Today was a great day here “across the pond!”
We woke up about 8am and immediately my mom walked across the street to drop a small batch of laundry off at the Laundromat. Then we all went to breakfast at the White House B&B. My grandma was immediately happy when we walked into the breakfast room because one of her favorite songs- “Galway Bay”-was on. I ordered pancakes, bacon, and fruit for breakfast; my grandma had an egg, a sausage, yogurt, and fruit; and my mom had eggs and toast.
After eating a quick breakfast, we headed down to the Blarney Woolen Mills around 9:30, which was the time they opened. The Blarney Woolen Mills is HUGE! In fact, it is the largest Irish shop in the world. We looked around for a half an hour and ended up buying a few things. My mom bought a cute t-shirt with a picture of one sheep knitting a sweater right off the back of another sheep. I bought a woolen hat, an Ireland lanyard, and a little sculpture of a sheep with a clover in its mouth holding an Ireland sign. My grandma bought an off-white woolen sweater (with a hood! She can wear it to hockey games!), and a matching off-white hat (with green clovers) and mittens. I will post a picture of all the items tomorrow!
Following church we headed back to the White House B&B in order to pick up our last few bags. Then we left the B&B and drove to the Supervalu in town. We picked out some fresh baguettes (they were even warm!) and as we were observing the fruit, we saw Pat, who was the host at the White House B&B. My grandma had forgotten her lavender scented eye mask under the sheets and he was so kind to bring it to us! Good thing we told him that we were stopping at the market! Eventually we picked out raspberries, grapes, and strawberries. We then left Blarney for good.
The drive to Waterford was about and hour and a half to two hours. We stopped twice along the way. One was at a gas station to get a few snacks and another was at a car service place. The light showing low pressure in one tire had reappeared so we brought the car to a service place to check it out. We came to find out there was a screw in the back right tire! The man who worked at the place filled up the tire with air and patched up the tire for only 8 euros. He was a very nice man and we all felt better knowing there was no longer a screw in our tire!
When we arrived in Waterford, we immediately went to the Waterford Crystal Factory because it closed at 4 o’clock. We arrived around 1:40 and signed up for the 2:00 tour around the factory. While we waited for 20 minutes we looked around the beautiful showroom. Here are a few of the pictures I took of the showroom and the building:
Soon we actually went into the factory to begin our tour. Seeing behind the scenes of the crystal making was an amazing experience. Below are some photos:
The before and after of one crystal bowl. The cutters really do beautiful work!
After the tour of the factory, we were able to see many pieces. They were all so spectacular:
The automatic machine was working on this clover bowl… So intricate!
Four beautiful pieces! A gramophone (top left), dolphins (top right), an American Flag (bottom left), and an award giving to Barack Obama “on behalf of the people of Ireland” (bottom right).
This was a piece made in remembrance of Fr. Mychal Judge. He was one of the rescue workers who perished trying to save the lives of others when the Twin Towers collapsed on 9/11. This beautiful piece is decimated to all of the Rescue workers.
Six final pieces from the Showroom. A red and pink vase, an intricate crystal container, a crystal bowl full of pink petals, a crystal celtic heart cross, a crystal globe, and two seahorses representing the logo of the Waterford Chrystal Factory.
Following the Crystal Factory, we found our hotel. It was our first stay in a non-B&B. We were especially surprised to see that we had key cards instead of skeleton keys! (We had had them every other B&B.) Here are a few pictures of our wonderful hotel: (Called the Fizwilton Hotel)
Soon we headed out to dinner… We were very hungry! Along the way I stopped to take a picture of this spectacular flower:
When we made it to the restaurant, we were so eager to eat! My mom and I both ate spaghetti and meatballs and my grandma ate Linguini with prawns and lemon zest. Everything was delicious and the service was great!
After dinner we stopped to get ice cream at a small little store. I was the only one to get ice cream, but I did give some (unwillingly) to my grandma.
We made it back to our room and now it is time to relax after this busy, awesome day.
Thanks for reading, bye! 😃
The Life of Golfsyd 
Sydney We love hearing about your adventures in Ireland Isn’t it a beautiful place. Did you like hanging upside down to kiss the Blarney stone? Can’t wait to hear about the nexr leg of your. Love to you, your mom and your grandma. Hugs
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awesome. thanks so much for sharing this with grandma merry!
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Some of our favorite pictures so far – Sydney-every day just gets better!
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