Five Feet, Nine Inches Above Ground

The days flew by and suddenly it was over!

The conflation of harp school and sight seeing was a delicate balance with the days running out of hours and the week of days. I’ writing this sitting in a lovely B&B in Waterford looking back on everything that happened in such a short period of time.

I took a few hours off from harp practice on Tuesday. The weather was brilliant, everything was open and there were some sites that were highly recommended. The first was St. Canice’s Cathedral, Church of Ireland. I should explain that many existing Church of Ireland (Episcopal, Anglican) church buildings were once Roman Catholic properties before the Reformation. Then there was the counter-Reformation when things switched back and that was followed by yet another suppression of Catholicism in Ireland. No further comment, other than to say the effects were far reaching.

There is a round tower that belongs to the cathedral. I chose not to take the option of climbing up the inside of it. It’s fairly cramped at the bottom and becomes narrow as it rises – not a successful combination for an individual with a fear of heights and claustrophobia. The centre-piece of the tour was the recently returned Red Book of Ossory. It had arrived home in the cathedral the previous Friday having been to Dublin for conservation and study. It’s a Medieval manuscript produced in Kilkenny under the direction of Bishop Ledrede. He accused a local woman, Alice Kyteler and her servant Petronella de Meath of witchcraft. Alice managed to escape leaving Petronella to her fiery fate.

It was a lovely walk to my next stop Rothe House built in 1594 by John Rothe a prominent citizen of Kilkenny.

Museums and historical sites are very interactive with emphasis on activities for children and adults. I would have loved to have gotten involved but time was pressing! The gardens at the back of the house were an enchanting oasis in the midst of downtown Kilkenny. In their day, they provided the householders and their servants with produce, herbs, and the inestimable pleasure of a garden.

I could have stayed there for the rest of the day but it was time for lunch and a return to school.

The 1000 year old Parade Tower of Kilkenny has been the venue for two of the public concerts associated with the harp festival . The second concert was on Tuesday evening so I made an attempt at more shots of the grounds including the roses. Unfortunately, walking on the grass in the rose garden is forbidden.

The interior of the concert hall is in the round and has several levels. I chose to sit up in the highest level in front. There was an excellent acoustic and a tantalizing view through the windows of the hills beyond Kilkenny as the sun went down.

There are lots of sources of delicious food in Kilkenny. Evenings were a great time to meet up with the some of the crowd from school, teachers and students altogether. On Wednesday evening, the choice was a Japanese restaurant that had tasty food and intriguing presentations of the food.

The final day is about to happen: Thursday was a bus trip to Dublin to see the extant Irish wire strung harps at Trinity College, the National Museum of Ireland, and the Guiness Storehouse Museum. See you in Dublin!