Today, we went on a search for an official Sunday brunch. We wandered around a bit, some of our choices were already filled to the brim with waiting queues. We grabbed a photo missing from my mural collection as we searched out our next possible dining location. In the end, we found one close to our apart-stay, only to discover that brunch ends at noon here and we were now onto the lunch menu.
Today we did an architecture walk of our own creation. While getting to know the city a bit on our rambles about, we have discovered some very interesting buildings and details. The most interesting parts of the building are typically on the top levels. Unfortunately, the interior is typically inaccessible and we have to make do with a curious glance up and photo from street level. Another feature of our walk is noticing the abundant use of domes of all sizes on all sorts of buildings. While not like those in Prague City, these are equally intriguing.
While Paul collects his domes and details, he muses on the mix of old and new construction. More thoughts on that tomorrow. Meanwhile Debbie, who has collected pretty much all the murals on her must-have list (and then some), has now taken to collecting the symbols of the city that can be found in plain view all over the place, one you start looking for them: person, woman, man, camera, tv. Sorry, the correct list is: bird, tree, bell, fish.
Before the show, we saw a pub in nearby alley way (or lane, as they say) offering live music, so we popped in for a drink and a listen.
As usual, click on images for full size view.
Waxy O’Connor’s was amazing. It looked super small from the outside with the bar being almost right up to the entrance. We got ourselves a little table to the side of the bar and discovered it went much further back and more surprisingly it also went down and up a few levels.
There was a lot of interesting gothic details with repurposed ecclesiastical fragments and an old organ built into the wall. Lots of woodwork and bits of trees and branches reaching up through the various levels and central live music stage. If Peter Jackson were to build a Lord of the Rings style pub, it might look something like this. It had a Middle Earth elvish feel to it with intriguing passages all around. Areas had names to match their theme, like The Cottage, The Library, The Dargyl, and the Small Church Bar. I’d like to go back to have some food and linger a bit longer.
Music for the night was another unknown for us and it turned out to to be really good. Starting with a newish (5 years young) band called Tarran. Each musician took a turn leading a tune that highlighted their particular instrument with other band members taken a lesser upfront sound. Their CD launched that very night.
Next up was the main event for the night
Leonard Barry and his group of support musicians who he seems to play and travel with a lot.
But, he didn’t refer to them as his band. Leonard is a Uilleann pipe player. Those are the smaller Irish pipes that are used in the house or barns for dancing and tunes. While they can really make a good noise, they will not nearly as loud as the big highland pipes.
The music was tight, the songs lovely and the crowd welcoming and appreciative. A good time was had by all.
