Blogs from Poland, Europe - page 6

Hi, well it’s 11.02, the night is young, so I’m taking a break from the wedding to tap out a few thoughts. 1: How much stress is involved in preparing for a wedding. 2 Does it get worse as the day nears. 3: Why does it take people so long to leave, to go somewhere, after you ask, Are we ready to go? , and the reply is, Yes. 4: Is it possible to have a bad time at a Polish Wedding. These have no question marks because, basically, they are comments. This morning I had an early coffee at the bar downstairs, before chewing and crunching my way through croissants and crispy bread lathered with berry jam and spreadable white chocolate; but not on the same bit of bread. Pretty decadent but an apt start ... read more

Today I’ll drive you mad with dwarves. It’s another hot day, the clothes are in the wash, and breakfast is at Charlottes, a popular, hidden eatery across the main road, in the Jewish Quarter. I think you could forget gluten free here. There’s a mountain of breads, croissants, and sweet sticky buns piled up in cane baskets on the counter, and most breakfasts centre around these as a base. Sue and Anne were being met by Tim for a nail appointment- apparently most important- so Michael and I went for a wander through the squares and streets on the edge of town. I challenged Michael to a game of Spot The Dwarves which, while very inappropriate in most parts of the world, entails spotting the many small brass dwarf statues in the squares. They are usually ... read more

It was a quiet day today and my biggest task for the day was to sort out a few Airbnb problems. In no particular order they were toilet paper, soft soap and more power on the web. The internet was the most pressing issue, as we needed to communicate with people arriving from Australia today. Anne and Michael, John and Andrea, Lynne and Ross, Craig and Jan, Suzanne, with Ingrid turning up later in the evening. An email to the host of the Airbnb drew a quick response and everything was stocked up and improved within the hour. People slowly arrived from different parts of Europe; some by bus, others by trains, and a couple by air. Whatsapp ended up very confusing ; contact could only be made if both parties had wifi at the same ... read more

Today was a long 14 hr travel day firstly with a 2 hr return journey to Vilnius by private bus before changing to an inter city bus & a 600 km drive for a 2 night stop at the Hit Hotel in Warsaw. Not such a big hit! After check-in we pretty much went straight to bed. Next day was forecast to be 33 deg. so commenced an early orientation walk with a local guide to see Warsaw’s “old town”. The use of this term is somewhat of a misnomer as despite appearances the old town is very new. As retribution for the Poles resistance to the Germans in WW2 they set about systematically destroying all of Warsaw. The commencement to rebuild the old town to original 18th century architectural drawings only commenced in the 1980’s ... read more

When a traveller has visited the top 2 or 3 urban areas of one prominent nation, is it worth them delving beneath the surface and focusing on urban areas of smaller sizes? Well, if you lend some thought to this reflection, then in the case of Japan's Kyoto, Ukraine's Lviv, Uzbekistan's Bukhara and countless others besides, the advice is never to just assume that bigger is proportionally better. With that in mind, step forward Poland's Wroclaw, the nation's 4th largest city, but in many ways, certainly no 4th-placed contender, for what this pretty package has to offer. The best indication of the level of prettiness we are talking here in Wroclaw's city centre, a colourfully eclectic collection of buildings, each with its own colour and architectural style, each one destined to outclass its rivals. Nearby Wroclaw ... read more