It's a long, long way to Tipperary... (so we stopped in Kilkenny)

A Big Day! I’m writing from the Imperial Hotel in Cork, our new home for the next few days. We started out early this morning and drove approximately two hours out of Dublin and through rolling Irish countryside to Kilkenny, where the touring choir gave a lunchtime concert at St. Canice’s Cathedral.

St. Canice’s—“the second longest cathedral in Ireland”—was constructed at least as early as the 13th Century and retains all of its gothic medieval charm. Many, many generations of the Butler family (the local nobles) were treated to the concert from their individual apartments in the crypt of the cathedral. Joining them in the audience were about fifty (living) locals from the town of Kilkenny.

After visiting and performing in the cathedral, we visited Kilkenny Castle, the home of the Butlers when they were alive. The Castle was initially built in 1213 as a fortification, on the site of an early wooden fort. The Butler family bought the castle in 1391 and their family lived there until 1935. Throughout the family’s history, many alterations and redecorations of the castle were undertaken. In 1967, the family sold the castle to the Irish government for the symbolic sum of £50. The castle is currently under restoration to appear largely as it did in the final chapters of the family’s residence: as a palatial estate in the Victorian style.

We hopped back in our coaches and continued on our way toward Cork. Along the route, we stopped briefly in Cashel, Ireland (in County Tipperary) at a roadside restaurant called the Rock House, which lies just in the shadow of "the Rock of Cashel"--a ruined medieval cathedral, and where we enjoyed delicious scones and muffins.

When we arrived in Cork, we came right here to the hotel and had our first meal in the city. Tomorrow, the touring choir participates in a master class workshop with Dr. Geoffrey Spatt, of the Cork School of Music.

A picture blitz from Day Four is online at http://picasaweb.google.com/pgcireland