30.4.12
Day 9 -
Dublin
Today
we got to Dublin!!! We learned a lot on our drive from the airport to the hotel
from our bus driver/tour guide who was really funny. He told us a lot about the
history of Dublin pre and post rebellion. When we got to the hotel, we had a
bit of time to eat then get back on the bus for our tours.
We started with a tour of Jameson
Distillery. John Jameson, and later in partnership with his son, was one of the
first to triple distill his whiskey for a better, smoother taste. He also used
malted and unmalted barley and used a type of coal that was smokeless to dry
out the barley because he didn’t want that flavor in his whiskey. To get its
taste, it is aged for 8 years but in barrels that have already been used for
other aging. After aging for 8 years, they mix it all together and bottle it to
sell.
After Jameson, we bussed over to
Guinness for a self-guided tour of their converted stockhouse. Arthur Guinness
signed a 9000-year lease for the last that the factory is on because he knew
was the perfect location for his operation mainly because of the access to a
river carrying pure water. This water was so important to him that he was ready
to fight for it. He also began making ale for a few years before he was introduced
to stout, which he started brewing along with the ale. After 30 years of
brewing ale, he stopped his production of ale and focused on his stout. The
tour culminated in a free pint of Guinness in their Gravity Bar 7 stories up
that gave a 360° view of Dublin that was amazing and a trip to
their gift shop.
It was great to visit these places
because it showed us just how important these businesses were to the Irish
culture and their way of living. A lot of Irish were employed by both Jameson
and Guinness and depended on them for their living and their family.
After the tour, we were taken back
to the hotel and given some time to get dinner before Alice in Funderland at the Abbey Theatre. I must say that when we
first walked in to the theatre, I wasn’t fully sure what to expect with the
preshow. By interval (intermission), I was really enjoying it. The original
script/score was full of the hilarious pop culture references to Dublin and
Ireland and some general jabs at global culture too. The second act was really
interesting in the fact that in the beginning, we’re following Alice through
her eyes but when we begin Act II, we relive what we just saw before interval
except this time through the Queen’s eyes. We end up back with Alice but I
enjoyed what they did to bring us into the act.
The
original music was also really good and catchy. Some of it was better than
others though. The three numbers I enjoyed the most and I think were written
the best were the “We’re on the edge” song, the “Cut from the same cloth” song,
and the song that ended the show. They were all performed amazingly and the
language and topics of them, I’m sure, struck a lot of people’s heartstrings.
Then
there was the spectacle of the show. Wow there was a lot of spectacle. The
concept of this musical that I got was to go full spectacle the whole time
until it was one of the important moments like the out on the edge song which
was beautiful in its simplicity. The design elements were great and even though
some of them and the concept was outlandish, it all came together very well and
created a very enjoyable show.
Joey
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