TALL SHIPS RACE COMES TO DUBLIN

This year Dublin City will have the pleasure of welcoming the the International Tall Ships Races for the first time since 1998. The River Liffey will host over 5000 participants and the city is throwing a four day party to mark their arrival. The hosts are expecting 100 plus Tall Ships to arrive in the capita from the 23rd till the 26th of August. Ships from Chile, Mexico, Argentina, the US, Italy and Norway will chart their course to Dublin.The event will end on the 26th August with a regatta setting off towards Liverpool. Unique elements of the event will include the Crew Parade – where up to 3000 crew will parade through the city, to their prize giving ceremony and the Parade of Sail, where all ships will leave port together –a spectacular finale to the festival as all ships leave Port together and hoist their magnificent sails. There will be opportunities to jump aboard the ships, in addition to free street entertainment, live music, parades, funfairs, treasure hunts, water sport activities and lots more. Day 1 Free Festival -Fleet Arrival -Opening Ceremony -Captain's Dinner at the Mansion House Day 2 Free Festival -Crew Parase at Custom House -Prize Giving -Crew Party Day 3 Free Festival -Crew Activites Day 4 Free Festival -Parade of Sail -Regatta from Dublin to Liverpool Book early on www.grandcanalhotel.com to avoid disappointment.

DUBLIN'S SKYLINE GETS A NEW FEATURE

If you're afraid of heights then stop reading this and move on...it will have little interest to you. Croke Park, the home of the GAA, has launched a sky walkway high above the hallowed turf of the famous venue. Offering super views of Dublin City, the Skyline will be an interesting addition to the attractions that are already on offer in the sunny (well it was at the time of writing) capital. Skyline makes Croke Park a must from visitors to Dublin. The GAA museum and just the chance to see this fantastic stadium were already reason enough to venture beyond Mountjoy Square. For those reasons put plenty of time aside for the visit to Croke Park. Before you ever set foot on the walkway, you spend around 15 minutes in a dressing room below, a place normally occupied by the Dublin footballers mid to late September :), where you are required to put a safety harness on and are shown how to clip the harness to the steel wire running alongside the walkway. Not that this would make a great vantage point for watching a football or hurling match. At 44 meters you would hardly be able to distinguish between the two teams jerseys. And I'm speaking from experience. I managed to get myself and a couple of friends tickets to see U2 in the venue a couple of years back but ended up at the back of the top tier of the Cusack Stand. I could see more detail on planet Venus on the night than I could of the band. There are plans to add a zipline from the Cusack Stand to Hill 16 and they are also considering permitting abseiling off the 44 metre-high platform on to the pitchside. Hmm that may be a bridge too far:) Skyline Facts: * The platform for the roof top tour is 33 meters or 17 storeys above the ground. * It took 100 tonnes of painted galvanised steel, turning into 132 support trusses spanning the steel roof, to make the 0.6km walkway manufactured in Portarlington. * The suspended walkway extends six metres out over the pitch. * The visitor attraction, which created 10 jobs, cost €1.4m to build. * Among the landmarks that can be spotted from the Skyline tour are Glasnevin Cemetery, Guinness Brewery, Dublin Mountains, Poolbeg Lightghouse, Mountjoy Prison, the Spire and the glasshouses at the Botanic Gardens. * The two-hour tour will be available in six languages. * Visitors must measure in at 1.2 metres in height to take in the tour. * It opens to the public from Friday June 1 and closes at 6pm each day. * Tickets are priced at €25 for adults, €15 for children and €65 for families. Discounted tickets for the GAA Museum will be available for those taking the Skywalk. Ollie.

THE KING AND I DUBLIN SHOWS

The King and I has a long and illustrious career on the international theatre circuit winning many awards since its debut in the 1950 and it is coming to Dublin for a short run. Based on the novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon The King and is a hugely popular production and had played to millions of people the world over. The King and I stars Ramon Tikaram as the The King of Siam, whose West End credits include Bombay Dreams, Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar and TV’s This Life and Josefina Gabrielle as Anna whose musical highlights include The Witches of Eastwick, Sweet Charity and the lead in Oklahoma! at the National Theatre. The show runs in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre from the 22nd of May till the 26th ad tickets are selling fast. The Grand Canal Hotel are offering a superb package including Pre-show Meal, Ticket to Show, Night's Accommodation and Full Irish Breakfast for just €109 per person sharing midweek and €129 per person sharing on Friday or Saturday. Book early to avoid disappointment. Click here to BOOK.

BAVARIA RACING

Racing enthusiasts are in for a real treat this summer as Bavaria City Racing arrives in the capital for the very fist time.

Over 100,000 people are expected to descend on Dublin City Centre on the 3rd of June 2012 to capture a glimpse of Superbikes, Super cars, Touring cars, Formula 2, WRC, Drifters, and the star attraction; demonstrations from internationally celebrated F1 cars and drivers.

Parts of Dublin City will be cordoned off to allow a demonstration of some of the world's most impressive racing machines. Started in Rotterdam in 2006, Bavaria City Racing has grown to a massive spectacle, attracting in the order of half a million people to see the event in the Dutch Port City.

Moscow has also played host to the event, but it is a real honour for Dublin to welcome the spectacle for 2012. Check out the event route here.

Tickets are selling fast for the event so book soon. Book your advance purchase rooms for the event on www.grandcanalhotel.com.

FLORA WOMEN'S MINI MARATHON

The Flora Women's Mini Marathon, the biggest all-women event of its kind in the world, takes place in Dublin on the 4th of June and the Grand Canal Hotel are as always at your service.

With over €14 million raised by participants since its inception in 1983, the annual event is one of the most popular in the country. The fun day has attracted over three quarters of a million women of all ages over the years and 2013 is expected to be one of the busiest.

The route of the marathon passes within meters of the Grand Canal Hotel, and we are offering guests who stay in the hotel the Sunday night complimentary car-parking for the day, showers after the race and luggage storage. Go to www.grandcanalhotel.com to book as rooms are selling fast!!!


Some interesting facts about the event:

It is the biggest all-women’s event of its kind in the world.

Since it was first run in 1983, there has been a total entry of nearly 780,000 women.

In 2007, 2008 2009 and 2011 the numbers taking part have exceeded 40,000 with a record number of 40,397 taking part in 2010.

Approximately 137 million euro has been raised for charity since its beginning in 1983

About 25 miles of specially designed ribbon is used for the medals

14 bands and dancers provide entertainment to add to the carnival atmosphere of the day.

Women of every age, every size and every walk of life take part -while the majority would be in the 25 to 45 age brackets,in the 2011 race there were 262 participants over 70 years of age!

The Mini Marathon idea has been copied in several European cities - Liverpool, Glasgow, London and Oslo now put on all-women events.

Every county in Ireland is represented in the race and most support a favourite charity or cause - just over half the entrants are from Dublin but all 32 counties are well represented.

The event is known worldwide - women from a number of countries have joined us (Spain, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Wales, Scotland, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, France, England, Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Japan) have all joined in the fun.

Visit www.grandcanalhotel.com for best rates available.

CONVENTION CENTRE DUBLIN ACCOMMODATION

Looking for accommodation when attending an event at the Convention Centre Dublin? Than you could do far worse than head to www.grandcanalhotel.com to book your room.
Just 10 minutes stroll from the iconic city centre venue, the Grand Canal Hotel, is a superior 3* hotel offering very competitive rates, complimentary wi-fi, executive rooms, robes, comfortable beds and car parking.
The Convention Centre Dublin is a truly magnificent edition to the Dublin City skyline and appears to be a rip roaring success with a number of large multi national conferences taking place there in 2012.
Events in 2012 inclulde:
Apr 2012 Teradata
Apr 2012 Mindfulness Ireland
May 2012 World Congress on Water, Climate & Energy
May 2012 EuroPRevent 2012
May 2012 TM Forum - Management World 2012
Jun 2012 International Congress on Accident & Emergency Medicine
Jun 2012 16th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease & Movement Disorders
Jun 2012 Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
Jun 2012 The 35th European Cystic Fibrosis Conference 2012
Jun 2012 Hospice Midsummer Moonwalk
Jul 2012 Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain & Ireland Conference
Jul 2012 Euroscience 2012
Sep 2012 Annual EAIE Conference
Sep 2012 International Bar Association
Sep 2012 World Molecular Imaging Congress (WMIC)
Sep 2012 European Regions Airline Association - General Assembly
Oct 2012 EAP Institute Conference
Oct 2012 International Conference on Ocean Energy
Oct 2012 Anti-Poverty Conference - Conference Partners
Nov 2012 24th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on 'Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics'

Room prices start from €89 B&B. Phone 00353-1-6461000 or visit www.grandcanalhotel.com to book or for more details.

ST PATRICK'S DAY - STUFF YOU DID/DIDN'T KNOW

St Patrick’s Day is a uniquely Irish festival yet it is celebrated throughout the world. For those of you who are not totally tuned into what this special Irish day is about we’ve compiled some interesting facts.
1. St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, although he was born in Britain, around 385AD. His parents Calpurnius and Conchessa were Roman citizens living in either Scotland or Wales, according to different versions of his story.
2. As a boy of 14 he was captured and taken to Ireland where he spent six years in slavery herding sheep. He returned to Ireland in his 30s as a missionary among the Celtic pagans.
3. Legend has it that he used the native shamrock as a symbol of the holy trinity when preaching and brought the Latin alphabet to Ireland.
4. Miracles attributed to him include the driving of serpents out of Ireland. However, evidence suggests post-glacial Ireland never had any snakes in the first place.
5. Wearing green, eating green food and even drinking green beer, is said to commemorate St Patrick's use of the shamrock - although blue was the original colour of his vestments.
6. St Patrick was said to have proclaimed that everyone should have a drop of the "hard stuff" on his feast day after chastising an innkeeper who served a short measure of whiskey. In the custom known as "drowning the shamrock", the shamrock that has been worn on a lapel or hat is put in the last drink of the evening.
7. Popular Irish toasts on St Patrick's Day, include: may the roof above us never fall in, and may we friends beneath it never fall out.
8. St. Patrick's Day was first celebrated in America in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1737. Around 34 million modern Americans claim Irish ancestry.
9. It is believed that St Patrick died on March 17 in 461AD. It is a national holiday in Ireland, and on the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean, which was founded by Irish refugees. It is a bank holiday in Northern Ireland and a provincial holiday in the Canadian province of Newfoundland.
10. Dublin has a parade that attracts hundreds of thousands of people, while in Chicago the river is dyed green for a few hours. The biggest parade is normally held in New York, while the largest celebration in the southern hemisphere is in Sydney, Australia.
11. St. Patrick's Day is not just a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is also a holiday in Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada, and in Montserrat in the West Indies.
12. St. Patrick's Day is the most widely celebrated saint's day in the world.
It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland)the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church.
13. St Patrick’s Day color was originally blue.
Originally, the color associated with Saint Patrick was blue, but over the years the colour green and its association with Saint Patrick's day grew.
In the 1798 Irish rebellion, in order to make a political statement, Irish soldiers wore full green uniforms
14. Saint Patrick's feast day was already being celebrated by the Irish in Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries.
15. St Patrick’s Day made it onto the church calendar in the early 1600s thanks to Waterford Franciscan Luke Wadding.
16. In recent times, in 1940 and 2008, Saint Patrick's Day fell in Holy Week. It will not fall within Holy Week again until 2160. Hopefully they will still have Guinness, Jameson and parades then.
17. Birmingham, not the capital city, London, hosts the largest St.Patrick’s Day parade in Britain with a massive city centre parade over a two mile route through the city centre. The organisers describe it as the third biggest parade in the world after Dublin and New York.
18. The Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League used to be known as Toronto St. Patrick’s from 1919 to 1927 and wore green jerseys. In 1999, when they had a nationally televised game on St.Patrick’s night, they wore green again.
19. It is in Nome, Alaska, with a parade and a golf tournament. Everbody shoots over Brrrrr...!
20. Hot Springs Arkansas’s Bridge Street parade is the world's shortest because Bridge Street was named the shortest street in the world in the 1940s. The parade was declared "The Quirkiest St. Patrick's Day Parade on Earth" by Smithsonian Magazine in 2009.

Feel free to add anything that we've left out. Particular thanks to IrishCentral for helping with above info.

Ollie.

CALENDAR GIRLS RETURNS TO DUBLIN

Calendar Girl's returns to Dublin this February for a brief stop over following a hugely successful stint in the capital in 2011.

The hysterical show sold out for its entire two week run last year, with a not too small amount of them staying with us. A quick vox-pop of those checking out of the hotel last year left us in no doubt of the quality of the show so be warned...this is its final visit to Dublin.

The original Calendar Girl herself Miss Lynda Bellingham returns to the show with Camilla Dallerup, Jan Harvey, Sue Holderness, Deena Payne, Lisa Riley, June Watson and Ruth Madoc with Kevin Sacre as Lawrence the photographer and Joe McGann as John.

Calendar Girl's tells of a group of ordinary women do something extraordinary and spark a global phenomenon when they persuade one another to pose for a charity calendar with a difference. Based on an inspiring true story, Calendar Girls is quirky, poignant and hilarious!

Packages in the hotel start from just €109 per person sharing Monday to Thursday and €129 per person sharing Friday or Saturday. As with all our theatre packages the deal includes pre-show meal, ticket to show at Grand Canal Theatre, night's accommodation and Full Irish Breakfast the following morning.

Book soon as its selling fast and won't be back...although we've all heard that before. Anyone for Riverdance?

Book Here

OMG

2012 A BUMPER YEAR FOR DUBLIN

The year 2012 promises to be a bumper one for Dublin in terms of tourism with a huge number of events coming to the city.
As anyone who’s stayed at the Grand Canal Hotel can attest our location in regard to the city’s main venues is second to none with the Grand Canal Theatre, The O2, Aviva Stadium, RDS and Convention Centre all within walking distance of the hotel.
So what’s happening this year? We’ll in January one of the worlds most successful musicals, Dirty Dancing, starts a six week run in the Grand Canal Theatre. The hugely popular show is already sold out for most dates in January, weekends for the total run and is fast selling out for all dates. The poor guys over in the theatre don’t get much chance to rest as once the curtain comes down on show, the equally popular Calendar Girls returns for a weeks run, having packed the house for a couple of weeks in 2011.
But the Theatre is not the only show in town during this period, if you excuse the pun. The O2 has a busy calendar during the first two months with Snow Patrol, Van Morrisson, Florence and the Machine and JLS all visiting the Docks. And let’s not forget sport, with the Six Nations opener against Wales (yes revenge will be on the cards) in early February, a clash against the Italians and a Euro warm up for Traps army who take on the Czechs at the Aviva towards the end of the month.
This brings us nicely into March, where St Patrick’s Festival is once again a huge attraction in Dublin. Swan Lake, Cinderella, Sally Morgan, Darren Brown and Tommy Flemming all visit the Grand Canal Theatre, while Rebecca Ferguson and The Wanted make appearances in The O2. Paul O’Connell and the lads wrap up their home games for the Six Nations when the Scots visit early in the month.
I’ve already ran out of steam in terms of doing a month by month account of what’s going on so here’s the synopsis for the rest of the year.
Formula One enthusiasts are in for a treat in June when more that 100,000 spectators will be treated to the Bavaria City Racing event with Superbikes, WRC, Formula 2, Touring Cars and demonstrations by Formula One drivers all on offer. Let’s not forget that June will be a massive party as pubs and streets will be invaded as the country prepares to cheer on the Irish soccer team in the European Championships. It will be impossible not to get caught up in the buzz.
July see’s the arrival of one of my favourite musicals of all time the timeless Phantom of the Opera to the Grand Canal Hotel. Running from the 5th of July till the 4th of August this Andrew Lloyd Webber musical is certain to sell out very fast.
The Failte Dublin Horse Show at the RDS makes its annual return on the 15th of August, in what is a very busy month in the City. The Tall Ships Race sails into the city on the 23rd in what will a thrilling spectacle, while American Football is back in Dublin when Notre Damme take on Navy in the Aviva Stadium.
September will, fingers crossed, see Dublin win both All Ireland Finals in Croke Park, while the big Greyhound Derby takes place in Shelbourne Park. Much is still to be confirmed for the rest of the year but suffice to say Dublin is going to be a busy place in 2012.
Watch out also for the World Street Performance Championship, Bloomsday, Dublin City Marathon, Westlife and Red Hot Chilli Peppers in Croke Park, Stone Roses in the Phoenix Park, Bruce Springstein in the RDS and Riverdance at the Gaiety.
Happy New Year’s everyone from Ollie and all at the Grand Canal Hotel.

OMG.