May 11, 2024 Waterford to Dublin

This morning there was some high cloud before breakfast, but the sun got stronger during the morning stroll in Kilkenny. The temperature was 10°C and the wind was E 6 km/hr.

After breakfast we drove to the House of Waterford for a 45 minute tour of the facility. Waterford Crystal has been open since 1948 after about a 100 year closure. It’s best selling Lismore pattern was introduced in 1952.

The company is owned by the Finnish company Fiskers. There are several specialized departments. The tour started with an introduction in front of examples of Waterford Crystal objects including the New York City Millennium bowl, a blue jug, an apprentice bowl and a crystal clock. The apprentice bowl is the final step in an apprentice’s journey. He has a regular production day to complete it. First we saw the Blowing department where two men worked blowing the hot glass and using a wooden mould. The moulds are made from pear tree wood. The custom or top line items use wood moulds otherwise cast iron moulds are used for regular items. The wooden moulds can only be used six or seven times due to the burning of the wood each time the glass is shaped. The items are put in a kiln to cool down gradually usually for a day. The raw materials for the glass crystal come from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. We entered a 200 year old part of the building where the quality department was located. The workers were smoothing rough edges from where the glass had been stuck to the rod. The marking department was where the patterns were marked on the surface with black marker. There were examples including a Hershey Kiss, one of three. Two were shipped and the other kept in Waterford. It was a custom order for Hershey headquarters. The newest pattern is called Black Water which is only available in the showroom since it was introduced last week. The final two department were sculpting and engraving, where the artists work using the masks as guides for grinding the pattern into the crystal with diamond studded blades. There was a crystal astronaut which was created using eight blocks of glass that are glued together and then put under ultraviolet light.

The drive to Kilkenny took less than an hour. We had almost two hours to explore the medieval city. The meeting point was at Kilkenny Castle. Kilkenny began as a monastery in the 6th century. William Marshall, an Anglo-Norman knight built the first castle, which had Medieval military towers and had several other additions by the Dukes of Orrmand, whose ancestors were butlers who were granted land. The family sold the castle and furnishings in the 20th century. It is now a museum. Kilkenny castle is made from local black limestone and has a rose garden with a fountain on the north side. On the south side are acres of lawn surrounded by a stone wall. The west side has the entrance to the castle. We walked over the the main street and found the Tholsel, Hall of Taxes, was built in 1761 with the clock tower and gate in the walled city.

There were narrow lanes with steps leading down to another street, these were called slips, meaning pedestrian passageway. We continued up a gentle slope to St. Mary’s Cathedral built between 1843 and 1857. A few blocks away was Black Abbey the further along we saw a crowds around St. Canice’s parish church. It looked like Confirmation Day for som girls and boys. Yesterday in Blarney there were children dressed for Confirmation Day. Nearby and up a short hill was St. Canice’s Cathedral. It is a 12th century medieval church built between 1210 and 1280. Beside it was a Round Tower, built in 1111, that was part of a monastery. Walking back to the castle we passed the Smithwick’s Red Ale brewery. There was a small outdoor food and crafts market by the castle where a cute little Renault van was fitted into an ice cream kiosk. There were nine ice cream flavours costing €3 for one scoop and just €4 for two scoops. We had walked 4.2 kilometres, over 6,000 steps.

Everyone was back on the coach by noon for the 95 minute drive to Dublin. We arrived at our hotel just before 2 p.m. Most rooms were ready, but we waited over an hour for our luggage. Larry used the time to checkin for tomorrow’s flight to Brussels and to reserve us seats on the airport shuttle for tomorrow morning.

Once received, we walked 15 minutes to the National Gallery of Ireland which had free admission for its permanent collection. There are free guided tours, an online self guided tour and a small selection of audio descriptions of artworks for a smartphone (with headphone). All the artwork names the artist and gives a description go with the painting or sculpture. We were viewing 17th and 18th century artwork. We only had enough time to see the third floor galleries.

The optional dinner this evening was Cabaret & Irish Night at the Taylors Three Rock. It is an old coaching inn dating back to 1640 and the largest thatched building in Ireland located south of Dublin near the Dublin Mountains (A bit higher than Riding Mountain). The coaching inn was also the gathering place to start stag hunts and fox hunts. This tradition is noted in the decoration at the top of its thatched roof.

Just 26 of our group of 42 joined this optional dinner. It was a 35 minute trip to Taylors Three Rock. Our coach was the first of nine or ten coaches, which filled the banquet hall with around 200 people sitting at long tables containing their group members. A glass of wine or beer was included at the start and Irish coffee was distributed during the final 30 minutes of the one hour and 40 minute show. The starters were served about an hour after people filed in, then the main course and dessert followed. The show began at 8 p.m. The show featured Irish singers and dancers and a three-piece band using an array of traditional instruments. Several of the performers are members of a national River Dance company. The audience sang along for some choruses of Irish songs. During the final half hour, several tables were cleared of the glasses and tablecloths. Then the three male Irish dancers each had a table to duel their fast paced dance steps. The band moved from the stage over to the bar to play a short set of songs before the final dancers and singers tunes. The hall emptied quickly. The coaches were gradually filled and took their passenger to their hotels.

Total steps 14,162