Carol-IvanTravels travel blog

The ball lowered in Times Square on New Year's Eve is made...

Our tour was very interesting; these are molds they use for some...

A master glass blower in the hot shop

A vase being blown in a mold

The vase just cut from the pipe; it will turn clear when...

Sketch showing how this vase is to be cut by a machine...

Here is one of the vases cut by a machine

I especially enjoy watching them cut the glass; they memorize the pattern

On limited number or one-of-a-kind items they follow a pattern and guidelines...

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We saw this bowl sitting on a work bench

This and the next 4 pieces are "sculptured"

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This is a 'common' design they produce regularly

Of course not all their fine pieces are clear; many in lovely...

Kilkenny Castle was built in 1213; we toured 4 levels of this...

I managed to find one photo of the long Picture Gallery

There was a lovely rose garden on the grounds

Across the street was the Design Center with fine shops to browse

In a canal near the castle we spotted this bird house floating...

An impressive bridge we drove over

This Irish band entertained us during dinner at Kyteler's Inn


We drove 48 km. to Ireland's oldest city, Waterford, to tour the crystal factory (1947).

[Steuben ware in Corning, NY, was once a huge competitor for this company.] The tour was very good and we enjoyed seeing the artisans working even on Sunday morning. There were some fabulous pieces for sale in the gallery!

Free time for 2 hours. Ivan returned to the rig to work on photos. I window-shopped and walked to the River Nore for photos of buildings and a modern statue. I returned to the rig and fixed lunch so we were ready to push on with the group at 12:30.

A short drive to Kilkenny cg where we had more free time until taxis came at 3:10 to take us into the city to see the impressive gray stone Kilkenny Castle (1213). No photos allowed inside and no postcards available of the lovely side-by-side white Carerra marble fireplace in the long Picture Gallery. We watched the 12 min. movie about the castle and then went to see the Rose Garden.

Across the street was the Design Center – shops with clothes and jewelry. Ivan bought me a lovely pair of handmade gold wire hoop earrings with 4 tiny pearls dangling from the hoops. (They were made here in Kilkenny.) Think they will be lovely for dressier times to come. We then wandered some of the old city streets until 6:15, time to meet to walk to Kyteler's Inn for dinner (soup; beef; potatoes or smoked salmon salad with Smithwick's red ale [Rick Steves favorite local beer] and Bailey's cheesecake). All quite tasty but the Irish band of 3 (banjo, bagpipes, guitar) played overlong repetitive jugs that all sounded the same. But, it is a popular local place and fun to sample.


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