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Published: July 26th 2005
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We were a bit slow getting up this morning, but still managed to make the cross-town hike to meet up with the rest of the group at The Four Courts for our tour. The building has a lot of history, and the interior and architecture are good evidence of it. It seemed to be very busy with barristers, judges, and what I assume to be clients walking all over the place and chatting. The Irish legal system still holds over the tradition of judges wearing white wigs along with their robes. It was interesting, to say the least, to see a woman judge with a full head of brown hair and a ratty white wig literally just laying on top of her head. The visit was quick, and we learned that their system is very similar to our own in America in many ways. We even had the opportunity to sit in on a murder trial, which turned out to be pretty uneventful, but was still worth the opportunity.
From there, we walked to grab a bite to eat, rejoicing after finding a Mexican restaurant. I suppose I should explain. I didn't realize how much mexican food I eat in
THE FACTS ARE CLEAR!!!
Me arguing my case in court a given month. None of us did. And the food here is pretty bland, so we've all been itching for some spicy, fun food. And as poor fortuned would have it (even though we should have known), Ireland doesn't offer much in the way of mexican food. But get this, the place was a Mexican/ITALIAN place. We didn't ask questions, though, we were just happy to see tortillas. I have to say now though, I'm not sure how the idea to put the two types of cuisine could have possibly come about.
After getting what turned out to be a surprisingly good meal, we decided it was time to sample some more Irish alcohol and that the Jameson tour would be the best way to do just that. The old distillery isn't very big and the actual tour itself is only about 20 minutes long, but the process is explained really well. We all left with a much better understanding of how whiskey ends up in our stomachs. But the tour itself wasn't the best part. At the end they offer four spots to the tour group to have an Irish whiskey tasting. I was lucky enough to be
one of the chosen few. The tour director sat us at a table and lifted a paper cover in front of all of us to reveal six shots of whiskey (Jameson, Paddy, Bushmills, Power - the Irish four; and a shot of Jim Beam and Johnny Walker Red). We were taken through the tasting process and chosen to pick our favorite, of which we were given another shot in a glass afterward. Needless to say I was a little shaky when I stood up. But I'd "graduated" whiskey tasting school, and was given a diploma and everything (which I plan to have framed...no, I'm kidding...sort of).
From there, we (I) stumbled to dinner, Professor Lenich's treat, at a Moroccan restaurant in city centre. Now, I'd never had Moroccan food (which is delicious by the way), and to be honest Ireland was probably the last place on the planet I thought I'd get such an opportunity. The dinner was great, and Lenich didn't let us leave until we were completely stuffed with food and drink. And before we left a belly dancer showed up and gave our table a private show. She even managed to get a few of us
Whiskey tasting
before I started telling everyone how much I loved them up to try our hand at dancing. Tyler went all MTV Grind on her. It was absolutely hilarious and we all nearly pissed ourselves. I didn't get any pictures, but I did get a video which you can watch by clicking
here. It's in Quicktime format, so if you don't have it, you'll have to download it
here to watch it. I plan on posting more videos on my trip, so stay tuned.
Being so close that we couldn't justify doing otherwise, we decided to head to the Temple Bar district and sample the nightlife. If you aren't familiar, Temple Bar is a stretch of around twelve blocks that is chock full of pubs, clubs, musicians, and loads of people out to have a good time. It was a great atmosphere and it seemed like all the bars were so full that people were pressed up against the windows to the street. We even made it to the official Temple Bar for a few pints before calling it a night so we could rest up for the full day of sight-seeing we've planned for tomorrow.
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