Ireland day 0651. Tuesday 11 July 2023- National Concert Hall *

Ireland day 0651. Tuesday 11 July 2023- National Concert Hall

Today’s summary	Went to a lunchtime concert at the National Concert Hall, then late lunch at Chez Max in Alliance Française. Walk round the demesne in the evening
Today’s weather	Mostly dry but occasional heavy showers which we (mainly) successfully dodged. Moderate westerly wind. Appx 18C

Today’s overview location (The green mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The orange line shows where we walked) (No GPX today)

Commentary

(Summary blog only. Last full blog was Day 0368).

After a busy few days lately, we had in mind to spend a quieter day in Malahide today. But as I was idly surfing the web over a cup of tea this morning, I happened to notice that there was a series of lunchtime concerts being run by the Irish National Symphony Orchestra in the National Concert Hall and, as luck would have it, the latest instalment in the series was today. Although both of us had looked in at the Concert Hall, neither of us had ever been to a concert there, and it was definitely on our “to do” list.

So we took a split second decision to abandon plans for a day in Malahide and to head into Dublin for the concert. I managed to secure tickets at just €15 each, which I thought was good value for a 1 hour concert. We arrived in plenty of time at Connolly, so walked across town to the Concert Hall. It is situated in the old University College Dublin (UCD) buildings in Earlsfort Terrace and I have to say it’s a bit Soviet in appearance. But once you get inside, the main concert hall is impressive and the acoustics are excellent.

The concert itself was nothing too heavy, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. After, we had a cup of tea in the chandelier-lit main lobby, then wandered over to Harcourt Street via Iveagh Gardens. We dropped into the Conradh na Gaeilge bookshop but I think even Val was somewhat overwhelmed by the complexity of the literature on offer.

From there, we had meant to head straight to Pearse station and the train back to the flat, but on the way we took another spontaneous decision and headed into the French café in Alliance Française on Kildare street, where we enjoyed passably authentic croques monsieur and a couple of drinks.

Relaxed and worn out by our spontaneous exertions, we headed for Malahide and a very welcome cup of tea. The day wasn’t quite finished, though, as, after a suitable period of recuperation, we took off again to enjoy the evening air on a quick lap of the demesne. So all in all a totally rewarding, if somewhat unexpected, day. Long live spontaneity!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Today’s programme	Spectacular chandelier in the lobby of the theatre

Harcourt Street – next to Iveagh Gardens, which themselves are at the back of the Concert Hall	Val choosing her next almost-impossible-to-read book in the Conradh na Gaeilge bookshop in Harcourt Street

Spontaneous late lunch in the Chez Max café in Kildare street. Sadly it’s closing later this month, owing to problems with its co-occupant Alliance Française	They do a rather delicious Croque Monsieur

Orchestra in full swing in the main concert hall. it was well attended. The concert lasted one hour and cost €15. Excellent value