Waterford, County Waterford, Republic of Ireland

We arrived at the Waterford Crystal Factory at 3:15 p .m. The original factory opened in 1783 and closed in 1851, but reopened in 1947. Then the factory of 3,000+ workers and showroom closed 18 months ago when the company moved to somewhere in the Continental Europe due to cheaper business prices. This new place that we were visiting just opened a month ago. The city hopes to keep the tourists coming to Waterford, so had worked out with the Waterford Crystal Factory to set up this new place. It was a wonderful hour excursion! It had a large showroom where you could purchase the items on display. Even though they had some nice things, I had gotten what I wanted back in Blarney at a shop’s Waterford Crystal Department. We took a tour to see the process of making the pieces. It was really interesting to see the glass blowing department. In the etching department the artists and craftsmen (all men) let us touch the pieces that they were working on in their shop area. The tour guide chipped a piece of crystal that she was showing us on accident. According to her and the craftsmen, they know that accidents happen, so no one is fined for that piece. All damaged or marred pieces are broken and then melted.