Despite having plenty of outfit posts just waiting to be finished, my ever interrupted concentration has resulted in this particular post doing a u-turn.
"Work is the curse of the drinking class" O. Wilde
Story Of My Life
Anyway, this post is dedicated to my top five haunts, both in and out of Ireland. There is little more satisfying than finding the perfect bar, different spots suit different occasions, you will see that these five are all hugely different. Just finishing my first year in university, I have had some of the funniest moments of my life while drinking in various friends' flats, whether it be drinks with the girls while getting ready, a couple of sneaky vodkas for dutch courage, sipping wine to pass an evening or ruining some poor soul's living room at a house party. I still love the whole ritual of getting ready and going out somewhere.
THE AULD FAITHFUL
I'm sure at some stage of my life I will manage to get myself into some beyond ridiculous situation where my entire life will flash before my eyes, I can guarantee you that at least 60% of the images that whirl behind my eyelids will involve An Bróg. A stone's throw from Hillbillys, a taxi rank and the majority of student accomodation in Cork, what more do you need? It may be a dive, but try and say a word against it to any Cork student, you'd be risking limbs bai. An establishment that hosts the most sarcastic bouncers on earth, the stickiest floor in the city, a perfectly pleasant yet tapped DJ who continues to play the oddest playlists - they do however seem to really suit the mood as the night goes on - constant and hilarious attempts at stealing drinks, bathrooms that are a whole other social scene on top of the pub, endless dark corners for gettin' tha maul, two for one apple sours shots, a smoking area that can be compared to any bottomless pit, some kind of force that attracts everyone you know so you can make a holy show of yourself in front of them and last but most certainly not least, the biggest bunch of crazies you will ever come across in one place at one time.
COSMOPOLITE
Café en Seine is one of very few bars in which my judgement hasn't been clouded by alcohol, my parents began bringing us here for hot chocolates when traipsing around Dublin for the day got too much. Walking in here is like stepping into another world, even with the rugby on in the background - as it often is - you could swear you were about to slip out onto some chic, hidden Parisian square after finishing your wine, as opposed to one of the main streets of Dublin. The dim lighting in the evening is perfect for pre-dinner drinks, no matter what insanely loud asshole is screaming down his mobile about how lunch with Fiacra went or whichever ratty, menopausal old bat is complaining about just whatever she can find, the pleasant, subdued atmosphere will keep you calm, you'll let the next glass of wine slide down your throat because its lovely, not to stop you from using shopping bags as weapons.
THE NEWBIE
It is literally hours since I stepped off the plane from Stansted having spent a weekend in London's Southend. On Friday we decided to escape the charming tackiness of the English seaside to visit London, after hours of pretty much circling Topshop's vintage floor, we stopped off at new cocktail bar Hush, at £15 per martini, you would not want to be thirsty and London's heatwave was not helping, but we tried to control ourselves. While les parents stuck with classic gin martinis with a twist, I decided to go with something different. Turns out goji-tinis are my new favourite tipple; vodka, cranberry juice, raspberries, cranberries and liquer de violette(whatever that is). The bar is chic but incredibly chilled out, looking out onto a quaint alleyway full of people sitting out eating and drinking. It screams London and I will definitely be back.
LE MEILLEUR
I can still remember falling off a bar stool after my first double screwdriver in here at the tender age of 16, trying to avoid a particularly intense Parisian I decided to hide in an old haunt of my parents. What started as one drink to pass an hour turned into me finding one of the most brilliant bars I've ever been in. Although touch and go Bistrot Marin is timeless. We have often thought with staff changes, or different seasons that the place might change for the worse, but we've always been wrong so far. Whether its sitting out sipping kir and sketching in the dead heat of a July afternoon, dancing on the tables with vodka before rolling into the Bouc, sneaking a bottle of champagne (or two...) after closing time to bring to a house party, or tucked up in the corner with a bottle of red wine on Christmas week. I have been the only person sitting in this bar waiting for a crowd to show up and I have been ankle deep in champagne dancing around until 4am...the place is terribly strange and yet I can't stop going back.
LE BOITE DE NUIT
As much as I always adored Ile de Ré, there was never any evidence of any nightlife, no vomit stains on the streets, no items of clothing strewn about the town, no alcohol soaked bodies outside shop doorways, no takeaway cartons lining the roads. It was a whole other world to the familiar seediness of Cork city that I had grown up with. However, one night sitting outside a Cuban bar I noticed steady queue of immaculately dressed people, really gorgeous, the kind of glamour that can only come from Paris. However the security was insanely strict and it took at least another year for me to get in. The countless nights I've spent n there have become one champagne filled blur. Spending hours chatting out in the garden, being dreadfully teased by the bouncers, dancing on the various platforms inside, attempting to explain your life story in french to complete strangers and understand theirs. Le Boucquingham is sooooo completely different to clubbing in Cork...which at the moment, isn't necessarily a bad thing.
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