Of Bodhran and Blarney

We've arrived in Killarney and before I catch you up on how we got here, I've got to tell this story:
After dinner tonight, a bunch of us decided to go to a pub and hear some music and in short order, we settled in at a nearby pub featuring a trio playing traditional Irish tunes on fiddle, bodhrán and guitar.  They played in the front while our large group gathered in the  back near a stage where soon, another band began to set up.     This set up was unbelievable. There were 4 or 5 twenty-something guys wheeling out trunk after trunk of  equipment which included huge speakers, amplifiers, microphones, at least 20 neatly coiled electrical cords, a sequin studded backdrop drape, and who knows what  else.   They spent no less than 45 minutes assembling all this stuff, with a distressing display of plumber's booty each time one of them bent over to plug something in.
We watched in horrified fascination.  These guys set up enough  equipment for a U2 concert at the Dublin O2,  yet this pub was no bigger than The Shine Cafe.  They even brought their own lighting arrays, for God's sake. We waited and waited  and finally one of our group inquired, only to be told that it would be another  1 1/2 hours before  these guys began their set.  We were highly invested at this point, but not  enough to wait that out so regrettably, we made our way to another pub.  It's hard to imagine these guys would be able to live up to the expectations they were setting, but they did seem to have a following of folks willing to wait them out.
Here's a short synopsis of the past two days.   We left Dublin on Sunday morning, stopping at  New Ross and then Waterford on the way to Cork.  We made it to Cork around 5pm and immediately were taken on a walking tour of the main city center which features the River Lee, St. Fin Barre's Cathedral, the Beamish and Crawford Brewery and a lot of pigeons.  We spent only one night in the very modern River Lee Hotel, and left early this morning to Blarney Castle (yes, I kissed the Blarney Stone - stand by for a photo of that) and nearby retail extravaganza.  After that, we made our way here to Killarney through Kenmare and on the Ring of Kerry.  Of course, the scenery is gorgeous (see photos).
Tomorrow we see sites around Killarney in the morning, then drive out to the Dingle peninsula, and return to  this very nice hotel for a second  night.

Here are a few links to info on items above:

bodhrán  -  http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=dMI4X8OOMOg&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DdMI4X8OOMOg

Shine Cafe - http://shinesacramento.com/

Blarney Castle - http://www.blarneycastle.ie/

Ring of Kerry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Kerry

Photos from the past two days, including a few snaps of the band setting up this evening.