UMTravels

A fairly lazy start to the day — thank goodness for Ambien to keep the thumping of the disco out of my dreams.

Eggs Benedict at the hotel in the morning, then off to tour the castle grounds and art gallery filled with conceptual pieces, beyond contemporary art and sort of an odd match for the castle — guess that would be the personal tastes of the Duke of Devonshire who still lives in the castle.

At least the windows are double glazed — though I still bet it’s a bitch to heat in the winter.

Next up on the tour is the Midleton Distillery, home to Jameson whiskey (and a couple of others). Jeff took this great picture of me in front of the waiting area bar (Irish Coffee for 6.50 Euro).

After the tour of the history grounds (the current working distillery is modern and located just behind the old distillery) we went to the tasting room where both Jeff and I got certified as official tasters — and I cleaned up all the leftovers from the other 7 tasters… something like 15 of those tiny little cups. Should I have wanted to purchase shots, there was one shot on the menu that was going for 250 Euro. Ouch!

Lunch afterwards was down the road a bit from the car park — an interesting place called Mojito, which couldn’t quite make up it’s mind what sort of a menu they had — Jeff had the Nachos Grande and I had the Mojito Salad(which was salmon, goat cheese, greens, olives and a yummy dressing). It’s right on Distillery Walk by the distillery.

Three hours back to Dublin, Jeff driving while I slipped in a little nap.

Just a lazy day around the house that evening — a lite meal of sandwiches made from the pork from the other night. Got to keep food moving through the fridge when it’s a half-size model.

Tomorrow is the big 53rd birthday. I don’t feel a day over 52.

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