Aug 29-31 Waterford, Ireland by Mick

Iconic for its beautiful crystal vases and wine glasses, Waterford, England was someplace that we had to see. We were already exited to come here, but when we found a place at Waterford Castle that had a pool and a golf course (and no you didn’t hear that wrong it really has a golf course), it made all the difference. We started out with a somewhat stressful drive, knowing that my dad had totaled the car on our trip to Scotland a couple years before, but thankfully we made it. After a couple of navigation difficulties and a trip to the supermarket, we headed for our “hotel” (and I forgot to mention it’s on its own private island) and promptly drove onto ferry to the island. It slowly moved to the other side of the river and we drove off to the castle, where we checked in and looked around. We finally drove to our “hotel room” that was actually a two-story house with three bedrooms and four bathrooms. I was in heaven when I found out I had my own bathroom and balcony!!

Onto to the highlight of our stay – the House of Waterford Crystal. To be honest, the House of Waterford Crystal was extraordinary in every way, from their interactive tour, to their café. My favorite part was the tour (but the lunch and the piece of mint chocolate cake at the café was pretty good, too). The tour started off with a little gallery of crystal items that were important in the history of the company and a (very loud) video presentation of the basic steps of crystal making. If you are wondering why I am saying crystal instead of glass, it is because to be called crystal, it must have at least 24% lead. We proceeded to see people blowing molten crystal into molds through a metal blow stick and turning the stick so the glass wouldn’t bend. In the next station, we saw people cutting off the extra “cap” that is used to attach the blow stick to the glass, and then examining the crystal for flaws. On to the next stage: the marking station, where they draw patterns onto the crystal for the cutters to put onto the glass. Most of the glass items in the shop are cut by hand, but the larger, more heavy pieces are put into a machine that cuts the glass without breaking a sweat. We finally finished the tour and looked at the extravagant pieces of glass in the store, and then headed home. If you ever get the chance to come to Waterford and take a tour of the factory, take it, because it is something you will never forget.

See you next time, Mick