May 27, 2008, Waterford

Caroline served us a full Irish breakfast in the morning. We loaded up and headed out to visit the Waterford Crystal Factory.

Tarzan was so impressed. He had never seen glass blowing before. He comment was that from now on he will have a greater appreciation for crystal. Our guide was so lame. He looked like Pee Wee Herman and didn’t talk to us. We all got on a bus, drove to the appropriate place and he got off the bus without a word. There were two retired men in our group from Belgium. They didn’t speak English very well so they turned to Tarzan and asked “what do we do?” Tarzan replied, “I don’t know, I guess we follow him.” So, everyone got off while Pee Wee Herman stood there looking stupid. As we went through the men from Belgium were so interested they kept stopping and talking to the blowers, cutters and etchers. These men all get paid by the piece, so we were not supposed to disturb them, but the Belgium guys were so cute that the workers all stopped and talked to them. Tarzan got right in there and joined in the conversations.

When Pee Wee did talk, he talked so fast (and with an Irish brogue) that our Belgium friends could not understand him, so I stayed behind and explained each step to them. It was great fun. They kept saying “You explain much better. We can understand you.” After the tour we went into the store and bought water glasses and wine glasses in a pattern that can only be purchased at the Waterford Crystal Factory in Ireland.We were totally satisfied with that experience so we drove on toward Cork. We stopped and bought fresh strawberries on the side of the road and later to buy a soda. We took pictures of the cutest little girl there and she posed for us. She had bright red curly hair and her grandfather had a beard to match it.

We picked Castle Farm in Cloyne, just outside of Cork, for our B&B. It was a good choice. Here is a view from the window of our room.

The lady who ran the Castle Farm asked us where we were going for dinner and we told her we would just drive into town and get something. She said, “Not to worry. I tink I can get you a reservation.” So, she made a call and we got a reservation for 6:00 p.m. We thanked her and drove into town. We got to the restaurant a little early and they were CLOSED. So, we walked around and did a little sightseeing. Suddenly, a car came screaming down the road, screeched to a halt in front of the restaurant and two people got out and ran inside. We goofed around and took some pictures for about 10 more minutes and then went into the restaurant. It was totally empty. A lady came out and greeted us and sat us down by the fireplace. We had the best meal we had had since arriving in Ireland. And the service was impeccable. There was not another customer in the place. The chef had studied at some culinary school and fed us a 5-star meal. I commented that I could not believe they were not full of customers.

That was the best meal we had had yet. The lady then told me they were not open. They had opened just to serve us. Wow! It turns out they try to accommodate our hostess when she calls with a customer even though they are not open on Monday and Tuesday. Tarzan had duck for Pete sake. He also had vegetable soup. It is a puréed soup. We had vegetable soup 2 or 3 times and it was always fixed that way. This time it had chicken broth and curry in it, hmmmmm! I had ray wings for an appetizer (stingray). It was served in a hollandaise sauce with cucumbers. Oh my gosh! It was awesome.

As usual, we had luscious dark bread. She served us mint tea to warm us up. Rachel had beef with burgundy sauce. I had cod. We ended with ice cream. It was by far the best meal we have had yet. And it was only 80 €.

We went to bed satisfied and watched an Arnold Schwartznegger movie with a heated bed and a view of the bay and lighthouse from our window. Life is good.