Ireland Day 10

HAPPY CANADA EVERYONE, I hope you all had a lovely holiday/family day.  


Today was a little cooler, and still gray. Woke up and decided to go for a walk down to town. Along the way I met a bunch of beef cattle who thought rose bushes were quite the delicacy.

 I found a post box that was built into the side of a house.

 Then I turned around and walked the 3kms back to the cottage. We have visitors to the cottage on a regular basis. 2 feral cats, one black and one gray. The gray cat really wants in however, the owners don't want her in and Geoff is allergic to cats

 Today's trip is down to Waterford to visit the crystal factory and tour the town. Derek is leading using the SAT-NAV (Garman unit). The unit certainly chooses different routes than our map readers, taking us off the Motorways and through the small villages.

 A beautiful ride and the sun decided to come out. As we neared Waterford we saw this giant sail in the sky.

 Turns out this is a suspension bridge and a quick although toll route through the city.

Waterford is reputedly the oldest city in Ireland. The Vikings came over and settled the area in 852. One of the relics left behind them is Reginald's Tower.

 This tower was the first defence structure built by the Vikings and it is referenced as early as 1028 AD, making it the oldest civic structure on the island. As we were headed to Waterford Crystal Factory we found the favourite eating establishment of Fred Gwynne, Yvonne de Carlo and Al Lewis.

 Crossing the street we entered the Waterford Crystal Factory.

 Inside we visited the shop while waiting for the tour to begin. As you can see there is an NFL helmet

and Wort's knife in its block

We then went on a fascinating tour. They showed us how they blow and shape the glass.

An apprentice isn't a Journeyman until he completes 5 years of work, passes a practical test and then completes another 3 years of craft learning.

We saw how they cleaned, checked, etched, checked, cut, checked and polished and quality checked once again before taking it to the customer or out for sale to the regular public. Interesting fact #1 there are no seconds, if a piece doesn't make it past one of the quality control steps, it is either put in a bin to be broken, melted and reused or it is tossed in the rubbish bin. Many companies or celebrities around the world have had speciality crystal made including Golf Tournaments, NCAA and NBA trophies, Justin Timberlake and Mariano Rivera. Even Coke and Pepsi have had pieces made. But judging by the picture and sales in the UK, Coke is the larger presence, sorry Uncle Wes.

Interesting fact #2 the difference between glass and crystal is the amount of lead used in the materials. After the tour, we went back into the store and after several purchases were made we headed back to the cars to eat a picnic lunch. After lunch we all split up and made our own ways around the town. I chose to walk up and down the river looking at the sites and then in to the town to find all the old buildings,

including a Guinness factory, ( real one will be visited tomorrow in Dublin),

A French Church, run by Franciscan Monks before Henry the VIII gave them the boot.

At 5 o'clock we headed back home and using SAT-Nav found more interesting ways back to the cottage

including a passing by of a horse rider and her two dogs replete with reflective vests on the dogs, and a track that was not as wide as the car and it had grass growing down the centre.

While we were cooking dinner we had a new visitor a male ring necked pheasant and 3 hens.

Well I listened to the Jays, we are back to .500, good Canada Day Game. My friends and colleagues at GLIAS had a great weekend and have posted some awesome pictures. We are off to Dublin tomorrow, the black stuff will be flowing from my veins

B