We made it to Ireland after lots more overnight travel, hours in a queue at Heathrow & finally a quick flight to Dublin. Hired a car & made our way south to Waterford - I was thankful that Geoff drove to get us there safely as I was much too tired. Happily found Geoff's Cafe & Bar for a light dinner then crashed in our Marina Hotel room with a view of the water. Next morning we explored a small portion of the Viking Triangle - the original part of Waterford which was built by the Vikings in the 10th century including some of the early town walls & the ruins of the Franciscan Friary from 1210. Our main reason for choosing to stay in Waterford was to tour the crystal factory again as we had seen the original one last time we were here in 1984. This tour was much smaller but still extremely interesting & very professionally done. It was very special to see the artisans at work creating the wooden mounds, blowing & shaping the glass, marking the cuts, doing the cuts & polishing the end results. A large part of the business now is creating major sporting trophies eg golf, football etc plus the New Years Eve ball that drops in Times Square, New York every year. These brilliant artists do an 8 year apprenticeship to become the master craftsmen they are & it makes you appreciate Waterford crystal in a new way when you see it being created.