Ireland 2019
July 8 — waterford crystal and city historic quarter

This guy walking by was perfect because this thing is huge and I couldn’t get anything to help you understand just how large and impressive this is.

Today, we started the day with an amazing tour of Waterford Crystal. I was blown away by the craftsmanship. Some of the apprentices work 8 years before they can become a master. I love seeing craftsmanship and precision and care of quality. I was very impressed with the glass blowers in particular. The heat, the precision, the technology were all so well thought out. They had on display the NFL football. It weights 27 pounds and they let us pass it around. It was so weird holding something that expensive but it was also so intricate and beautiful. I was also very excited about their graphic design system. They took the simple out line of some of their cuts and designs and used them flat. I loved it. I know every tour, in every museum has gift shop at the end. Their showroom at the end of the tour was almost like an art exhibit where everything is for sale. I might have spent a bit of money!

Next, we walked up and went to the Medieval Museum. I loved all the illustrated manuscripts and the seals that went with memos and notes. The vestments were also pretty darn impressive. The concierge at the hotel really recommended it and it was good but the way finding was really bad.

Next, we went for lunch at “The Reg” which is next to Reginald’s Tower. We had a chicken salad sandwich which was really delicious.

Then, we went walking around town, shopping. Most of the shops were typical and easily available in the US. I have been a bit disappointed that there aren’t more artisan stores. I did find a small boutique with Irish artists. I got a couple of good prints.

After walking around all afternoon we headed back to the hotel, had an early-ish dinner and then to bed.