Saturday, February 25 and the weather in London is fantastic, bright, sunny and warm.  Seven Dials, now where is that?  Imagine instead of coming out of Covent Garden Tube station and turning right, cross the road and turn left, and you will be a wheel of seven of the best shopping streets in London.  Seven small narrow streets lead towards a pillar, the Seven Dials, and here you will find terrific shopping, lots of individual shops, great restaurants, food stores, theatres, and trendy hotels like Mercer Street Hotel.  You could spend a weekend in Seven Dials and experience all that London does really well. 

I discovered the origin today at lunch in the Merrion to launch a campaign, backed by the European Union to protect and promote indigenous products. Discover The Origin includes Parma Ham, Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese, Burgundy Wines, Port and Douro Wines. These products all have the Protected Desigination of Origin (PDO) status.  Visit the website, www.discovertheorigin.co.uk for food and wine tips and some lovely recipes  with suggested wine pairings.  Like them on  Facebook (Discover  the Origin)  and follow @Discoverorigin on Twitter.

Excellent figures from Lufthansa for last year show that they carried almost 300,000 passengers into and out of Dublin.  People appreciate a full service airline, and the prices have been right for the market. Good news for this summer, espcecially the west of Ireland, Lufthansa will operate a weekly service from Ireland West Knock Airport to Dusseldorf and May 5 -  September 29.  Two seasonal services from Dublin will see Munich operate on a weekly basis from March 31 to October 27 and twice weekly to Dusseldorf from May 6 to September 26, Lufthansa.com. 

Met the folks from the Northern Ireland Tourism Board to hear about the amazing events planned for this year.  It is all coming together with eight top level events, world class entertainment, sport and the unmissable commemorations for Titanic. 
I was impressed with the level of detail and sensitivity that have gone into the Titanic commemorations.  Read what will be happening this year on www.NI2012.com.  Watch the exhilerating video on the website on on Youtube.com.

Ryanair will be flying Dublin to  Warsaw from July.  Aer Lingus already on this route.

A short trip to Limerick, really short on the new motorway, led me to the Strand Limerick Hotel, and opened my eyes.  Great hotel, lovely location overlooking the river, excellent food and happy cheerful staff.  The fact they had an additonal 160 unexpected guests on Sunday night, when British Airways flights were diverted from Heathrow, didn't faze anyone. 
Thanks to Cobblestone Joe's in Limerick for sending me to the Cornstore for dinner.  Really impressive, a piece of Manhattan on Thomas Street. 
by the way, is Limerick the wettest place in Ireland?

The newest Irish Hotels Federation guide to hundreds of hotels in Ireland was published yesterday in conjunction with Diageo.  The guide is invaluable for finding hotels and also contains disount vouchers.  Copies are available at tourist offices, and from irelandhotels.com. Free App available too.