Thursday, July 31, 2008

Today we only had a short distance to travel, so we again were treated to an 8:30 a.m. start. The skies are overcast and it looks like we will get the rain we have been expecting for the last couple days. Our first stop is Blarney at around 10:00 a.m. Here we began with some serious shopping for Irish leaded crystal. Louise has been very much looking forward to this stop. The crystal is very beautiful with many bowls, vases, etc. to choose from. After much looking, Forst & Louise and Alan & Joyce pooled their purchases and were able to qualify for free shipping of our purchases to the U.S. This will assure our crystal arrives in good condition and certainly helps the 50 lb. per bag luggage limit that will be a challenge for Alan and Joyce even without the crystal.

After selecting our purchases, Alan and Joyce left Forst and Louise to make shipping arrangements and headed to the Blarney Castle to kiss the blarney stone. Reaching the blarney stone is a challenge. It is imbedded in the wall at the top of the castle. To get to it you must climb a very tight circular staircase in a tower with a circumference of one person on triangular stairs for several stories. As you climb higher, the steps and tower narrow. To kiss the stone, you lay on your back, grab iron rods on either side of your head and slide back into small gap in the wall. There is a burly Irishman there to help pull you back up. It was a fun experience – we don’t think Joyce needs any more gift of gab….

After Blarney it was on to Waterford and our hotel along the river Suir (pronounced sewer). We arrived early so some our fellow travelers could take an optional musical pub tour. The Dunnucks and Welches decided to tour the Waterford crystal factory. This was no small feat as we needed to walk to a bus stop and catch a bus. With the help of friendly hotel staff and patient bus drivers we arrived and took an enjoyable informative tour where we saw glass blowing, cutting and engraving. We were able to see many large, intricately cut crystal pieces including many trophies from around the world. We plan look at the 1999 Purdue Women’s Basketball national champion trophy on display at Mackey to see if it is Waterford crystal. While it had been drizzling rain on and off all day, it began to rain harder as we walked from the bus stop back to the hotel so we were all pretty wet. We were glad for the hour we had to rest and get dry before our 7 p.m. dinner.