Städel Museum

This blog may contain affiliate links: disclosure.
Please see my suggested resources.

June 9, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert 3 Comments

We love art museums! Most of our travels center around visiting art.

The Städel Museum in Frankfurt offers 700 years of art under a single roof.

What to see:

Old Masters

van Eyck, Vermeer, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Rembrandt, Botticelli

Modern

Monet, Degas, Kirchner, Picasso

Contemporary

Francis Bacon, Warhol

Prints and Drawings

Durer, Pollack, Ernst, Cezanne, Delacroix, Raphael, Rembrandt

We were excited to see the Impressionist art after studying them!

This statue of Esmeralda and the Goat by Antonio Rosetti is lovely.

We saw some fun contemporary art:

We still don’t know what to think of this one:

Don’t miss the fun outdoors exhibit with mirrors and let the kids run around.

This was a fun exhibit on the Städel Museum lawn – a round beaded curtain.

A rare image of the mama:

Admission

14 € for adults

24 € for families

Admission is free for children under the age of 12.

Free wifi!

Hours

Tue, Wed, Sat, Sun 10 am – 6 pm
Thu, Fri 10 am – 9 pm
closed Mondays

Prints and Drawings

Wed 2 – 5 pm
Thu 2 – 7 pm
Fri 2 – 5 pm

The Städel Museum is about 1.5 hours from Ramstein and 2 hours from Spangdahlem.

0 Shares

You might also like:

Stone Mountain

This blog may contain affiliate links: disclosure.
Please see my suggested resources.

June 2, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert 1 Comment

I grew up near Atlanta and my four kids have never been back here, so we enjoyed showing them some of my favorite places in the area.

We visited Stone Mountain while we stayed with my parents before PCSing to Germany.

It sure is different than the last time I was there.

We had been studying The Civil War and this was a nice way to finish our lessons.

Stone Mountain is an interesting field trip for history, geology, botany, and family fun.

I discussed with my kids the problematic aspects of the relief on the mountainside along with the plantation village tours.

We ended up purchasing passes for 2 adults and 3 kids. Alex was free.

Adventure Passes are $26.95 for adults and $20.95 for kids.

The Adventure Passes include: Summit Skyride, Scenic Railroad, 4-D Theater, SkyHike®, Camp Highland Outpost, Geyser Towers®, The Great Barn®, Great Locomotive Chase Adventure Golf, Historic Square, and Discovering Stone Mountain Museum (and other seasonal events).

We really just wanted to do the Summit Skyride and Scenic Railroad but the passes seemed like a better deal after we studied the grid in the ticket office.

Who doesn’t love a train ride?

Since it was included in the ticket, we played a round of Great Locomotive Chase Adventure Golf.

Then we had a frugal picnic lunch with sandwiches, fruit, and juice in the parking lot.

We took the Aerial Tramway to the top of the mountain.

It was windy!

Tori loves rocks.

Stone Mountain granite is 60% feldspar, 28% quartz, 11% muscovite mica, and 1% biotite mica.

The kids loved seeing all the cool plants. Great for botany studies.

Liz loved the SkyHike® and the kids loved The Great Barn®.

SkyHike is a ropes course and Liz did amazingly well.

The Great Barn is an indoor playground with slides, rope climby things, and balls.

The idea is to pretend you’re farming, but we just liked to shoot each other.

It was a fun day for all of us.

Stone Mountain Park is about 30 minutes from downtown Atlanta and 45 minutes from McDonough.

Daily parking is $15.

Adventures Passes are $26.95 (plus tax)for adults and $20.95 (plus tax) for kids.

Pin6

6 Shares

You might also like:

Heidelberg Castle

This blog may contain affiliate links: disclosure.
Please see my suggested resources.

May 26, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

We took the train to Heidelberg.

Heidelberg offers a pretty town, castle, a large wine vat, and apothecary museum.

You can only view the inside on a guided tour.

It sucked.

I couldn’t hear or understand the tour guide. I was unable to speak or ask questions due to the acoustics since I was told to be quiet by the guide and another family (and my husband) because they couldn’t hear. We were rushed through the castle and I could hardly take any pictures of anything interesting.

The castle ruins are among the most important Renaissance structures north of the Alps.
The castle has only been partially rebuilt since its demolition in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is located 80 metres (260 ft) up the northern part of the Königstuhl hillside, and thereby dominates the view of the old downtown. It is served by an intermediate station on the Heidelberger Bergbahn funicular railway that runs from Heidelberg’s Kornmarkt to the summit of the Königstuhl.
The earliest castle structure was built before 1214 and later expanded into two castles circa 1294; however, in 1537, a lightning-bolt destroyed the upper castle. The present structures had been expanded by 1650, before damage by later wars and fires. In 1764, another lightning-bolt caused a fire which destroyed some rebuilt sections.

There are four ways to get to the castle – car, bike, funicular, or walking.

We walked. It was hot.

We gathered for the next English tour, then they divided us in half with two different tour guides.

We entered into a room with lots of fun statues, old books, and things I wanted to look at. The guide explained none of it and gave no time to view it.

Then we went inside the castle and upstairs. There were these fun trunks with a gazillion locks.

Lots of little rooms with decorations and paintings.

We loved the fireplace!

Then we were in the chapel that is no longer used except for pretty.

The tour was over.

We made our way over to the BIG VAT.

The Heidelberg Tun or Great Heidelberg Tun, is an extremely large wine vat contained within the cellars of Heidelberg Castle. There have been four such barrels in the history of Heidelberg. In 1751, the year of its construction, the present one had a capacity of 221,726 litres (58,573.8125 U.S. gallons). Due to the drying of the wood its current capacity is 219,000 litres (57,853.6795 U.S. gallons). One hundred and thirty oak trees were reputedly used in its construction. It has only rarely been used as a wine barrel, and in fact presently enjoys more use as a tourist attraction, and also as a dance floor since one was constructed on top of the tun.
Heidelberg Castle has a history of enormous barrels; today’s barrel (Fass) is the fourth in the history of the Neckar town.

Johann-Casimir-Fass (1591)

Karl-Ludwig-Fass (1664)

Karl-Philipp-Fass (1728)

Karl-Theodor-Fass (1751)
When the French army captured the castle, the soldiers believed the empty wine barrel to be full of wine; their hatchet marks left on the barrel were later visible to tourists. According to tradition and local legend, the eternal keeper of the enormous Tun remains Perkeo of Heidelberg, once a court jester and master of the castle’s spirit production (and a famously Herculean wine drinker).

We looked at the view from the terrace.

Then we toured the Apothecary Museum. This was our favorite part!

We won’t take the train again. We couldn’t pack enough snacks and drinks in the backpack for all six of us on a hot day. It’s just so much easier to drive and pack up a picnic and be comfortable.

Hours

Courtyard: 8:00am – 6:00pm (last entry 5:30pm)

Big Vat: 8:00am – 6:00pm (last entry 5:50pm)

Pharmacy Museum: 10:00am – 5:30pm (last entry 5:10pm)

Rates

Courtyard, Great Cask, and Apotheken-Museum: Adults €3.00

Tours of interior are an additional €4.00 for adults. Tours are in English daily, when demand is sufficient.

Heidelberg is about 1.25 hours from Ramstein and 2.25 from Spangdahlem.

Studying Castles and the Middle Ages

Resources:

A Medieval Feast Unit Celebration
Knights and Castles Lapbook
This castle-shaped lapbook is way cute!
Lots of Middle Ages activities from Homeschool Share
Middle Ages Notebooking & Coloring Pages
Medieval Unit Study

Pin1

1 Shares

You might also like:

Burg Nanstein

This blog may contain affiliate links: disclosure.
Please see my suggested resources.

May 19, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

Nanstein Castle takes its name from red sandstone.

It was built around the year 1162 after Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I demanded its construction as additional defense for the Palatinate.
In 1504, German knight Franz von Sickingen, inherited part of the castle after his father’s death in the War of the Bavarian Succession, finally acquiring the entire castle in 1518. He immediately began extensive refortification to make the castle suitable for firearms.
Nanstein is well known for an elaborate siege during the Knights’ Revolt in 1523 which claimed the life of von Sickingen. The fall of Nanstein was a symbol for the decline of castles in the Palatinate.
In 1542, von Sickingen’s sons recovered Nanstein as a fief and started reconstruction of the castle. Reinhard von Sickingen completed the reconstruction in 1595. In 1668, Elector Charles I Louis forced Lotharingian troops from the castle and razed the fortifications.
In the 19th century the first conservation work was done on Nanstein, and this has continued to the present day.

The kids were super excited to see their first castle!

We hiked all over the castle and grounds.

Katie thought it was hilarious to stand in the garderobe.

Fun standing in little niches.

Love this fountain!

Look at that gorgeous view of Landstuhl!

There’s a great little cafe too. We got our first taste of German food – great salads, schnitzel, and beer!

Burg Nanstein has lots of fun events and festivals year round.

Opening times:

Jan. – March: 10:00 to 16:00
April – Sept.: 09:00 to 18:00
Oct – Nov: 10:00 to 16:00
December: closed
Mondays, except holidays: closed

Admission prices:

Adult€4,00
Children (ages 7+) €2,50
Family ticket 1 (1 adult and children) €4,00
Family ticket 2 (2 adult and children) €8,00
Audioguide €1,00
Castle guides €1,10 in German and English

Burg Nanstein is about 5 minutes from Ramstein and about 1.25 hours from Spangdahlem.

Studying Castles and the Middle Ages

Resources:

A Medieval Feast Unit Celebration
Knights and Castles Lapbook
This castle-shaped lapbook is way cute!
Lots of Middle Ages activities from Homeschool Share
Middle Ages Notebooking & Coloring Pages
Medieval Unit Study

You might also like:

Pin2

2 Shares

You might also like:

Karlstal Hike in Trippstadt

This blog may contain affiliate links: disclosure.
Please see my suggested resources.

May 10, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

We hiked the Karlstalschlucht in Trippstadt.

It’s a pretty little river and hiking area.

There’s not really any parking. We’ve always been lucky to have room on the side of the road. There is more parking in town and you can walk down.

The Karlstalschlucht is a great family hike and lovely for photo opportunities.

A square, black iron sign at the entrance to Karlstal reminiscent of an important visitor: “King Ludwig I of Bavaria, Grand Duke Louis III of Hesse, and Archduchess Hildegard of Austria together with high wake dwelt on 9 August 1862. Karlstal.”

The kids enjoyed the sound of the water and looking at leaves and moss, and BIG ROCKS.

Lots of great photo opportunities! Every time we go, we see girls in impossibly high heels and pretty clothes trying to pose while not getting dirty or sinking into the mud.

It’s a nice easy walk for families. The path is mostly even and safe, though strollers might be difficult.

There are benches to rest or sit and watch the world go by.

Trippstadt Karlstalschlucht is about 30 minutes from Ramstein AFB and 1.5 hours from Spangdahlem.

You might also like:

0 Shares

You might also like:

Reichsburg Castle in Cochem

This blog may contain affiliate links: disclosure.
Please see my suggested resources.

March 31, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert 16 Comments

We’re studying the Middle Ages this year and so we need to visit ALL THE CASTLES.

We loved touring Reichsburg Castle in Cochem!

It is the large largest hill-castle on the Mosel.

Tours are given in several languages from 9-5 daily, from March till November. We had a German guide who spoke English well and so she gave the tour in both. And we had little flyers to explain the sites too!

We were able to drive almost all the way and park in a school parking lot. Getting back down wasn’t fun in our big minivan though.

Cochem Town and Reichsburg Castle is a great day trip from the KMC. Fun for the whole family with a chair lift and lots of festivals.

We like fountains!

Here is the timeline at the entrance.

The majestic gate:

Look at this gorgeous mosaic on the tower!

Nice dining room

I love stained glass! And that table.

We should always decorate with antlers.

Here is the courtyard well:

It’s good luck to rub the mermaid:

My GIRLS!

A rare family photo on the balcony. Our lovely tour guide offered to take this!

The village of Cochem is super cute too.

There’s a fun little chairlift with great views. We walked around on top of the hill and there’s a restaurant, of course. You can take the lift roundtrip or 1-way and hike.

There’s a good parking garage right by the chairlift and we walked around the town. There’s a shuttle bus that travels from the town up to the castle.

We bought some lovely wine to take home and gelato for the kids.

Cochem is about 1.5 hours from Ramstein and about an hour Spangdahlem.

Castle tickets:

Adults: €6

Kids: €3

Family: €16

Studying Castles and the Middle Ages

Resources:

A Medieval Feast Unit Celebration
Knights and Castles Lapbook
This castle-shaped lapbook is way cute!
Lots of Middle Ages activities from Homeschool Share
Middle Ages Notebooking & Coloring Pages
Medieval Unit Study

Linking up: Modest Mom, What Joy is Mine, Crazy Organized, Marilyn’s Treats, The Quintessential Mommy, Donna Reidland, Play Dough and Popsicles, Practical Mom, Blogghetti, Life of Faith, Frog’s Lilypad, Lamberts Lately, Children are a Blessing, I Choose Joy, The Deliberate Mom, Pat and Candy, Raising Homemakers, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, A Little R&R, Whole Hearted Home, Holly McBerty, Cornerstone Confessions, F Dean Hackett, Rich Faith Rising, Bloom Designs, My Learning Table, Oh My Heartsie Girl, VMG206, Sarah Celebrates, Happy and Blessed Home, Creative Homekeeper, Organized 31, Hip Homeschool Moms, The Natural Homeschool, Crystal and Co., Christian Montessori Network, A Kreative Whim, Curly Crafty Mom,

Pin3

3 Shares

You might also like:

County Meath in Ireland

This blog may contain affiliate links: disclosure.
Please see my suggested resources.

March 17, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert 3 Comments

We saved the best for last on our Ireland trip.

We drove from Ashford Castle to County Meath to tour all the sites we’ve only read and dreamed about.

It’s about a 3-hour drive, depending on traffic and weather…and GPS mistakes.

We stopped first at Trim Castle.

My ancestor, Hugh de Lacy, constructed Trim Castle over a thirty-year period with his son, Walter.

Construction of the massive three-storied keep, the central stronghold of the castle, was begun in 1176 on the site of an earlier wooden fortress. Ready for occupancy in 1173, Trim Castle is the largest, best-preserved Anglo-Norman castle in Ireland. Trim get its name from the Irish áth Truim, meaning “The Ford of the Elder Trees.”

The kids were excited to run up to the gate.

We just opted for the self-guided tour instead of the extra group tour of the keep. It would have taken over an hour and we were a bit pinched for time. I didn’t know if Alex would have found it interesting enough to listen to the guide for that long.

We bought the guide book and that is quite comprehensive.

The keep is a twenty-sided cruciform design with walls 3m thick. It was protected by a ditch, curtain wall, and moat.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Trim Castle declined in importance, and it was allowed to deteriorate.

Admission Prices:

Adult €4 | Child/Student €2 | Family €10

Castle Excluding the Keep – Adult €2 | Child/Student €1 | Family €4

Alex enjoyed seeing the stocks outside the castle grounds. He had asked about them and had a hard time understanding.

Experiential learning is always best.

We walked the trail around the castle and across the River Boyne bridge to see the Sheep’s Gate and Yellow Steeple ruins of St. Mary’s Abbey.

St. Patrick’s Church is in the background, to the left.

St. Patrick

After getting a treat at a shop in town, we got back in the car.

Our next stop was The Hill of Tara.

It was cold, windy, misty, and quite muddy.

I lost my grip and slid halfway down one of the hills, thinking the Fenians were dragging me back to the Underworld.

The megalithic passage tomb called the Mound of the Hostages (Duma na nGiall) is the oldest monument on the Hill of Tara, dating between 2500 and 3000 B.C. The passage, 4 m in long and 1 m wide, is divided by sill stones into three compartments, each containing cremated remains. There’s a lovely etched stone inside with a triple spiral triskelion.

The Lia Fáil or Stone of Destiny stands about one meter high on the King’s Seat.

According to legend: if touched by a worthy king, the stone would scream its approval. It could be heard all over Ireland.

It didn’t scream for us.

Admission Fees

Adult: €4.00
Child/Student: €2.00
Family: €10.00

Then, we drove to Newgrange.

We arrived just in time for the last bus from the visitor’s center to the site. You can only visit the Newgrange archaeological site with tickets, the bus trip, and a guide.

The mound dates to 3,200 BC, which makes it older than Stonehenge and Great Pyramids of Giza. It is approximately 80 m in diameter with the base consisting of 97 stones.

At dawn on the winter solstice and for a number of days before and after, a shaft of sunlight enters the chamber through an opening in the aperture above the entrance.

Pictures aren’t allowed inside. The ceiling is so low, adults have to bend over a bit, but can stand up at the end. The ground actually rises gradually from the entrance to the rear. The passage ends in a cross-shaped chamber. The passage points southeast and is a little fewer than 19 m long. The chamber consists of three recesses with a corbelled roof. To construct this roof, the builders overlapped layers of large rocks until the roof could be sealed with a capstone, 6 meters above the floor. After 5,000 years, the roof is still waterproof.

There are large stone basins in each recess and the walls are decorated with carvings of geometric designs like diamonds, triangles, spirals, and triskelia.

Kerbstone 52 is directly opposite the entrance stone on the outside of Newgrange. You can see carved spirals, diamonds, and triangles on the left, and more elaborate shapes on the right.

Visitors Center and Newgrange Megalithic Tomb

Adult: €6.00
Senior/Group: €5.00
Child/Student: €3.00
Family: €15.00
Average Length of Visit is 2 hours.

Some great educational resources on the Brú na Bóinne site.

The Battle of the Boyne site and museum is just down the road from Newgrange, but it was getting late and we were tired and hungry.

We drove to the city of Kells to see some sites and eat dinner.

Kells derives from the Irish Ceanannas Mór, meaning “great residence.”

We saw the 9th century Market High Cross as soon as we drove into Kells. The carvings depict scenes from the Old Testament.

Kells Market High Cross and Old Courthouse

The Abbey of Kells was first founded by St. Columba in 554. We’re so glad we watched The Secret of Kells!

The Book of Kells remained at Kells Abbey until the 1650s, when Cromwell’s troops were stationed in the town. It was sent then to Dublin for safekeeping. In 1661, the Book of Kells ended up in Trinity College, Dublin, where it remains.

The Round Tower is 90 feet high and unusual in that it has five windows, rather than the usual four, overlooking the five main roads into the town. The Churchyard Wall marks the original limit of the monastery. It was rebuilt in 1714 and 1998.

St. Columcille’s House probably dates from the early 10th century and is characteristic of an oratory from that period. There is no mortar in the house, it is stacked and angled stones, an amazing feat of early architecture. There was an underground passage from the house to the church.

The Abbey gates were locked and the old lady who holds the key to St. Columba’s house wasn’t home.

We had dinner at The Bective. It was recommended by a sweet local passerby when we were looking at the Round Tower.

The food was quite divine. I’m just not sure what the restaurant wants to be: it’s not a pub, but neither is it fancy white tablecloths.

We were squeezed into a small table in the middle of the room since we didn’t have a reservation.

Instead of water, we were served a Tang-like orange cordial. We loved that. Don’t get me wrong: I grew up with Tang and it’s a delightful memory.

The service was iffy.

I had to beg for a waitress to explain their beer selection from a smudged chalkboard in the far back corner of the restaurant. If they advertise “local craft beer” then maybe they should have a menu I can read up close. I was never quite sure which lady was our main waitress.

They didn’t pay attention when we all ordered and then switched up two of my daughters’ meals so I had to scramble to share around to cover up their mistake. I understand it’s odd for my teen to order off the kids’ menu and my 10-year-old to order an adult meal, but that’s just normal for us. The chicken wings my one daughter ordered off the kids’ menu came out all spicy sauce and all, but they quickly replaced them with plain ones. Maybe the menu descriptions could be a little clearer.

The salmon and trout were some of the best I’ve ever had.

I ordered a mushroom au gratin that was like cheesy cream soup. It was good, but not what I expected.

Their card machine was on the fritz so we had to pay cash.

We then drove back to Ashford Castle. It was late when we arrived.

Pin48

48 Shares

You might also like:

Our Trip to Ireland

This blog may contain affiliate links: disclosure.
Please see my suggested resources.

March 16, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert 6 Comments

It’s long been my dream to visit Ireland.

Since I turn the big 40 this month, we took a short trip to visit some key places in Ireland!

We flew into Kerry from Frankfurt Hahn on RyanAir.

We rented a car. That was an interesting experience for my husband, driving on the “wrong” side of the road.

We stayed at Ashford Castle.

Day 1:

We visited Kylemore Abbey.

The drive through the hills was lovely!

We had a lovely tea at Ashford Castle in the afternoon.

Day 2:

In the morning, we went on a Hawk Walk at Ashford Castle.

We walked around Galway City in the afternoon.

Day 3:

We drove over to County Meath to see Trim Castle, Newgrange, The Hill of Tara, and the City of Kells.

It was a loooong drive but all of those places were close together once we got there.

We got back to the castle pretty late that night.

Our trip was too short.

We lost two days just traveling there and home – and I had hoped we’d have more opportunity to take side trips on the way to/from the castle/airport on those days.

There were several places we longed to see, but we just ran out of time.

The speed limits on the crowded little 2-lane country roads and the rainy weather made the going very slow.

I’d love to go back to Ireland to see The Cliffs of Moher and The Burren and to visit Dublin to see The Book of Kells.

Pin35

35 Shares

You might also like:

Galway City in Ireland

This blog may contain affiliate links: disclosure.
Please see my suggested resources.

March 16, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

We took a short trip to Ireland and rented a car so we could drive around and explore.

We spent an afternoon walking around the lovely Galway City.

Galway is on the southern side of the Corrib Lake and Ashford Castle is on the northern side. It’s about an hour to drive down and around.

We found a parking garage right by the Spanish Gate in Galway.

Super convenient and right by Quay Street and Claddagh.

We ate at McDonagh’s for fish and chips per Laura’s recommendations (she was our favorite clerk at Ashford Castle).

McDonagh’s is on Quay Street. Opening times: Monday to Saturday 12 noon – 11pm and Sunday 2pm – 9pm

We mostly walked around Quay Street, window shopping.

The kids loved this statue of Oscar Wilde.

We strolled over to St. Nicholas Collegiate Church. What a treasure.

Built around 1320, St. Nicholas’ Collegiate Church is well worth a visit and is the largest medieval parish church in Ireland, which has been in continuous use. Currently serving the Church of Ireland community, the church is dedicated to St. Nicholas of Myra, the patron saint of children (the model for Santa Claus) and mariners. Through the centuries, the church has played a central role in Galway’s history. In 1477, the explorer Christopher Columbus prayed at this church. During the 1600s, two tribe families of Galway extended the church but after the city was besieged in 1652, Cromwellian troops used the church as a stable.
The exterior has numerous carvings of animals and mythical creatures, while inside there are a diverse number of notable artefacts and monuments such as the Crusader’s grave (1300s), the carved baptismal font (1600s), a decorated stone lectern (1500s), and the Lepers’ Gallery.

We crossed over to the Claddagh district. It was super windy and getting colder.

Claddagh means “the shore.” It’s is an area close to the centre of Galway city, where the Corrib River meets Galway Bay. It was formerly a fishing village, just outside the old city walls. It is just across the river from the Spanish Arch, which was the location of regular fish markets where the locals supplied the city with seafood as recently as the end of the 19th century. People have been gathering seafood and fishing from the area for millennia. It is one of the oldest former fishing villages in Ireland – its existence having been recorded since the arrival of Christianity in the 5th century.
During the 19th century the Claddagh attracted many visitors, including writers who spread its fame. The original village of thatched cottages was razed in the 1930s and replaced by government buildings.

I wish we’d had more time to see Galway Cathedral, but we were cold and tired and it was several blocks away. We could see the dome of the cathedral.

Galway was a delightful little city with lots of shopping opportunities, pubs and restaurants, and culture.

0 Shares

You might also like:

Falconry School in Ireland

This blog may contain affiliate links: disclosure.
Please see my suggested resources.

March 16, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert 1 Comment

We’ve been studying the Middle Ages for history and we’re absolutely fascinated by birds of prey.

We took a fun trip to Ireland for my birthday!

We primarily went to Ashford Castle for the falconry school.

It was the highlight of our trip to Ireland!

The kids and I had a great time with the Harris’s Hawks and Aaron took pictures.

Our guide, Jamie, graciously took this family shot of us!

Alex got two turns, so don’t let his scowl fool you. He was disappointed our time was over!

And, as you can see, it started raining pretty hard right about then, so it was good we were finished.

We made an appointment for our hawking at 9:30 AM and walked over to the Falconry School on the grounds of Ashford Castle. It’s also open to the public; you don’t have to stay at the castle to do the falconry activities.

Jamie, our instructor, introduced us to all their important birds: Dingle the owl, some of their special hawks, and two beautiful falcons. We even got to witness their oldest hawk, retired now, come in for a landing after his morning flight.

Each hawk has its own perch and a bathtub within the enclosure. They are tethered to it and that’s their territory. Each bird is weighed every morning.

Dingle the owl and the retired hawk have larger, private enclosures.

After all that excitement, Jamie brought out brothers, Chico and Aztec, for our session.

Liz and Chico met their match in orneriness. Chico liked trying to help with his ties and bands, but it just tightens them. He thinks he’s so smart. Teenagers.

Alex liked the calmer Aztec, Chico’s brother.

Liz and Alex had their turns first and got to walk out of the gates with hawks on their arms.

He was SO careful walking with the hawk on his glove. He propped up his hand to steady it.

The hawks are much lighter than you’d expect and will not touch your face, so there’s no fear of that. As much as we want to, we shouldn’t pet them because it interferes with their oil production which helps keep them waterproofed.

During our hour-long walk around the woods, our guide told us all about Harris’s Hawks. We even got to see them perform a few tricks.

Alex was giddy with the taking off and landing.

He just knew to open his palm to feed him the bit of meat, before Jamie even told him.

In a few minutes, he was acting like a pro!

The girls loved it when it was their turn!

The kids all love animals and this was a wonderful experience for them to interact with hawks.

I think the hawks like posing for pictures too.

Tori was a little nervous at first, but soon got the hang of it.

The hawks feel most comfortable on the glove with the thumb turned up, otherwise they start to climb up your arm.

Kate was super excited because she has been reading about Frightful and My Side of the Mountain. It’s so much better experiencing it than reading about it!

She knows she wants to work with animals when she grows up. She thinks she might want to intern as a falconer or be a marine biologist.

Tori and Katie got to walk the hawks back inside the gate and to their napping room.

Chico doesn’t produce enough sebum to be water-proof so they blow-dry him.

We all had so much fun learning about and flying the hawks.

Rates:

€80.00 for one participant
€65.00 each for two participants
€55.00 each for three participants
€50.00 each for four to ten participants

Reductions apply for larger groups and families and there is no cost for spectators who accompany a participant.

We got a family rate of €135.00.

Our time with these Harris’s Hawks was the highlight of our trip to Ireland!

Check out the Falconry School at Ashford Castle.

Pin1

1 Shares

You might also like:

« Previous Page
1
…
3
4
5
6
7
…
9
Next Page »