Pre-opera feeding place

I went with music-group friends to the Wexford Festival for the European première of Kevin Puts's Silent Night, which is based on the French film Joyeux Noël about the spontaneous truce in the trenches on Christmas Eve 1914.

I got the train down (free travel is a godsend — even if this turned out to be the The Journey from Hell) and stayed overnight. The rest of the guys drove down, and one of them even did down and back without a stay-over. We ate in Cistín Eile (which translates as 'another kitchen') and had what I thought was an okay but far from exciting meal, though our German member Ron was thrilled with it and found it one of the best meals he's had since he came to Ireland over twenty years ago.

But the opera was the thing. And what a thing it was! This was only my second time attending the Wexford Festival (the previous occasion was in 1971, for The Pearlfishers by Bizet, when I has the wonderful experience of travelling on the Opera Train with dinner and supper served on board and all transfers included). This, though, was my first time in the new opera house, which is magnificent! But, back to Silent Night … it was a tremendous experience, with fantastic staging, superb orchestral playing and some really fine soloists. A terrific evening.