Day 208, 6 Jan '15, Waterford Crystal Visit and a meander around the Viking Triangle of Waterford.

A couple of years ago on our first trip to Ireland, we flew from Paris to Cork and headed immediately to Blarney Castle. With limited time, we weren't able to backtrack to Waterford. Finally we made it there today and were super lucky to be the only people on our factory tour - which went almost twice as long as scheduled due to us all being so interested. It was great being in a small group as we chatted with the artisans and saw up the crystal cutting up close. As the birthday fellow, James had the opportunity to smash a piece of faulty crystal. As the guide pointed out, there's no such thing as factory seconds at Waterford... it either makes the cut, or it's out. Some of the "faulty" decanters were marked "NF" - she actually had to ask one of the craftsmen what it stood for. As it turns out... no finger! Or more likely and technically - "non-fitting" - there wasn't adequate space in the neck for the decanter stopper to fit. Fascinating tour watching crystal items being blown, cleaned, cut and polished. So fascinating we took far too many photos (see album for today). After the tour we navigated around the Viking Triangle on foot and headed home via scenic New Ross on the river. Organised today... coffee in a flask and Christmas cake in the car.