Poor Kelly

Poor Kelly. We thought she was just coming down with the flu, but her crazy amyloid affected immune system took it upon itself to compound the problem by going to DefCon Level 5 and Threat Level Yellow, enlarging the lymph nodes in her chest.

She's been in the hospital for 3 days and will probably be in through Christmas.

She is not happy, but she is feeling better.

Auf Wiedersehn Niedersachsen !

Goodbye Lower Saxony, Hello Dublin !

Another trip to Gottingen completed. I spent 10 days in total coaching in Gottingen, but with Kelly visiting as well, we were able to get out and check out some of the local sites.

Look at the size of that dog !

Ok its actually a pony, but thats what I said when I caught a glimpse of the sturdy beast through the crowd at the Christmas market.

The Weinachts Markt in Gottingen is very festive and has all the things you expect including :

Booths to get hot Alpine Cheese treats,

Buildings that are made up to look like advent calendars,

A street rally / protest by black clad piereced left wing German dudes...watched closely by the Polizei,


and the item most people come for... Gluhwein.

We had our hot Gluhwein with Rum...ohhh so tasty and warming. Its like drinking a German Holiday Hug.

On Sunday, local lacrosse player Annette let Kelly & I use her car so we could go tool around outside of Gottingen. So off we went !

We didnt have to go far, about 15 km away is Plesseburg

a 900 year old castle perched atop a hill overlooking the town of Bovenden.


Looking over the walls you could just imagine hoards of animal pelt wearing barbarians screaming and shaking their axes up at the defenders...to no avail.


We did all the usual castke stuff including saying stuff like, "wow, these walls are thick" and "I wouldnt want to try to attack from the outside" and "I bet this is where they dumped hot oil on people from".

We also climbed the tower and had coffee at the small castle cafe'.


and Kelly made a snowball.


More pics and stories to come from coaching trip #2 to Gottingen.

Chooo Choooo Kelly is on the train !

Kelly is coming ! After she flies from to Dublin to Frankfurt she will take the train to Gottingen where I will meet her at the train station like this :


except I dont have curly hair...or any hair actually

and I'll let her get off the train first...and she's not Japanese

and I won't be wearing a suit...and I'm not Japanese either.

and she doesn't lift her leg like that when I kiss her...or have a suitcase like that.

and she doesnt like it when I pick her up (in all fairness its because I dropped her on her head once)...but you get the idea !

Göttingen

Guten Tag !

I'm in Germany for 10 days doing my coaching bit with the Grasshoppers of Gottingen.

For those of you unfamiliar with Gottingen, it is smack dab in the middle of Germany in Lower Saxony. Read more about Gottingen here

Its a very old & beautiful city that was spared major bombing in World War 2 due to its historical significance as a University town. Apparently there was an unspoken agreement that if the Germans didn't bomb Cambridge and Oxford the Allies wouldn't bomb Heidelberg and Gottingen.

There are many old buildings in Gottingen, including a bunch of churches.

The population of Gottingen is around 130,000.....25,000 of which are students. When not in class they ride around in gangs on bikes.


I've never seen so many bikes. They are parked everywhere and are zipping all over the place.


Being in Germany is always fun, if for no other reason to see the famous attention to detail and observance of rules in action. example a) every bike has a light, front and back.


and b) every kid is wearing a reflective safety vest when walking about.

My apartment here is right across the street from the University, so I hang out in their modern library to get internet access.


Although it is cold out, that just means its almost Christmas...and that means....

Christmas Market Time!

Hot Gluhwein with Rum for everyone !

Tommy & Mary Ann

Buffalonians Tommy & Mary Ann were in town over Thanksgiving, we had a great time showing them around Dublin.

The first two days of their visit, including Thanksgiving, Kelly was away on business. I took charge of the ol' sightseeing duties and we covered many of the must-sees including Trinity College & the Book of Kells.

T & M also took the tour bus on ther own with a stop at THE must see historical site in Dublin, Kilmainham Gaol.

Tommy & Mary Ann spent Thanksgiving visiting a convent where a friend lives, afterwords Sister Stunt Driver dropped them off on the railroad tracks near our house.


Kelly was back on Friday afternoon, so Saturday morning we went out to the Farmer's Market in Temple Bar..a favorite weekend stop for us.

Uncle Tommy couldn't walk past the fresh oyster place without having a taste.

One fresh jumbo oyster and a shot of wine please !


I opted for the Roasted Lamb sandwich....and contemplated buying a dead duck.

A great time was had by all and we were sorry we had to ship them off to Spain.

We had many good laughs...including Tommy & Mary Ann demonstrating their special nighttime breathing machine thingys....they looked like scuba divers or astronauts. I'm convinced their huffing something illegal, once they had their machines on at night they were giggling like children.

Thanks for visiting !