Dublin

Went to The Dropping Well http://www.droppingwell.com/menu.html for the dinner their last week. I hadn't been there in a long time but they usually don't disappoint on food and this time was no different!
I got the Salmon which was amazing, the only complaint I have is that there was too much on the plate and so I was very full afterwards. I never like to eat that much when I'm drinking as its hard to have a few drinks afterwards but of course we managed.
On a Saturday in the bar part they also have a traditional band that play from about 9pm till the end. They were fantastic and it was a nice evening. We got so carried away with the band we ended up staying all night!!

Went to Mario'shttp://www.marios.ie/page1/page1.html tonight with the family and I used to love going there when it first opened many moon's ago when it opened but then I found in the boom time it got more expensive and things you got normally were now added on extras so I hadn't been for a long time.
We went in and got the early bird special. 2 course for €15.95. I got the Bruschetta and Al Pollo. The main was a pasta dish. It was great that they had put the normal stuff on again and weren't charging for extras.
My sister and her husband got the mushroom salad to start and I thought it would have come in breadcrumbs but it didn't which was nice as it wasn't too filling. I can't say the same for the Bruschetta as it came on Ciabatta bread and there we 3 servings. I thought too much for a starter.
All in all though it was well priced and the staff were very good. The restaurant was buzzing and it didn't look like there was a recession in there!!

Kilkenny

Just had to write a quick note on this...
Went to a wedding at the weekend in Kilkenny in the Mount Juliet http://www.mountjuliet.ie/ and I could not recommend it enough!
The lovely couple had their ceremony at the hotel which has become a very common theme for people. After the ceremony we went outside and lucky for us the sun came out. We got Champagne and appetiser's of beef wellington, goats cheese tart, asparagus & prosciutto. They were fantastic. We then walked to the clubhouse for to the music of the bagpipes as the groom came of Scottish heritage.
The meal was amazing. Crab cakes, Prawns & Salmon to start. Blue Cheese soup. Main was fillet steak and desert was chocolate moose.
The residents bar stayed open till the end.
The band were amazing and I could not fault such a fab day and night.
Lucky for us breakfast was served till 11am!!!

Washington

We decided to go to Washington for 4 days before we went home and it was so worth it. We thought of going to Cuba but we are not lie on the beach type people and its a bit more expensive then we had antisipated!!

We booked our overnight bus 11hrs with Megabus http://us.megabus.com/default.aspx cos they were the cheapest at $160 return for both of us and no transfers. With Greyhound you had to make 3 transfers and it took up to 18 hrs to get there.

We had to pay $6 each at the Buffalo boarder for a green card which lasts up to 3 months.

Trying to book accomodation or any sightseeing in Washington requires a lot of planning and booking beforehand but unfortunately we booked last minute so a lot of the sights like the white hse we couldn't go see.

White house you need to book 21 days beforehand by contacting your embassy in whatever country your in http://www.whitehouse.gov/.

The Capitol http://tours.visitthecapitol.gov/

The Washington Monument which actually books up months in advance http://www.recreation.gov/tourList.do?parkId=77811&contractCode=NRSO

These are the main things that you need to book a tour for.

All the Smithsonian museum's are free and they include the Air & Space museum, the National American history museum and many more. There are I think 18 Smithsonian museums to see and they are all pretty near each other.

As we were staying outside the main city centre we paid a lot less and we had metro tickets which we used a lot. 

We stayed in Aunt Bea's little white house http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Aunt-Beas-Little-White-House/Washington-DC/37827/reviews for $250 for 3 nights. We could not recommend this place enough. We had a massive breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, fruit, yogurt, tea and smootie!! The rooms were clean with their own tv and Gerald was fab... Oh if you stay in the city you can be looking at paying anywhere from $500-$1000 a night for some hotels.

We did all the monuments during the day and we did them at night. This is definitely something I recommend doing as they look so different lit up at night.

We did the Newseum which was fantastic, it is one that you have to pay into but you can do a free tour and I would recommend that. http://www.newseum.com/

After we did the Spy museum http://www.spymuseum.org/, this is also one you have pay into and it wouldn't be at the top of my list. It kind of repeats itself but it has some good games!

We did some shopping but they don't have any malls/centres and they are a bit all over the place however if you go to Macy's and tell them you are an international traveller they give you 10% off!!

Eating in Washington can be as expensive as you want it to be!

We went to Ben's chilli bowl http://www.benschilibowl.com/ordereze/default.aspx as just about everyone including President Obama have been there but I thought their portions were too big and we couldn't finish them but worth the experience and its that cheap. We had 2 chilli dogs and 2 fries with a drink each and it was near $30. 

We went to Good Stuff http://www.goodstuffeatery.com/ which was very nice. I had the mushroom, swiss cheese and onion burger and it did not disappoint.... Damien got apple smoked bacon, chutney and cheese on his. They had lovely french fries but we had ordered the half portion and gave us the full one which was too much!!

Of course we found a good old Irish bar in the mists of it all. Kelly's http://www.kellysirishtimesdc.com/ beside Union station was great. The manager was lovely and chatted with us a lot. We also visited Fado http://www.fadoirishpub.com/ which is in Chinatown and apparently the bar was built in Ireland, then taken apart and then shipped over. It was very authentic and ok for prices as everyone knows Irish pubs are very expensive. The bar menu seemed good and the place was packed!

We also visited Nando's http://www.nandosperiperi.com/index.cfm as we hadn't had it in over a year and Damien loves it. Good eats!!

There was a very authentic Mexican restaurant we went to but I can't remember the name. It was at 7th and Kst. They even made the Guacamole in front of us. It was a tapas bar and the food was good. I didn't know what a lot of the stuff on the menu was but I drank...

After all our walking we went to the Old Ebbit Grill for some lunch http://www.ebbitt.com/main/home.cfm?Section=Main&Category=About_the_Ebbitt. We didn't get the Oysters but we both had fish. Damien got the crab cakes which was very big and fresh. I went for the trout with Parmesan cheese. It was so good. We found definite value for money and would go there again if we went back to the city.

All in all loved it...