So much fun – Apocalyptica in Dublin

Another brilliant weekend! We went to see the long anticipated Apocalyptica gig at the Ambassador. It does not happen every day that a Finnish band makes it all the way to Dublin and seeing as Apocalyptica is one if our favourite bands for quite some time already; we were really looking forward to this evening.
On another note, I have to say that I am still coming to terms with the style of Irish men (at least here in Dublin): short hair (very short actually) and a hoody. I do sometimes miss the lovely hairy men that Tampere and Helsinki has to offer.
It was really great to see that there were so many men (and boys) with long hair at the gig on Saturday, clearly having a good time. Where are they all hiding during the week I wonder?
The band was superb. The set list was varied including many of the new tracks from the “Worlds Collide” album as well as older tracks and a good few cover songs. The boys had the crowd in their palm from the very beginning of the gig.
Well done!!!

The rest of the weekend went for Christmas shopping (thankfully only the final touches) and the company Christmas party, which was really fun and enjoyable (I did not know my fellow workmates could look that handsome).

Fairies in the shop & at the ballet

I had the most beautiful weekend. We actually did our Christmas shopping on Saturday and it was surprisingly pain-free. It was probably because we had not really planned on going to the shops at all and just thought we would jump quickly into the Dundrum shopping centre to look for something completely different (and non X-massy). The shopping centre was of course crowded, but somehow it did not bother us at all. I almost accidentally found some lovely presents for my family. As I stood there in the shop, queuing to pay for my things I was amazed about how much people are buying this Christmas. One woman in front of me seemed to buy friendship books for the entire school class of her daughter. The daughter hovered around nearby ready to take her mother constant orders: “Get me another one of these friendship books now. Quick, quick!!! And now another one of those albums. Quick, it’s almost my turn. Not these ones, the pink ones with the little fairies.”
It was hilarious to watch. They did choose nice things. The school class should be delighted.

In the evening we went to see the ST Petersburg Ballet Theatre (SPBT). I am happy to report that there was a lot less eating in the audience this year. We almost did not make the show as our taxi was stuck in the city centre for 45 minutes and under heavy attack from the Christmas partying crowd. Luckily we just got there in time and enjoyed a wonderful evening. This time we were seated with a group of elderly ladies. Unfortunately they could not hear and see so well anymore. We just enjoyed a beautiful solo by one of the fairies when one of the women screamed: “What was that one doing again? This is not the fairy of goodness, is it?” “No, its not. I did tell you the story earlier.” Well, I forgot. I don’t like the look of this fairy. The other one was a lot nicer, but beautiful costumes.” “Yes the costumes are really great. I agree the other fairy was a lot better.”

Well we liked all the fairies. Aurora looked a bit like she had visited the dentist earlier in the day. Her smile seemed shock frozen on her face. Otherwise the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre was fantastic again.