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Waterford

We said goodbye to Dublin and made our way to Waterford.  The weather has been very interesting.  It truly changes every five minutes!!  The good news is that it is never really cold, it stays in the low 20’s.  It is always a bit deceiving because there are big clouds rolling through but then the sun pops out and then is cloudy, then sunny.....back and forth all day long.  We have only had a few brief showers , certainly far more pleasant than the weather that we left behind.
We arrived in Waterford around noon and went on an excellent guided walking tour.  Jack, our guide, was very amusing and he was a wonderful story teller!  Waterford was founded by the Vikings in 914 and it was the site of many battles through the years.  
When our walking tour was finished we split up to find some lunch before we met at the Waterford Crystal factory.  We had a very informative tour of the crystal factory and we got to view the workers as they created the amazing crystal pieces.  We were all quite appalled to see what hot and repetitious jobs these people had.  We also all walked away with a whole new appreciation for  the intricacies of creating crystal glasses and pieces of art. Now we get why the prices are so high!!  Not very many packages got carried out by our group! 😉
I must digress to talk about our bus situation.  We have one of the most east going and friendly bus drivers around but the air conditioning was broken on the bus that he had.  By today, too many people were frustrated from being too warm on the bus so we had to bring in a different bus.  Our driver had to drive to another city to retrieve a different bus, which meant that he wouldn’t be back until 5 pm.  So... what do you think we did while we waited for him??? You guessed it, we went to the pub!!  We didn’t all end up at the same pub but, strangely enough, everyone ended up at “A”pub!!!!  Let’s just say, a couple of hours in a pub does wonders for group bonding!! 😉
Our driver rolled up in the “new” bus at 5 pm and whisked us away to the hotel.  The hotel is in a lovely setting along the river but it feels very “isolated” from the city.  We had a magnificent dinner at the hotel, where the frivolity of the afternoon continued.  Lots of noise and lots of laughs!! Oh my, we are only three days into the tour!!
















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