Cormac Wall

@TightFive_Rugby Good thing you didn't notice all the fascist salute mosaics and times it says "Duce" oh and the big "Mussolini Duce"obelisk as you enter

I probably should’ve expected it, but somehow naked statues outside the ground still surprised me.

@dublin_damo Walking the via appia antica from Caracalla brings you back in time as well. Out into the countryside past the best preserved hippodrome, catacombs, tombs and a variety of bits that go unmentioned in many guides. Domus Aurea, Nero's debauched palace another under the radar spot

The baths of Caracalla site is less well known than some of Rome's other ancient ruins, but well worth a visit, I had no idea of its scale.

@KevinSm47300596 @SportsJOEdotie @FootballJOE Does Scotland play God save the king before their matches?

"Corporate middle class nonsense" 😅 Read more here: sportsjoe.ie/rugby/ireland-…

@nonstopeurotrip Hard to love Dubrovnik if you compare it to any top Italian seaside city like Monopoli or Ravenna. Dubrovnik felt completely artificial and overtouristed. Also €8 for a basic local beer and €19 for a pasta that would be €12 in Rome

Someone never been to Kraków, Gdansk, Wroclaw, Prague, Lisbon, Porto, Dubrovnik, Rijeka, Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, Tallinn... I could go on.

@prepsterthad @dublin_damo Rome is one of the best beer cities in Europe these days. Lazio had never been famous for great wine but the group of 15 or so breweries in the region are seen as the best in country by many of the beer geeks. If you go to Eurhop beer festival in Rome, it's 10k people a day

@dublin_damo Only an Irishman would promote an ale house in Rome.

By happy coincidence, one of the best ale houses in Rome, Birrifugio Trastevere, is located on the ground floor of my apartment building. Occasionally, life just goes in your favour.

@HenryBellCalcio @GabyMcKay It was due to be Italy's capital instead of Rome and it was for a few years but politics got in the way. With hindsight having a capital that far north would have led to issues to be fair

@GabyMcKay Grazie! Got a bit of time away from work in the morning tomorrow so will investigate

Love how varied Italy is as a place. Turin just feels sooooo different to where I’ve been before. I haven’t spent as much time in the north (aside from Bergamo) but coming up here straight from Rome has given me cultural whiplash. It’s very pretty - looks like Paris!

@kenneth02829878 @ConorKeogh8 It's not acceptable in a modern European city to have unprotected cycle lanes. It's been proven as well that protected lanes greatly improve the numbers cycling which in turn solves traffic issues. Amsterdam centre has boomed since cyclists were prioritised decades ago

@CormacCWall @ConorKeogh8 25% of trips on a pedestrianised street. Lol. You can walk from UCC to the city centre. You could even cycle it as many did before giving so much of the street over to cycle lanes.

A cycle lane taking up half the road in the middle of Dublin City with not a bike on it. Another disasterclass from the people running this country. When do they take ownership that they’ve completely ruined the capital city?

@kenneth02829878 @ConorKeogh8 Wash' st Is the main road that leads into the city from the university. There isn't a modern city in Europe that wouldn't connect it's Uni to the centre with a bike lane. Almost 25% of all trips on Oliver Plunk' last year were bikes. Stop your nonsense about bikes and try one

@CormacCWall @ConorKeogh8 Cork isn't Copenhagen and yes those nike lanes allow for less free flowing traffic than before. The bike lanes are hated because they get erected everywhere regardless of whether or not they're wanted, will be used frequently.

@kenneth02829878 @ConorKeogh8 What!? There's two bike lanes on Wash' st, about 1.5m wide along with two lanes for cars and a bus lane. Where is the irrational hatred for bike lanes coming from? You can't possibly believe those two narrow stretches of red tarmac are causing a downturn. Visited Copenhagen?

@ConorKeogh8 Same nonsense has been done to Cork. Main thoroughfares like Washington st completely choked by cycle lanes. City centre dying a slow death as a result. Never as busy as it used to be, as it should be.

@Foxy571 @jimhamilton4 @RassieRugby Ioane, Brex, Memoncello, Garbisi Cappouozzo all in Top class french club backlines or about to join. Pani is a flyer as well. Speed isn't everything and Italy have a nice blend right now. Faster and more creative than Ireland or Scotland's backline

@jimhamilton4 @RassieRugby Didn’t think either side looked good. Scotland had no idea how to play the conditions until the 79th minute, Italy have 2 fast runners but a decent pack will tear them apart

Italy look v good. Physical. Good scrum. Hard over ball. World class players in the team. @RassieRugby was right. Of course he was.

@Lucanassistant @paddyjogorman @Terryenough Like it or not governments dictate the symbolism around holidays. We think Christmas on the 25th is the most natural thing, you think there was as much common consensus 1500 years ago, nothing miraculously or naturally appears on a calendar despite what people believe

@CormacCWall @paddyjogorman @Terryenough No it’s at Bridget’s day and that it 😂

Does anyone know how to pronounce "imbolc"? You know, the traditional Irish festival the government tells us we have always celebrated that I never heard of before? The way I'm pronouncing it sounds a bit rude.

@paddyjogorman @Terryenough I think there was probably a long debate about the new holiday & many people felt a women's day couldn't be entirely tied up in Catholic symbolism given what has been revealed about the church over the past decades. Also including elements of the environment seems timely surely?

@Terryenough Me too! And I sure hope they don’t find a new name either for my saint’s day next month.

@europebarguide Pretty sure that's the 2nd time that location has closed. The beer bar there before Madri' closed about 5 years ago and reopened. I've been in that bar 3 times in 12 years and always felt like that area was becoming more & more swanky each time. I'd guess rent prices caught them

FYI, central craft beer bar La Madriguera in Málaga 🇪🇦 is permanently closed and looks like it has been for several months at least. In another city not the biggest loss but it played a big part in the city's beer scene.

@LordOfMundane @LeoVaradkar Have you any more to add or is that the sum of your argument? Fairplay if it is

@CormacCWall @LeoVaradkar That's total bullshit

I signed the order establishing this new public holiday. It clearly states that it is both St Brigid's Day and Imbolc venerating both an Irish christian saint and our own ancient new year when we had our own gods and godesses (1/2)

@LordOfMundane @LeoVaradkar rte.ie/brainstorm/202…. As other people said. Brigid and Imbolc are entertwined

@LeoVaradkar St Brigid's Day is about the Irish Christian Saint. It's got nothing to do with paganism or witchcraft or repealing the 8th or abortion anything else

@hispanicnomad This list is showing its age. Italy is not expensive, a city like Warsaw is hitting prices higher than Rome these days. Also Turkey has become more expensive than Greece the last few years due to inflation. Expect €15 for mains in many places, €6 for a beer

Countries in Europe I recommend visiting 👇🏻 After 10+ years traveling through 60+ countries, here’s my honest take on where to actually go in Europe This is what I always recommend to my acquaintances, and what I do when I travel

@Fahadnaimb Parked on a sunny Rome runway these take some beating

Old Lufthansa yellow crane > everything A380 and 747 side by side looking iconic. Bold, cheerful, premium. Best European livery ever, hands down. New blue feels cold by comparison. Yellow was soulful Old yellow livery GOAT, or new one's grown on you?

@ChrisLaubAI @lillybilly299 Just visited Chongqing last week. They took a detailed face scan and multiple digital finger prints. Look at how many cameras are on each street corner. Their ai programs are tracking you 24/7 and know exactly when you walked into your hotel and where you are at all times

@lillybilly299 I was shocked at how relaxed the immigration and hotel check-in process was when I went to China last month.

My Canadian friend visited her boyfriend in Chongqing (he was there on a work trip). When she was flying back to Hong Kong, he got a call from the police saying "where's your girlfriend?" He was like what? On the way to the airport? They said she "never checked in" to the hotel on her customs form and they tracked her to his location using facial recognition. The hotel room was in his name because it was his work trip (hence why she never checked in)

@rugbyphilosophy Having watched him in his passionate interviews with Moana Pacifica and seen a few matches playing with them is there a chance he'd quit All Blacks so he can switch to Samoa after 3 years? He'd be 35

Bro.. If Ardie doesn't lace up for the All Blacks again, that will be the rugby biggest L of all time. Maybe the biggest sporting L of all time.