Killarney to Limerick
It's only about 70 miles from Killarney to Limerick. We took all day to make the trip. First, we stopped in Adare and gave a concert from a gazebo in a public park. Who did we get for an audience but another touring choir that was taking a break from their travels! And, so it goes...
Then, on to Bunratty. We had a concert scheduled for later that afternoon at Bunratty. The weather got gloomier as the day wore on, but managed to avoid actually bursting forth, until just moments after our concert started. Now, there's a mixture of the good and bad about the whole thing. First of all, very few people initially came to our concert, which was in a barn out in the back forty. As soon as it started to rain, we had a very nice sized audience. But, the barn had a tin roof, and the pouring rain made it difficult to be heard. A pair of swallows got into a squabble up in the rafters in the middle of one piece. Once we had captured an audience they were too polite to get up and leave, so we finished the concert for a full house!
Bunratty Caslte sits at the mouth of the river Ratty, and in Irish - Caisleán Bhun Raithe - literally "Castle at the mouth of the Ratty" (thank-you, wikipedia). The castle has had a rough history of destruction and rebuilding over the past 800 years. It was purchased in 1954 and restored to its current condition. We toured the castle after our rained-in concert, then returned later that evening for a 'dinner theater' event in the castle.
