Dublin day 1
My first off-shore trip with Exultate Singers and it’s bound to be a cracker.
The theme of the airport wait and flight was the tight-fistedness and no-frills-ness of Ryanair. Having not flown with them before I was somewhat in the dark but only too happy to join in the banter (“you mean you’d like to breathe oxygen in the cabin?” / “ladies and gentlemen, we’re about to land in Dublin; any passengers wishing to alight, there will be a 10-euro surcharge”). Once on the flight I soon realised what they meant. All the same, return to Dublin for £100 — no complaints from me. The only nuisance is all the security checks, the compulsory disposal of anything over 100ml and the slightly over-familiar man-on-man frisking. But you’d get that with anyone, so moving on…
We arrived and the weather was a noticeable few degrees higher and few clouds sparser than Bristol and actually felt we’d flown a good distance further south.
Our coach took us to the quaint theological college, where we were greeted by Angharad catching few rays on the green relaxing on the mildly incongruous beer garden furniture.
A 10-minute turnaround and we were back on the coach heading towards town to Il Vicoletto
Sitting with the Seal (and as ever seeking his approval) one felt obliged to drink the right colour wine with dinner (ergo WHITE. Sulk). Mind you he ordered us a pretty crisp Pinot Grigio which was hard to argue with. The food here was delicious and, in over-priced Dublin, great value at 35 euros for 3 courses (I had: bruschetta, sea bass and tiramisu).
We were just in time for a pint at the Lord Ed — the regular lay clerks’ haunt — opposite the cathedral. No real ale but when in Rome and all that – I had a Guinness (the first of many). It was OK. Didn’t taste like the divine elixir that was promised but good all the same. Never mind sea bass — a few more pints of this and I’ll be a C-bass myself in the morning.
Back to the college and – startlingly – straight to bed!
Zzzz
Categories: Music, Travel, singing
