Early St. Patrick's Day, pipe bands, and restaurants
Well, the City of Alexandria has its St. Patrick's Day celebration two weeks early (to avoid both NY on the day and DC a week early), so nostasia and I took her mother and youngest brother to see the parade. It was fairly enjoyable. Then we walked over to the new Irish restaurant a few blocks away, where we were first told 45 minutes wait. We decided to go to one of its four bars, but discovered that they were *way* too crowded. So on our way out we left our name, now being told about an hour. This was still fine, since we had only had breakfast just before the parade. We walked a few doors down and looked into an antiquarian book/record shop; I picked up the Klemperer rendition of the Beethoven symphonies, the Bernstein Mass, and a Lutheran hymnal. It having been about half an hour, I went to check on the restaurant and was told that our name hadn't been entered after all, but that the wait was down to about 15 minutes. They put my name in the system this time, and I went to fetch the rest of the party. We waited in the restaurant's foyer for about 10 minutes and then were seated. The food was decent, and I was extremely impressed by the restaurant's management.
It seems that more than one of the pipe bands that had marched in the parade had descended on this restaurant, and some of the pipers wanted to keep playing. Well, every time a piper started up, the management cut the house sound system, giving them an undivided (except for conversation) audience. Very cool.
It seems that more than one of the pipe bands that had marched in the parade had descended on this restaurant, and some of the pipers wanted to keep playing. Well, every time a piper started up, the management cut the house sound system, giving them an undivided (except for conversation) audience. Very cool.