Dublin, Ireland: September 4-7, 2019 - Evensong

I think dad, who was the only one allowed by the insurance company to drive our car, was happy to have his time on the road come to an end once we reached Dublin.  Driving on the "wrong" side of the road seems like a headache.

Once the car was dropped off, we went over to the hotel, an Aloft, and set our luggage down before heading over to lunch at a cafe nearby.  Then, with a little bit of time to kill before our rooms were ready, we took a tour of an Irish Whiskey distillery, which again, being in the alcohol production facility tour business myself, was a big draw for me.  This was the Dublin Liberties distillery:

The tour was nice, if short:

And of course it ended in a tasting.  Irish whiskey is a lot lighter than bourbon, both in color and flavor, which can be good or bad depending on what you're looking for.

More drinks of a different sort followed, with a stop by JW Sweetman's on the river:

Then a walk around some of the riverside of Dublin:

Then a turn to the northeast and a loop back:

Dinner followed at a place called Porterhouse.  Earlier, we had passed a church, which, like the church where I work, was called Christ Church Cathedral, and on their sign outside they advertised a nightly Evensong service which I was very interested in attending.  Mom and I left dinner early to make it down there, only to have them tell us that the services hadn't started back yet for the season - they would begin the following night.

So instead, we hung out for a bit at a touristy souvenir shop and then met up with everyone else to make our way over to The Brazen Head, the oldest bar in Dublin...or possibly Ireland, or possibly neither, because that claim is made by many an establishment around these parts.

Either way, a place of business beginning in 1198 is old enough to be noteworthy.

Here's the view from our hotel room that evening:

The next morning, we headed out for yet another alcohol-related establishment, the Guinness brewery:

The tour was fairly expansive, rising six stories above the ground-level shop, all surrounding a central open area meant to resemble a gigantic pint glass.

The first leg of the tour was all about the raw production of the stout:

That waterfall reminds me of Flood Control Dam #3.  More Zork references!

Next, the company history, beginning with Billy Bob Guinness himself:

...in a room of "living" portraits that told you snippets of history.  Kind of unsettling.

Next, a larger open area about the specifics of Guinness production:

Then a tiny tasting:

And then the famed Guinness Academy, where you learn to pour the thing "correctly":

I did alright:

We took our Guinnesses - I'm sorry, Guinnessii - up to the rooftop bar and enjoyed the view:

Then it was back down for lunch and onto yet another hop-on, hop-off bus, taking us first to Phoenix Park:

We saw the Wellington Monument:

Before circling back to catch the bus again.  At this point we split up again, my parents and I taking a brief detour near the river, hoping to go all the way out to the coast, but not quite being able to get there.

We then returned to Christ Church Cathedral and caught Evensong successfully that night:

It was nice!  A very good sound from the choir, and some interesting selections, especially the anthem.  

Speaking of music related things, we dashed over to a nearby spot where Handel's Messiah was first premiered:

It's now a hotel, but in the old days it was a concert hall.  And this is where that very famous piece began its life!

We split up yet again for dinner, finding a place with a name that should be very familiar to Louisvillians:

And that was it for that day.  Just one final day remained on our grand Irish adventure.  

We began with an early start to see the Book of Kells, which is a very old book containing the four Gospels, created sometime around 800 AD.  You can't photograph it, but here is a photograph of a recreation of part of it in the anteroom of the display area:

The tour ended in the famous Trinity College Library:

Yes, it looks just like the Jedi library.  Apparently, though, Lucas has denied that he took inspiration from this room, because otherwise the college could sue him over it.  Wow!

Next we went to the National Gallery of Ireland, which is an art gallery that purportedly contains a "Dargan" wing, though over half of the place was closed off to us for remodeling, so we didn't get to see it.  Dang!

We did see this, though:

 Saw this park:

then had lunch.

Next, much as we had done in Sligo, I wanted to see the library.  Libraries, churches, and distilleries: I gotta see 'em all.

Sadly there are no photos inside.  However!  They did have a special display of W.B. Yeats that I could photograph:

And they had this manuscript on display:

which is a poem I've set to music!  An unexpected surprise to find here.

Next, some (more) museums.  The natural history museum:

and the Chester Beatty Library at Dublin Castle, a brief ways away:

This was extremely up my alley.  The display was a bunch of old books from what you could broadly call non-Western parts of the world.

Japan:

The middle east:

Egypt:

Thailand:

and China:

I should say, though, they weren't all non-Western; here, for example, is something from Italy that I particularly geeked out over:

The Beatty Library ended on the roof:

And then it was on to one last distillery, and by far the most famous: Jameson.

The tour taught us the history:

production:

and of course, a tasting:

Interestingly, they did not have us try three different Jameson expressions.  Rather, they had us try Jameson alongside two competing brands, which the guide didn't name but we could guess, given his description of them as "the best selling scotch whisky in the world" and "the best selling American whiskey in the world", which are Johnnie Walker and Jack Daniels, respectively.

That was a pretty gutsy move, I gotta say.

We then enjoyed a Jameson cocktail gratis before moving on to the last activity of the day: another Evensong, this time at St. Patrick's.  They were a little more strict about photos, so I only got this one blurry one:

I gotta say, I was a bigger fan of Christ Church Cathedral, and that's not just namesake solidarity speaking.  The sound of CCC was a bit warmer and rounded out, with better tuning - that may be because they are a mixed adult choir, while St. Patrick's is men and boys, but maybe not - and I also enjoyed the musical selections of CCC more.  Plus, CCC seemed a little more...how can I put this?  There seemed to be more of a personal touch.  For instance, the bulletin at CCC printed all the words and the specific pieces being sung; at St. Patrick's, it was just a laminated card that they clearly re-used for each service, saying things like "Anthem" or "New Testament Reading".

I'm such an Evensong snob!

Dinner followed, then the hotel.  The next morning, I got up early and set out before anyone else, as my parents were taking a flight to Scotland for a little more vacay, and my sister & co. had a much later flight in the day, going to a different airport altogether.  I flew home through Charlotte - always a welcome sight.

And that was that!  A successful family vacation in the bag.  And good to get the entire family together, for what there is a chance may be the last time - at least for international travel, that is.