SwampBilly in Europe

Sorry for the lack of blog activity people, but as many of you know, I was off on a 18 day trip and Kelly went off to Barcelona.

The good news is we'll have plenty of blog posts for ya now that we're back.

My trip started with my monthly coaching trip to Gottingen. This time I had Gibby, Drunk Dave, Bingo and SwampBilly with me as we were en route to the Box tournament in Prague the next week.

After the tournament I had a few stops to make, so it was going to be one of my longest solo trips to date.

Posts to follow about the entire trip, but needless to say...it was a doozy.

Billy had so much fun in Gottingen & Prague, that he canceled his return flight to Florida and made the journey with me to Vienna, Munich, Gottingen and back to Ireland.

Problem was that Billy had so many bags, he looked like my sherpa...which of course turned into both of us referring to him as Tenzing Norgay, world famous Sherpa who accompanied Sir Edmund Hilary to the top of Everest in 1953.

It only seemed fitting that upon our return to Ireland, I take my Tenzing out to Wicklow and let him run wild in the mountains.

Wicklow Wednesday kicked off with a Guinness filled Tuesday night, so Wednesday morning we were running behind schedule. We took the light rail down to the foothills, and then caught a cab to the Wicklow Way trail head at Kilmashogue.

We hiked up Kilmashogue, saw some neolithic tombs and then hiked over Two Rock near Fairy Castle, down into Glencullen to Johnny Foxe's pub for lunch.

The only problem was that, while Sir Edmund Hilary had his stocky Sherpa who was used to the altitude and temperatures in the Himalayas, I had a flatlander from the steamy shores of Lake Okeechobee. Although it was May, the tempartures were in the 40's, the wind & rain were lashing at us the whole time....poor Tenzing Billy kept telling me to "Go ahead, I'm not going to make it, get help"....but we persevered...together.

Ok, I'm kidding. Although it was cold and rainy it was still a great day. Besides, you can never question Billy's toughness.

He hunts gators.

Thanks again Billy, great trip.

More posts to come about our time in Prague, Vienna, Munich and Gottingen.

Flat Marley goes all Neolithic on your Butt

Newgrange is a passage tomb dating from about 3200 B.C. That's older than the pyramids y'all!


It's a big earth mound, built around a stacked stone chamber, into which rays of sunshine penetrate through a special passage above the door at dawn of the winter solstice.

That plus the human remains found inside lead historians to think it was some kind of sacred temple. There are other similar burial mounds in the area marking the summer solstice and the spring & autumn equinoxes in the same fashion. Fairly impressive engineering & dedication for the Stone Age, eh?

Regardless of all that, I prefer to think of Newgrange, and its 30 or so brethren in the area, as Irish folklore has for hundreds of years....as Fairy Mounds. Irish Fairies weren't no tiny, winged tinkerbells either but scary, bad-ass muthahs. Great and terrible warriors, magical, vindictive, fierce - something dark to scare the little ones with in bedtime stories. Mwuahhaahaha.


Easter weekend was a four days long (hallelujah!!) so after three days of sunshine friends decided to check out Newgrange on RAINY Easter Monday. Sigh, Ireland, your weather breaks my heart. Knowing Flat Marley is a big fan of all things pre-historic (and not at all scared of big mean Irish Fairies), we brought her along.
And if you are wondering just who or what in tarnation is a Flat Marley you might wanna check out the previous post first.....

Marley demonstrates how it's believed the stone agers moved the giant curb stones forming the base of the mound. The white quartz and gray granite forming the outer walls come from 100 kilometers in either direction of Newgrange. Once again - impressive feats from cavemen.



E. shows F.M. how to live pre-historically.

Flat Marley enjoyed the history and the mystery of this 5,000 year old archaeological site, but it also turns out she's a bit of a Butch Cassidy to my Sundance Kid.......

...and enjoys breaking the law, breaking the law.......


C. tries to make himself as flat as possible for a photo with F.M. after a walk in the rain.


After all the culture and weather we decided to treat Flat Marley to an ice cream (with a hot whiskey for me). Thanks to E. A. & C. for inviting Flat Marley and I to join them on the day's outing.

-k.

Big Updates !

Whooooaaaa, Sorry for the long gap in posts people, but Kelly & I have both been on the road.

Updates coming in the next few days on Kellys trip to Barcelona and mine to Gottingen, Prague, Vienna and Munich !

Whew !

Flat Marley in Dublin

When we opened our mail the other day, Kelly and I were surprised to find that Marley, daughter of our friends Tim & Jessica in Virginia, had stuffed herself in an envelope and mailed herself to Ireland !

We were of course delighted to see her, but a 3 day transatlantic trip left Marley very hungry, so we took her to one of our favorite lunch spots for a hearty Irish meal of Lamb Stew.

The purpose of Marley's trip was to start looking at colleges, even though she's only 8 she is already think about her future. She loves school, so we took her to one of the best.

Trinity College

Marley was happy to learn that Trinity is one of the best schools for art & literature in Ireland, as she loves books and art. She loved the campus and even made a new friend !

Paddy was visiting from the States and is also thinking about attending university at Trinity.

Marley also wanted to go sightseeing around Dublin so we walked around the city and even went to Dublin Castle.

It was a beautiful day and Marley really liked Dublin. Next week she is going to visit one of the oldest and most prestigious schools in all of Europe, Göttingen University in Germany.

Sunny Vienna !

This past weekend was one I've been anticipating for months. My trip to Vienna as new Head Coach of the Austrian National Men's Lacrosse Team.

Back on Aer Lingus....again. I had only spent 4 days at home after my trip to Poland, but off I went to Vienna for 4 days.

I take the early morning (7am) flights because they are cheapest, they get you into your destination at midday and they even serve a decent enough airline version of an Irish Breakfast.

Upon arrival in Vienna, I was picked up at the airport by Beni & Henning who had apparently cleared their calendars to spend the day with me. Excellent !

The weather was absolutely beautiful, sunny and about 25 C (78 F).

So off we went to the Bier Garten !

above, Beni & Henning at the Schweizer Haus

You'd be hard pressed to find a better activity on a beautiful day then sitting in a beer garden.

Oh waiter ! 3 more beers !

So we sat and talked...laughed....drank and ate.

Then we walked around the Prater.

and the Prater Gardens.

They dropped me off at my Vienna home away from home at the apartment of good friends Richi & Anita who, once again, let me crash at their pad.

Anita even made chili.

above, Richi stirs the chili.

A big thanks to everyone in Austria, especially the Heavy Metal Hobbits for letting me stay at their Hobbit Hole. More pics and stories from tryouts coming soon !