Culture Night Adventures

The pictures are from the tea room at No. 29, a restored Georgian mansion on Fitzwilliam St. in Dublin. The mansion has guided tours. For Culture Night, the tours were free, so Pete and I decided to go. It was fantastic! We got a free pot of tea complete with the sugar and milk accoutrement, and free cake too. This was followed by a short film and a tour of the absolutely beautiful home. The tour guide was good too, he pointed out all of the little items we were curious about and told fun stories about the Georgian lifestyle.

We also went to The Ark to hear a talk given by the director of their play for the Fringe Festival. She was excellent - she talked about writing for youth theatre, her inspiration, and her experience. She was young, so I really liked hearing from her and thinking about the possible youth theatre pathways I could pursue. Also, we got a sneak peek at the set, which was great. We will be seeing the show (which is titled Grounded) next week.

A few things I liked about this evening:

Our cab driver. He asked us where we were from, and then wanted to know why Wisconsin sounded familiar to him. After listing almost everything we could think of that comes from Wisconsin, we finally figured out why he knew Wisconsin: it is the home of Miller beer (which is big in Ireland, for who knows what reason.) Also, he told us the three places he would visit if he came to the States: Graceland, Harley Davidson factory, and the headquarters of Boeing. He was a hoot.

Another thing I enjoyed - the creative director of The Ark told us that the director talk would be a very informal presentation, and that we could "vote with our feet" - i.e., walk out if we were bored. I thought that was a nice way of putting it, and it made the whole thing much more relaxed and casual.