Cobh, Ireland

Some additional photos plus a video from yesterday's visit to Plymouth, England.

This is the Waterside Dinner menu from last evening.

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We hosted a special dinner at the Vintage Room.  

Guests can sign up to attend a Vintage Room Lunch or Dinner to dine with other guests would be sign up. 

Regardless of lunch or dinner the discussion is led by the Head Sommelier and pairs food with wine for dinner and at lunch it could be wine, champagne or even Saki.

The Private Vintage Room Dinner can involve from one to fourteen attendees. We had six people in attendance including the two of us.

We selected each course from three menus (you can select from one, two or three menus) and we leave it up to Head Sommelier Jiri to select the Champagne and the Wine. We like to make it interesting so we blind tasted two of the wines allowing those in attendance to answer a series of questions about the wine ending with which one did they like the best.

Before each course is served Jiri will talk about the respective wine pairing providing lots of information about the wine, vineyard and the owner.  For those two wines we had Jiri provide the details after we enjoyed the wine.

When it was dessert time, we had a birthday cake for Anne Marie as this year is a milestone birthday for each of us. We will be on board for Keith's birthday. Anne Marie's birthday was in late May and we actually planned to be on Crystal Symphony to celebrate but we decided to cancel the booking as we were putting our home on the market and were concerned with being outside of the country when an offer came in.  

We  wanted to say what a lovely evening it was. We enjoyed lots of good conversation and some good laughs with our guest and with Head Sommelier Jiri. The food was delicious and possibly the best we have had in the Vintage Room. A big thank you to Executive Chef Remy and to Executive Pastry Chef Johannes and to their teams. A big thank you to the four members of food and beverage for their service throughout the night. We also thank Head Sommelier Jiri who oversaw all of the details including working with us to select the menu and matching the wine accordingly, for selecting two bottles of wine for the blind test, and for all of the research of the wine and for sharing his knowledge with everyone and making the evening very special for all in attendance. We have known Jiri since 2008 when he was our Sommelier in Waterside which back then was called the Crystal Dining Room.
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In two days, we visit Liverpool for the third time so to get in the mood we have a short video trailer with some music. Today it is Penny Lane with a mix of photos from both visits. 

We selected Penny Lane as this is one of two Beatles songs that came out along with their video when the Beatles stopped touring and John Lennon wrote the song Strawberry Fields. Essentially, they released two A songs on each side of the record.

Paul was inspired to write Penny Lane after John Lennon first brought Strawberry Fields to the studio.  Lennon was writing about a memory from Liverpool. Paul did the same thing by writing Penny Lane which is a memory of his from growing up in Liverpool and which features certain details from his youth such as a barbershop and a fire station.  Penny Lane was also a memory for John Lennon.

It has always been nice how the Beatles incorporated their memories into their songs. One of Paul's Uncles was named Uncle Albert which is part of the song he wrote.  
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Today we arrived at Cobh, Ireland. Cobh is pronounced Cove. It is a seaport town located in County, Cork Island on Great Island in Cork Harbor. Wow. It was the last port of call for Titanic. It is also known as an area of mass emigration for the Irish.
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Today's Daily Reflections

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Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith