Tea at Trianon: Castleknock Hotel Afternoon Tea

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Castleknock Hotel Afternoon Tea

From The Taste:

Some hotels claim to be family friendly venues, but you’d sometimes be hard pressed to find a little one strolling through reception. Castleknock Hotel, located in Dublin’s suburbs and very close to Phoenix Park, is a family hotel through and through, something that especially shines through when the hotel is hosting a number of events.

On the day myself and my good friend Niamh were enjoying Afternoon Tea, the hotel’s staff were handling not one, but two elaborate celebrations. From the quiet and chilled out christening crowd, obviously aware of the sleeping star of their do, to the more raucous wedding celebrations in the adjoining area of Earth Vine, as well as us regular customers enjoying a spot of afternoon tea, there was a lot going on. Something I noticed throughout the entire two and a half hours I was there was that a smile never left the faces of staff members and they effortlessly managed the entire room like the pros that they are – from the tiniest guest in its pram to the more senior attendees. (Read more.)