Church, whiskey, and food...what else do you need?

We've got a long one this time:

On Friday the UCD business international program hosted a trip to St. Michan's Church followed by a tour of the Old Jameson Whiskey distillery and dinner.  If that wasn't enough, it was all free!

St. Michan's was originally built in 1095 and is a part of the Church of Ireland.  Under the church are crypts with mummies, the oldest being about 900 years old (if I remember correctly).  We got to go into the crypts and see some of the coffins and mummies that were exposed when the church believes a stack of coffins fell, opening the lids (it's illegal to open a coffin lid on purpose).  One of the mummies is rumored to give you good luck if you touch his hand so I did just that.  Many of the rooms were locked off and dark becasue they are owned by families and can still potentially be used.  The ones that were open for us meant that the family no longer existed.  We weren't allowed to take pictures in the crypt (although some people think that rules don't apply to Americans so they took pictures anyway) so the one I posted here is from the church's website.

St. Michan's

Mummies

Inside

Next we went to the Jameson Distillery (although the actual one got moved a while ago to Cork).  We learned about the history of the company and how they make the whiskey.  Of course, we got to try some.  The tour kind of reminded me of the World of Coca Cola tour in Atlanta, only less creepy.

The first sip of true Irish Jameson

We then trudged through the pouring rain and got a 3 course meal at Chatham Brassiere.  I had the soup of the day (sweet potato and coconut), pan-fried hake with mashed potatoes, and a warm pear almond tart.  Absolutely delicious!

 On Saturday, the API group headed into town, met up with the other API kids that go to Trinity College and National University of Ireland, Maynooth and we went on a walking tour of Dublin.  This was the first time I had been in town during the day (with the exception of the day I got here and wasn't really paying attention) and it was nice to be able to orient myself a little more.  I feel like I could actually walk around a little on my own now and not get completely lost.  The tour took us around Trinity College and then into Dublin where we got to see some amazing architecture and learn about Dublin's history.

Old Oregon maple trees at Trinity!  The tour guide said I was the first person from Oregon he'd ever had

Christ Church Cathedral

Original entrance to the city

After the tour, we went to Gallagher's Boxty House where I had another 3 course meal.  We got a cooking demonstration from the owner and his executive chef and  learned a little about the history of the potato and how to make boxty.

Boxty pancake with chicken.  SO good!

Cheers

To finish the day, I went out with my new friends from Trinity where we had some Irish coffee.  I have group presentations this week in class that I need to do some work for but other than that it should be a pretty mellow week.  Wednesday is "refreshers" day where all the school clubs try and get you to join so I'm going to look into that to try and meet more Irish people.