Sometimes weather is crystal clear, and sometimes plans crystalize with the help of friendly people. We had both today, as the heavy rains of overnight moved out just before we got launched on touring today. We stopped at a cafe to have breakfast, and the manager took a friendly interest in us and our plans, and gave lots of good advice. On his suggestion, I made a higher priority of getting to Kilkenny to see the castle there – he said it was worth the drive, and so our afternoon plans were firmed up.

Out morning plans were the reason we were here in the city – to go to tour the Waterford Crystal factory. We got there around 9:30 and passed the time happily in looking around the showroom and store. The work there is exquisite. They had a violin, an Irish drum, and a Celtic cross, all made of highly precise crystal. If anyone has about forty thousand dollars lying around, I can spend it for you. I settled instead for a tree ornament for thirty dollars. The “regular” crystal bowls and glasses were gorgeous, and I was fond of several of them. I settled instead for a tree ornament for thirty dollars. My willpower was strong today.

The tour itself was conducted by a retired master cutter, who’d cut crystal for about forty years. Almost all Waterford crystal is cut by hand (eight percent is cut by a machine), which is done by craftsmen who have apprenticed for five years and then worked to become a master for two more years. The men to whom we talked on the cutting floor all had at least thirty years of experience. That apprenticeship model is in place for all of the stages of production – making molds, blowing the glass, inspecting the crystal, marking the pattern, cutting, and sculpting. Except that sculpting (hand-engraving, sandblasting, doing custom work) takes even longer. These people are dedicated to their work.

It was a fascinating tour. We got to chat with the cutters, and one of them invited us to touch his diamond cutting wheel, as it spun. We trusted him enough to try, and it was smooth to the touch and felt like a hard rubber, but it could do a number on crystal. Odd, but helped explain how his hands weren’t all scarred up.

Probably one of the two most memorable pieces on the floor was a carpenter’s kit made all of crystal – about fifteen hand “tools” all sculpted of glass. The other was a large crystal monument to 9-11, with the remains of the twin towers in glass with engraved firefighters in front of it. It was moving.

After a quick stop back at the hotel, we drove the forty minutes to Kilkenny. We ate lunch at a cafe on the high street, and then went to the castle. The castle has parts dating back to around 1100, but it had been restored by the government from 1970 to 2000 to look as it did during the Victorian era, based on photos that still exist. The castle was sold to the government for fifty pounds in the late sixties under the condition it be restored – no one had lived in it for thirty years, and the place had fallen apart.

The castle is missing the south wall (of four original walls) because Oliver Cromwell’s army caused so much damage to the wall that it had to be torn down. It now looks out over a pleasant grassy park. The interior of the castle is about what I would have expected from a Victorian great house – high ceilings, colorful wallpapers, carpets, portraits of family members, and a large dining room. It also had a former art gallery that took up a whole floor of one wing, with the interior roof and walls still fully intact, including the decorative paintings on the roof, which was a wooden-beamed affair that mixed Viking and Celtic design (Waterford was founded by Vikings). That was the most impressive space to me.

We popped out front to the rose garden, which still had some blooming roses. We then crossed the street to the former stables, where we strolled around a decorative garden being transformed into a Christmas wonderland (but still in process). Shelby found two craftsmen stalls open, where we got to talk to a potter and to two goldsmiths, all of whom were women “craftsmen.” I learned that the difference between a silversmith and a goldsmith is the scale of the work, not the metal – silversmiths work on larger pieces, like bowls, while goldsmiths work on smaller pieces, like jewelry.

By then, most of the regular shops and museums were closed, but we wandered around the high street and a few back alleys, popping in to some still-open shops. We walked all the way down to the cathedral to see if the grounds were open, but they weren’t; happily, though, the church and round tower were lit up, which was pretty.

We drove back to Waterford, where we found a pub that served good food and played eighties music. Neuf found that one because she liked that they had two large nutcracker statues out front. Nutcrackers equals good food, somehow.

That wrapped up a successful day two of our Irish adventure. For being on a short time constraint, I feel as if we have given Waterford and Kilkenny a good chance to give us a feel of the cities. Tomorrow we head back to Dublin (and return the car), via the Rock of Cashel, if I can see my way clear to getting there.