Crystal Tales
Monday 9 June
Monday 9 June
The Cliffs of Moher are only about 10 kilonetres from our hotel so we will get there nice and early. We made sure that we have had breakfast early and seem to be the first paying guests to get here. There were quite a few cars in the staff car park and two camper vans that appear to have stayed overnight. We paid our money and were off for another half marathon.
We walked up I reckon about 2000 steps but Deb assures me that it was only 166 to a tower that was built in the early 1800's by a fellow called O'Brien who built it for the tourists to view the cliffs. The views are magnificent. We then walked down the same steps and up to the other end of the cliff area. We could have gone further because there are a number of walks along the cliffs. We had a look at the warning signs that said you should have good boots, warm clothes, water, snacks and excellent fitness levels but didn't think it would be wise for us to do the walks because we didn't bring any snacks!
We walked through the doors of the visitors centre at 9.00 and left at 11.00. It didn't seem like two hours had passed. We are headed to Waterford today so that we can go through the Waterford Crystal Factory tomorrow. We have planned the trip without using the GPS because it doesn't know anywhere in the Republic although it does show us the roads we are on but won't tell us where to go!!!
We are going to go via Limerick which will take us on a motorway for a little bit of the way but for most of the trip we will be travelling on "R" roads which are the same as the "A" roads in UK.
It was a really nice trip through some interesting country. There are quite a few ruins near the road and when we saw some that looked interesting we tried to take a photograph from the car. Unfortunately there are not a lot of areas where you can pull off the road to take photographs. The roads are just wide enough for two vehicles and narrow vehicles at that. If the roads were full of Commodores and Falcons over here there wouldn't be too much movement. Unfortunately a lot of the photographs are blurry, have a lot of the car in them or have pictures of the hedges instead of the feature we wanted.
I found a couple of new names for my list, Newtwopothouse and Ballyhooley while the town of Lismore here is twinned with the town of Lismore in New South Wales Australia. All the locality signs have the English and gaelic name on them eg. Baile na Sionna is Shannon Town and Crois na hlomana is Hurlers Cross. Some of the names seem similar in some way, others however don't give you any idea at all. Waterford is Port Liarge.
We had lunch in Limerick and although we didn't go into the centre of the town it seemed to be a lot more modern than many of it's contemporaries in Ireland and UK.
Sometimes it is hard to imagine Australia and UK/Ireland are on the same planet. There are very few browns here and lots and lots of greens. I suppose it has something to do with the rain. It has rained every day since we have been in Ireland. Sometimes it is torrential and other times it just showers. Shouldn't complain, it held off while we walked the Cliffs of Moher.
We arriver here in Waterford at 4.30, booked into a hotel in the next block to the Waterford Factory and tried to book ourselves in for a tour at 9.15 in the morning. They normally take bookings but were told if we are there by 9.00 and buy our tickets there will be no problems getting on the first tour. Evidently not many people like getting up early so the groups are normally small for the first tour.
Had a really nice meal, part of which was a pulled pork and apricot tureen. Both Deb and I liked it so Deb asked the waiter if the chef might give her the recipe. The waiter came out and took her into the kitchen where the chef wrote the recipe out for her. He even promised to leave some for her to pick up before we leave. He said some nice crusty bread would go well with it.
We decided to go for a walk through the town before we went up to our room. Would you believe it was raining. We put our rain jackets on and went out anyway. The rain hasn't stopped us doing anything so far. We found quite a few interesting things including a tower built by a fellow called Reginald in 1008. We didn't take our cameras with us so we'll have to go out early in the morning to get some good photographs.
Tuesday 10 June
Got out and about early to get some pictures of Waterford. It was quite nice when we got out so got some good photographs. Unfortunately it started to rain so we thought it would be a good idea to go to the Waterford Factory so we didn't get too wet.
We managed to get on to the first tour that left at 9.15. It was a fascinating process. They started by showing us where the moulds were made for their special one off things like trophies etc.. The one off moulds are made out of wood while the every day products as they call them have moulds made out of cast iron. The wooden moulds are used three times, one to make sure that it is made to specifications, the second is the trophy or whatever and the third is a spare that they have in case something happens to the original.
The blowing of the product I found was not very different from the crystal factory we saw in Kings Lynn, however everything after that is special. They trim down the glass to the basic shape and then everything is ground by hand. We were shown a bowl as we entered the factory which was called the apprentice bowl. All their tradesmen do a five year apprenticeship and at the end they have to produce the apprentice bowl. They have three chances of producing the bowl. If they succeed they go on the bottom rung of the ladder of tradesmen but if they don't do it in three attempts they are given a choice, leave Waterford Crystal or repeat the whole 5 years of their apprenticeship. The guide couldn't tell us what proportion leave or repeat their apprenticeship.
The patterns that are etched onto the bowls, vases etc. are memorised by the tradesmen who are doing the etching. The broad outline are marked on the outside with a texta but only as a grid. The lines have to be joined by patterns. Each tradesman has at least 150 patterns memorised. I have mentioned tradesmen and tradesman throughout because I did not see one female on the workshop floor, there were quite a number in the showroom. It didn't occur to me until we left that there was a disparity in employment on the workshop floor.
The objects like eagles, horses, ships etc. that Waterford Crystal produce all start off as flat pieces of crystal which are shaped and then glued together make the completed ornament. There was a coach and horses in the showroom that had a price tag of 44,000 Euros, however because I had my passport with me I could get it tax free for just over 38,000 Euros. If you get a chance to go to Ireland I would thoroughly recommend a visit to Waterford and the Crystal Factory.
We left for Dublin after our tour because the rain was coming down in buckets and we wanted to stay dry. I don't know how the Irish people get their dose of vitamin D because the amount of sunshine we have experienced is very little.
The hotel that Deb has organised looks over the city of Dublin. There are a lot of church spires in the view, Suzanne, our niece sent us an email with a few things to see while we are in Dublin. The first was "The Brick Alley Cafe" which dished a great cup of coffee and fruit scones for afternoon tea, the second was Trinity College where the book of Kells is stored and the other was a shop called Avocca which had another wonderful eating place.
The book of Kells is a beautifully illustrated Bible that was commenced in the 9th century. The art work and the calligraphy is exquisite. The patience to complete such a work would have been phenomenal. There were a number of scribes and artists and some of the scribes were also artists who illustrated their own work.
On the way out of the display there was an exhibition in the Long Room of the Trinity College Library. The exhibition was about the King of Ireland Brian Boru who had a big battle in 1014. It was a very interesting display with quite a few books relating to King Brian. There was even a graphic novel (comic book) of the life and times of King Brian Boru.
The long room was a spectacular room. It was redesigned in the 1860's and the oak panelling is something to be believed. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of any of the visit to Trinity College because photographing was not allowed. This was strictly enforced by the staff at the library.
Our visit to Avocca was very productive. When we got our cuppa there Deb noticed that one of their offerings has a plum chutney. The chef from the night before had come good and had left us four large slices of the pulled pork and apricot tureen and we thought the plum chutney might go well with them. Deb asked the waiter if we might buy some as there were only really large jars available to buy in the shop downHe came back with a package that had 2 little plastic tubs of chutney in it and he wouldn't let us pay for it.
Our meal tonight was an alfresco affair in our room. Crusty bread, pulled pork and apricot tureen and plum chutney.
Off to Wales tomorrow and the end of our short time in Ireland.
Deb and Den
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