Our Trip to Ireland - Chapter 7
Next we found ourselves at the B & B owned by a very nice older couple named Mr. & Mrs. Hayes. The house was beautiful and reminded me more of a nice boarding house than someone’s former residence. Our bedroom was very nice. We had our own bathroom once again which was wonderful. I got a double-bed, and Greg had a nice twin bed. The room was very clean. The living room parlor was very warm and friendly as were the Hayes. There were awards on the walls that they had won for being excellent B & B owners. They lived up to their name. Mrs. Hayes prepared a nice dinner for us. Greg really needed to get rest to get over his cold, so we stayed in. He went to bed shortly after dinner. I got into my pajamas and into bed. I had brought along the book, “Son of Harpo Speaks”. It was a very good read. I finished it shortly after I got back home from our trip. I hadn’t read a book all the way through for quite awhile, so it was good to be able to focus in on one again.
The next morning we got up and had breakfast with the Hayes providing more excellent service. They talked with us the night before at dinner. We felt they were the best hosts during our trip. Mr. Hayes was a retired maintenance worker. Their children’s wedding pictures were scattered around on the walls. They talked with us about their family at breakfast time. They took a group picture of all of us in their greenhouse room. The New York ladies, Bryan, and the Mexican lady and her daughter, Anna stayed with us at the Hayes House as well. Bryan went out to a pub with the New York ladies but didn’t stay out as late with them as he had with us the night before. Mr. Hayes called a taxi for all of them. A taxi cost one passenger 20 Euros, so the only way to get a good deal was to split the cost by getting other people to go along. Greg and I stayed in, so he could get well by getting more rest. The rest did wonders for Greg as he felt much better the next morning.
Tony picked us up and took us to the Waterford Crystal Factory. This was truly an impressive place to visit. When we walked inside the front entrance there was a pretty young woman to greet us. She took us around the factory and explained everything to us. The workers were all dressed in casual clothes. They wore eye protection but no gloves. The glass they worked with was removed from a firey furnace and in a molten state. They hung onto the glass with long metal hollow tubes. The tubes were attached to the botton of each glass piece. The worker would blow into one end of the tubes to make a pitcher or whatever kind of piece they were working on. They showed us how another piece of molten glass was pulled out of the furnace and added to the original pice to make a handle. We got to see all the wooden forms and other tools used to shape the glass. All the workers are required to attend an art school in addition to learning their trade. There are no “seconds”. If there is any flaw found in the piece, the product is thrown in the trash which is melted down again to make another product. There was only one woman working in the plant that day. All the other workers were men. Indian ink is used to mark the glass pieces then another worker uses a cutting wheel to carve the lines in. The glass fragments are washed away as water is on the cutting wheel when it is going around. Some cuts in the glass are not clear while other pieces are dipped in acid after cutting to make the cuts in the glass transparent. Each product is marked with a seahorse to let the buyer know that this product is indeed Waterford crystal. The trophies for the famous golf tournaments and tennis tournaments like Wimbleton are designed and created by Waterford, so there are pictures and replicas of these pieces throughout the factory. Waterford makes three pieces for a particular event. The first is the one given for the event. The second copy is on display at the Waterford Crystal Factory, and the third copy is made just in case the original breaks! I bought a small crystal harp in the gift shoppe that costs 40 Euros! That was all I could afford. I wanted to take home something from there! (Later when we were making our way through airport security at Dublin International the security guard had to remove the harp from my carry-on luggage. I had packed it in there because I was afraid it would break while getting thrown around by airport personnel handling my larger suitcase. The security guard kept asking me if it was a statue of “Mother Mary”. That must have been what it looked like when it went through X-Ray. She took my piece out of the carry-on bag then smiled and waved me through.)
Greg got to see a Cinderella story statue that was made and valued at about 2,000 Euro. I got to see a statue made in memory of the priest and firemen who carried him out of the Twin Towers on 9/11. It was a beautiful statue and a very fitting tribute. I appreciated the fact that this factory in Ireland would design such a tribute. Wine glasses went for 80 Euros apiece and higher. I was a little discouraged, but in the end I was happy to have the harp to bring home and display in the hutch where I keep my other fine china.
The next morning we got up and had breakfast with the Hayes providing more excellent service. They talked with us the night before at dinner. We felt they were the best hosts during our trip. Mr. Hayes was a retired maintenance worker. Their children’s wedding pictures were scattered around on the walls. They talked with us about their family at breakfast time. They took a group picture of all of us in their greenhouse room. The New York ladies, Bryan, and the Mexican lady and her daughter, Anna stayed with us at the Hayes House as well. Bryan went out to a pub with the New York ladies but didn’t stay out as late with them as he had with us the night before. Mr. Hayes called a taxi for all of them. A taxi cost one passenger 20 Euros, so the only way to get a good deal was to split the cost by getting other people to go along. Greg and I stayed in, so he could get well by getting more rest. The rest did wonders for Greg as he felt much better the next morning.
Tony picked us up and took us to the Waterford Crystal Factory. This was truly an impressive place to visit. When we walked inside the front entrance there was a pretty young woman to greet us. She took us around the factory and explained everything to us. The workers were all dressed in casual clothes. They wore eye protection but no gloves. The glass they worked with was removed from a firey furnace and in a molten state. They hung onto the glass with long metal hollow tubes. The tubes were attached to the botton of each glass piece. The worker would blow into one end of the tubes to make a pitcher or whatever kind of piece they were working on. They showed us how another piece of molten glass was pulled out of the furnace and added to the original pice to make a handle. We got to see all the wooden forms and other tools used to shape the glass. All the workers are required to attend an art school in addition to learning their trade. There are no “seconds”. If there is any flaw found in the piece, the product is thrown in the trash which is melted down again to make another product. There was only one woman working in the plant that day. All the other workers were men. Indian ink is used to mark the glass pieces then another worker uses a cutting wheel to carve the lines in. The glass fragments are washed away as water is on the cutting wheel when it is going around. Some cuts in the glass are not clear while other pieces are dipped in acid after cutting to make the cuts in the glass transparent. Each product is marked with a seahorse to let the buyer know that this product is indeed Waterford crystal. The trophies for the famous golf tournaments and tennis tournaments like Wimbleton are designed and created by Waterford, so there are pictures and replicas of these pieces throughout the factory. Waterford makes three pieces for a particular event. The first is the one given for the event. The second copy is on display at the Waterford Crystal Factory, and the third copy is made just in case the original breaks! I bought a small crystal harp in the gift shoppe that costs 40 Euros! That was all I could afford. I wanted to take home something from there! (Later when we were making our way through airport security at Dublin International the security guard had to remove the harp from my carry-on luggage. I had packed it in there because I was afraid it would break while getting thrown around by airport personnel handling my larger suitcase. The security guard kept asking me if it was a statue of “Mother Mary”. That must have been what it looked like when it went through X-Ray. She took my piece out of the carry-on bag then smiled and waved me through.)
Greg got to see a Cinderella story statue that was made and valued at about 2,000 Euro. I got to see a statue made in memory of the priest and firemen who carried him out of the Twin Towers on 9/11. It was a beautiful statue and a very fitting tribute. I appreciated the fact that this factory in Ireland would design such a tribute. Wine glasses went for 80 Euros apiece and higher. I was a little discouraged, but in the end I was happy to have the harp to bring home and display in the hutch where I keep my other fine china.
posted by The Celtic Contessa at
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