London is a long way fromTipperary...

What happens in Ireland stays in Ireland…

…so we went to London!

We shot to Paddington from Heathrow in 15mins. Very efficient train service. We were staying in Docklands and much to our surprise 50% of the tube closes for repair on the weekend, so it took approx 1.5 hrs to get from Paddington to O2. Welcome to London.

So we checked in and went for a pint and pub grub (as you do) and saw some football on TV at 3pm on a Saturday, finally at a normal time, without needing Foxtel IQ at 12am. Fed and watered we rambled into the big smoke and went to see my namesake Big Ben, very cool.

When we rambled to Westminster House and Abbey. Saw Buckingham Palace and the guards marching out front. Then I spotted the b@st@rd Oliver Cromwell statue out front of Westminster beside a statue of Richard the Lion Heart. Only 2 statues, Richard, Couer D’Leone I understand, but that other fecker! Seriously. Melt him down and put up Churchill or someone decent!

From there we went on the ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary….’ Tour thru (goodbye) Picadilly and (farewell) Leicester square. We also had a stroll along Oxford St

Anyway, rant (almost) over from DB. Caro and I got to meet her good friends from Aus, Brooke and Sam, in the Marleybone High st, v nice. They went for some local Turkish nosh, while I darted out to Selfridges to check out the wares and of course to sneak in the 2nd half of the Liverpool game over a Sunday roast and a pint – fabulous – top class, I am!

As the last open top bus was finished at 6 (not 8pm as we had been told) we went for one more drink with Sam and Brooke and walked back thru Oxford Circus and Piccadilly to Waterloo station for more Underground adventures.

Next stop Pancras station and the TGV in the Eurochunnel to Paris and on to Strasbourg.

IRELAND AGAIN…

Tuesday was Mike Kelly’s birthday (best friend since 5 years old, he was only 4 and impressionable!), so we went for a few pints with him and his lady Margo in the Killinaskully pub in Ballinahinch, soon to be their local. We bought him Ballinahinch GAA lottery tickets, but no winners. Happy birthday again Mick.

Then we drove to Galway to visit my uncle Charlie, on a trip home from the Bronx, my cousins Anne and Clare (Charlie’s daughters) and of course da brudder!

Another feed in Kelly’s pub and another pint, then off out to Headford for another feed and some wine.

Oh my God, 5 Briscoes in Galway at the same time!!!

So you never know which celebrities will pop in to Birdhill on a night out. For my dad’s birthday we had Jakartan/Aussie/Corkonian guests in Morgs and Kel en route around Ireland in 24 hours for 7 weddings J. We sank a few Guinness at Matt the Threshers (or Matt the Slashers as Morgs prefers to call it), had a few steaks and caught up...

Early September in Hurling country

What can I say, but timing is everything. Caro and I returned from sunny Spain in time for the great Boz's wedding to the lovely Catey the next day. A great day was had in Kilkenny City, the heart of the over-confident cats. There were bets between them as to the amount of points they would win by and the town was to be closed on Monday as usual from 9am to 11am for the 5 in a row. I smellt opportunity and couldn't wait to bate them!

We got Caro kitted up in the Tipp colours to support the premiers and after a few wardrobe issues we were off to Dublin with dad. Rendevous point the red parrot to meet Fahey, the Rooneys and half of Birdhill, even the president passed us and waved.

Having scoured the country for tickets, Micky G in Sligo, Jim Fahey in mayo and the bould Daz Rooney from Laois all came up trumps to make sure there were a few more avid Tipp supporters in Croker.

What a day, what a game and youthful exhuberance and confidence as well as well prepared shone through for the Premier County to get the hurling All ireland crown back home to Tipp. Bhi an athas ar cupla de na ard sturatheoiri and Carolina got a few unexpected hugs and kisses after the full time whistle (hello to Paul Ormonde's uncle that works in Croker)
Having winded our way home along the M7 for 6 hours we were home for a pint in the Coopers bar in Birdhill to soak up the euphoria. On Monday we drove to the home of hurling Semple Stadium to welcome da boys home It was a good evening and again a celebratory drink was had. Well done to Conor from Newport, Shane from Ballinahinch and all the boys.

España!! OLE!!

Madrid Highlights:

- the food, the food, the food!! The wine! ;-)

- siestas

- Museo del Prado, architecture and grandeur!!

- Dec's favourite: the Tour Bernabeu - Real Madrid's stadium and museum ;-)

We loved it all, and luckily the weather wasn't too hot so we didn't mind when I got us completely lost in the old town on the way back to the hotel - so much for being the NavCaro!

Costa Blanca:

We arrived in Alicante to meet Paul, Mary and Robyn; we stayed in Benidorm - aka British mayhem summer haven - for 1 night, enjoyed dinner, walk and some shows that night.

Next day, Torrevieja. Nice to stay at Mary & Paul's place as we could stop hotel hopping for a few days. The beach was great and we found some really nice restaurants.

Highlight - Carnival/Amusement park

Valencia and La Tomatina:

We went into Valencia on the search of my past - well, we were there so it kind of worked out! See, my greatgrandmother was Valenciana so I went to the Archbishop's Diocese to try to find her baptism papers. We'll see what happens.

Valencia is stunning, we stayed in the old town and if it wasn't for the Navman, we would still be trying to find our hotel.

On the second day we drove in the morning to Buñol, and ignoring advices to be there before 8am, we arrived with the hords at 9:30am. Goggles on and 3euro sandals on, we headed of to find the square of the ham, we never made it that far as the multitude of people flooded the streets and every square meter got populated by 17 people at once.

The crowds would shout "Agua! Aqui! Eh eh eh eh eh" - Water! Here! and whoever got the best chanting going would be blessed by a bucket of water from the skies!! Well, from the top of the buildings where the locals watched safely.

Being squashed like a sardine four times, every time a truck went past empty, finally the 5th and last truck came packed with flying tomatoes. It's good fun, I recommend!!

After the storm comes the calm... well, not really!! After the storm of tomatoes comes the river mayhem where everyone headed to get washed as the few hoses from the neighbours weren't enough to wash out all the tomato sin!!

Sevilla - the land of Flamenco

What can I say! 44 degrees!! One of the most beautiful places I've ever been to.

We saw a Flamenco show that almost brought me to tears, we had more nice food, climbed the tower of the catedral, visited the Alcazar and were cooked alive.

By the way, did I mention we ate Iberico Ham everywhere?? Yes, we did.

Funny thing, Dec asked for toast with butter, tomato and ham and the man behind the bar looked at us like aliens and said "Manteca y tomate????? No, no, no - Aceite de Oliva!!" And that was that, olive oil and no arguments.

The last days - Jerez, yum!

We drove to the Costa del Sol and on the way stopped at Jerez de la Frontera where they make the famous Jerez/Sherry wines and Sherry Brandy. Two hour-tour, tapas and tasting everything later, we walked off with some really nice bottles and sleepy heads!

Then Ronda, where 5minutes turned into 1 hour as the town was colourful and crazy with the celebrations of the Virgin.

We finally made it to Fueringiola in the coast for one last day at the beach before heading to Malaga airport and back to Ireland.

What a trip!! I think I want to live in Spain...

Greece!!

We departed Dublin at 3:30pm and didn’t arrive in Greece until about 9ish pm and since we couldn’t get a ferry that same night to the islands, we decided to stay in Athens, as close as possible to the port as our ferry next morning departed at 7am.

You see, Dec kept telling everyone I had booked accommodation at a wh*re house… I didn’t!!! Yes, it is true that the port area is not the ‘nicest’ one, but it was ok and the hotel was clean.

Jet lag. I didn’t sleep all night. Yawn…

Greece for real. On our first morning we boarded the ferry to Thira/Santorini. As soon as you approach you are already amazed by the island. It’s stunning and the houses and building hang on the edge of "Caldera".

Highlights!!

- Accommodation on the first day – Port area of Pireaus: Dec wasn’t impressed with my booking skills… fair enough, I got us right in the middle of the “red district” ;-)

- Arriving in Santorini: what an amazing Island. It’s the caldera of a volcano, roads either go up or down, and it’s all very steep!!

- Oia, Santorini: the village on the north of the island where we stayed, sunset in the ocean, dinner on the rooftop of an amazing restaurant with good wine and good company. As good and romantic as it gets!! (1800 is the name of the restaurant)

- Steak at Blue: I got a steak right, it was HUGE! And it was just a veal steak. I had a normal knife and was working away when Spyros the chef came out of the kitchen, saw my poor work (mind you, no English spoken here!) went inside and back out with a steak knife from the kitchen and started chopping my steak for me!!!!! Ahahahaha!! That’s what I call service! I felt like I was 6 again. ;-)

- Swimming in the black beaches and forgetting that there was Sulphur in the water, yes, we now have yellowish/greenish swimwear!

- Driving a Smart on the windy roads from Fira to Oia competing with the quad bikes and scooters (scary!!!)

- Mykonos: not getting our “room with ocean views” and after ‘complaining’, getting the ‘superior room’ with a balcony bigger than the room, with a spa bath, sun beds, table and chairs facing the Aegean ocean. PRICELESS!! But wait, there’s more: two free “mud treatments” at the spa, two 5 courses meal, a bottle of wine and fruit in the room. I could get use to it!!

- Swimming in the beautiful sea waters, the pool, the lots!!

The photos are now up on Picasa too, so if you want to check them out go to http://picasaweb.google.com/104178915399064971814