Blogs from Bialystok, Podlachian, Poland, Europe
Chill out in Poland's coldest quarter!
Published: January 18th 2010Europe » Poland » Podlachian » Bialystok
January 18th 2010
Back in Poland again…this time for work! We are over for a week, having spent the weekend doing lessons in Legal English at Białystok University (Kasia being the expert on this, I have experience in teaching English, editing, and doing seminars). We gave the students some interesting material - a real case of deception/fraud and got them to do a court session in English - they seemed to really take to it. We flew from Liverpool, to Warsaw and managed to catch a train to Białystok within an hour of landing, a bit of luck in snowy Poland - our train was running from Wrocław (the other end of Poland) and it arrived on time! Now here is an interesting fact - our British designed locomotive* sped our train through the blowing snow, -10°C, and no ... read more
Een groot bos ten zuidoosten van Białystok
Published: November 15th 2007Europe » Poland » Podlachian » Bialystok
November 11th 2007
En daar was een huisje zonder elektriciteit, gas of stromend water. We vertrokken met 25 erasmussers en 6 Poolse begeleidende studenten vrijdagavond met de trein in Warschau. Vervolgens dropte een busje ons aan de rand van een bos rond middernacht. Kregen we allen een kompas en kaart toegestopt en in twee groepen hebben we nog een tweetal uren door dat bos gewandeld. Nogal scoutsig. Wanneer we tegen 2u aankwamen hebben we boterhammen gegeten en thee gedronken rond het haardvuur. Zaterdag begon de dag met ontbijten en hout hakken voor die avond, wat best grappig was want 4 stoere kerels en een meisje gingen tekeer met de bijlen terwijl de rest geamuseerd stond toe te kijken. In 6 kleinere groepjes hebben we enkele uren verschillende punten op de kaart opgezocht op een heel padvinderige manier. In de ... read more
Folk, food, chocolate and Tatar warriors.
Published: June 12th 2006Europe » Poland » Podlachian » Bialystok
June 7th 2006
3 June Supraśl We decided to visit the Folk and Food Fair being held in Supraśl, a pleasant little town in the Knyszyn Forest near Białystok. Seeing as it was a nice day, we got the bus as far as Orgródnicki and walked the rest of the way to Supraśl. Ogródnicki is changing, many new large houses have been built their recently. We passed a small lake and sunned ourselves there before navigating our way to a nature trail. The trail was so badly marked we needed the compass to find our way along it! As we circled Supraśl on the footpath, lads on motor scooters bore down on us at high speed. I resisted the temptation to stick my arm out. We hit the festival to find a very different environment. Stalls were set ... read more
The wolves’ motorway; water in the wrong place, and town planning.
Published: June 11th 2006Europe » Poland » Podlachian » Bialystok
May 27th 2006
26 May Białystok Today we got drenched as went along the main shopping street, Lipowa. Within about 10 minutes the downpour had soaked us to the skin, and we abandoned our search for music shops in Białystok. The music scene is pretty good in Poland incidentally. I came back with plenty of CDs to keep me occupied. Just don’t expect a vast range of CDs on offer in the shops, it is likely that if you want a particular album, you may have to order it. We got my CDs within two days, which was pretty good: the owner knew many of the national record producers. With our jeans now demonstrating their ample water absorbing qualities, we tried to negotiate Lipowa, which was flooded. With drainpipes from buildings emptying onto the pavement, and only a ... read more
April 30th 2005
So the train rushed across the north German plain overnight, got our passports checked at 4am (bad for trying to get to sleep beforehand!) Our morning in the restuarant car was with the accompaniement of an irate "biznesman" on his mobile. Apparently he'd been ranting and raving all night, hassling the overnight crew. We arrived in Warsaw and after a break took the train up to Białystok- our journey is well over 1000 miles. We were pretty tired after our trip, so a short trip to the park was all we did for the rest of the day. The park and woods reach right into the city centre from the south of the city, giving it a green feel, but much greenspace is now being developed elsewhere in the city. ... read more
