMAN

SMURFS 2

UP

Animation (G)

Animation (G)

VOICES OF Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Katy Perry

VOICES OF Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, John Ratzenberger

Aer Lingus presents four globally renowned Irish Short Films – The Last Princess, Eliot & Me, Sylvia and Cuckoo. Also, two international shorts – Harvie Krumpet and The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello.

Movies

Flights From the UNiteD stAtes MAN OF STEEL

Action (PG13) 143 minutes Man of Steel, written by David S. Goyer and directed

by Zack Snyder, tells the story of a young boy who discovers that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind. The story is told interestingly and skilfully by Snyder, as key moments in the hero’s development are told through flashbacks triggered by present-day traumas, making this Superman movie both more engaging and more complex than it’s predecessors.

STArS Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon DirEcTOr Zack Snyder

Almost ChristmAs Comedy (R) STArS Paul Giamatti, Paul Rudd, Sally Hawkins

lA CAge DorÉe (the gilDeD CAge) Comedy (PG13)

STArS Rita Blanco, Joaquim de Almeida, Roland Giraud

the irish PUB Documentary (PG)

STArS Liam Aherne, Bobby Blackwell, Tom Breen

ANY DAY NoW

BlooD

CleAr historY

JoBs

KilliNg seAsoN

Drama (R)

Thriller (R)

Comedy (R)

Drama (PG13)

Action (R)

STArS Alan Cumming, Garret Dillahunt, Isaac Leyva

STArS Mark Strong, Paul Bettany, Stephen Graham

STArS Larry David, Bill Hader, Philip Baker Hall

STArS Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad

STArS Robert De Niro, John Travolta, Milo Ventimiglia

meNtAl

PArANoiA

PhANtom

reDemPtioN

Comedy (R)

Thriller (PG13)

Thriller (R)

Drama (R)

siBeriAN eDUCAtioN

STArS Toni Collette, Anthony LaPaglia, Liev Schreiber

STArS Liam Hemsworth, Gary Oldman, Harrison Ford

STArS Ed Harris, Julian Adams, David Duchovny

STArS Jason Statham, Agata Buzek, Vicky McClure

AlViN AND the ChiPmUNKs Animation (G) VOicES OF Jason Lee, David Cross, Cameron Richardson

CArs 2

Animation (G) VOicES OF Owen Wilson, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer

iCe Age 3: DAWN oF the DiNosAUrs Animation (G)

VOicES OF Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary

toY storY 3 Animation (G) VOicES OF Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack

Drama (R) STArS Arnas Fedaravicius, Vilius Tumalavicius, Eleanor Tomlinson

Aer Lingus presents four globally renowned Irish Short Films – The Last Princess, Eliot & Me, Sylvia and Cuckoo. Also, two international shorts – Harvie Krumpet and The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello.

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INFLIGHT

Television

On demand

On Demand TV allows you to select and view your favourite TV shows. Don’t miss the most anticipated new shows on TV in this extensive choice of award-winning Comedy, Drama, Documentary, Lifestyle and Kids programmes.

DOCUMENTARY HIGHLIGHTS

Don’t Tell the Bride

LIFESTYLE HIGHLIGHTS

Lifestyle highlights include Grand Designs, Auction, Pawn Stars, Who Do You Think You Are?, Storage Wars, The Ideas Exchange and HSBC Golfing World, with Christmas episodes of Choccywoccydoodah, Starstruck and Don’t Tell The Bride also featuring.

Fashion lovers will enjoy the exclusive premiere of XOX, Betsey Johnson, a brand new reality show that follows the lives of Betsey and her daughter Lulu, as they try to rebuild the Johnson brand after filing

Storage Wars

for bankruptcy. Also on board for fashion aficionados is Videofashion News, while any food enthusiasts will love The American Food Battle and The Mind of a Chef.

Music, Arts, Nature and Culture lovers won’t want to miss Living the Wildlife, The Design Doctors, Video Killed the Radio Star, or TG4’s alternative music show, Ceol ar an Imeall. Imeall, also from TG4, features Tristan Rosenstock as he travels around Ireland to meet some of the island’s leading artists.

Documentary highlights include two episodes of The Men Who Built America, the story of the men who catapulted the United States into prosperity. Two episodes of Story of a Marque also feature. For Nature enthusiasts, there are two episodes of The Wild West, along with Great Irish Journeys and Secrets of The Irish Landscape.

Also available is the engineering show Megastructures. It takes us through the journey of German engineers as they attempt to built the world’s largest tunnel boring machine and use it to create the Sparvo Tunnel

Secrets of the Irish Landscape that connects Germany and Italy.

Celebrate the life and times of Séamus Heaney with RTE’s Séamus Heaney: Out of the Marvellous.

More Irish documentaries include Kevin Dundon: Modern Irish Food, and Oi! Ginger, which explores the prejudices experienced by redheads in Ireland.

KIDS’ HIGHLIGHTS

Sofia the First

Kids can enjoy Disney favourites such as Doc McStuffins, Sofia the First, Jessie and Austin & Ally. Also on board is a 30 minute compilation of Outopus, exclusive to Aer Lingus from Monster Entertainment. While teenagers will enjoy Glee, the younger ones will love the Christmas show, Santa’s Last Christmas.

Broadchurch

DRAMA HIGHLIGHTS As we witness a golden age in TV drama, Aer Lingus offers engaging choices with episodes of the hottest drama from the US and UK available.

Enjoy seven episodes of the multiaward winning HBO series Game Of Thrones, a thrilling fantasy drama where seven noble families fight for control of the mythical land they call home. Set on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos at the end of a decade-long summer, the series has received much critical acclaim and a large international fan base.

Three episodes of all-time favourites Broadchurch and Doc

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The I.T. Crowd

COMEDY HIGHLIGHTS

Game of Thrones Martin are also on board for your enjoyment, along with four brand new episodes of Boardwalk Empire, two episodes of hit series The Americans, and one-off episodes of Gossip Girl and The Newsroom.

December 2013/January 2014

Watch out for two episodes of the brand new HBO comedy, Hello Ladies. Starring comedy genius and Golden Globe winner Stephen Merchant, the show follows Stuart, a gawky, British, 6’ 7” web designer as he searches for excitement and romance in Los Angeles. Half as charming and twice as desperate as he thinks he is, he’s obsessed with infiltrating the glamorous world of beautiful people who won’t let him in.

More comedy highlights from HBO include two new episodes of both Eastbound & Down and Veep.

Family Guy Amongst other comedy new to Aer Lingus are Louie, New Girl, Family Guy, The Big Bang Theory, Father Ted, The I.T. Crowd, Raising Hope, Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The Middle.

A DUBLIN ICON SINCE 1927 Bewley’s famous Grafton Street Café boasts a rich cultural and architectural heritage and is home to the magnificent stained glass windows by the renowned artist Harry Clarke.

Good Eatin Guide

BEST TOURIST VENUE

2013

Come visit and enjoy our fresh hand roasted coffee and freshly made food, all in our beautiful surroundings.

78-79 GRAFTON STREET, DUBLIN 2 t: 01 672 77 20 e:GS@BEWLEYS.IE WWW.BEWLEYS.COM

U.S. IMMIGRATION LAWYERS

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Secure Trusted Private

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Excellent track record representing top Irish companies and individuals.

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d Gift Car

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Sentinel Vaults Limited St. Martin’s House Waterloo Road Ballsbridge Dublin 4

www.sentinelvaults.ie

The perfect gift For the person who has everything – give them peace of mind with a Sentinel Vaults Gift Card.

For enquiries call 01 6678370 or email info@sentinelvaults.ie

INFLIGHT

Radio

On demand Talk Radio

Rock

Classical

NOVA Irish Classic Rock

The Blue of the Night

Easy Listening

Fitzpatrick Hotels

Tubridy on 2fm

This is a contemporary easy-listening collection of songs from both sides of the Atlantic, brought to you compliments of The Fitzpatrick Hotel Group USA. With two hotels in downtown Manhattan, Grand Central and Fitzpatrick Manhattan, Fitzpatrick’s is the place to stay in NYC. Visit their website for more information, fitzpatrickhotels.com.

Fitzpatrick Hotels USA are also on Twitter & Facebook.

Ryan Tubridy’s unique showmanship and wit is broadcast to the nation every weekday morning.

Spontaneous, unpredictable, entertaining and intelligent, Tubridy takes in everything from the day’s news to huge competitions, from big interviews to human-interest stories.

Ryan Tubridy is one of Ireland’s most prolific broadcasters and his RTÉ 2fm show raises the bar for morning radio.

For more follow Ryan on Twitter @Tubridy2FM.

Pop

Poetry

Talk Radio

Traditional Irish

Chart Hits

Irish Poetry Corner

Best of Moncrieff

Ceol na nGael

Chart Hits lifts the lid on the most up-to-the-minute Pop hits from both sides of the Atlantic. Listen out for your favourite artists in this compilation of smash hits. This exciting set of songs features hits from the world’s most successful artists including, Justin Timberlake, Nicole Scherzinger and One Direction. Also listen out for brand new songs from industry stalwarts Depeche Mode and David Bowie.

Poetry has been a passion in Ireland for a couple of thousand years. Brian Munn selects and reads verses from renowned Irish poets – W.B. Yeats, Oliver Goldsmith, Percy French, Oscar Wilde and others of note.

This unique selection is at times comic, romantic and always nostalgic.

Enjoy this ensemble of Irish poetry produced especially for Aer Lingus to celebrate this remarkable Irish tradition.

Best of Moncrieff is a lively mix of funny, engaging and irreverent features. Its insightful format gives listeners a unique listening experience. Tune into Best of Moncrieff every weekday from 1.30-4.30pm on Newstalk 106-108fm for a lively mix of phone-ins, text messages and stories from around the world and down your street.

Text 53106, email afternoon@ newstalk.ie or follow Sean on Twitter @SeanMoncrieff.

Ceol na nGael is a traditional music programme presented, in Irish, by Seán Ó hÉanaigh. Seán presents Sruth na Maoile on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. The station is the national Irish language broadcaster in Ireland, and is celebrating 40 years on air. Ceol traidisiúnta agus ceol tíre den scoth, le Seán Ó hÉanaigh. For more, visit rte.ie/rnag.

Twitter @RTERnaG

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December 2013/January 2014

Marty Miller plays songs with guitars in them, daily on Radio NOVA. From Aerosmith to ZZ Top and whatever crops up in-between! Especially for your travel today, relax and pass an hour with some great Irish rock songs and bands and enjoy your flight. For more, follow Marty on Twitter @MartyMtweets.

Each night on RTÉ lyric fm, The Blue Of The Night broadcasts a blend of singer-songwriter, jazz, roots, folk, world, ambient and classical music.

In this bespoke edition made for Aer Lingus, host Eamonn Lenihan presents symphonic Debussy; Clint Eastwood’s son Kyle; a new choral work by Kevin Puts; Radiohead, interpreted by a classical pianist; and the debut recording by young Irish singer Aoife Doyle. Learn more about the show at rte.ie/lyricfm.

Opera

Irish

Documentary

Documentary

Tales from the Opera

Homecoming

Documentary On One

Top Ten

Join Liz Nolan and Tales from the Opera for the chronicles of passionate and spectacular art on Sundays at 7pm on 96-99 RTÉ lyric fm. For this flight, Tales from the Opera invites you to the world of Candide – hero of a Voltaire satire, and Bernstein’s fizzing operetta of love, loss, betrayal, cynicism, disaster, redemption ... plus a few other plot twists.

Homecoming is a nostalgic mix of famous Irish songs selected especially for The Gathering 2013. Whether you live in Ireland, are coming home to visit relatives and friends or discover your Irish roots – these Irish classics are sure to conjure up memories of days gone by. This show represents the cream of Irish talent from U2, The Pogues, The Cranberry’s, Horslips, The Dubliners, The Saw Doctors to Rory Gallagher and many more. Enjoy Coming Home with Homecoming.

Documentary On One is the multi award winning radio documentary strand from RTÉ Radio 1 (88-90FM) and is currently the most successful documentary unit in the world – winning over 70 awards since 2009.

The website rte.ie/doconone contains over 1,000 radio documentaries all freely available to listen/podcast. You can also download the all new and free Documentary On One for iPhone and/ or Android app. The documentaries featured are “Kerry and The Tramp”, “Fire and Water” and “Kenmare Street”.rte.ie/doconone

Weekday mornings you’ll find Ray Foley & JP Gilbourne on 98FM! Join the boys for the funniest way to wake up in Dublin. There’ll be plenty of #bants as they cover the big issues and the, er, not-so-big, along with special guests & great prizes! For more, visit: 98fm.com or follow Ray on Twitter @RayFoleyShow.

Kids

Alternative

Jazz

Folk, Roots

RTÉ Jr

Phantom

Jazz Alley

Roots Freeway

Join Audrey and Ogie in The Cosy Corner to enter a world of sleepy and comforting music that’s sure to help little ones drift to the Land of Nod. The Cosy Corner has plenty of sleepy-time stories and meditations from all over the world; including soothing Irish lullabies. All of the lullabies are chosen especially for sleepyheads flying all over the world. So get your pillow and your blanket and get comfortable in The Cosy Corner … it’s going to be a relaxing flight. rte.ie/rtejr/listen

Phantom 105.2 is the home of very best music on Irish radio. Phantom is committed to playing new music, Indie rock and alternative music for Dublin.

Claire Beck brings you through a selection of what you will hear on Dublin’s alternative Radio Station!

Claire presents Phantom Drive, daily from 3pm on Phantom 105.2. Turn it on and try something different!

Phantom 105.2 – phantom.ie!

Take a walk down Jazz Alley with Donald Helme, featuring the best in classic and contemporary jazz.

Focusing on the curious, quirky, obscure, and neglected Jazz Alley broadcasts on Ireland’s dedicated classical music station, RTÉ lyric fm, each Wednesday evening at 7pm.

Donald Helme’s lifelong enthusiasm for jazz began in the 1950s with Count Basie, and blossomed from there to include almost all aspects of this absorbing and important music.

Niall Toner presents Roots Freeway on RTÉ Radio 1, Ireland’s mostlistened-to radio station; Saturday nights at 11pm. Roots Freeway is an eclectic mix of folk, bluegrass, blues and roots music. Toner is, first and foremost, a music fan, but he is also a songwriter and a musician in his own right, playing guitar and mandolin with his own band, The Niall Toner Band.

December 2013/January 2014

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INFLIGHT

Wellbeing Aer Lingus is pleased to bring you some suggestions and light exercises to enhance your comfort and wellbeing during your flight: Wear loose-fitting clothes on board, to allow your skin to breathe.

Stretch your legs by taking a stroll through the cabin.

Circle your ankles clockwise and anti-clockwise.

Trace the letters of the alphabet with your foot by moving your ankles.

Exercising your feet and legs periodically helps to reduce possible effects of long-duration travel.

Avoid sitting or sleeping in the same position for too long and gently stretch muscles to improve your circulation.

Move your neck and shoulders during long flights to prevent stiffness.

Reducing the effects of Jet Lag: Avoid heavy food, alcohol, tea or coffee the day before you travel.

When you arrive at your destination, try to adjust your activities to the new time zone.

Mild exercise on arrival will help to stimulate your circulation.

We wish you an enjoyable experience.

Travel Tips It is important to take time to reduce your risk of getting sick. Various viruses are thought to spread mainly from person to person through coughing, sneezing, or close contact with the flu. Here are some everyday preventative actions you can take to help slow the spread of germs that cause respiratory illness, like flu: Cover your nose and mouth when you cough and sneeze. This will help to prevent the spread of droplets that contain germs.

Wash your hands often with soap and water. If soap and water are not available use an alcohol–based hand rub.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth, this can cause the spread of germs.

An important step is to get a flu vaccination, especially for elderly people, people with certain chronic health conditions, and pregnant women.

Carry-on baggage Carry-on baggage on Aer Lingus services is restricted to one piece per person, as well as to the weights and measurements, illustrated below.

Passengers with wheelchair requirements Our priority is to always ensure the safety and comfort of all passengers. We encourage passengers who may need assistance to contact us well in advance of their date of travel to enable us to assess their needs.

If you are a wheelchair user or require wheelchair assistance when travelling on Aer Lingus services, please advise us of your requirements at least 48 hours in advance, quoting your booking reference number. Our contact details are as follows: email: specialassistance@aerlingus.com Telephone: (Ireland) 0818 365 011 09:00 - 17:00 Mon-Fri 10:00 - 16:00 Sat & Sun 10:00 - 16:00 Bank Holidays (UK) 0871 718 20 21 (Europe) + 353 1 886 8333 (USA) 516 622 4222

AER LINGUS

AER LINGUS REGIONAL

Maximum weight

48cm (19ins)

10kg 55cm (22ins)

7kg (15 lbs)

(22 lbs)

24cm (9ins)

Maximum weight

40cm (16ins)

20cm (8ins)

33cm (13ins)

In addition you may choose to carry on one of the following, which must be placed under the seat in front: Small ladies handbag/gents satchel = 25cm (10”) x 33cm (13”) x 20cm (8”) OR Duty Free shopping bag as well as: Baby-changing/food bag Medical/assistive devices EU security rules regarding liquids, gels and aerosols in cabin baggage apply. Flights departing the USA are subject to TSA security rules. Passengers in Row 1, or at an emergency exit, MUST store baggage in an overhead bin.

Safety brief We would like to bring your attention to the following safety and security measures: Please pay attention to any instructions given to you by the cabin crew.

Any behaviour towards a fellow passenger or cabin crew that is deemed to be threatening or abusive (including the use of offensive language) is a serious matter.

As our priority is the safety of all passengers, it is important not to interrupt the cabin crew while they carry out their duties, and not to interfere with aircraft equipment.

122 |

As a service to passengers, alcohol is served in the airport lounges and on board. In the interests of safety, Aer Lingus may refuse to allow you board if it is thought too much alcohol has been consumed. While the majority of passengers are responsible, there have occasionally been incidents where intoxicated passengers have caused serious safety hazards. Passengers are reminded also that during the flight you may not consume any alcohol brought onto the aircraft by you or any other passenger.

December 2013/January 2014

The consumption inflight of Duty Free alcohol purchased from the Sky Shopping service is also prohibited. This measure is, again, necessary in the interests of flight safety.

If incidents of this kind occur during a flight, the cabin crew is obliged to contact police on arrival at your final destination.

The Aircraft Captain may also divert the flight enroute in order to remove disruptive passengers. Should this happen, Aer Lingus will not be responsible for getting you

home, your ticket money will not be refunded, and – in addition to the authorities awaiting you on landing – you could be heavily fined and/or be liable to a prison sentence. In many cases, other airlines may subsequently refuse to allow you to fly with them.

We emphasise that while on board the aircraft our priority is your safety. As always, we wish you a safe and enjoyable flight, as well as a safe onward journey.

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INFLIGHT

Route maps

EUROPEAN ROUTE NETWORK

Stockholm

Aberdeen Glasgow

Edinburgh

Copenhagen Newcastle Isle of Man Blackpool Hamburg DUBLIN Manchester London Berlin Birmingham HEATHRoW Amsterdam Hannover Kerry Cardiff London Dusseldorf SouTHEND Bristol Bournemouth London GATWICK Brussels Prague Frankfurt Jersey Rennes

Paris

Stuttgart

Munich

Warsaw

Vienna

Zurich Geneva Lyon

Bordeaux Bilbao

Santiago de Compostela

Toulouse Perpignan Madrid Ibiza

Lisbon Faro

Budapest

Milan

LINATE

Milan lan

Marseille MALPENSA Nice

Venice Pula Verona Ve Bologna Dubrovnik

Bourgas

Rome

Barcelona

Naples

Palma

Corfu Izmir

Alicante

Catania

Malaga

Athens

Agadir Lanzarote Tenerife

Fuerteventura Gran Canaria

To & From Dublin Austria Vienna

Czech Republic Prague

Belgium Brussels

Denmark Copenhagen

Bulgaria Bourgas

France Bordeaux Lyon Marseille Nice Paris Perpignan Toulouse ■ Rennes

Canary Islands Fuerteventura Gran Canaria Lanzarote Tenerife Croatia Dubrovnik Pula (new route

Germany Berlin Dusseldorf Frankfurt Hamburg Munich Stuttgart Hannover (new route commencing 30 March 2014)

Greece Athens Corfu Hungary Budapest

commencing 19 April 2014)

Ireland ■ Kerry

Poland Warsaw

Sweden Stockholm

Italy Bologna Catania Milan (Linate) Milan (Malpensa) Naples Rome Venice Verona

Portugal Faro Lisbon

Switzerland Geneva Zurich

Spain Alicante Barcelona Bilbao Ibiza Madrid Malaga Palma Santiago de Compostela

Turkey Izmir

The Netherlands Amsterdam Morocco Agadir

United Kingdom Birmingham London (Gatwick) London (Heathrow) Manchester

■ United Kingdom Aberdeen Birmingham Blackpool Bournemouth Bristol Cardiff Edinburgh Glasgow Isle of Man Jersey London Southend Manchester Newcastle

■ Aer Lingus Regional routes operated by Aer Arann For more information on schedules, please visit aerlingus.com

December 2013/January 2014

| 125

INFLIGHT

EUROPEAN ROUTE NETWORK

Edinburgh

Glasgow

Knock

BELFAST Manchester

Dublin

Birmingham

SHANNON Bristol London Heathrow

CORK

Amsterdam

LONdON GATWICK

Brussels

Jersey

Paris

Rennes

Munich

Geneva

Nice

Barcelona Palma Alicante Faro

Malaga

Lanzarote

Tenerife

Las Palmas

To & From Belfast, Cork, Shannon & Gatwick FROM BELFAST Flights operate from George Best Belfast City Airport

Portugal Faro Spain Malaga Palma United Kingdom London Heathrow London Gatwick

FROM CORK

FROM GATWICK

Belgium Brussels

Portugal Faro

United Kingdom London Heathrow

Canary Islands Lanzarote Tenerife Las Palmas

Spain Alicante Barcelona Malaga Palma

■ United Kingdom Birmingham Bristol Edinburgh Glasgow Jersey Manchester

France Nice Paris ■ Rennes Germany Munich

Switzerland Geneva The Netherlands Amsterdam

Ireland Belfast Dublin Ireland West Airport (Knock)

FROM SHANNON Canary Islands Lanzarote Portugal Faro Spain Malaga (new route

commencing 30 March 2014)

United Kingdom London Heathrow ■ United Kingdom Birmingham Edinburgh Manchester

FROM KNOCK ■ United Kingdom London Gatwick

■ Aer Lingus Regional routes operated by Aer Arann

126 |

December 2013/January 2014

USA ROUTE NETWORK

Toronto Chicago

Boston New York

San Francisco Shannon

Dublin

Orlando

To & From Dublin & Shannon FROM DUBLIN

FROM SHANNON

USA Boston Chicago New York Orlando San Francisco

USA Boston New York

Canada Toronto

(Via New York/Boston with JetBlue)

Chicago Orlando

HAer Lingus is flying direct from Dublin to Toronto and San Francisco from April 2014. Aer Lingus flights are available for sale on aerlingus.com

December 2013/January 2014

| 127

inFLight

CONNECTING EUROPE, USA & CANADA Edmonton

Calgary Winnipeg Vancouver Seattle Portland OR

Minneapolis Milwaukee

san FranCisCo San Jose

Oakland

Burbank Long Beach Orange County

toronto

Detroit

Burlington Syracuse Ro Rochester

Buffalo lo

Portland ME

Boston Pi Pittsburgh Nantucket Philadelphia neW York Des Moines Salt Lake City Indianapolis Columbus Baltimore Cincinnati ncinna Washington Greensboro Wichita Saint Louis Denver DuLLES uis Washington Wa NATIONAL Louisville Lexington Lex Richmond Ri Nashville Tulsa Raleigh - Durham Ra Las Vegas Oklahoma City Charlotte arlo Knoxville Memphis ChiCago

Omaha

Sacramento

Grand Rapids

Los Angeles Santa Ana San Diego

Phoenix

Cleveland Dayton on

Dallas (Fort Worth)

Atlanta Charleston

Austin

Houston

New Orleans

San Antonio

Jacksonville Orlando

Tampa Fort Myers

West Palm Beach Fort Lauderdale Miami

Aguadilla

San Juan Ponce Po

FLY BETWEEN THE FOLLOWING CITIES VIA DUBLIN, SHANNON, NEW YORK, BOSTON & CHICAGO new destinations with aer Lingus, in partnership with JetBlue, United airlines and aer arann Getting to the uS from destinations throughout Europe has never been easier. uS, Irish and European based customers can book a single low fare reservation between Ireland, Europe and a wide range of continental uS destinations using JFK New York, Boston and Chicago as stopovers.

By choosing to fly to the united States via Dublin and Shannon with Aer Lingus, passengers can avail of united States Customs and Immigration Pre-clearance facilities at

Terminal 2, Dublin airport.

This facility allows passengers travelling on the majority of uS bound flights to clear uS immigration and customs before departing Dublin and Shannon.

Customers arrive in the uS without any further processing requirement allowing for a seamless transfer to their final destination.

■ neW York Connecting with JetBlue at JFk: Passengers travelling from the uS to Ireland and Europe will be able to check in bags at the JetBlue domestic departure point and then pick them up again in Shannon or Dublin. aer Lingus flights operate

from t5 John F. kennedy airport.

■ Boston Connecting with JetBlue at Boston Logan international airport: When you arrive from Dublin or Shannon, proceed directly to Terminal C for your JetBlue domestic departure.

Passengers travelling from the uS to Ireland and Europe will be able to check in bags at the JetBlue departure point and then pick them up again in Shannon or Dublin.

■ ChiCago Connecting with United airlines at o’hare Chicago international airport: On arrival at Terminal Five from Dublin or Shannon, make your way to the nearby ATS (Airport Transit System), which runs every four minutes to your uA domestic departure point.

Passengers from the uS to Ireland and Europe can check in bags at the uA departure point, then exit security in Chicago O’Hare to take the Airport Transit System to Terminal Five for the onward Aer Lingus flight, and pick up their bags in Shannon or Dublin.

■ DUBLin Connecting with aer Lingus regional (operated by Aer Arann) at Dublin airport: Aer Lingus’s interline agreement with Aer Arann allows passengers connect to Aer Lingus transatlantic flights via Dublin Airport, where they can through check their luggage directly to their final uS destination.

All routes correct at time of going to press

128 |

December 2013/January 2014

aberdeen edinburgh

Glasgow

newcastle Isle of Man Hamburg

Manchester

Dublin Birmingham

Shannon kerry

london

london souTHend london

cardiff Bristol

Berlin

amsterdam

HeaTHrow

GaTwIck

warsaw

dusseldorf Brussels Frankfurt

paris Munich

Vienna

Geneva Milan

Malpensa

Milan

rome

Barcelona

Madrid

Venice

lInaTe

palma alicante Faro

Malaga

■ Via Dublin with aer lingus

■ Via Dublin with aer lingus Regional

■ Via new YoRk with Jetblue

                         

        

                          

alicante amsterdam Barcelona Berlin Birmingham Brussels dusseldorf edinburgh Faro Frankfurt Geneva Hamburg london (Gatwick) london (Heathrow) Madrid Malaga Manchester Milan linate Milan Malpensa Munich palma paris rome Venice Vienna warsaw

aberdeen Bristol cardiff edinburgh Glasgow Isle of Man london southend newcastle kerry

■ Via Shannon with aer lingus  london (Heathrow) ■ Via Shannon with aer lingus Regional    

Manchester Birmingham Bristol edinburgh

aguadilla austin Baltimore Boston Buffalo Burbank Burlington charlotte chicago denver Fort lauderdale Fort Myers Houston Jacksonville las Vegas long Beach los angeles nantucket new orleans oakland orlando phoenix ponce portland Me portland or raleigh-durham rochester

         

sacramento salt lake city san diego san Francisco san Jose san Juan seattle syracuse Tampa west palm Beach

■ Via boSton with Jetblue                

Baltimore Buffalo charleston charlotte chicago dallas Fort worth denver Ford lauderdale Fort Myers Jacksonville las Vegas long Beach los angeles nantucket new orleans oakland

               

orlando philadelphia phoenix pittsburg portland or raleigh-durham richmond salt lake city san diego san Francisco san Jose san Juan seattle Tampa washington (dulles) washington (national)  west palm Beach

■ Via ChiCago with united to uSa        

atlanta austin charlotte charleston cincinnati chicago cleveland columbus

                             

dallas (Fort worth) dayton denver des Moines detroit Fort Myers Grand rapids Greensboro Houston Indianapolis Jacksonville kansas city knoxville las Vegas lexington los angeles louisville Memphis Miami Milwaukee Minneapolis nashville new orleans oklahoma city omaha orange county phoenix pittsburgh portland or raleigh-durham

            

rochester sacramento salt lake city san antonio san diego san Francisco san Jose santa ana seattle st louis Tampa Tulsa wichita

■ Via ChiCago with united to Canada      

calgary edmonton salt lake city Toronto Vancouver winnipeg

■ Aer Lingus Regional routes operated by Aer Arann December 2013/January 2014

| 129

INFLIGHT

Middle east and australasia route network

Dublin

Bahrain Abu Dhabi

Muscat

Kuala Lumpur Singapore

FROM DUBLIN

VIa aBU DHaBI TO:

Abu Dhabi

Muscat Kuala Lumpur Singapore Bahrain Sydney Melbourne

Flights are operated by our codeshare partner, Etihad Airways.

130 |

December 2013/January 2014

Sydney Melbourne

Enjoy Wi-Fi and Mobile Onboard your transatlantic flight today Wi-Fi Onboard Communicate with friends and family, launch your business to new heights or browse your favourite websites as you fly onboard today.

You can connect via any Wi-Fi enabled device.

Follow these simple steps to get connected.

Switch on Switch on your device when it is safe to do so and connect to the Telekom HotSpot Network. SSID: Aer_Lingus_WiFi

Mobile Onboard Text, email and browse the web from the air with our onboard mobile network, AeroMobile. Connect instantly and keep in touch with friends and family through your mobile as you glide across the Atlantic.

Connect Launch or refresh the browser to connect to the Aer Lingus portal. You can browse aerlingus.com for free along with some of our partners’ sites.

Purchase Internet Access Click the 'Buy Internet Access' button to purchase a session, then choose a tariff. Your browsing session can last one hour or you can purchase a 24 hour pass.

Payment Select your payment method which is processed via a secure connection. Credit card, roaming or Deutsche Telekom accounts are accepted.

Username and Password

Switch on Switch on your mobile when it is safe to do so and ensure it is in silent or vibrate mode.

Aeromobile Wait for the AeroMobile network signal to appear. If your device does not connect automatically, manually select the AeroMobile network through network settings.

Welcome SMS Once connected you will receive a welcome SMS from AeroMobile. You may also receive a pricing message from your mobile operator.

Standard roaming rates apply.

Enter a username and password. You need to remember these if you wish to change device.

Connected

Connected

Remember: Voice calls are disabled and are not permitted during flight. Remember to manage your settings to avoid automatic data download and incurring roaming charges.

You are now free to browse, email and surf the internet... enjoy!

One hour pass €10.95 | $14.95 24 hour pass €19.95 | $24.95

You can now use your phone for SMS, MMS, email, and browsing the internet.

Standard roaming rates apply from your mobile phone operator

InFlIGHt

Flight Connections

CONNECTING TO ANOTHER AER LINGUS FLIGHT AT DUBLIN AIRPORT FLIGHTS ARRIvING AT TERmINAL 2 FLIGhT ConnECTIonS Connecting flight departs Gates 401 - 426 Arrivals Route to Baggage Reclaim from Gates 400s

FLIGhT ConnECTIonS Connecting flight departs Gates 100s - 300s

To Gates 100s 300s

Immigration

Aer Lingus Flight Connections Desk

Immigration

Security Check

Lifts to Gates 401 - 426 Escalator to Gates 401 - 426

Terminal 2 Arrivals

If you already have a boarding card for your connecting flight, and your baggage has been tagged to your final destination, simply follow the sign for Aer Lingus Flight Connections Desk, which you will see on your left hand side as you enter the Immigration Hall. By following this sign, you will proceed to Immigration and Security Check.

After clearing these points, check the information screens and proceed to your boarding gate.

If your baggage has not been tagged to your final destination you must clear Immigration, enter the baggage reclaim area, collect your bag, exit through the Customs hall and proceed to Aer Lingus check-in on the departures level.

Once you have reached the departures level, check the information screens for your onward flight information, and proceed as directed to the appropriate check-in desk.

If you have any queries, or need further assistance, please go to the Aer Lingus Flight Connections Desk, which is located in the baggage reclaim area in Terminal 2, where our staff will be glad to help.

Please note: eU regulations concerning the carriage of liquids apply to your connecting flights at Dublin airport

Connecting at Heathrow Airport Transferring to an international flight at Heathrow? Please disembark from the rear of the aircraft where a dedicated coach will take you to the Heathrow Flight Connections area and reduce your journey time by an average of 20 minutes.

Please disembark From THe BACK oF THe airCraFT iF:

Please disembark From THe FRONT oF THe airCraFT iF:

 You are an international connecting passenger and all your luggage* is checked through to your final destination

    

*Pushchairs checked to London can be collected from the back of the aircraft

132 |

December 2013/January 2014

london is your final destination Your onward connection is to a domestic Uk airport Your luggage needs to be collected from Heathrow You would like to leave the airport between flights You or someone you are travelling with needs special assistance

Cloghan Castle

R A I LT O U R S IRELAND

First Class!

Book Today - Travel Tomorrow

• Cliffs of Moher & Bunratty • Waterford & Kilkenny • Cork & Blarney Castle • The Giant's Causeway • The Ring of Kerry • The Aran Islands • Connemara & Galway Bay • The Wicklow Mountains ONE DAY TOURS TO Blarney Castle NINE DAY TOURS FROM and Gardens DUBLIN Cliffs of Moher

C

loghan Castle is an exclusive, self catering venue ideal for that Fairytale Wedding or Party, the self catering option gives the unique opportunity to tailor your day to have it your way!

Banquet Hall can seat up to 120 guests with 7 double bedrooms uniquely decorated giving an authentic castle experience in a luxurious way with central heating throughout. Ceremony and Drinks reception can be held on the battlements, in the courtyard, in our landscaped gardens or in our cosy Drawing Room with an Open Fire.

Intl Tel: + 353 91 870102 Email: info@cloghancastle.com Proprietor: Micheal H Burke, Chanelle Group Contact us for our Special Offers: www.cloghancastle.com

Car Free - Care Free

www.railtoursireland.com TEL:DUBLIN + 353-1-856 0045 e-mail: info@railtoursireland.com

American Restaurant & Bar

in association with (Irish Rail)

A FREE APPETISER for one with a main course purchased on production of your boarding pass Terms and conditions apply

BLANCHARDSTOWN CENTRE Dublin 15. Tel: 01 822 5990 ST STEPHENS GREEN Dublin 2. Tel: 01 478 1233 TEMPLE BAR Fleet St, Dublin 2. Tel: 01 672 8975 DUNDRUM TOWN CENTRE Tel: 01 298 7299 SWORDS Airside, Swords, Co Dublin Tel: 01 840 8525 BELFAST Level 2, Victoria Square, Tel: 028 9024 9050 www.fridays.ie

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dublin 2 cork blanchardstown dundrum belfast

Michelin Bib Gourmand

with over 135 cafes around the world, there’s always something happening at the hard rock.

12 Fleet Street • Temple Bar • Dublin 2 • Tel: 671 7777 • hardrock.com

INFLIGHT

Flight Connections

at New York JohN F keNNedY airport

departures

arrivals

From April 3 2013, Aer Lingus will operate from Terminal 5 at New York’s JFK Airport.

While known as JetBlue’s T5, Aer Lingus will have its own dedicated area within the terminal, allowing for easy check in, baggage handling and seamless connections to destinations within the United States and Puerto Rico. With the move to T5, the minimum connection time from European arrivals to connecting JetBlue markets will be reduced to just 60 minutes. Customers traveling to Ireland will enjoy JetBlue connections as fast as 40 minutes.

134 |

The award-winning, stateof-the-art Terminal 5 offers great features and amenities, including:  Up to 15 security lanes  26 gates with seats aplenty  Free Wi-Fi  55,000 sq. feet of great food and shopping  Large children’s play area and much more!

December 2013/January 2014

INFLIGHT

Multi Charm Double Silver Cross & Rose Gold Vermeil Cross Pendant

by John Rocha Jewellery

Inspired by a mix of organic shapes and forms, renowned fashion designer, John Rocha, has created this multi charm double silver cross and rose gold vermeil cross pendant. Feminine yet contemporary with luxurious packaging.

Michael Kors

by Michael Kors Eau de Parfum - 50ml

An intoxicating tuberose that gently pulses under a sun-kissed bergamot. A warm and sensual cashmere wood and smoky incense provides a sexy and mysterious allure. Always a statement, always glamorous and always Michael Kors, the ultimate signature fragrance. Iconic, luxurious, modern.

Cross Tech2 Stylus & Ballpoint pen

by Cross This Cross Tech2 Stylus and Ballpoint Pen is finished in brilliant chrome, highlighted with sleek black appointments. Cross Tech2 allows you to quickly switch from traditional writing to the digital interface. Modern problems require modern solutions, making this the perfect writing choice.

Sky Shopping

Aer Lingus welcomes you to our extensive range of amazing quality items onboard during December/January.

Invictus

by Paco Rabanne Eau de Toilette - 50ml

IceCream Double Scoop™ Intensive Anti-Aging Moisturizer

Inhale the scent of victory with Invictus, the new masculine perfume by Paco Rabanne. This sensually fresh scent sets a modern vision of virility. Invictus is an unexpected clash of worlds, powers, sensations, and values. A thrill of freshness in the top note faces the sensuality of a guaiac wood base note.

by Freeze 24.7®

Instant Targeted Wrinkle Treatment

This powerful moisturising complex nourishes, firms and tones the skin, diminishing all expression line formations while shielding the skin from oxidative stress and UVA/UVB rays.

This miracle in a jar works instantly to reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, acne scars, rosacea, enlarged pores, stretch marks and other skin imperfections.

Please check your Sky Shopping brochure for all prices

by Freeze 24.7®

December 2013/January 2014

| 135

PHotograPH CourteSy of NaSa

Trip of a life Time | NorTherN japaN

Earthly goods

The stars were not aligned for Canadian astronaut Colonel Chris Hadfield’s family trip to Japan … ome moments aren’t great until they’re memories. When my children had just reached the age where they could move away from home, each started branching out in different directions across the world.

Having three children all living in far-flung countries, it seemed like you needed an understanding of discrete mathematics just to pinpoint the easiest location for the family Christmas.

One year, with my two sons having just moved to Asia, we decided to take a trip to the mountains of Central Japan. We rented a small boxy car in Tokyo and took to the highways, driving happily in the winter sunshine. As we moved our way north, however, two things became clear: the first was that Japan had drastically more snow in their mountains than we had expected, and the second was that the manufacturer of the small

S

boxy car from Tokyo was equally in the dark about the snow.

It was not long before we came across a hill that was insurmountable. Our tyres were spinning in the slush and the car was unable to push more than 20 per cent of the way up. Once, twice, three times we revved the car up the hill, only to roll back down. Dejected, we turned the car around only to find an equally insurmountable hill behind.

We were alone, deep in the mountains, in the middle of Japanese nowhere.

One might expect the family’s emotional situation to have (if you’ll pardon the pun) gone downhill from there. Up until this point the words emanating from the backseat had not, to put it mildly, been overly positive. But in spite of expectation, we pushed back. The challenge we faced sparked a fire. None of us wanted to spend our vacation trapped on a Japanese highway and

“We were alone, deep in the mountains, in the middle of Japanese nowhere.”

136 |

December 2013/January 2014

To boldly go – astronaut Chris Hadfield kitted out for adventure, top, it was snow go for Chris and family in Japan’s northern mountains, right.

Do you have a Trip of a Lifetime story about an Aer Lingus destination?

Please send it to tripofalifetime@ image.ie at not more than 600 words with a portrait shot of yourself.

The editor’s decision is final.

so we made a plan. Each of us took a position – my wife in the driver’s seat, the rest of us pushing the car up the hill through the snow. As the car reached the section where we’d been turned back thrice before, all three of my children (who had been complaining just moments before) dug in their heels and pushed with all their might.

Ten metres we pushed. Fifteen.

Twenty. Up and up the hill we climbed, wheels still spinning as the boxy Tokyo car fought with us in unison. As we reached the top of the hill, despite being exhausted from the climb, everyone cheered and congratulated one another.

The smiles lasted the rest of the vacation. From the jokes shared as we had chains put on the tyres, to the wonder at the town we found at the top of the hill – the adversity allowed us to see how enjoyable the trip truly was. My trip of a lifetime wasn’t space travel, or some aweinspiring sunset. It was sharing a moment with my family, meeting a challenge and coming out the other side better for having done so. A moment to be remembered.

Chris Hadfield’s new book, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth (Macmillan, £18.99), is out now. Chris is the keynote speaker at the inaugural Laya Healthcare Pendulum Summit at the Dublin Convention Centre on January 9, 2014. layapendulum.com

Celebrating luxury, creativity, service and the very best Irish and international brands since 1849.

WELCOME TO

BROWN THOMAS GRAFTON STREET DUBLIN, PATRICK STREET CORK, O’CONNELL STREET LIMERICK, EGLINGTON BUILDINGS GALWAY WWW.BROWNTHOMAS.COM