In Dublin

Posted on 2007/09/21 22:01:41 (September 2007).

[Monday 17th September]
This was my third trip to Dublin (see here and here for the other two), but today was the first (and only, on this trip) day where I'd actually spent a full day there - i.e. both woke up and went to sleep in the city. Not that it really matters, I just though I would mention this rather pointless fact. It's what having a blog is all about.

So I woke up at 8, had a shower in my very fashionable and modern hotel room, and then walked to the office. It turned out to be quite a long walk - my hotel was right the other side of the city - but I managed to make it into the office for a semi-respectable 9:30.

On arrival I realise I hadn't actually arranged anywhere to sit, so I spent most of the morning "camping" (as I believe people often call it) in the cafe, which was actually rather nice - all the important facilities (coffee, croissants, and wireless networking) were on hand, and I was actually able to get a fair amount done. Towards the end of the morning I actually got a proper desk sorted out (working around lunchtime would have been difficult otherwise) and so I moved up to the 7th floor to take up my very temporary residence there.

I spent the afternoon engaged in the training course which was the main purpose of my visit, and after that returned to my temporary desk for a while, before deciding to head out for the evening. Shortly after leaving I got a call from my friend who works at the Dublin office - actually he had just arrived back from holiday, but rather kindly agreed to go out for a drink regardless.

We arranged to meet at 9 which gave me an hour or so to wile away in the city centre. I took a bit of a wander and then came across a bar called the VAT house, which I had coincidentally read about on the web before coming to Dublin, it being notable for its whisk(e)y selection. So in I went, and sat down. They had a few different bottles of Scotch behind the bar, but naturally it was overwhelming Irish Whiskey, and despite initial thoughts of cheating and having something from "safe" from Scotland, I decided to be adventurous and try something Irish. When in Rome...

The VAT house did a sampling tray, with four different Irish whiskies on it, which was a thoroughly good idea for someone like me, who, in terms of Irish whiskey, had no real idea what was what. In order, the four were Powers Gold Label, Greenore Single Grain, Redbreast 12 Year Old Pure Pot Still and Connemara Peated Single Malt. Quite predictably, I didn't really get on with the first two, the third one was sort of interesting, and the fourth was actually quite good. Still, I can't help a sort of shudder factor when drinking Irish whiskies - very similar to when drinking Bourbon - which I guess is a similar thing to what people who don't really like Scotch get (which generally causes me to look on in bemusement, as I struggle to comprehend why people do not utterly love some of my favourite single malts).

After a spell at the VAT house, I ventured out to meet my friend Bartek. As he didn't immediately have any particularly strong recommendations for a place to eat, we decided to go and have Japanese - even though I had been the previous night, I found I was still craving sushi (no, before you ask, that doesn't have to involve raw fish) and sake. So we went to the other restaurant owned by the same company as the place I'd been to the previous night - Yamamori Sushi.

After dinner Bartek suggested a Russian bar called Pravda (?) which was just round the corner, and given my general like of all things exotic and unusual I was very keen. Once we got in there it turned out to be more Polish than Russian, but this was no less fun for me - call me odd but I actually rather like being surrounded by people chattering away in a language I can't actually understand. It's better than overhearing British people having conversations about depressingly banal things like football and Big Brother.

We didn't stay out particularly late, Bartek was naturally a bit tired after his holiday, and we both had work in the morning, but it was a very pleasant evening nonetheless.

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