Dublin, Ireland 2017: Day 9

Today I do two performances of the show. It’s a long day with little time for anything else. The image above is of me, standing right out side the theater where I’m performing.

Here is a picture of one of the main shopping streets in Dublin, Henry Street. At the end you can see the Millennium Needle, which is located on O’Connell Street. It is here, in Henry Street, where you can find thousands of shops along the street; and some of those buildings are simply the entrance to other shopping centers. This image shows you a very small crow because the shops are already close, I mean, it is after 9pm and shops close at 7pm here. However, between 10am and 7pm this street is packed and is not very easy to navigate. Note how the sky still blue.

Jimmy and I are in one of the small shops in Henry Street, waiting for our crepes. Yes, we have happy faces because we are about to engulf ourselves in a heavenly experience of chocolate and ice cream. You are allowed to be jealous.

Last but not least, an image of posters from the festival at one of the many venues in Dublin. (Please note how I'm still on his right.)

Dublin, Ireland 2017: Day 8

RAIN! RAIN! RAIN!

Nonstop rain!

Because of such weather change, Jimmy and I went out to lunch and then to the theater to do the show. The following picture is from many other days before today:

And here's a collage of images that I have taken with Jimmy. Trivia Question: Do you know why I appear to the right of Jimmy all the time? Hint: It has to do with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.

And finally, a second review of our production came out so here I share this with you:

"FESTIVAL REVIEW: Joto! Confessions of a Mexican Outcast, Outhouse 105 Capel Street, runs until Saturday 7.30pm, matinee Saturday 4pm. Joto - the Mexican term for faggot is an autobiographical play about a very interesting character. It is always striking with the similarities in the experience of lgbt people regardless of their culture or location. This is a well-paced, funny piece with innocence and intelligence. Beautifully staged on a small space by Director Jimmy A Noriega, the connection of the bilingual Carlos Manuel is consistent and entertaining. He has great energy and colour as he skims through a childhood in Catholic Mexico, school, his success and obsession in musical theatre and his journey about how being undocumented in the USA really impacts on life, love and the future. Accompanied by a vibrant soundtrack, images from Mexican soap operas and his own photo album, this funny, personal evening is fine theatre, very satisfying and hugely relevant in Trumps version of the land of the free. Runs until Saturday. Well worth a visit. GF"

Dublin, Ireland 2017: Day 7

Summer in Ireland has ended!!!

Since my arrival the days have been cold but sunny. On this day, however, the sun disappeared around 2pm, and the rain came down. Since then, it has not stopped raining. It’s not pouring rain but the type of rain that slowly comes down but never stops so you get really wet without realizing it. 

An update on Jimmy’s health condition. He’s better. A doctor gave him a shot and told him to drink lots of water. He felt good enough to run the show, which was a good thing because we had a full house. I messed up ONCE! Oh, well, live theatre.

The rain affects everyone in different ways. In California, when it rains traffic almost comes to a standstill because people drive like crazy maniacs and caused a lot of accidents. Here in Dublin, well...

1. There hundreds of people trying to get from one place to another. You have the locals and you have the tourist. The sidewalks are very narrow and the city is under construction. I mean, there is construction everywhere. So, we all packed in this very narrow sidewalks trying to make it from point A to point B. And now with the rain, many people have umbrellas, making the walking even more difficult so people are not in the mood. 

I finally was able to see the light rail. I mean, I have crossed this street a lot of times but I have never seen the train until now. And don't be fooled, in the image above, the train is going away from me not coming towards me. 

Apparently Dublin has a light rail system and a metro system known as DART. The light rail system is mostly for the city center and DART is for taking people to the outskirts of the city. So far, I have not seen one single metro station anywhere... and I have walked a lot.

I guess the metro is not a big thing here and based on my experiences it is safe to say that that locals do not depend on the metro since the city is very compact. I mean, when I was in Buenos Aires, the first thing I saw was the metro, the same when I was in London, in Mexico City, and New York. But here, not so much. 

This is a statue of Daniel O'Connell, known as "Ireland's Liberator." The wide street is also named after him. I cannot get any closer to this stature because, as you can see in the image, there is construction all over. Just so you know, in order to take this picture, I had to stand in the middle of the intersection with the hopes I would not be run by a car or people. 

Because I had some time, I decided to go shopping to my favorite store. YES! Shopping! I hated it but it needed to be done.

And finally, an picture of "The House Mansion," which is the official residence of the Lord Mayor of Ireland, even his name is grandiose.

More to come...

Dublin, Ireland 2017: Day 6

Today's was very uneventful, mainly because our plans to visit two landmarks were cancelled due to Jimmy waking up sick. And because he actually did not wake up early enough, there was hardly any time to do anything at all. 

Jimmy was so sick that he was not even able to go to the theater and help in the running of the show. His absence had consequences during the show for lights were either early or late or never happened and images were either earlier or late or stay on screen too long. Such in the gamble with live theatre.

Since I was by myself, after the show I decided to take a different walking route. The image on above left is of a theatre and the image on the right is of an official city sign letting you know where the "Leprechaun Museum" is located. They have a Leprechaun Museum!!!! I must go and see what is all about it. 

Since this was a very short day without much to do, I am now listing some of the peculiarities I've seen while in Dublin. These observations are my own and by no means the official list of truths:

1-I have heard people speak too many different languages: American English, British English, Scottish, Irish English, Gaelic, Mexican Spanish, Latin American Spanish, Spanish from Spain, French, Swahili, Chinese, and lots and lots and lots of Italian. I LOVE IT!!!

2-The days are long. The sun comes up at 5:30 AM and doesn’t go down until around 10PM.

3-Business close by 7pm and “After Hours” closes at 9pm.

4-Restaurants close by 10pm.

5-People start going to the pubs around 6pm.

6-Pubs close around 2am.

7-Bars and dance clubs close at 2am, 3am, 4am, and 5am.

8-Parks close their doors (literately) at 8pm and do not open the doors until 8am.

9-Dublin is divided into sections: Dublin 1, Dublin 2, Dublin3 etc... The odd numbers are on the north side of the river, the even numbers on the south side of the river. That River is River Liffey, which runs smack in the middle of Dublin.

10-There are Irish citizens who have red hair... but there are more who don’t.