Day 9, 19 May 2012

Ireland is packed with ruined awesomeness.

This day was the LONG day.  We were driving from one coast to the other with several stops planned in between.  We started by driving down to Waterford.  I wanted to see this city because it was where the Vikings first came to Ireland.  Tracy wanted to come here because they make crystal.

Waterford as a Viking town.

Making a Waterford Crystal bowl

We found a car park, with very little pain.  Waterford Crystal was right around the corner.  It went out of business a few years ago but was bought by an American company who started up production again in a much smaller factory.

We had an hour wait so we walked around the corner and found Reginald’s Tower.  This was built by the first Viking king of Waterford, Regnall.  It has been a continuous part of the town’s fortifications, and later just part of its topography since 914.  It is Ireland’s first intact building and the first made with mortar.  It was a key part of Waterford’s rise as the first city in Ireland. 

Looking up at the tower.

The description.  You can learn about it without knowing everything before you get there.  Weird.

A model of what the tower looked like in its heyday.  It still looks like this.

We used our OPW cards to get in for free and walked up the steps to each floor, visiting the, for once, well interpreted exhibits.  There were maps and a movie and artifacts.  It was great.  After the tower visit we had a good feeling for the growth of Waterford and some of its greatest events.  How refreshing it was.

We wandered the streets trying to find lunch but nothing was open as it wasn’t noon yet.  They are slaves to the 12 o’clock hour in this country and the restaurants don’t open until noon.  We were forced back to the tea room at Waterford.  We had a hard time finding anything we wanted to eat, and nothing for the boys.  Granddad decided not to eat anything and the rest of us got our food too late to eat before we had to go into the tour.  They gave us some to-go boxes and we packaged it up to eat in the car, after the tour.

Blowing glass into a mold to shape it.

Rhys and Owyn were amazed by the whole process of making glass liquid and blowing into it to give it shape.  They loved watching the glass get engraved.  Rhys thought the “ice glass” was beautiful.  We saw some pieces that were for famous people and some ordinary pieces.  It was all beautiful and well worth the tour.

A football (American) trophy made as a replacement for a player in Alabama who broke his.

Rhys peed on another wall before we jumped in the car, and we were off.  We blasted through the south of Ireland, heading north and west, until we came to Cashel, just shy of Tipperary.  This is a monastery on a hill, looking like a castle.  The boys are always up for a castle, so this was an easy sell.

This is an impressive place.

A bit of history.

This church is very fortress like.

Never rebuilt after the mass burning.

Owyn is digging this place.

As is Rhys.

Those are doors way up high there.

Another round bell tower.

Most of the various churches in one shot.

Another view of most of it.

There are several churches on this hill, though the majority of it is being renovated and was not visible.  We were able to walk around most of the outside as well as the interior of the cathedral.  One of Cromwell’s generals burned the entire population of the town alive in the cathedral and it has never been rebuilt.  There was another, smaller, church in ruins a mile or so away.  It was, in many ways, more scenic, though we didn't know anything about it.

It's just sitting out there, surrounded by cows now.

We left Cashel and drove on to our new cottage near Abbeyfeale, south of Limerick.  We were almost a mile up a one lane road with houses on both sides.  When we got to our spot it was a nice, modern, little cottage sitting all by itself.  It could not have been more different than our first one.   They both had their charms and we enjoyed the dichotomy between the old and the new.

They were very friendly.

There was a field full of friendly cows behind the house.  On the way up we had taken a wrong turn and gone up the field lane.  As we drove beside the pasture the cows galumped along beside us.  We got turned around and back down the lane to the correct turning and to our cottage, but the cows were just the other side of a hedge from us.  Several of us went and visited them after that and they all always came running to see us when we got to their fence.

This makes all kinds of sense in Ireland.

On the other side of us there was a long slope to the top of the hills, surmounted by giant wind chargers.  It was, again, an interesting contrast between the old and the new.  The new house had two bedrooms up front, one with two small beds and one with a single, larger bed.  We put the boys in the room with two beds, and they were very happy to each have their own.  The beds were small enough that Rhys fell out and woke up, at least once.  We found Owyn on the floor one morning but he never squawked so he must have just rolled back over and gone back to sleep.

Granddad, Tracy and I made a grocery run into town and found a Tesco’s.  This is one of the big UK chains and they have everything.  Tracy was thrilled to be in a real super market and we loaded up.  I even found tortillas and canned refried beans for Rhys.  He and Owyn were so excited that they each had two bean burritos for dinner that night.

It had been a  busy day but we ended it in a very nice cottage with some serious groceries on board to fuel further explorations.