Key West eats!

Santiago's Bodega in the Bahama Village - my favourite Key West restaurant.

Flaming Buoy on Packer Street

Kelly's on Whitehead Street (Home of Pan Am)

Alonzo's on Front Street

Key West Oddities

Outside the Green Parrot Bar in Key West we found their little free library.  You can take a book and leave a book.  This was a really sweet little collection of books in a very charming little housing unit.  Make sure to visit it if you are in Key West!

On Caroline Street we met this man and his bird.  He even let the bird perch on my shoulder!

In the East Martello tower I met Robert the Doll.  He didn't seem so evil in the flesh!

But I did ask his permission to take this selfie and I thanked him after!!!

And the best Key West oddity of all is the airport beach bar where you can stick your feet in the sand and enjoy your last drink in KW before you board your flight.

You can also sit on this giant chair and look like you lost a pile of weight while on holidays!

Chickens and Roosters are EVERYWHERE in Key West.  This boldie hopped off a police car roof on to this car.

Next to the house we were staying in was a vacant lot.  There was a family of iguanas living in one of the trees.  This was one of the mid-size iguanas.  Look at the strut on him!!

Shopping haul - Florida Trip

Sorry for the long delay in posting - I was on my holidays in the Southernmost City of Key West in Florida.

I had an amazing time and will do a few blog posts about what I got up to in Key West.

One of the things I did was shop! During the middle of the day it got so hot that it was great to go to the cool stores and shop til I dropped.  The prices of clothes was so much better value than in Ireland so I love shopping in the States.  During our first week there was 30% off clearance in Banana Republic - this then went to 50% off in the second week.  On our first purchase we were given a survey code which once we did we then got an additional 15% off everything.  How awesome is that!  We made big savings.

Here are some of the items I got:

A batch of tops and jumpers from Banana Republic and also Ross.

Calvin Klein Shift Dress

BCBG Dress

Banana Republic top and jeans

Selection of shoes - Bob's by Skechers, Nine West and Calvin Klein

Tropical print cropped trousers from Banana Republic and the most awesome fur lined Ugg Runners 

Cute Eliza J Dress - looks great on!

Banana Republic Jacket

A small coach over the body purse

Calvin Klein top

And then I got these two Brooks Brothers shirts in Atlanta Airport - again 50% off!!

You may think this is a lot of clothes but in reality I barely shop in Ireland during the year so I really needed to top my wardrobe up.  It is also the perfect excuse to clear out my closet and drop off all my old clothes to the local charity shop (Thrift store).  I should also add how reasonably priced everything is in Florida in comparison to back at home in Ireland.

Island Swim - 12.5 miles around Key West

On Friday the 13th, I left Dublin to travel to Key West.  Given the date I should have expected my travel plans to not work out quite as expected.  

And so after missing my connection in Atlanta, getting rerouted to Miami and spending a night there (where I got 4 hours sleep in a crappy hotel) and after 33 hours of travel I landed at 8.30am and went straight to the beach to start the 12.5 mile swim around Key West at 9am!!!

We were in the 4 man relay event - our 4 team mates were made up of 2 sets of twins.  Myself and my twin and our younger twin sisters also.

This is my twin sister Amy swimming through the main KW shipping channel!

We finished in a very decent 6.5 hours!  What an achievement!

The day after the race we couldn't move our arms above our shoulders but as a friend of my sister said: 
"Pain is temporary, pride lasts forever"

Jazz Brunch at The Gibson Hotel

This morning I had a very special brunch with my twin sister and our oldest and best friend Alice.  We had made an arrangement to meet at 12pm in The Gibson Hotel for their Jazz Brunch.

To start, we were presented with an amuse bouche of fruit smoothie and a little fruit and custard tart.  Very cute to look at and very tasty indeed!

Alice and I, ordered the Eggs Royal which were poached eggs over homemade English muffin with salmon topped with Hollandaise sauce.  They were very good and I really enjoyed them.  Alice gave her dish a thumbs up too.

Amy chose the full Irish.  This fry included Sausage, egg, black & white pudding with rashers and a tomato.

We had a wonderful morning.  We chatted and had a good catch up of all our news and washed down our food with a little vodka (Enid & Amy) and tea and coffee.  Such a lovely way to while away a Sunday!

And if you are wondering why it was called a Jazz Brunch, it's because there was live jazz being played which really adds to the atmosphere at this brunch.  For a city centre location I like this hotel and think it would make a great venue for a hip city wedding. 

I should also add that we caught a glimpse of the Dublin Football team and the manager of the Dublin Team walked by us - The Gibson Hotel is the sleeping partner of the Dublin Senior Team.  What a great partnership!  Later that day Dublin went on to beat Laois - probably down to the fact that the team had a great night's sleep in The Gibson Hotel the night before!!


We asked the barman to take a photo of us which would have been perfect except that I had to go and ruin it by looking like I was in a mug shot!!

John Ford Ireland Symposium

Last night we went to the opening night of the John Ford Ireland symposium.  In attendance was John Wayne's daughter Marissa.  Ms. Wayne spoke first and told of the relationship between Ford and Wayne.  After Wayne's daughter finished speaking, Dan Ford the grandson of John Ford said a few words.

And then the screening of "Stage Coach" began - this film is possibly the film that launched the career of John Ford and John Wayne.

I am not a fan of Western movies but I did enjoy watching this film.  I was also intrigued by the fact that the sheriff rode beside the driver with his shot gun to look out for Indians.  As he got on the coach he said "I'll ride shotgun".  I guess this is where "calling shotgun" comes from!!  Interesting!

The event took place in the main screen of the Savoy Cinema.  We have not been in this theatre for years and both of us remarked how well it looked and that it had a very opulent feel to it (I wish I had taken pictures of the chandeliers in the lobby.

My sister had won tickets for this event on Facebook but had another engagement so she could not attend.  We were delighted to attend in her place.  Thanks Amy!

Terenure Market- Bend in the Barrow Soap

On Sunday we visited the Terenure Market.  Prior to visiting I saw on their Facebook page that there was going to be a stall selling homemade soap.  I love homemade soap, I think that it has a way more long lasting intense smell than shop bought.

I bought a "shower bar" from Bend in the Barrow.  The flavour I chose was Morning Mint which is fresh, invigorating and coconut oil flavour.  I can't wait to use it!