Ireland, Day 2 - Well, this is hawkward...

A good thing about B&Bs is that you usually end up with delicious breakfast. Our B&B Waterloo House, was no exception but we had to request an early service since we had a jam packed day (Megan was in charge of the itinerary after all). I got my first taste of Irish breakfast: Irish bacon, sausage, fried egg, black and white pudding and a blanched tomato. It was good (Megan disagrees - blahck) but I didn't feel quite right afterwards (Megan says thats what happens when you eat blood sausage - blahck). After packing up we took off for Newgrange. Megan had plugged in coordinates of all our destinations and they were spot on. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to park at the actual site and had to drive 30 minutes to get to visitor center which was on the other side of the river.

We got to the center and bought our tickets and quickly headed out to the bus for a short 5 minute ride on a private road to Newgrange (why wouldn't they let us drive it?) Newgrange is amazing. It was built about 5000 years ago as a crypt and as a testament to the engineering of that time is still standing in great condition today. They only used it one time a year, on the winter solstice. They had designed it so that was the only time of the year when a beam of light would hit the back wall through a small opening at the front of the crypt. We got a great tour in and through the magic of technology (aka - a light wired in to shine like the sun), we got a chance to see what the light looks like within the crypt on that one day. The truly amazing part about the crypt is that there was evidence that there was never any fire in the inside of the tomb, which means they planned it all out, precut and carved the stones before laying them in place, and once they were in place, there was no light inside except for about 15 minutes 3 days a year during which time they did the burial ceremony.
There is also a lot of graffiti in the inside, because it was rediscovered in the 40’s after a farmer unburied it (the only unstable part of the structure was the dirt top that slid off to hid the opening). However, the tour guide made an excellent point that people typically get distracted by the fact that there are carvings from a few decades ago and forget to look around and really appreciate the master craftsmanship of a 5000 year old, dry (mortar free) structure which purpose was so important that it justified the time and effort to be used 1 time a year. Very cool.

We had to book it from Newgrange because we had a 3:30 falconing lesson planned at Ashford castle. When we pulled up to the entrance to the castle, we were met and directed straight to the falconing school. As we drove in through the grounds and golf course the castle finally crept into view. It is enormous! We drove for another 5 minutes through another gate, past the helicopter pad (this place is serious) and parked and met our falcon tour guide. “What is Falconing?”, you may ask - and let me tell you. It’s an ancient form of hunting where a hawk (or bird of prey) is training from a baby bird to work with their handler to look for food. It is a very trusting relationship where the bird realizes that they will get fed by the trainer which is the incentive for them to stay versus flying away to the wild. They aren’t leashed and are free to fly and are trained very similarly to a dog - it takes years for a falconer to master the training process and relationship. While in the olden days, they were used to catch dinner, now they are used for pest control.

Our guide outfitted us all with thick leather gloves and instructed us in the art of falconing. 15 minutes later we had hawks sitting on our fists and were ready to go hunting!! We sadly didn't catch anything. They are really smart and if they are above their "hunting weight" they won't try and catch anything until they digest more (origin of the saying “Fed up”) - they are weighed in every morning to ensure that they are at their “flying weight”. It was still amazing to send them off and call them back, as they responded so well. Megan would totally get one but they might not play nice with our cats.


Next it was time for fly fishing lessons. We learned how to string the line, cast, fake cast and all kinds of other stuff. Unfortunately the river had closed for fishing the day before and it was pouring rain and high winds so that we couldn't take the boat out. As such we headed in for a drink while they brought the car and our luggage around (this place is serious). Once they came in with our luggage we headed back up to the room, everyone else who didn't have rain pants and water proof shoes (thanks Patagonia) changed and we went down to the restaurant attached to the castle. There were two food options: the George V restaurant which was described as "men may choose to wear a tie but a jacket is required" or another good but more casual restaurant. Since we were packing light we opted for the other which was still delicious. After a failed attempt at taking the sunset (stupid forgetting tripod in the room), we went back in and explored the castle and then headed back to the bar where a woman was singing show tunes. We hung out and had a few drinks and chatted up the bartender some before retiring to our enormous suite.
Oh, and you may wonder about the origin of the day’s title. How can you not combine Hawking and awkward when something awkward happens when you hawking. From now on, whenever something is awkward, we have to say, well, that is just Hawkard with and extended and emphasized HAAA at the beginning. Try it, it’s addicting.