that was too easy and funnier than the moher I see you ... com'on, you know it. The Rock of Cashel was today's first destination.
As we get towards two weeks in Ireland, the weather has settled into a nice pattern. It rains in the morning, we get to our destination and the sun comes out, we go inside to see a display or presentation and there are thunder storms. We head back outside and the sun comes out again or the clouds drizzle at us then leave. Sometimes the timing is out slightly, like tonight, leaving the restaurant, sad and wet. Ah well.
The Rock of Cashel
The rock is in Cashel, no surprises there, in the county of Tipperary and it was a long way ... Anyway, I thought I was going to see some special rock formation and was getting all hot, geologically speaking, and then Jayne read me the blurb. It's an abbey, a chapel, a round tower and a 15th century choral hall.
That should give you some idea of the wall and the size of the rock. It was quite spectacular, as was the weather as the thunderstorms rolled in. Given the rain and the crowds, photography was a challenge.
The other challenge was to shoot around the scaffolding. Much of Cormac's Chapel has been damaged by water seeping through through the walls and they are trying to restore frescos that have been covered over before the water removes them forever. Much of the site is covered in scaffolding. You can see it next to the tower.
Waterford
Yes, we went there for the crystal. Jayne actually wanted to go shopping! It was a fair drive from Cashel, but that gave the weather time to sort itself and it rained on us a lot of the way, so that we arrived in Waterford in beautiful sunshine. Here was our second geological experience for the day since the crystal is made from sand, potash and lead (33% which gives Waterford its extra brilliance and weight), heated in kilns to over 1100 degrees. They never shut the kilns down because it would take 3 weeks to heat them back up again.
We went on a tour of the Waterford factory, which was amazing. It is such a labour intensive process and jobs I would have thought would be done by computer are still done by hand, like the etching of each piece. Even so, they still produced 47,000 pieces last year.
The dude in the picture above is hand shaping the molten crystal, and the one below is etching the pattern - from memory, no guidelines. They are apprenticed for up to 10 years before they are judged to be master craftsmen.
To see some of the one-of pieces was incredible. They had all these beautiful creations worth thousands and thousands of dollars just sitting on benches for tourists like us to take photographs. The Celtic cross was really stunning.
And what girls' bedroom would be complete without her own Waterford crystal Cinderella carriage? No Cait, you can't have one. It's not a great picture, they haven't really bothered to set them up, as I said, they are just sitting on benches.
The staff were very relaxed about us handling most things, although we weren't supposed to touch the finished products at the end. But, on the way through you could talk to craftsmen, ask them questions, pick up pieces they had worked on. It was all very unusual, but quite fascinating.
And yes, the tour finished in the shop, and no, I'm not telling what we bought or for whom we bought it.
We have two nights left in Ireland and while we haven't managed to do everything that we thought, we have done most of it. I'll be happy to get to France because it puts an end to the two nights and move on syndrome.
As we get towards two weeks in Ireland, the weather has settled into a nice pattern. It rains in the morning, we get to our destination and the sun comes out, we go inside to see a display or presentation and there are thunder storms. We head back outside and the sun comes out again or the clouds drizzle at us then leave. Sometimes the timing is out slightly, like tonight, leaving the restaurant, sad and wet. Ah well.
The Rock of Cashel
The rock is in Cashel, no surprises there, in the county of Tipperary and it was a long way ... Anyway, I thought I was going to see some special rock formation and was getting all hot, geologically speaking, and then Jayne read me the blurb. It's an abbey, a chapel, a round tower and a 15th century choral hall.
That should give you some idea of the wall and the size of the rock. It was quite spectacular, as was the weather as the thunderstorms rolled in. Given the rain and the crowds, photography was a challenge.
The other challenge was to shoot around the scaffolding. Much of Cormac's Chapel has been damaged by water seeping through through the walls and they are trying to restore frescos that have been covered over before the water removes them forever. Much of the site is covered in scaffolding. You can see it next to the tower.
Waterford
Yes, we went there for the crystal. Jayne actually wanted to go shopping! It was a fair drive from Cashel, but that gave the weather time to sort itself and it rained on us a lot of the way, so that we arrived in Waterford in beautiful sunshine. Here was our second geological experience for the day since the crystal is made from sand, potash and lead (33% which gives Waterford its extra brilliance and weight), heated in kilns to over 1100 degrees. They never shut the kilns down because it would take 3 weeks to heat them back up again.
We went on a tour of the Waterford factory, which was amazing. It is such a labour intensive process and jobs I would have thought would be done by computer are still done by hand, like the etching of each piece. Even so, they still produced 47,000 pieces last year.
The dude in the picture above is hand shaping the molten crystal, and the one below is etching the pattern - from memory, no guidelines. They are apprenticed for up to 10 years before they are judged to be master craftsmen.
To see some of the one-of pieces was incredible. They had all these beautiful creations worth thousands and thousands of dollars just sitting on benches for tourists like us to take photographs. The Celtic cross was really stunning.
And what girls' bedroom would be complete without her own Waterford crystal Cinderella carriage? No Cait, you can't have one. It's not a great picture, they haven't really bothered to set them up, as I said, they are just sitting on benches.
The staff were very relaxed about us handling most things, although we weren't supposed to touch the finished products at the end. But, on the way through you could talk to craftsmen, ask them questions, pick up pieces they had worked on. It was all very unusual, but quite fascinating.
And yes, the tour finished in the shop, and no, I'm not telling what we bought or for whom we bought it.
We have two nights left in Ireland and while we haven't managed to do everything that we thought, we have done most of it. I'll be happy to get to France because it puts an end to the two nights and move on syndrome.
:/ why not. i want it! it so pretty and shiny! love cait
ReplyDeleteDon't give up hope Cait. They may have purchased the Cinderellq carriage and your Dad is just trying to distract you.
ReplyDelete