City of Waterford

Waterford is the oldest city in Ireland. When we arrived in Waterford it really looked like a typical Irish city. A long the Key, the part next to the river, there are many pubs, shops and restaurants. In the middle of the Key is the Clock Tower and something like a big pavilion with beautiful old wood shields. At the end of the Key you find the old Reginald's Tower which is 16-meter-high and was built by Vikings. Around the main part of the city you see some models, these show how Waterford looked like in the Vikings century. It’s unbelievable that Vikings lived once there.

In the middle of the river is a small island with the famous Waterford castle on it which is a hotel. A ferry is bringing the cars and people to the island. I lived near by the island and once, when we drove home, we saw a deer and a fawn. Liz, our host mother, told us that the deers live at the island and sometimes they swim over the river looking for food. The island is very beautiful and a nice place to go for walks. It’s very quiet there.   SG

Ireland is different to Austria because you see a lot of housing complexes where every house looks the same. My work place was in this kind of area and first it seemed strange to me, but I got used to it. My work mates told me that this is normal for them and they haven’t that much different apartment buildings like we have in Austria. You can also see in front of the houses if they have an alarm system or not. First we thought this is for the wireless because it’s a small box on the wall of the house. But we saw some boxes where the words “house security” were written on it - than we knew what it really was.

 

 

Waterford Highlights

·  Waterford Treasures Medieval Museum

·  Waterford Crystal

·  The Viking Triangle

·  Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity

·  Theatre Royal

 

 

The Greenway is a new biking road which is only a half year old. We’d liked to go on a bike tour but the weather wasn’t that good and it’s a long ride. Too bad - we hadn’t enough time for it.

 

King of the Vikings is a Virtual reality show where they show Waterford during the Vikings century and you also learn something about Vikings in general. We visited the VR and it was an amazing experience – you really had the feeling that you were there during the Vikings century.

 

The people’s park is an area where all the young people meet. There is a playground for families, a football field, skating ground and a big meadow. It’s a great place to spend time when the weather is beautiful.

 

Geoff’s is a pub in Waterford. There you get delicious food, good drinks and it’s a nice place to go out on a Saturday evening. Around Geoff’s are many pubs and food takeaways.

 

We went to the cinema twice. It was cheap and they had comfortable chairs - you could whip with them.  That was great.

 

When you walk throw the city, there are a lot of shops like Pennys, Starbucks, a big bookshop and especially a lot of pharmacys. For people that are into street art you find so many awesome paintings, what is cool.

 

All in all I can say Waterford is an amazing city that combines modern and old style. It’s a place where everyone finds something. The people are nice and friendly. During our stay, we saw many students from Spain, France and other parts of Europe. That approves that Waterford is a great place to meet people, learn English and explore the Irish culture.

 

 

Stefanie Gisinger