November

Jeez, the last couple of months have flown by. Both of us have been super busy with work and school. In November Kelly went with a bunch of her classmates to a seminar in Belfast.

I got up at the crack of dawn to hike the Maamturks.

Took just under 10hrs to cover 25km!

For those of you who are unaware, Kelly won the Henry Hutchinson award again this year!! This time for General Practice. Another fancy day in Dublin to collect her award.

The weather for the past 3 weeks has been fantastic! (Unless you have to stay at home studying and freeze in an uninsulated house) There has been a bunch of snow and the days have been cold, bright and sunny, a fine change from cold, dreary and dark...

Derroura. Keeps my sanity intact with a fine 15k trail loop. Rarely under snow.

This is the view from my classroom. The mornings for the past few weeks have been amazing, will miss the Atlantic sunrises when we get back to Canada.

Croatia
As is the norm when Mom and Dad visit, after some time in Ireland we head for (hopefully) warmer climes. This year we decided that Croatia would fit the bill. Arrived in Dubrovnik, found our apartment (after a crazy helmetless scooter ride hugging our host – to drop off our car), and dove into the city to find something to eat. The first night, as per our host’s recommendation, we had a great dinner at a Bosnian restaurant.

First view getting away from the airport.

Mom getting us some snacks at the market.

The start of walking the old town walls.

After a couple of days wandering around Dubrovnik we headed up the coast to explore some of the islands. We found that most of the areas were quite dead as the summer tourist rush was winding down. We based ourselves on the Peljesac Peninsula in the small town of Orebic.

Got up early one morning for an AM run up the highest mountain on the peninsula, Mt Ilija (967m). Beautiful trail running with views along the coast and overlooking the islands.

We took a ferry out to the island of Mljet and spent some time hiking around the Mljet National Park. It really is an unspoiled oasis of tranquility. (says the guidebook-I agree)

Malo Jezero, one of two saltwater lakes in the park. In the middle of the lake is a 12th century Benedictine Monastery.

We kept seeing these strange movements out in the water. On our hike around the lake we were able to identify these huge jellyfish!

Next day out to the island of Korcula.

In Korcula town, we were sitting down for dinner and heard a big commotion outside. Entering the old town was a huge progression of musicians and people walking a bride to the church. Leading the group was this guy waving the Croatian flag.

Our final view of Dubrovnik.

On our last afternoon we spent the day in Cavtat, a small little village near the airport. One last stop to swim in the gorgeous Adriatic Sea!

Cork

With Mom and Dad Mieske visiting, decided to take a trip down to Cork for the weekend. Had a nice Saturday walking around the city centre and Sunday was spent touring the Blarney Castle and Kelly’s Disneyland (otherwise known as The Donkey Sanctuary, Ireland)

Hiking up the chimney-like steps

At the top, near the Blarney stone. Will get more photos when we charge Kell's camera (need to get the battery back from Canada)

Walking around the grounds.

Donkey Sanctuary!

This is an amazing place!! There are over 400 donkeys at the sanctuary- all rescued from abuse and/or neglect, nursed back to health and treated to a life of donkey luxury. They also run foster donkey and donkey adoption programs. I have such a soft spot for these creatures (ok...all creatures but donkeys are way up there on the list). K

So Sweet!!!!!!!!!!

For Christmas last year I had given Dad an IOU for a round of golf in Ireland. We lucked out and got fantastic weather in one of the worst-weather areas of Ireland. Nice to golf with the sea behind and and mountains in front. You'll have to ask him who won...

Germany / Austria

Kelly needed to write her Canadian Medical Board exam so we used it as an excuse for a weekend away, outside of Ireland. After some searching, we found out that flights to Munich fit into our schedule and also that it was during Oktoberfest!

We landed in Munich, dropped the bags at the hotel and found a sunny square for lunch. Post lunch, Kelly went to study and I combined sightseeing, ski boot shopping and a run into 1 adventure.

While Kelly wrote her exam I thought I’d go for a swim and check out the Olympic Aquatics facilities used the 72 Munich games. After my swim, I headed to the special sauna area for some relaxation, German style. I walked into the sauna and was welcomed by a flurry of “nein, nein, nein’s” and quickly stepped out wondering what my taboo was. I had a waterbottle in my hand and decided that this must have been the issue. I set the waterbottle down and reentered. “nein, nein, nein” and they began pointing at my shorts. Ahhhhh, I then copped on to the fact that everyone was naked. Out, shorts off, in the birthday suit, I went in again. “Nein, nein, nein!” Jesus, what?!?! They then explained to me (in German-which I speak “nein”) that I also needed a towel to sit on. So, back out, shorts on, back to my locker, and grabbed the towel I “borrowed” from the hotel. Upon returning to the sauna a man took one look at my (hand) towel and started to chastise me about my “baby towel, a towel for babies!” He was having none of me going in with such a towel and went behind a desk to give me an adult towel. I was finally cleared by the authorities to relax….

After Kell’s exam we headed to Oktoberfest! It was a beautiful day to walk around the festival, enjoying beer and pretzels in the sunshine. Oktoberfest is crazy. A massive drunkfest that gets pretty wild when the sun goes down. The tents are full my mid afternoon but we enjoyed walking around admiring all the lederhosen and dirndls (the traditional women’s dress that pushes their boobs to the sky). All of the beer comes in a “mass” which is a full litre of delicious German brew. Mmmmmmm. We came to the conclusion that Oktoberfest is very much like the Calgary Stampede; just switch the attire, take away the rodeo, and add more beer.

Once we had our fill of Oktoberfest, we hopped on Ze Autobahn (LOVE German roads!!) and headed south to the Bavarian Alps. We stayed in a tiny village, just on the Austrian side of the border and found a great little restaurant for dinner. (Special of the day: schnitzel and dumplings mmmmmmm)

Next day after breakfast we found a nice hike that straddled the German/Austrian border that took in the fall colours. The nice thing about hiking in the Alps is that beer (and lunch) is never too far away!

An evening in the spa then we were off to the Lech Valley as we had plans to meet up with Sven Gali (aka Christophe Hummel) a German friend who lived in Canmore for a year. Since the weather didn’t cooperate fully to get a hike in, Sven went to his back-up plan to show us the sights. He took us to Neuschwanstein Castle (the inspiration behind Disney's castle), showed us the medieval city centre of Fussen, helped Kelly pick out a spatzl maker, and took us to some sweet baths to chillax.

The back door to the castle.

Christophe couldn't continue the tour without us trying some Augustinerbrau.

Eating was usually interesting but especially so in Austria. Kell was usually able to communicate her vegetarianism and would get between 1-3 options pointed out for random selection. I was left with the rest of the menu for my dice roll.

We got out for a hike on our final day, hiking toward “Petersburg”. Expecting some sort of civilization, we found a single farm house at the end of a valley. Rumor had it that we would be able to have something to eat here but it wasn’t looking like much would be on offer. We walked in to find about 15-20 people enjoying a fine home-cooked lunch (and also stocking up on the cured ham and cheese they were selling).

Petersburg

Another fine hike with fine beer!!