I am a couple of days behind in the posting. Our days are pretty full and my normal blog time which is during has been greatly reduced. Then, when we get back from dinner, we are exhausted. I am going to try to get caught up today. We are currently starting our second day in Belfast.
First, a bit on the Irish weather. It reminds me a lot of Portland, yes because it rains a lot, but more because it can change in a heartbeat. Rain one minute sunny the next. It has been hard to judge if umbrellas are needed or not. Fortunately for us, every day the phone says it is going to rain it typically does it overnight, so we have had very good weather for the most of our trip so far.
Today was not different. It clearly; rained over night but when we woke up it was bright and sunny over the River Lee. We went down to breakfast room which overlooked the river. We both had eggs benedict (if you know me, you know I am very harsh on this dish) it unremarkable, the hollandaise was clearly from a package,
the eggs were over cooked, and it was served in a bowl, making it next to impossible to eat. Just had zero flavor. The coffee was good and very strong.
After breakfast we checked out and got back in the car to head for Waterford. Jerry was not looking forward to another day in the car, but I was much more prepared for the other side of the room. We have now learned to only; rely on Goggle Maps to get us in and out of a city, after that, it is all Jerry and his Maps. One on driving, I am a good driver, but when you are on the other side of the room, there are some adjustments. Jerry, who almost never drives on these trips because he is the navigator, is also a horrible back seat driver, great naviagto, but he can stress me out more than the actual driving at times. He is a cross between my dad, who was always telling me what to do when driving and my mom who sat in the back seat making horrible faces and gasping.
The drive to Waterford was beautiful. The down side of driving is I cant really appreciate the countryside since I have to, well drive. We drove along some of the Irish coast. It took about 90 minutes, including the supposed short cut suggested by Siri, which now has an Irish accent. The short cut took us down some very narrow country roads. It did get us off the beaten path to see a bit more of the countryside.
Waterford is a very old city, originally established by the Vikings. There is one section of the city called the Viking Triangle. It contains, Reginald Tower (closed today, so not steps up for us), a Viking Museum, and the remains of an ancient church. We only had a couple of hours at most to spend here, since we had to have the car back by 5. It turned out to be just the right of time for us. We only had two tours scheduled, the Waterford Factory, and Bishops Palace across the street.
The highlight of the trip for me so far was the Waterford tour. It was a private tour so it was just the two of us and
the guide. It was fascinating watching them turn the molten crystal into the beautiful vases, stemware, etc. Today the were working on vases. We saw all stages of production from glass blowing, yes, each piece is hand blown (at least in this factory), to smoothing, engraving and sculpting. To a craftsman takes 7 years of training, then your test is to make what the call the apprentice bowl. If you want to be in the sculpting department that takes another three years of training.
The end of the tour of course ends in the shop. Hannah our guide was very nice and really knew her stuff. We even had the opportunity to talk to the various craftsman. In the shop, which you have to wait in line to get into if you dont have a tour booked, there are so many different pieces available. Jerry had a picture of a bowl his Grandma Ruth gave him, and was able to get much more information on it. Turns out is may actually be a bit older than he thought.
