Waterford

On the way to the bus station I noticed a road sign that indicated that this was the Copper Coast.

I arrived at the bus stop well ahead of time and the previous service of the one I intended to take showed up. So I hopped on, no problem, and arrived early in Waterford. It's actually inland, but has good access to the sea by the River Suir. It's the oldest city in Ireland, it was established by the Vikings. I passed this Clock Tower on the way from the bus station, on the quay, to my lodgings, just off the city mall.

I checked into the apartment I had booked for the weekend following the instructions sent to me by the owners and never met them during my stay. So no cooked breakfasts, but on the other hand I could make my own meals and also do my laundry.

Waterford is a modern city and it looked like its inhabitants enjoyed a high standard of living which may be partly due to the technological park we passed on the way in. It being Saturday, many townspeople were out on the mall.

Mural that I liked.

Another one.

There were a few upmarket lodgings in the city centre.

It was also a bit chilly so I didn't do much exploring of the city that afternoon.

Waterford's major museums are located in the Viking Triangle, a small area of the city, and can all be visited in the same day with a combined ticket. However the only one that appealed to me was the Irish Museum of Time.

This is a museum mostly about mechanical timepieces made by Irish and English clockmakers, with small nods to astronomical timekeeping before household timekeeping, and electronic timekeeping after mechanical timekeeping.

Mechanical timekeeping starts here.

Part of the collection of upright clocks.

Smaller clock with microscopes.

A panel on Lafcadio Hearn, who was half-Irish, and whose writings from Japan introduced the West to Japanese culture.

More specimens on the upper level. This museum would be appreciated by aficionados of the history of timepieces. I wouldn't remember even a fraction of the information there, but it was not an unpleasant way to pass the time.

This is probably the most modern timepiece in the collection, a radio frequency standard receiver.

I didn't do much else that day, unless you count watching a feature film on the television in the apartment. It was a bit tiring walking around in the cold so I got lazy.