Ski Amade Austria - Ski trip

After a late decision I enlisted to go on the Specker ski trip again this year, and again it was amazing (super-cool to quote the Siegi rep.) holiday. While the weather wasn't great only one full day of sun on the slopes and a couple of days where there was white outs for a long time still it was a great trip, and the under ski conditions were excellent. We only covered a fraction of the Ski Amade region, and I would say it is a place I shall return to. Guiding was quite easy and fun for me this year, since i was guiding a VI skier who followed me, I had a full day effectively free skiing when i just followed another guide an excellent skier. Over the week it seems i guided for about 100km and skied freely for about 30. The lift workers were very nice, and helpful especially when you were with a VI skier. A couple of nights sing song as well as an interesting Austrian culture night we had some craic. The hotel was fine and the food excellent, I like German/Austrian food, they were also very helpful in the hotel and with the group. One thing about the ski-amade region is the engineering of the ski-lifts, the gondolas and chairlifts were impressive, but the g-link was an amazing feat of engineering. My flight to saltzburg was at some inhuman hour but had to be done, the saltzburg airport was pretty basic especially behind at the gate, one coffee shop, and 4 euro for a coke... I suspect i will end up going again.. and hope to do so.

Gdansk-Sopot and Hel

My 2nd trip to Poland, still struggle with even the token pleasantries in the language.

Sopot nice sea side resort, with a long pier, while the weather was very good, the town had an end of season feel, and that its rumour party reputation was not as evident as you would have thought.

Gdynia and Hel, I like travelling on trains when I am abroad, and the trains in Poland I found quite efficient but our venture into Gdynia was cut short by us missing the train, and while promised to return later, our prolonged trip to Hel put paid to that.

Hel I found very nice, the end of a long bar, spit of a peninsula poking out into the Baltic Sea sand, sea, sun, seals and schnitzel. The Seal Sanctuary I am not sure about, they looked pretty lazy languishing in an artificial place for them.

Gdansk was a real surprise, the old town is a must see if your in that part of poland, how the buildings survived or were revived is testament to the spirit of the poles. The history of the war, of the communist era and of the shipyard strike. Everywhere from churches to the shipyards you see pictures of the Pope now St. John Paul II, the pride and respect they have for their pope and what he represented and gave to them during the final years of the communist era is tangible. There seems to be a lot of investment and development going on and time will tell if it is being well spent, so far they seem to be doing a good job.

It is a place I hope to return to some day, i missed the chance to get over to see Kaliningrad/Koingsberg but maybe next time.

Oberjoch Specker Ski trip 2014

Well I decided to go again on the Ski trip to Oberjoch in Germany. The weather was very nice maybe too nice the area could have done with more snow, however the slopes were finely pisted and good skiing was had. I had the new experience of guiding a blind skier for 4 days, and calling the turns from a few meters behind him, eventually we worked out a pattern and we traversed the mountains easily enough stopping off for the mandatory currywurst, hot choclate, Ski wasser and goulash on occasions.

For two days i was with a V.I. skier who followed me trusting soul he is. Had a few burns on my own which was when i had my traditional couple of spills, thankfully no one there to witness these;) Also the mandatory couple of visits to Josefs had to be done.

Good restaurants as I have always found in Germany, and evenings such as the mad frenchmans restaurant, Schnitzel Night as well as a couple of sing song nights, a few musical darkhorses there, as ever if invited i promise to learn a few songs for next year. A big thanks to the Dave and Eileen for organising, much appreciated.

Czech Republic for Neil and Danielas wedding in Kromeriz

Well a few days in the Czech Republic Neils & Danielas wedding in Kromeriz (can't do the accents), really enjoyable nice place and delighted i went. Went via Brataslava, and got mistaken for a German in a restaurant for some reason. Kromeriz was lovely, a place I would otherwise never have visited I suppose. One thing i really like holidaying in Europe is travelling by train, I went to Prague on a bit of an journey, via Hulin and Olomouc, then the mainline to Prague. Prague is lovely ok parts are a bit sleazy but I liked the Architecture and History, the castle the jewish quarter, the bridges the river. Alas got mistaken for an american or english person which kinda annoyed me.  Watched the intercontinental cup with a few jewish americans, nice guys but I had to explain offside, and "No the game is not divided into quarters!"
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Oberjoch Specker Ski trip

Well after being asked to go skiing by my chess team colleague for manys a year Mick, it seemed to suit me and I enlisted to go to Oberjoch, in Germany for some skiing, staying in Bad Hindleberg. A little different from my previous ventures skiing, as part of the specker gang I got paired with Cove, and we grouped together with mick, terry and annamarie. The VIPs easily show you what a coward you are, but we manned up and did a good bit of off piste, only one dramatic fall by myself and i have bribed the person who took the photo not to show it...

The group was good craic and the organisers deserve a massive thanks for making the trip such good fun. Apologies for my guitar playing on two nights, I should really learn more songs, and not sing!

Oberjoch is a small resort, with 9 lifts, 3 double t-bars and 1 chair lift, great plans to put in some new chair lifts which would be great and to link it to the next valley. Oberjoch is on the border with austria with one of the runs on the austrian side where my phone kept beeping text messages. Bavaria is very like Austria, I find it hard to tell the difference. I like German food, which is funny, and Austria food, that grostl like thing i had was stupendous I also had 3 Currywursts through the week, it now seems i have a check list of ski cuisine, bratwurst, currywurst, appelstrudl, schnitzel and grostl.

Helsinki and Tallinn

My first time in both Finland and Estonia, and I quite liked both. Flew into helsinki, very much like other nordic towns prices were quite high, but not that different. A mad taxi driver took us to the harbour and we got a ferry to tallinn which took 2hours, it is very much like a baltic town, not unlike some northern german ones, the old town is very nice, seen Paul Keres chess house, some nice old buildings and a night out prices were cheaper for food and drink.

The problem with tallinn is that if your anglophonic they assume you are an english stag party.. Returned to Helsinki on the ferry, and went for a walk to some park met a hedgehog and down by the coast and harbour, via the olympic terminal and back to the town. The Ice bar which is a must was disappointing since it was empty, wrong time of year perhaps. The cloakroom charge for every coat is annoying and kept you from bar hopping too much. Finns are mad, and i like mad people and a few good laughs and a late night.

Did the boat trip to Suomenlinna Island and Sea fortresses is excellent, the trip in bay was nice and the island is amazing well kept, well worth the UNESCO status and a visit is a must. The Harbour market is very good if your a tourist and the food, was so enticing alas we skipped it planning to visit later. A quiet night out yet we still managed to stay all hours talking to some strange Finns. The late night meant we nearly missed our taxi to the airport but the pleasant finns waited, the return flight via stockholm, reminded me of the benefits of the euro and annoyance of looking for credit card for snacks in the airport. Overall I liked both helsinki and tallinn, there was lots to do and lots we didnt do, and things would be much better in the summer. I would go again, which is the sure sign for me that i liked it. Next time, go during summer, go to olympic stadium and get that grostel like dish with meatballs at the harbour, hire a bike and take another bay tour. Two New Countries so
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Copenhagen (and Malmo) June 2012

Well a short trip to Copenhagen, while i have been in denmark before sail to the islands of Falster and Mon, I have only passed through Copenhagen, or spent a day there. We went there as a kinda consolation to not going to Euro2012, but we found an trip nearly as expensive (what logic)! A day trip to Malmo across the Oresund bridge was a must, what a feet of engineering, Malmo indeed like copenhagen reminds me of other nordic cities like oslo, gotenburg and stockholm, and indeed not unlike some German cities particularly the baltic coast ones of Rostock and Stralsund, it was a pity it rained, some kid whistling celebrating their graduation was a menace but good to see.

The bus tour up to the mermaid (at least this time it was sunny and warm not like many years ago) still it is a bit underwhelming, but the trip was nice, and good to see the fortress and castle and city, the 2nd bus tour up the the Carlsberg factory was also interesting even as a non-drinker couldn't believe their old swasticka logo! but interesting it was, so much so we got delayed and missed the bus back. A good place to go out, we found the former meet processing area full of danish bars and non-touristy which was good, the touristy places people were friendly and good fun, they have a strange liking for '80s music. I felt it a safe place to be. The hotel was pricey yet quite basic, then the all seemed to be. I would go again, take the trip to the commune, or up to the hamlet castle and maybe take the ferry across the sound. I would also hire a bike, unusually for me i didn't, but as such a flat and bike friendly city it is an excellent way to see it. Overall it is a nice place to go out, using kroner is a hassle and reminds you of the convenience of the euro, i ended up with a pocket full of both swedish and danish change.

Berlin Sept 2011

Well Berlin another visit, this time for 4 days,

Alexanderplatz tv tower was very good for the view and restaurant, the olympic stadium is amazing well worth the visit, the brandenburg gate climbing that statute that is in "far away so close" tested the hamstrings but worth it for the view.

This time I didn't hire a bike nor do the segway tour, due to my fractured hand, which took the polices' attention when we wandered into an SPD rally in Potsdamerplatz, where i had some top notch currywurst.

Museum Island, the Catherdral, humbolt univeristy, cool buildings on the eastern side, and funny pedestrian crossing lights...

Funny to see eamo get addicted to Currywurst, which I understand... Staying at checkpoint charlie, just near a Ubann station, and the 3 day pass was great value for such an efficient public transport system.. even our chase scene efforts to just make the flight were facilitated by german efficiency...

It is perhaps my favourite or second favourite city, and I didn't get to do all the things i had planned... so next time

Surfing in Bundoran

Went for a weekend trip with Ivan and gang to Bundoran, Co. Donegal for some attempts at surfing. I must say I was impressed by the surf n turf guys and the set up they had(good to have a cuppa and biscuit after a few hours out), if only my surfing was half as good.

The journey up we went via cavan and enniskillen, which seemed shorter even if the change from km/ph to mph was strange to adjust back and forth going through fermanagh.

Saturday weather was good, and rossnowlagh seemed a good spot, the rain on sunday initially dampened our spirits but once suited and out it was fine. The BBQ on saturday night was a bit of a laugh, and then the night in bally shannon was hectic, good to see Ireland win versus Macedonia.

looking forward to the next time.

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Ski Trip 2011 -Saalbach, Austria

Saalbach was so good last year we went again this year, again with Ivans crew. The quick summary of this trip is that it was excellent (even if not as good as the previous year). Three sunny days, then three snowy days, ok the hotel wasn't as good as last years Pension, and ok we didn't have the 2 days guided skiing but none the less it was brilliant.
The grumpy taxi driver initially dampened our expectations!
The first few days the sun was showing up the lack of snow so far this year, but on Wednesday they really piled it up with the cannons as well.

Thankfully no mishaps, the Hinterhaglm was again cringeworthily entertaining... a good laugh Josef und Josef...."allo", the Goat stall in hinterglem wasn't as good as i was led to believe. None the less the classic apres ski songs still invade your consciousness. My new blue ski jacket seemed to be the fashionable choice since i kept seeing similar ones, and the others kept mistaking people for me.
This year we made the tobaganning night going up on the piste maker, to a restaurant in the hills and tobaganning down, great fun an added bonus.
Meanwhile back at home the government was collapsing..
The cherry on top of the cake, was the last days skiing where we went to the far end of the resort, to the high point, and skied all the way back across to hinterglem, the skiing was excellent, and the posers we are meant we videoed some of it. Racing down as fast as we could to get one last gondola up as high as we could to drain the last bit of skiing out of the day and holiday as we could.
Always a pleasure to remove ski boots the final time on a holiday but a great one it was.
The classic apres ski songs were about again especially Peter Wackel - Joana

Oslo a Return Visit

Well over 10 years since i first stepped on Norwegian soil I return, it is over 8 years since i last visited so joining Ray and Fiona as they went to a gig(A-ha) was the excuse to go for me and Marko.
The Ryanair Rygge airport was closer to Oslo that I expected bout an hour to central station. We were lucky to get there considering the weather in dublin, there was more snow in Dublin than Oslo!! Nonetheless it was Freezing -14celcius, maybe the wrong time of year to go it is amazing how things change and things stay the same visited my old abode, and office, and the Palace, dinner in Egon and TGIs (had to be done). Met some nutcases over for the concerts, women of a certain age.

A visit to Frogner park, the fat statues and Museums then wander round Oslo.
Aker Brygge for dinner and some bars, then met up with old boss Jarle and his drunken companions... ended up making him miss the ferry and heading to 3brodre and talking about old times, very old places we were in! Should have stayed in aker brygge.
Got up to go on a bus tour which seemed not to run at times that suited us, also we missed the boat tour by some 15mins either we heard wrong or were told wrong!
Went up to holmenkolen but so cold we went up to a chalet for food, had to get the bus since the t-bann was out of action. Grunerlokka seemed the place to be later, but after 2 bars, we adjourned to the post gig crowd and their singing of a-ha songs. Ended up in a depressing blues bar....
Missed opportunities, missed ferry, missed boat tour, train not running the story of the trip. But a nostalgic trip reminded me of the good days I had there.

Saalbach, Hinterglemm, Austria,..

Excellent skiing, excellent apres-ski, accommodation very nice, and very very helpful. 2 days snow, 2 days sun and 2 murky days. Lots of wonderfully naff stomping apres ski songs from germany austria and holland - cant get them out of my head.
The Hinterhaglem - was an experience and skiing at night in the dark. The Pension was very nice indeed, and the owner Kevin took us out 2 days guiding us round the pistes which was great. Ok the snow could have been better, and the blue run to the door was closed but hell we were apres-skiing it on the other side.
On the chefs night off we missed the tobaganning down from a restaurant in the hills since we left it a bit late.
Sadly 2 zipper handles on my ski jacket broke, so paper clips were used as handles after serving me for 6 years its time to retire it.
A resort and the pension "Ezian", I certainly intend to return to in the future. Ah the songs are on youtube....

• hey, wir wollen die Eisbaren sehen
• Fliegerlied ( So ein schöner Tag ) Tims favourite from last year.
• Olaf Henning - Cowboy und Indianer
• Höhner - Viva Colonia

Hamburg via Ryanair Hamburg(Lubeck)

A couple of days in hamburg for new years or Silvester as they call it.
A whistle stop tour, hard to find hotel, helpful German girl on the bus and strange green german guy giving us wrong directions, fairly cold, lots of Currywurst .
Jeepers they are mad for their fireworks, the whiff of sulphur stinging.
A boat trip(without marko who was feeling the affects) on the Thursday round the port, massive, very industrial an engineers dream so del was happy. the hot chocolate. Overall not as enjoyable as my previous times in hamburg even if i was only passing through it was summer and more to do.
Arrived home in mother Ireland to SNOW.

Krakow, Auschwitz, and Wieliczka (and Katowice Airport as an extra)

Well Krakow is great, I would recommend it, lots to do, off season less English stag parties! A church on every corner nearly, architecturally amazing. We went to have a laugh and that we had. Hotels, transport and food were very cheap. All the bars/clubs seem to be downstairs.
I did have some dude trying to sell me a trip to drive a tank or fire a gun eh no.
The salt mine in Wieliczka was very interesting, carvings and ingenuity, a lot of walking though, and the Scamo of the photo extra charge. Got soaked walking to and around the castle but happens..
The old Jewish town was lively and good to go to, and round the square was the main event.
Auschwitz was a must see, informative and educational but not as traumatic as I anticipated or feared, maybe that was the frightening thing, but then Auschwitz II Birkenau (a 3km walk) was massive and bleak and eerie, left a real impression and somber after it. Again a lot of walking. Found the poles very helpful, on the complicated ticketing machine on the trams/buses,and giving directions.
Krakow Airport was fog bound so we had the chaos of the buses and getting to katowice airport, didn't shade a great trip.


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Austria Skiing 2009 - Kirchberg/Kitzbuel

Accommodation was ok, the pension/hotel set up with meals worked out well, werved by a herr gruber lookalike. Some excellent skiing on tuesday, wednesday morning and thursday, although crossing the top of the mountain on wednesday evening and friday made me regret leaving the balaclava at home... St. Paddys day we flew the flag like 2 ejeets but it was worth it, kitzbuel much more lively than kirchberg. Ivan ran close to getting a slapping for his backward skiing...Lots of super crazhey dutch people about there for some reason. Ski lifts were never a problem, except for one incident on the 1st day with high winds. The farmers plate meal, always undid any good the open air and exercise was doing. Friday doing the Hahnenkamm (or the bit of it they let you do) was another achievement, and the spill I had on it, I need to pay off the paparazzi for filming it...
Overall I think I preferred France for skiing, but Austria impressed me especially with their unforgettable europop...
Home in time for the Grand Slam!!! and Bernard Dunne Fight..

Munich and a little bit of austira

Munich with the lads - was fun - driving on the opposite side of the road a challange.
The Park lands englsich garden etc. and public space in general around the city are excellent
Dachau was interesting and a must see but not an easy experience but I was glad I went - as the monument said in various languages Never Again should this be allowed to happen - although I fear we did in Bosnia and Rwanda..
Neuschwanstein Castle was a sight to see Disney-esque
Zugsplitz awesome but from the austrian side quite pricy
Eibsee lovely, nice lake and mountains, the lake was lovely to swim in but the stones were hard on my feet.
Garmisch very picturesque and I loved it
Allianz Arena - new and cool but not as architecturally splendid as the Olympic stadium and park. Again the public transport system is excellent as in all germany.
Keinstein - Eagles Nest was excellent moral quandry of its associations etc.
Koingsee was also lovely quite touristy and left us a race to get home but just made it


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Val Torens, France 2008, Skiing.

Well another a la carte skiing adventure to France, Ryanair to Grenoble and a hired bus to Val Torens, which as a high altitude resort had quite good snow conditions considering there was a few weeks without snow. The Town was very artificial nowt organic to humor you had you had a day off skiing. Food was grand, although I had very bad experience with beef so rare it was just blood just oozed out of it.
Skiing was fine, even if i preferred last year for variety and testing runs. Also the lifts were very busy not helped by a strike in a neighboring trois vallées resort. Overall there was a good variety of runs.
The runs in the Orelle Valley were my favourite, kinda empty and long and manageable runs from high mountains. Again I found the French very helpful especially on the couple of spills I had Cava/Daccord was uttered and helped up on to the skis, on a few occasions.
Also had the most comfortable boots ever no problems at all, the skis coulda done with some sharpening though but easy to control the only injury was to my shoulder on a bad fall but nothing to write home about;)
The friday was interesting since there was some snow, freezing fog and zero visibility for most of the day. Again when you weren't concentrating on the view and just on your movement and turning technique your skiing was better.
A few good nights out being led astray by a mad devon blacksmith was a good laugh, think I talked to females from most of the counties of the european union...

Brussels for Brianos - "Enterment du vie du garcon"

Well Brussels it was and via Aer Lingus to Brussels Airport and not Chareloi, the 10 intrepid associates of "The Shadow" ventured forth to do our duty and bury his life as a boy, Colm, Marko, Rocky, Ray, Rob, Alain, Joe, Eamo et moi. The weather was very warm and humid 31 and 33 degrees. The Hotel could have benefited with air-con! and they stole my football...
Saturday was dipping our big toes into the city, and psyching ourselves up for the football match, which was postponed til after 8 due to weather conditions.
Saturday Evening apres some food we introduced Briano to some of the female population of the city and quite cosmopolitan it was, also some of the boys were introduced to black russians and the games began.
Sunday, was another hot and humid day, a cultural day of sightseeing and a bus trip, where we found out the architectural splendour of the city was mostly copied by Leopold from one of his foreign trips to France or Italy. After catching the some of the Hurling match on tv we had an evening meal in a Mexican establishment. Initially a quite nite was on the cards and after a libation in a bar we lost 1/2 the batalion, the rest again went on and against the odds had some sport with the brussel-folk(and many other nationalities) til breakfast!
Monday with some officers down, more cultural ventures to the Atomium and the some shopping before the long journey home..
Thanks Colm for the organising, thanks Rocky for the tee-shirts and thanks brian for the excuse for the trip.

Oh and Belgium was a new country for me to visit!


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Skiing in Serre Chevalier, France 2007

Well ryanair-ed it to Tornio/Turin in italy and got a hired bus to deposit us in Serre Chevalier France.
After some misgivings about the lack of snow we were rewarded by our choice of venue with ample snow on the mounts and runs we were on, granted as the day went on some runs got moguly and slushy but thanks to some snow the friday before we went and indeed on the monday(very interesting to ski in) we were blessed with good conditions.
I would say my skiing peeked on the tuesday and I was quite lethargic on the wednesday and for the rest of the week, I think my skiing has improved and I tested myself more then in previous years.
The part of serre chevlaier we were in Chantamerle was very french and very quiet - the next hub up in Villeneuve was much more party like but still quite dormant I would say. I found the people very friendly and managed many an communication exchange en francais. Whilst 2 of my traveling companions had a bad experience in one restaurant, for the rest of the time it was excellent especially in "Le Kitz"
As a resort i would say it is good for the intermediate or advanced skier and definitely not for the novice skier. The long black run Luc Alpand tested knees and edurance as you had to negotiate this to get home of an evening and then it was very cut up slushy and heavy, it the morning it was crispy and icy and much better.

The route home via Brancon to Grenoble on train was a long way back but pleasant enough with nice alipine scenery

Berlin, Stralsund, Mon(Klintholm), Zeeland(Fakse Ladesplads), Rugen, Hiddensee(Kloister)

Well another venture to Germany and Denmark by the good ship de verandering. Berlin was its anticipated avant garde unorthodoxy. Not much of the oul wall but hey. Stayed in Emmanualkirkestrasse and Norwegianstrasse for their nominal resonance with me.
The DB journey to Stralsund was as efficent as ever a one minute delay but perhaps my watch was wrong!
Sailing again was cool, day one was a bit long for me but we managed. The dutch maat from last year was the Skipper this year. The white cliffs of Mon again looked awesome, some rough waters on the way back to germany and rugen

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Kloister and hiddensee was amazing - no cars and lovely scenery and a dip in the water. Canoeing was a disaster for me and my co-canoeist since the rudder was jammed but hey we had fun.

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My second (and technically third) time in Berlin, a city i vow to return to i spent fews days at the start of the holiday in berlin and couple at the end of it. Hired a bike and enjoyed a cycle around taking the long way and wrong way once or twice but really enjoyed it, a few times i took the bike on the train was never sure if this was kosher but nevertheless, Spandau, the zoo, olympic stadium etc much to see and do. Potsdam is a must visit if your in the Berlin region.