Zaragoza Dublin

Taste Sensation - Zaragoza Dublin

Went out for dinner last night with my best mate. We wanted to do some cheap casual eats but weren't sure where to go.

We walked past a few places and stopped in at this new Tapas bar on South William street called Zaragoza.

Were we in for a treat.....

The place was fully booked out but they have a large table that goes around the bar for walk ins. Having the place booked out and nearly full at 7pm on a Friday is a good sign.

The menu is split out as Fish, Meat, Vegetarian and Sides.

The menu recommends ordering 2 tapas each which I have to say was enough. Dishes range from approx €7.50 - €16. The €16 is for a 12oz steak so that's why it is more expensive. Most dishes are at the lower range.

We weren't sure weather to order 3 meat and 1 vegetarian but having chatted to the very helpful waitress we decided not to. My friend isn't mad on fish so we decided to order 2 meat & 2 vegetarian dishes.

We went for the Chicken Wings with blue cheese (hot & spicy), Duck in filo pastry with blackcurrent sauce, Goats cheese & spinach with apple compote and fries with truffle mayo & parmesan cheese.

All of this was €30. We were very full after.
We got 2 Corona's for €5 each which is pretty standard.

They do a cocktail of the day for €7.50. Every other cocktail is €9.50.
Spirit's are €5.50 and mixers are €2 each.

http://zaragozadublin.com/

After this we went onto Sinnotts for cocktails as they do 2 for €6 until 9pm.

http://www.sinnotts.ie/

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...

New York

AMAZING.... Wouldn't you move there in a shot???
We stayed in http://www.holidayinn.com/hotels/us/en/new-york-city/nycdt/hoteldetail/hotel-room-rates.
It was such a lovely place. Small but cheap and clean which is most important. Short walk to Times Square and the most amazing little Italian restaurant across the road. We didn't eat in it which annoyed us but we had a few drinks with some authentic Italian's!!
While everyone wants to eat in Times Square I would definitely advise NOT too as it is so expensive!!
We went to O'Lunney's pub just off Times Square and it was really good. We got steak wraps and the steak was good... usually when you order a steak in anything its usually the worst cut of beef but not in this case. http://www.olunneys.com/olunneys.html this is there website and I would recommend paying it a visit.
Obviously while you are in New York you have to go to Central Park and it does not disappoint.
We went in just at John Lennon's house so we got to see Strawberry fields. You can get the subway straight to there http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/submap.htm. I found the subway less easy to get around compared to Toronto but we got there.
In central park you will encounter lots of music and people making the most of the sunny days. In central park look for the Alice in Wonderland statue and the ponds.
When you leave you should check out the Apple Store. It is beside the park and is fantastic to see. It is a massive apple and you have to go down into it!!
There is so much do see and do. I would definitely advise walking around instead of using transport because you can soak it all in.
Walk along by the river. Walk across the Brooklyn bridge. Wall St. Threatre District and pick up a handbag for $20!!! Go into the food market in Grand central station and take your picture from the steps.

I would definitely fill up my wardrope the next time I am there. Also it is in a grid so easy to walk around!!