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.