Waterford and Wrapping up

 Tuesday September 5, 2023

Waterford is the oldest city in Ireland, established when the Vikings came and named this their base for piracy.  The name means "safe harbor" and it is a gateway for an extensive river network, and where the Vikings moored their great long ships.  But the city is probably best known for its crystal.

We visited the house of Waterford, which has the largest showroom of crystal in the world.  The company was established in 1783.   We were able to tour the factory and see the craftsmen at work.  I was surprised to see what a painstaking job it is to create the crystal designs (also explains why it is so expensive!) 

The craftsmen train for about six years to learn the various cuts and hone their skills.  We learned that crystal contains more than 23% lead;  if it's less than that, it is just glass.  

Each piece goes through a quality control check at least six times, and is destroyed if it fails quality standards.  The smashed pieces are melted and used to produce more glass.  There are never Waterford Crystal "seconds".  (no outlet shopping opportunities!)

This guy has been working on this custom piece for two weeks; it is a vase with a special etching, and it's not done yet.

The showroom was impressive with lots of beautiful things, including a large crystal gingerbread house!

Jim surprised me with some crystal earrings!  They are beautiful and will be a special souvenir of a special trip.  One other guest said to him "Well, I bet you'll get some good points for that!" (he did)

Our next stop was at New Ross, the ancestral hometown of John F Kennedy.  On display is the Emigrant Flame which burns permanently to remember all emigrants throughout the world. 

The Flame came from John F. Kennedy's grave, and was sent to Ireland by land, air and sea (3700 miles!). It was placed exactly 50 years after JFK's visit to symbolically fulfill his promise to return to the town of his forefathers.

The flame sits at the site of the Dunbrody Famine Ship, an authentic reproduction of an emigrant ship from the 1840's.  

A tour of the boat provided insight into the emigrant experience of so many desperate people who left Ireland during the famine looking for hope.  Most travelled in the steerage area, where entire families occupied a bunk together.  Their belongings also had to fit in the space.

There could have been 300 people in this small space, for up to 6 weeks, allowed on deck for less than 1 hour per day, unless there was a storm, when all hatches were closed and gaslights extinguished.  During the storm, steerage passengers were forced to stay below in the dark.  Many passengers died before they reached their destination.  What a sad part of history.

We weren't quite steerage, but were glad to finally get off of our bus when we arrived in Dublin, where the group enjoyed a nice dinner drinks and Irish entertainment, and stayed out way too late!  We said goodbye to PJ O'Brien, our driver and tour guide. (He's probably doing cartwheels as he departed!)  We will have a full day on our own tomorrow to explore Dublin.

We will wrap things up tomorrow and figure out what will fit in the suitcase to bring home!