A new take on church basement hospitality

Yesterday Johanna and I went to a service at Christ Church Cathedral. Despite the incredible history of the cathedral (the original church was built by Vikings in the 1000s; the current building dates back to the 1100s and 1200s, though it's been restored since then, obviously), the service was small and surprisingly friendly. Afterwards was the typical tea and coffee reception. Atypically, however, this tea and coffee reception was served not in the church basement (the Vikings apparently lacked that sort of foresight), but in the church crypt. As a priest told us, "When you pass the dead people, you're there." So yes, yesterday I sipped coffee--the best coffee I've had here, incidentally; something tells me it came from actual beans instead of the freeze-dried flakes to which I have become sadly accustomed--in a cathedral crypt. And had a lovely long conversation with a priest, a hilarious and eccentric old British man, and a man who grew up in Belfast during the Troubles (and who absolutely loves Garrison Keillor--we got along very well).
In other news, the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival has officially begun (yes, this festival is sponsored by whiskey). I saw my first film on Saturday: Tricks (Sztuczki), a very cute, very quirky Polish film. Tomorrow I'm going with my film class to a series of short films, and Thursday I have tickets for Fairytale of Kathmandu about the scandals of an Irish poet in Nepal. Also, last night the Irish Film and Television Awards ceremony--attended by Mel Gibson and Daniel Day Lewis, among others--was held at the Gaiety Theatre. I passed by in the afternoon as they were setting up and saw the red carpet, rolled up, plastic-wrapped, and shunted off in a corner. Oh, the glamor of show business.
Tonight I'm going to see Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest at a theatre just down the street from my apartment in Dundrum. I sort of have a thing for this play. I've read it twice to myself. I've read it out loud once (bad British accents and all). I've seen the movie. And now I am finally, finally seeing it on stage, in Oscar Wilde's home country.
It doesn't get better than this.