Green with Envy?

Friday involved LSO rehearsal in the afternoon at St. Luke's, followed by a conducting masterclass in the evening with 3 lucky guys, one of whom was only 20!

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I can't say that Dublin was or was not what I expected, as I didn't really know what to expect. It is not unlike English towns/cities. In fact, one of the percussionists behind me on the bus from the airport to the hotel said, "Do you even feel like you're in a different country?"

I woke up at 6 AM on Saturday morning, walked to Liverpool St. Station, took the Stansted Express to the airport. I only had a purse, no checked bags, but I still had to stand in line to get my passport checked. I was sent to the front as the line wasn't moving very quickly and they thought our flight should have priority for some reason.

While I was waiting at the gate, who should show up but Claire, a friend of mine in the first violin section! She decided to fly on her own since she lives much nearer Stansted than Heathrow. It was nice to have company on the flight.

We arrived at Dublin airport a little before the LSO flight, so we grabbed a bite near the arrivals gate. Took the first coach to the hotel. From there, I wandered around on my own from about noon until 5. I somehow ended up a block from the Jameson Whiskey Distillery at about 2, so I decided to do a tour. While waiting for my turn, I took a picture for a Dutch-speaking Belgian couple. We chatted for quite a while (in English) about their kids, who have studied abroad all over the place to become fluent in various languages.

I was selected to be one of the taste-testers at the end of the tour. The tour itself wasn't really that exciting. Afterwards, the 10 testers were given a bit of Jameson to compare to a bit of Johnnie Walker Black Label (a "premium" Scotch) and Jack Daniels (the best-selling American whisky). The smokiness of the Scotch was absolutely vile compared to the Jameson. JD is just awful, period. Only 1 of 10 said the Scotch was the best. We got a nice little certificate afterwards, names printed on them, even!

On the way to rehearsal, I decided to stop for coffee at a Starbuck's. Perhaps it was punishment for not going into a local place. No matter the reason, I somehow managed to get locked in the bathroom. Handily enough, there was a "pull for assistance" cord. Banging on the door wasn't getting anyone's attention, so I decided to pull the cord. I got a free coffee out of it!

Right before the rehearsal began, the orchestra was informed that the ash cloud forced them to move their flight to Frankfurt up 2 hours....meaning they had to leave the hotel at 5:15 AM, breakfast at 4:45. There was talk that the flights might be cancelled and that they'd have to take a ship to Liverpool, then a train to London, then a train to Hannover for the second of 3 Germany concerts, missing the one in Frankfurt. No worries- they made it!

The concert was sold out, but there were returns, so I managed to snag a Choir Balcony (i.e. behind the stage, above the orchestra) seat. A wee bit more expensive than I was hoping, but it was the cheapest in the house. General Admission allowed me to find my way to the front row. Sat next to an Irish guy who's my age, called Niall.

Back at the hotel after a quick bite, I sat in the lobby with Carmine, Ginette, and Jorg. Bought a half pint of Guinness, which I soon wished to have been a full pint. It's apparently a different recipe over there. MMMM!

Walked to the aircoach stop at something like 1:15. Bus didn't come until 2 something. I think I watched a marriage end in a fight on a Dublin street not far away from me while I was waiting. Almost called the police on the man. After a nap in a chair near the check-in point, finally was able to get my passport checked. No one else was there, as it was only about 3 AM. No one was in line at security. Once I was through security, no one was in the airport, ANYWHERE until an hour went by. Very surreal.

Back in London, all I had to do was show my boarding pass from Ireland due to some sort of lovely agreement! Looks like I'm going to be going back to Ireland since it's not at all a hectic trip!

Breakfast with Jonathan at 8:30 on the other side of London tomorrow morning. As I still feel vaguely like a zombie, I believe it's going to be an early night for me.