Time out in Poland

Do widzenia!

2009-03-05T03:35:00.000-08:00

Looking back, those last few weeks in Poland went by so fast that I didn't have time to do anything, let alone try to keep this going! I can now reveal that .... after getting home safely to Krakow and our little apartment, we had, ooooh, no time before we were off for Sylwester! That's right. We got back to Krakow on the 29th and left on the 30th!

We had 2 missions. First to head up to Warszawa to put boxes into store - we had rented out the place and these were our things that weren't to be left. Then we drove west towards Lodz, but stopped in a little town, staying at the Chopin Hotel! Now, it was very pleasant but the restaurant was pretty empty and the food not particularly memorable. It wasn't that it was bad...but we weren't exactly impressed.

The next morning, we had a bit of a wander round and found a museum that was open...it was interesting as it was a museum about the battles that took place in that area. But ... it was the 31st, and we had to get going to my cousin's house west of Lodz. We had been invited to spend Sylwester with them and they don't speak English! Ya-hoo!

What a night. They'd invited 2 other couples form the village and as ever the food was just fantastic, the wodka was plentiful and all-in-all, we had a great time. Then at midnight we all went out into the village to see fireworks - our own and other people's, and we walked round the village. It was quite cold!

And so January 1st 2009 dawned and we had a wonderfully lazy day with them. We were all tired, lived on left-overs and generally were a tad couch potato.

Next day we went to see another cousin and stayed overnight with her. But we also went across to yet another lot for kolacja. We both had a lovely afternoon and were very sorry to have to leave. And even more sorry the next day to have to go back to Krakow to r eturn the hire car and think about a) work and b) the fact we were leaving in 12 days time!

We spun out the journey by visiting Czestochowa again, and as ever we enjoyed the atmosphere as well as seeing the Black Madonna again. It's a place that symbolises Poland and as such should not be missed - if you can make the time to visit.

We did 8 day's work - and it felt strange and silly to have to do it - I was glad to see the back of the school - NOT the teachers or office staff, just the boss actually! I knew I'd miss the students as I'd had a such a great time teaching there...but we've now got friends in Krakow and feel we have a strong tie to the place, as well as to

Poland

.

So, skipping the boring stuff like cleaning the apartment, doing a mege-throwout, trying to say bye to everyone..... we finally left Krakow on January 16th 2009.

And as I sit here in hot sweaty Brisbane, I wonder if it was all a dream - then I look around and see my little wooden picture of the Black Madonna - and know it was very real. We went to a country that was and is amazing. Communism failed to subdue it, so it is vibrant and fast changing. More importantly, I got to know my family, whom I was denied the pleasure of meeting during that time . I understand why they react the way they do, why sometimes they can be reticent... but most amazing is that we now know each other and accept each other and every time we meet is special. These family ties are the most important thing I gained from living in my father's country - and now mine! My only sorrow is that he didn't live to see Poland a free country - or to see me living there! I now have very strong roots in Poland -and can't wait to go back! Koniec!

Farewell Transylvania 28-12-2008

2009-03-02T03:01:00.000-08:00

A final farewell....

2009-03-02T02:20:00.000-08:00

,
There is something terribly sad about leaving a place where you have had a great holiday. It's all very well saying "You can always come back", but we all know that it's never the same second time around. Maybe the expectations, maybe it's that the people have moved on, and maybe it's that the group you hung around with and had such fun with are not there. Whatever it is, we knew on the 28th December, that we were leaving a place that had given us one of the best Christmases ever and that in reality, we wouldn't be able to repeat.

We managed to hang around to see our friends who were not leaving -and we had a somewhat curious ceremony! David had professed admiration for the tights worn b y the Renaissance group on Christmas night, so it was truly refreshing to see that this was acknowledged by our friends! And his lordship was duly presented with some rather natty support hose form good old
M & S!

Then we waited to see the horses and carts that were to be this day's outing - sadly not for us...but it looked so much fun. Mind you, it was -17C - no wonder we felt a tad chilly!

But we had to leave. Brasov was our destination - felt like Groundhog day! We were taken into the station, and tried to buy tickets. Oh oh! Not again. Much pointing to timetables and loud Romanian for "There isn't a train till ???" Had we been here before or wot! Oh well, we bought tickets for some train or other, and after putting our luggage into Left Luggage we wandered off, ate lunch and then went back to wait for our train.

You know, it's funny how railway stations are pretty much the same all over. A hint of romance, especially in snow; strange and exotic names and
announcements in foreign tongues; a sudden feeling of fear in the pit of one's stomach at the thought of being on the wrong platform, then utter relief when one sees other people with similar tickets; people coming and going. They say that airports are like that, but to my mind railway stations hold the award for atmosphere. They really do have an air of sadness, joy, desperation... and Brasov was no exception.

And how else can you travel from one country to another, meet so many different people and still feel vaguely human at the end. I cannot begin to count the interesting people we have met in this year on trains - too many; I can't think of one we have met on a plane!

But I digress - and I think I am becoming a touch maudlin! I tell you, railways do that to you - especially when you've travelled as much on them as we had! I suppose, that just as I didn't want the holiday to end, I don't really want this blog to end. Because you see, in one more installment's time, my tale of what was supposed to be a Polish year, and became a Polish 15 months will be over!

So, back to the train. A double decker train to Bucharest with rather sad seats in the upper entry - with NO windows! Not good. We dozed, and David kept an eye on the suitcases as there were Gypsies on board - and please don't go all politically correct on me. Romanians told us NEVER to trust them - and they should know!

The final scare? Arriving in Bucharest railway station in total darkness! Not a singe light on the platforms...now that's kind scary! Polish family take note: You want to be scared - go to Bucharest railway station in the dark! Knocks any Polish station into a cocked hat, my dears!

A quick trip to the airport, a strange non-organised check in...and then into the gate...with an hour's delay! Thank goodness we had a hotel booked in Vienna at the airport...

So - we went to Romania, to Transylvania. We found beauty, openness, friend;y people, wonderful food and wine - and brandy; we made some good friends; we experienced a Romanian Christmas without the tat of Australia; we saw the simple way people still live.

We had an unforgettable time. Thank you, Transylvania!! We will return!

Royalty, UNESCO and picnics galore!

2009-02-23T01:17:00.000-08:00

A right Royal cottage

2009-02-23T00:44:00.001-08:00

I hate the end of the holidays, don't you? And this was no exception. It had been such a wonderful place to visit; we had the chance to see a tiny corner of Romania; we met some lovely warm, hospitable people; we ate and drank FAR too much of course (Note to self - the diet begins...erm...soon?)

But as ever, all good things must come to an end and so we woke on the final day of our Romanian adventure. But, as ever plans for a great day out had been prepared and a small group of us decided to go to see a little village called Viseri. Yes, I know we've seen lots but this is different. For a start it's UNESCO listed, and even more interesting - the Prince of Wales has his little pad there! Which to be honest we wanted to see. So there you are. We knew before we went that him an' her weren't in residence - but it was the village we were after - not the Royals!

First up - this is place where.like all villages, COWS RULE! And ... the only way to travel was by horse and cart. It began to feel that Transylvania was trying to give us all some warm memories to take away - and it was working.

So we braved the deep freeze - it was about -18, and we went to see the fortified church. Now this one had a great view cross the countryside - but it was sooooooo cold that freezing fog prevented us from seeing too far. Never mind. It was worth climbing around and inside etc. the church was interesting too as the pews were set out so that, for example all the widows sat in a certain place, the young girls, the young men, and so on.

We did get a view across the fields and the village itself and the colours of the houses were all traditional. For some reason Romanians LOVE either pastels or really BRIGHT GARISH colours - like LIME GREEN. It is just fantastic and long may that side of things last. Anyway, having climbed right up the rather shaky and narrow tower we descended to the museum room and then had a wander round the streets.

It was unfortunate that the Royal cottage couldn't be opened - apparently the woman who holds the keys had not returned from the next village after the previous night's party! Ah well - no matter. We still had a great time.

By now you will not be surprised to read that lunch ... was...a... picnic! What as it about us lot that we loved outdoor, freezing cold picnics???? No I don't know either, but we did! And so to a field where we stood in the freezing cold, enjoying our last picnic together. We didn't really want to leave as this was the last day together, but time waits for no-one especially people with a mission - to finish off our gin and tonic, to eat a great last dinner and to enjoy ourselves thoroughly!

The evening wasn't perhaps as rowdy as previous ones had been - but we still had a great time, ate and drank - and noted that the wined cellar had run out of our favoutite red! Tsk! tsk! And really we had nothing more to add except to say we wanted to keep in touch and that we all wanted to meet up again in a couple of years. This would allow our livers to recover, waistlines to shrink a tad and appetites to be sharpened. There would be one final farewell the next morning - but until then it was Goodnight!

Down the hill we go ...

2009-02-21T23:52:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day picnic

2009-02-21T23:49:00.000-08:00

2009-02-21T23:44:00.000-08:00

Dashing through the snow...

2009-02-21T23:25:00.000-08:00

Dashing through the snow,

Look out for the trees,

Down the road we go,

Then falling on our knees!

The snow fell and this morning it was too lovely to ignore. Our little cottage looked so pretty and fairytale-ish that I had to take its picture! The geese were upset as the stream had frozen, but at least they could go skating and tobogganing –and that’s exactly what was on our timetable for today!

The chance to act like a child was just too good to ignore. After our traditional late start, we went off to Lake St Anne. The snow was thick, the roads were covered and we had a ball. Not only did we zoom down the 1.2 kilometer road, we had the ride from hell as we were towed back up to the start by a 4WD! Now that was scarier than the tobogganing.

The lake itself was frozen over so we had the thrill of walking over it while some people were seen to be skating. I tell you, it was so cold that the hairs in my nostrils froze and went all crackly. But enough of the anatomical details!

It was just a pity that we couldn’t stay longer, but we did manage a glass of mulled wine at the hut before we headed off down the hill to lunch. We were so late that day and the restaurant was so slow that we didn’t eat and finish up till after 4:00pm! So we put in a request for dinner at 9:00pm! As ever, there was no problem.

On the drive back there were lots of big ZZZs as everyone fell asleep! I’m sorry to say that nobody really did dinner justice that night as we were all still just a tad too full of lunch!

As we went to bed, we realised we only had one day left of our Romanian Christmas…NOT a happy thought.

It was Christmas Day in the guesthouse...

2009-02-21T23:09:00.000-08:00

Jolly Christmas green for this one I think. I'd add holly and stuff like that but since I'm writing this in the past tense so to speak, there doesn't seem a lot of point!

So what do people normally do on Christmas Day after such a wonderful Christmas Eve? Obvious really. They go for a walk. But this was a walk with a teensy difference. We took a picnic- yes honestly we did. After all we were a bit tired and needed a break, so Mona led us across the fields on a beautiful Christmas Day's wander. there wasn't a lot of snow but we had a great time, brushed away the cobwebs and enjoyed the fresh air.

The views across the valley were very pretty and we were all happy to make a halt to discover the joys of the picnic basket. First up, of course, was that staple, the brandy. I have to say there were a few who actually declined this but I forced myself! Then to the serious business of eating. Cutlets, tomatoes, bread, cake ... it was just terrific and we didn't mind that the tea and coffee had gone a tad chilly.

We had a short day because we wanted to get back, have a rest, get cleaned up in time for the Renaissance group who were to sing for us before dinner. Well! They were just amazing. They sang a variety of medieval songs and carols and it was somehow the perfect way to end the two Christmas Days. No one wanted to move or breath while they were singibg and threy left behind copies of their CD - which promptly sold out.

And yes- the ususal amazing dinner was on offer - but tonight was an early night as we knew that tomorrow was to be a bit more energetic - tobogganing for all!

So we did repair to bed early - at least early for us!

T’was the night before a Romanian Christmas.

2009-02-17T23:35:00.000-08:00

Don’t you just love holidays where the hosts tell you that breakfast is at 9am? And that the trip will leave at 10.00? Yep, me too. Well, let’s face it – when you’re on holiday, do you really want to be up at the crack of dawn? So that was the way it was in Miklosvar. On this day’s agenda were several things we thought would be interesting and fun and so it proved. We started our travels with a visit to a Saxon fortified Church in Honiberg. Strange to see so many Germanic names till you realise the extent of the Saxons. These people knew how to defend themselves. The village was built with the Church on the hill – and it was well fortified with very thick walls and wonderful accommodation for every villager. Let's say you lived in house number 75 in the village. Well, when the Turkish hordes decided they wanted to visit, you sought shelter in the fortified Church grounds, and guess what? Your room in the walls there was also number 75! So you could never get confused or lost. And with true Germanic efficiency, there was a school; various workplaces (carpenters, smiths, weavers, bakers etc) so no one was idle in times of trouble. The able bodied men would of course be manning the walls, hurling various missiles down on enemy heads, but deep inside life carried on as usual. Even water was no problem as every fortified Church/village had its own well, if not two or three.

Unlike most Polish churches these were all Lutheran -so very plain with inscriptions in Latin or German. The war memorials were in German Gothic script; quite took me back to my early German lessons at school (I knew there was a reason for those old text books – Aufenhalt in Deutschland!!)

In addition to this we had the fun of a crazy puppy which wanted to steal everything we had including gloves, hats, cameras…. But lovely with it. After this amazing place we went on into Braşov. We wanted to see the Black Church but unfortunately it was shut! On Christmas Eve of all times… but then again, the excuse was that they were preparing for Christmas Eve services. I have to say that this would not have happened in Poland.

We had lunch which included the purchase of a bottle gin and several tonics! Oh yes… plans were afoot for a very merry Christmas! Walking round a bit of Braşov we saw that even in the bigger towns there was not the wealth of Polish towns. Not to worry – we were all hanging out for a trip up the gondola to see the view of the town. Well, when we got up there it was VERY snowy and FREEZING!! But it was well worth it. Despite the freezing cold wind and a distinct worry that we were about to be blown off the edge of the mountain the view was tremendous and it was quite a thrill to stand behind the giant town sign! (Rather like being behind a Hollywood sign, only more interesting!)

Well, we had to catch the last gondola down…and some of us thought wed managed to miss it – as we arrived just as they switched off the lights and a gondola left! But luckily another one came up with driver so we were ok. This was after we’d made plan to break into the restaurant, raid the bar and spend Christmas Eve eating frozen pizzas and drinking their bar dry! Never mind – another time.

So… home to Miklosvar and time for showers before the evening’s festivities began. First up on the agenda was a mini-concert by children from the next village. They were brought into the sitting room and sang Hungarian Christmas songs and carols. Boy, could they belt ‘em out. They were lovely, with all the acting and big smiles. Frankly it was a really good start to Christmas Eve.

But then it was time for the dinner. Unlike Poland, there is no ban on meat and it showed. We only had five courses – meat. Lots of pork – so tasty. We tucked in and after soup and lots of cabbage rolls and pork we were treated to the piece de resistance…a whole suckling pig! Oh yes! Mona and Charlie carried it in and it was amazing. This was a first and everyone ate so much that there was very little left. And we still had to have pudding! Of course we dug into the Count’s wine cellar… we were assured that on Christmas Eve the ‘rules’ and honesty book were suspended. Just as well!!

So what should a well-fed and waterd group do after such a meal? Hah! Easy! Charades! Oh yes. We played charades and it was the funniest thing you’ve ever seen. No one took it seriously so it was hilarious. Don’t you just love the frustration when someone can’t get their message across?

After that the six stalwarts stayed until midnight so we could wish each other a Happy Christmas. And so ended our Christmas Eve. This was another Christmas Eve which we will never forget. Great trip, great company and great food.

You called, m’lady?

2009-02-17T23:24:00.000-08:00

It was great to wake up to a smattering of snow at last – every little helps! Today we had the promise of a couple of really good things to see. First, off to Castle Bran to see the legendary Dracula’s Castle. Unfortunately, it really is legendary! In fact, the castle’s history is much more exciting than that. It was the home to Queen Maria of Romania, who was much loved by her subjects – not bad for a furriner! She rather enjoyed going into town with the minimum of fuss and being one of the locals. I suppose, at a pinch, you MIGHT say she was the template for Diana.

The castle is perched high on a crag in the centre of town and as you walk up the hill you are struck by the aspect -and the wind! It was a very cold day and there was MUCH more snow than in our village! The drive was fairly easy, if a trifle dull, but well worth it…and we still had that sneaking hope that we’d see our old friend Vlad! But it was not to be. In reality, the said Vlad only stayed in the castle for 48 hours. Yes, afraid so – just two nights! This did not diminish our fun one bit and we enjoyed wandering through the rooms – and deliberately setting off the alarms!

Sorry! But we did.

When we walked down the hill we found an outdoor museum – of course being December and just before Christmas it was shut – but we wandered round anyway and enjoyed the snowy views.

Then it was off to lunch. The restaurant was very cozy and the food was very good -and the hot brandy was even better. You know, these Romanians really know how to warm up on a freezing winter’s day! There really is no shortage of excellent beverages. A point here - our 'deal' included all trips and food etc - and we were NEVER offered the cheapest thing on the menu. In fact, quite the opposite. We were encouraged to order as much as we liked - starters, mains and puds too!

I did notice that the decorations were a tad gaudy…and even more worrying was the ever so slightly evil looking Santa in the hallway! But never mind…we were fit to venture once more into the snow…and to a second fortified castle…high on a hill en route home.

The village was Răsnov and was built in 1225 (for those of you history buffs), and as yet another Teutonic Knights hangout. It was more of a fort really and the snow was so heavy that we were unable to appreciate the 360° view. It was whiteout time! However, we still enjoyed the visit and all that fresh air and food and walking and …and … made for a very quiet car en route home! The big Zzzzz must have been seen from space. And when we got home – full house for Christmas. Tomorrow would be Christmas Eve and we were all wondering what that might bring as we’d been promised a wonderful dinner…

Village scenes 22-12-2008

2009-02-11T01:10:00.000-08:00

Totems aren't just for poles!

2009-02-11T00:25:00.000-08:00

It's now Day 3 - Suspend time why don't you. I'm only doing this so I don't forget what a fantastic time we had!!

Memories of muddy roads, cows, goats and horses and carts. The Turbo version of that last is when you see the cart pulled by one horse and the turbo horse trotting along beside or behind. The Supercharged version?? Ea-sy! TWO horses towing and one extra!

First impressions of the Romanian countryside was just how much poorer it looked than Poland. Having said that, at least the fields were large - Not strip framing. But there again, this was the result of collectivisation! Very few tractors were in evidence and in addition to this, very little mechanisation of any kind.

First stop - a wood carver's home which houses the 15th generation of carvers! Beautiful work - even the gate was amazingly carved. Inside the ground the family had their own totem. Moving on, we went next to see a mill.

This mill still produces all the flour and animal feed for the district. It was great to see something that was still in use - complete with cats, one of whom was in grave danger of being adopted by us! The mill owner's widow gave us coffee - I do like Romanian coffee - and her family were most hospitable. Bearing in mind that this is a Hungarian speaking region, there's a lot to consider including how they are treated. More of that later.

Many villages still have and use the village pump for water. Or, as we saw, people will come to the mill to get water form the mill lade. We even saw a woman washing the laundry in the river. It was winter folks. How lucky are we with all our mod cons?

Next off to see a cemetery. Not just any old cemetery, but one with totems as well as grave stones. Now here's the swift guide: Tulips. If the tulip is closed, it's a man's grave; if it's open, it's a woman's. The carvings tell about dates of birth, death, occupation and even children. Got that? Good, as the test will be later. There were a couple of beautiful totems.

After lunch back at the Guesthouse (with wine of course!) we were taken on a walk to see the Count's Hunting Lodge. this once beautiful building had been wrecked by the Communists and needs a great deal of work to restore it. But ... the Count is doing just that. We had a wander round inside and it's just possible, using your imagination to 'see' how things would have been.

Returning to the Guesthouse for afternoon tea, we were greeted at the door by a most elegant gentleman who introduced himself "Hello, I'm Tabor, would you like tea?" Well, yes - it was the Count himself. We were very lucky to meet him and had a lovely chat over brandy and tea - oh yes - the home made brandy...6* stuff. Delicious. He explained that there is so much bureaucracy that it is taking a very long time to get permission to do things. I just hope he gets it all done as he has such wonderful plans. What's best? The fact that everything is local, so the benefits are often immediate.

And really, that was the 22nd December! Only a couple more days till Christmas!

To Transylvania!!!

2009-01-08T05:23:00.000-08:00

Fro Krakow to Miklosvar!

A Romanian Christmas

2009-01-08T04:20:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess it's been some time since I did this - again! Doesn't it just make you wonder where time actually goes - I mean who decided that we'd have 24 hours only in a day, when we all know we need more! And so I'm now going to try to entertain you with visions of our Transylvanian Christmas.

Day 1 - Our little adventure started simply enough - train to Vienna (sandwiches included just in case), then obiad in a little place we know near SudBahnhof! A trip out to the airport, and the easiest check-in and security ever before a flight to Bucharest. Mind you, when you arrive at Bucharest Muddy Field watch out as the folks waiting to meet 'n' greet are pressed right up against the exits! Soooo... after fighting our way out we tried to find the guy who was to take us to the hotel for our overnighter. Luckily he arrived just as we were calling then hotel...The Four Seasons ... very nice place. Apparently it's in the rich area - hmmmm...that's relative I'd say.

Day 2 - a quick visit to the local shopping centre "Jollie Ville" to use the cash dispenser - but of course that was after being let in the fore exit as the security had lost the main entrance keys! Then.... to the Gare Nord to buy tickets for our 1130 train....... but as you might expect....it didn't exist! Oh boy! Instead of an hour's wait we had 3 hour's wait till we managed to get the IC train to Brasov. And here's the thing. They have Business Class on this train and it was just great. We had 1st class tickets but simply paid the extra and had peace and quiet.

The trip was interesting as we saw the countryside without snow - lots of mud, very poor, horses and carts, very depressing looking - and not sign that it was Christmas. The snow appeared as we went higher and I had high hopes for our holiday. At Brasov we were met by Josef and i turned out that there was another couple on the train going our way! Excellent. We were driven to Miklosvar to Count Kalnoky's Guesthouse which took about an hour. The last part of the trip was in darkness, but we were warmly welcomed by one of the managers, offered home-made brandy (excellent) and tea and cake (also excellent). Then we were shown to our cottages... absolutely beautiful. Original architecture, wooden beams, thick walls and wooden stoves in the rooms heated by fires underneath the building - so warm that we thought we'd gone to the tropics by mistake!

But that's not all folks... the bathroom had softened water, underfloor heating and was totally modern; the furniture was antique, with our bathroom door from 1862 - and that was young! We even had our own crucifix above the bed and a couple of bulbs of garlic above the entry - which incidentally was a double door - and excellent for keeping out the cold and snow as we found out later.

Dinner was served at 8pm -that was the norm - and it was good Romanian cooking. We ate in the wine cellar - yes, I know what you're thinking - and you are right! The reds we drank were very good -and we did rather go to town in the week we there - but then again, there were ooh 18? of us altogether. So since this wasn't a convention of Teetotallers Annonymouse.... well, you can guess the rest!

The best thing about all this? Well, no TV, no radio so what did we do? We all talked! Oh yes -we rediscovered that age old skill of conversation...and we spent a lot of time laughing so much it hurt!
And that's enough for this day. Next time I'll tell you all about Days 3 and 4. Try not to go to sleep on it, will you!

Santa comes to town

2008-12-09T07:27:00.000-08:00

If it's December 6th, then it must be Mikolaj! Hurrah.... for the biker Santas! On Saturday the Rynek reverberated to the gentle sound of motor bike engines, as the bikers of Krakow roared their way round, let people see, touch and even climb on the bikes, handed out sweets -and then went on their way to the children's home. What a great idea and what fun!

I was told about this event by one of the bikers who I know and I have to say that my main concern was that I wouldn't recognise him in a Santa suit. I was rather depending on recognising his wife. However, he saw me before i spotted him and he even gave us each a choccie bar. Just the ticket to slow down the hunger pangs!

Right now the Rynek has the Christmas market and there is a wonderful atmosphere. I love to wander round and if you are interested then head to the end, near the Nativity stage, where there is the most wonderful stall. It sells cheeses from Zakopane. Smoked cheese that is grilled, and served with blueberry jam. Just out of this world ....sooooo delicious and definitely one of my favourites. Then head back and quench your thirst with a mulled wine.

Alternatively, go to Sw. Marka and look for a rather well-hidden pub called Non-Iron. No, I'm not kidding - that really is its name. It is very small, easy to miss but well worth the search. It serves some tasty beverages, the majority of which are Czech! I sampled a couple of different ones, including one with kolendra in it. That's coriander to you. It was my favourite of the weekend.

And now it's the working week again. Having had a good weekend with a cousin from Poznan, this is now a tad flat - but it's only days to do till we're off to Transylvania for Christmas....so really don't expect anything to appear her for a while now please! Next installment will be from the Christmas break!

All Saint's Day November 2008

2008-12-08T06:27:00.000-08:00

Prague collage

2008-12-08T06:19:00.000-08:00

First snows!!!

2008-12-02T10:18:00.001-08:00

Hurrah - we did have November snow, so I as very happy - at least for three days. But as you can guess, it all disappeared and now it's just yucky damp and rather cold. But November was so quick anyway that we are now starting to pack up. We've rented out the apartment fro when we leave here and there are a few boxes lying around looking pathetic.

We have discovered that the only place to do self-storage is in Warszawa so we are taking the boxes up there en route to family for Sylwester. We'll need a party after the hassles of deciding what to box, what to post and what to take in a suitcase.

I'm dreading the 'move'. I have now decided that this is positively that LAST time I am involved with boxes at Christmas time. NEVER again. From now on we 'move' after Christmas - preferably mid=year!!!!!

This coming weekend one of my cousins is coming to stay - it'll be great fun as the last tme we saw her was at New Year 2007!!!! As I recall that occasion involved apple juice and vodka and ....well it's all a bit hazy!!!! This is the return match! Better late than never.

The Christmas market is up in the Rynek. I love the atmosphere so much. I really get into the spirit of Christmas just wandering round the stalls and looking at all the lovely things on sale. I'll take my camera down this weekend when Aga is here and take piccies. I must also take pics of trams and strangely mundane things like that. Otherwise no-one at home will believe me when I try to describe what I've seen. It's unfortunate that I have to leave my photo albums here - but at least all the pics are on my laptop! Whew!!!!

OK - so look out for photos of markets etc then nothing till after our holiday in Romania, wioth our old pal, Vlad!

If it's November it must be ... Prague!

2008-11-12T12:18:00.000-08:00

You know, when you have a long weekend in Poland, the obvious thing is to leave the country! Well, that is when the weekend includes Independence Day! So this year, after experiencing All Saints Day and Independence Day in 2007, we did two things. First, on All Saints Day we went to the biggest cemetery in Krakow. No! We aren't morbid - but it's a very interesting thing to do. You see, families go and lay flowers, and candles at graves - and this particular cemetery also includes the CWGC section, as well as Polish military, Russian and German War Graves. And no-one had been forgotten!

Although all shops were closed, the crowds were enormous. In the cemetery, many people also laid flowers and lights at the late Pope's family grave. Amazing to see. Of course, there were many laid in front of the statue of P-J II!

And after that it was a trip to Prague to try to see more of it than we did in the summer. We went by train. Now... normally this train has a restaurant car so we didn't bother with any food. Result? We had 2 small bottles of water to last us ..... wait for it.... 7hours! Yes - you read right - 7 hours! What on earth possessed them NOT to put on the restaurant car??????????

Despite that we had a great weekend. We stayed in a lovely hotel only 5 minutes from the Metro and trams, and we walked all over as usual. There was a great exhibition on in the Museum Narodny about living in the Czech Republik in 1908, 1928, 1948; there was also an excellent one on Czech Legion in Russia in the First World War and just after.

We avoided the crowds as much as possible although there were far more people than we'd anticipated. Charles Bridge is undergoing repair so is not as attractive as before but no doubt will be safer and last longer.

We went to another cemetary - but this time to see Dvorac's Grave. After all, we also went to a couple of musical recitals in old churches which were very good because of the acoustics.

We also went up the funicular railway to the 'Eiffel Tower' and walked up the steps to the top for a fabulous view of the entire area. Despite a cold day it was at least dry and sunny so we managed to withstand the sway of the tower and NOT fall over the edge - yes here in Europe you are actually still allowed to be responsible for your own actions! And... guess what! We managed to behave and not fall, trip, throw things through the windows that we opened, spit on people below...etc etc.

I found one shop I wanted to go into - because it sold evil looking Santas - choccie ones that is! OK - so I didn't buy a Santa - but I did buy a tin of choccies to eat - sometime........... Plus 6 mini Santas. Prague is definitely good for restaurants - but stay away from the Old Town. Go across the river and you'll find great value for money. And we cannot go further without a mention of Czech beer! I can't start to mention them.

I'm going to stop here for now. We only have a few weeks left and I'll try to put together something with a collage of pics. Then we're off in December for Christmas - to Transylvania!

Warsaw in a weekend and Malbork in a day

2008-11-01T10:03:00.000-07:00

A weekend in Warszawa - just what we needed to blow the cobwebs away. After all, there's only so much work a person can do before they need another break! So we left Krakow behind again and had a couple of days in the country's capital.

When you only have that short time, it's really best to decide before you go exactly what you will see. I wanted to make the Warsaw Rising museum my priority as well as walk through the 'old' city. I can't recommend the Museum highly enough. From the entry area with Warsaw's beating heart to the displays and commentary it was a wonderful museum. It's fairly new, and we spent nearly 4 hours there. We lost track of time and it was only because we were hungry that we decided to wander to town to eat - looked at our watches - and 4 hours had gone past!

The displays cover the progress of the Rising in 1944, social commentary, memories and even a film made in 1944, hidden, then re-hidden by the Communists before being put back together again. I did have personal reasons to go here - my Uncle Stefan, his wife and little boy were all murdered in the Rising - and I really wanted to find out more.
Other things to see are Stalin's gift - a truly ugly building the Palace of Culture (??), and the Little Insurgent. This is a little statue to pay tribute to the children of the Rising. It sits just outside the old city walls, is not too easy to find, but is worth searching for.

We finished off our weekend by going to see the cereminail changing of he guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It's held every Sunday at 12 noon and is extremely good.

Of course, you have to have a look at the old city. It is very small and quite remarkable considering it was totally destroyed in the Second War. Thanks to old pictures and paintings, it was possible to reconstruct it - and herein lies another story...

After our weekend in Warszawa, we had another couple of weeks before we were off again - this time a long train journey up to Malbork. For a comprehensive history see the website:

http://www.zamek.malbork.pl/en/index.html

It was fantastic - and lucky to still be here! After the end of the war when the good burghers of Warszawa wanted to rebuild, they looked around for the right sort of bricks - and... they turned their gaze to Malbork. They were going to use all the bricks from that ancient castle to rebuild the capital, but luckily, they were stopped. And so Malbork still stands.

It was and is the largest Gothic castle in Europe - the Teutonic Knights held it, and t was never taken by force - ever. However, it was sold once - a Polish King bargained for it and got it. The tour is well put together - our Guide had wonderful stories to tell and we saw a great deal. this was another marathon - 3 hours this time.

Have to say however, that this is only attraction in the town - luckily we only went there for a couple of nights, and as it takes 7 hours to reach it by train we weren't really short of time.

We enjoyed walking around the castle at night as it is floodlit and you can - and should- cross the bridge to the other side of the river to get a good view and appreciate its size. We stayed in the Zamek Hotel - this was originally in the Lower Castle (there are 3 castles too - in one) and was the infirmary for the lower orders. The rooms were... quaint, not too bad, but they need new beds really. We ate out as the restaurant was silly prices!

The autumnal colours were beautiful and warranted photographs and we enjoyed walking along the river and through the wooded areas. However, any longer and we'd have gone crazy without a car!

Apart from that, we now have a long weekend in Praha coming up in November... not All Saint's weekend which is today; next weekend. Next blog after that!

Speak loudly and she'll understand!

2008-10-02T07:47:00.000-07:00

Right then. So it's now into October and let's just recap what I've been up to recently. Well, apart from trying to get interested in work again I have done something fun - at least for me.

I went up to a little farm are called Dominikowice, where my family comes from (Yes- I'm half Polish). I wanted to spend time on the farm where my father had been born and grew up - and also I wanted to make myself work on my Polish.

I stayed with one of my cousins who speaks...NO English so that was step one. I had to listen very hard and try to speak. She was terrific. So patient and after a couple of days she was translating from Polish to easy Polish for me whenever we went to see other cousins. Some of them definitely belonged to the "Speak VERY loudly -but just as fast - and she's bound to ndertsnad" school of language. But it was fun listening and trying to answer and talk.

I did things I'd never done before like gathering mushrooms in the forest at 8am - before they went yucky! Then we took them home and I helped prepare them and we ate some too! Delicious. I learned how Barsczt Bialy is made and Polish Tomato soup. I picked plums and rasps and apples from the trees and ate them! Not all of them - just the ones that cried out "Eat MEEEEEE!"

I had fun learning to talk to the dogs in Polish - and the seven cats. I also had a chance to walk to the Warta River - where my father learned to swim, when his father threw him in! He also used to take a ferry across the river to his tutor during the summer holidays - because he wanted to go to Gymnazium. I saw the Kaplica at the end of the road where the names of family members are inscribed - they were killed in the first days of the Second World War.

I also did something excellent. With my cousin's help I went to the local town offices and was allowed to see the entry of my father's birth in the old ledger! 1908 - all in Russian but there it was - his name! Then I got a copy. I wasn't allowed to photograph the original entry - ochrona - security! But at least I saw it. I also heard lots of stories form relatives all about the family -and lo and behold - I understood most of it! Hurrah!!

A couple of times I had a break when younger members of the family came round and I got a chance to clarify points and chat in English.

I had a great week - and I tell you right now - if you are trying to learn a foreign language it's the way to go. From now on in I'll truly understand when students in Oz tell me it's hard living with a host family!

Dave came up for the weekend and then I realised how much I'd taken in in such a short time. It was his turn to look bemused! I want to do this again but I don't have time - we've only got a few weeks left now. Maybe I'll do it when we come back at the start of our next trip here.

Meantime - we have an invitation to another cousin's for Sylvester - look out! And we've been to Warszawa = more later. We have a trip planned to Malbork - biggest Gothic castle in Europe, and also to Prague in November. but wait for it...... we just booked our Christmas holiday - Transylvania in a Count's cottages.

So there'll be lots to read before we leave for Brissie in mid-January!

Around old haunts in 21 days!

2008-09-21T03:10:00.000-07:00

Yes! I know I'm way behind but tough! I'll take this opportunity to say that this entry will be rather like a tin of Nestle's milk - condensed!

This is Europe... three weeks in a rather lovely Renault Clio. We wanted to drive through Germany to visit our old haunts from the olden days when we loved in Nordrhein Westfalen -so we did.

The drive nowadays is pretty simple thanks to Europe's open borders. Although we saw border guards, complete with binos, they weren't even vaguely interested in us. We soared through from Poland and went from autostrada which went to old Nazi Tank Road to beautiful Autobahn. There really is very little traffic on the eastern German roads and wew enjoyed the cruising very much.

We stayed in little Gasthauses, ate wonderful food, and generally relaxed into Germany again. On our second morning all plans went awry. We had intended driving inot thje Harz Mountains, but en route we saw a magical sign - one we soimply couldn't ignore> Colditz! Yes folks! THE Colditz. Of course went for a visit and we were especially lucky as one of the group with which we went round was the daughter of a former POW there! She brought stories to the visit and we enjoyed feeling it all come alive. Visit this place if you can! WELL worth it. Unfortunately we wanted to get nearer the Harz so after a very quick snack - good old bockwurst and brot - we headed off.

In the Harz we think we found where we used to stand a look at them looking at us...etc. It's so much nicer now! Overall impressions - everything was very tidy and clean - such a pleasure to walk everywhere without the fear of stepping in something narsty!

Then towards our old stomping grounds - Paderborn, Bad Salzuflen, Herford and Bielefeld. It as magical to visit the street we used to walk when our children were little. Our old quarters were still there, the streets looked pretty much the same, but the areas were bigger of course. And it didn't take us long to find Bratties and Pommes or Kartofel Salat!!! Mmmnnnnn......

We visited Herman's Denkmal, the Frielichtsmuseum, walked in the Teutoburgerwald, had Ice-creams in the old cafe on the ridge at Bielefeld.... it was trip down memory lane! Wonderful. And so after this indulgence we wandered across to Mons to see friends again. A weekend enjoying their company, and seeing some things locally, including Van Goch's house in the swamp, was a real tonic - our livers have recovered!

Next to the Allgau! We lived there for 4 months and we always wanted to go back. It is simply beautiful. So green and pretty and the village of Weitnau where we used to ski and eat was looking terrific. The old gasthaus that we'd rented was gone - flattened and the land turned into discount shops - but we could still see the old road and the place we used to park the vehicles. Ahhhhh memories!

We also met up with very dear friends who live in the area - well, Kempten and Augsburg. We hadn't seen them for about 20 years and it was just like we'd seen them yesterday! a truly lovely time.

Next heading south towards Lorraine and Logie de France! If you haven't used them you really must. Wonderful accommodation and top quality food - MOST times. Our first place was just fabulous. An old chateau in a village with such good food and one that we really should have stayed longer! From here we visited Verdun town and the Salient. Yes - another WW1 trip.

But then - on to Alsace to sample the delights of the Rhein. Not such good Logie, but convenient for touristy things. A visit to a silver mine was the highlight. We donned the helmets, gumboots and rubber coats (!) and headed in with our French speaking guide. It was unlit so our helmet lamps were a necessity. I don't have a problem with this sort of thing, but I wouldn't recommend it if you are at all claustrophobic. It gets very narrow and there are a couple of places where you have to sit down and s-q-u-ee-z-e through very narrow gaps! How the miners could have done it day in, day out I really do not know!

OK - so to finish our trip we went into the Czech Republik. We skirted round Prague (That's for a November visit!) and went onto Kutna Hora. It's a little town that once rivaled Prague and is fascinating. We stayed in a rather good hotel this time, and walked all round the old town. The highlight here was a visit to the chapel - inside totally decorated with ----- bones! Just a tad morbid and ghoulish and we were actaully quite happy to leave!

So then..... we came back to Krakow. We knew when we'd entered Poland as the roads went to rats!

It was a fabulous trip and the next time we do this sort of thing I have only one demand - we get a car with Satnav!! It is very annoying to see one type of road signage on a map only to find it's all different on the ground. Plus.... we never did find those well known places in France Autres routes or the other one Toutes directions. :)

Gallipoli

2008-09-01T23:00:00.000-07:00

There are no adequate words to describe a visit to Gallipoli.

The area is designated a National Park and is incredibly well looked after by the Turkish authorities. This is not just because they consider this to be their victory. The Turks, quite rightly, have responsibility for the area. After all, we must never forget that this is their country, not ours, and their battle as well as ours. They are warm and welcoming towards all visitors and while the majority of tour groups are Turkish, we did bump into other nationalities.

We were not there just to look at the Anzac areas, but to get an overall impression of the campaign. Thanks to Major and Mrs Holt's map and also to a battlefield tour guide given to us a by a friend who has guided here, we were able to walk the battles and immerse ourselves in the human as well as military atmosphere.

Some 'purists' might complain that we should have been there on Anzac Day itself - I beg to differ. Anzac Day has become a circus and there is no doubt in my mind that in order to get a feel for the ground and the hardships endured by all combatants, you can visit at any time. And what better time than a boiling hot July day? With far fewer visitors their is time to stand and stare, to feel the atmosphere, to try to understand what it must have been like for the soldiers at Gallipoli.

Experience the 30C+ heat. Just walking along the flat in the blazing sun was hard enough. Try to imagine struggling up a steep slope loaded with your pack, weapon, ammunition and rations.

Struggle through the brushwood in Shrapnel Valley whilst looking up at the Turkish positions; gaze across from Chunuk Bair to the sea, remembering that this was the only glimpse of possible victory the Kiwis saw for, oh, such a brief time; stand on the beach at Anzac Cove and look up at the Sphinx towards more Turkish positions; walk through the remains of trenches trying to understand how on earth sanity prevailed when your enemy was a stone's throw away; stand in The Nek and say you don't feel the ghosts.

Perhaps the most heart rending part is that there are so few gravestones. In each cemetery there are only a token number of stones, as most bodies were either never found or never identified. This is particularly true of The Nek. This hopeless assault on the Turkish position took place in a tennis court sized area - and it is not until you stand in it you realise that the literature was accurate on this fact.

In order to do the peninsula justice you should allow three days. We hired a car and drove to each position. The Turks have built a one-way system which is very efficient and means you follow the battles. All positions are well signed, with the exception of Beach CWGC Cemetery. We finally found it after some deductions. The CWGC sign was hidden by bushes. This is where John Simpson Kirkpatrick "The man with the donkey', is buried.

If you think that places like this must be depressing, you couldn't be more wrong. There is a wonderful feeling of peace, for despite the thousands of names on memorials, and the graves with "Believed to be buried here' or 'Known only unto God' you come away immensely humbled and grateful.

Thanks to the efforts of the CWGC and the local Turkish gardeners, every cemetery is beautifully kept - and this is very difficult in the Turkish terrain. Plants suitable for the area have been planted and whilst the rain drains away quickly, leaving the earth rock hard and in many places devoid of grass, the grounds are still manicured and lovingly cared for.

To reiterate - this is the one blog where words are inadequate. All I can say, is that if you ever have the opportunity, then go! Don't wait for April - go in July, walk the area, visit the cemeteries without the flag-waving crowds. I believe you'll have a far better understanding.

Into the harem

2008-08-26T05:56:00.000-07:00

So, after a good day we decided to go on a tour of the Bosphorus. We thought it might help us to see more and to feel more orientated to the city. It is the most amazing waterway, with ferries, small boats, fishing boats, Black Sea ferries and huge tankers trafficking through it.

The Istanbul shoreline seems to be lined with palaces, some old and some older! Many are now hotels or government departments, but they still retain a feeling of grandeur. We spent the entire trip spotting palaces, Turkish flags and mosques. There is no shortage of any of the above. After the trip we decided to go for lunch and at last! We were able to indulge our passion for ... lamb!!! Living in Poland has meant a lack of lamb and we had determined to feast ourselves silly on this delicacy!

And after that, what better way to spend dome of the day than in Topkapi Palace. If you are into Islamic Art and Design - this is a must! The mosaics are truly stunning - too stunning to show well in photographs. Some of the best were in the Harem (entrance below). Each Sultan had designed his own private quarters within the harem and so there are a series of rooms, each more beautiful than the last.

Since the Queen Mother was an incredibly powerful woman (!), her quarters were also stunning. The Harem was guarded by Eunuchs (ouch!) who were able to see everyone coming and going through clever use of mirrors in the reception hallway! There was no way a person could sneak out for a quick kebab and chips, or a person sneak in after a night on the tiles!

I was rather taken with the Sultan's bath - a most impressive piece of marble - one which I quite fancied in my little apartment!! Of course it wouldn't fit into my suitcase. so that was that!

And what does one do after such an exciting day? Isn't it obvious? We repaired to a rather nice hostelry for a Efes beer or two. Turkish beer is quite acceptable in Turkey. Its only bad side is that it seems to be made the American way - with rice, so can leave you with a teensy strange head. If you like American beers you'll like this. We liked it simply because it was local and cheap and fun to try something new.

Next day was a trip to the cistern - underground water system from Byzantine times. Cool and carefully lit, it provides a glimpse of the ancient city's water supply. There is a route which you walk round, gazing into the water where carp swim and the path culminates in two column, each with a Medusa's head at the base. However, one is on its side, and the other is upside down - and no one knows why. No doubt the reason has disappeared into the annals of Istanbul's history. The atmosphere is somehow peaceful and for once this is an escape from the noise and bustle of the old city. A welcome relief indeed.

Another day - another place to see. This time we went to the Asian side of the Bosphorus and enjoyed the more modern sights there. In fact we walked a fair way from Taksim Square (with the usual statue of Ataturk) all the way back down to the Galata Bridge, across it and then back towards the hotel. We did succumb to ice cream - Turkish ice cream is really........ lovely. My favourite is cherry! Soooooooo nice...... Ooooh take me back!

This rather brought our time in Istanbul to a close but we have decided that it is a city well worth visiting. What will we remember? Well, the friendliness and helpfulness of the people; the wonderful Turkish tea and apple tea - given free in every restaurant we went into; the ancient sights; the vibrant colours of Islamic art; the aroma in the Spice Market - preferring it to the Grand Bazaar! And yes! even the hotel because they were so helpful to is and obliging - even if the Internet crashed completely on our second last day and we had to resort to Internet cafes!

So - the next stage of our journey was about to begin - with a hired car and the road to Gelibolu!

Poison for your mother-in law?

2008-08-22T07:51:00.000-07:00

So here’s the next instalment of ‘What I did on my holidays’! I guess I have to say that when you are in a city as big as Istanbul, the last thing you can do efficiently is see it. We decided to do a city tour – only a half day, but at least it would give us an idea of what we then wanted to go and see in slow time.

The company is situated right next to Hagia Sophia and they use double Decker buses. Being pushy ‘Poles’ we managed to snaffle the seats right at the front on the top deck. We were given head sets and all we had to do was adjust the speaker to English so that we had a guided tour in our own language. I have to say it was worth it. The bus stopped several times and places of interest were pointed out, with detail such as which day places were shut. Now that was worth knowing and we were able to plan around all that.

We were driven round the Golden Horn, across to Asia (!), up to Taksim Square, round the old city walls and finally back to Hagia Sophia. In all this took about 3 hours, and we were definitely ready for some lunch!!

After braving the inevitable carpet salesmen, we managed to get really good omelets. They were not boring at all – in fact they were extremely tasty. Food is very cheap if you eat locally and try to avoid the touristy places. There’s soooooo much lamb – and after months of living in a lamb-free zone, we were ready for it! YUM!

We decided to go into Hagia Sophia. It’s a real eye opener. It is a combination of Christian, Byzantine and Islamic decoration and is quite incredible. There is a lot of renovation going on but we were able to walk everywhere (it isn’t in formal use any more). When you go to the

Upper level you can look down – and there is even some Byzantine graffiti – the equivalent of Papadopoulos woz ‘ere! The architecture is impressive but what amazed us was that once you were on the upper level the floors there were marble – the effort that must have gone into the construction is mind-boggling.

After that it was back out not the fray….. beating off more carpet sellers…. Well…. Almost!!! Yes, we did succumb. We wanted to buy a small rug or a kilim for our Krakow apartment and he was such a nice man and we were given endless cups of apple tea and then …….. yes we saw the most beautiful carpets and rugs and kilims. Well, after all that we bought a rug and two kilims! BUT! We are only keeping the rug. One kilim has gone to son in Australia and one will go to son in South Korea! Anyway, not content with selling us those things the guys in this shop asked us to look at some silk rugs -and some of those were about one foot square – and, wait for it… are you sitting down? They were worth US$3,000!!!!!!! We nearly choked on our tea. To make us feel truly welcome we were then brought real Turkish tea and baklava and ice-cream! I tell you, carpet buying in Istanbul is a serious affair.

We escaped from the clutches and decided to go for a struggle through the Spice market. It’s the rival to the Grand Bazaar and in my opinion it’s much nicer. The smells and colours are just to inhaled and enjoyed. The crowds wander their way through and we were offered all sorts of things. Carpets – great to be able to say “Got some!”, spices, tea, leather, t-shirts, hats, and lots of Gold. But the highlight came when one lad, not to be put off by our smiling “No thanks”, leant towards David and said in a not-so sotto voce “Poison for you mother-in-law?” Now that had us in stitches. Good on him – that showed quick wit and class! Poor fella – no luck there either as we told him “Nah – she’s already dead!” He took it gracefully – i.e. he laughed with us!

Well, that’s it for today. Next session soon - promise!!!!!

Up, up and away!

2008-08-02T06:47:00.000-07:00

11th July - great day for a holiday, folks. A quick trip up to Warsaw courtesy of LOT and then off on Turkish airlines for the 1 hour 35 minute flight to Istanbul! Turkish Airlines were just great - new aircraft, still pretty squeaky clean, and the staff were courteous and helpful. Plus, as this was our first non-budget flight for oooh..... ages.... we enjoyed the lunch ..and the wine!

Arrival in Istanbul was 'interesting'. The first hurdle was the queue for visas. You don't generally need to pre-purchase - just get it on arrival. On European passports we paid 10GBP. (We could have paid 10Euros!!)

It's pretty obvious that Turkey really wants to be in the EC - everything is priced in Euros and Turkish Lira. We worked with Lira as it was fun t deal with yet another currency. We succumbed to a tout for a 'minibus' to our hotel. Reason? Ataturk Airport is well west of the city and we were staying in the centre of the old city! Much too far to be bothered trying to find our own way. After all, it's a city of about 16,000,000!

It took the driver nearly an hour to find the hotel!!!!!!!!!! Boutique Hotel Dedem. Erm, where should I start? OK - with the positives. Number one and NOT to be sniffed at - it really is only a matter of meters from the main attractions. Excellent. We could walk everywhere till we dropped. Second, the staff were very friendly and obliging. They booked a Bosphorus tour for us, they changed our room instantly (more in a mo), they advised on where to hire a car - oh yes we did!

BUT... the room. Number one room. Well, it wasn't so much what didn't work, more what did! NOTHING! I honestly mean NOTHING! No bedside lamps, the shower leaked all over the floor and the door wanted to fall off every time we slid it shut, the toilet ceased to flush, the aircon wasn't really quite as we'd hoped (!) There was no sheet till day 2 - by which time we'd arranged to move rooms. We couldn't get any English TV channels. Now before you get all uppity - it really is nice to come back after a hard day's touristing and just relax a bit - at the very least we thought we'd get BBC World to find out what was happening!

Number 2 room - the shower still leaked but we'd given up on that one and at least it was efficient. We could get BBC Prime, and the bed had a sheet or two. Turks, by the way, don't supply sheets that cover two people. We had one bedside light that worked - hurrah! Once we got a bulb, the second one worked too. Oh joy!

And now you're asking in frustration - why on earth did we not move hotels? Ea - sy. It was cheap and literally we were only 5 minutes from the Blue Mosque, the Cistern, the Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace and oooh... 10-15 from the Bosphorus and Sea of Marmara! Now would you have wasted your holiday looking for another room? No - I didn't think so. PLUS... I have to say that the breakfast room had a glorious view across the bay. Well, worth it.

Our first evening ended with a meal of real Turkish lentil soup and kebap. Turkish food is wonderful and we ate really well. We were also deeply impressed by the friendliness of the Turks we met on that first evening. They took our refusal to buy carpets very well! More of that later!

Anyway, so ended our arrival in Istanbul and the following days were shaping up to be just terrific. Next installment soon. If any of you are reading this, please do feel free to comment and ask questions!

Edinburgh summer

2008-07-28T00:53:00.000-07:00

Yes - I know. This was supposed to be about Turkey, but I wanted to show you that summer does come sometimes to Edinburgh! We just popped across for a few days and for the first time saw my ma-in-law's house in summer!!

One trip we did make was to the Falkirk Wheel. It's the connection between the Union Canal and the Forth and Clyde Canal. Most interesting - specially as all the staff were obviously following safety and health - wearing life jackets everywhere - even in that most flood-prone place - the gift shop!

Anyway, this is just a few pics for those of you who might be interested!

Sto lat, Sto lat!

2008-07-27T01:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I suppose I could plead insanity or something - but actually I've been away. I have a fair bit to report on so I'll start with our first ever Polish wedding.

The last weekend in June was not only the end of classes, but we had a trip up to Lodz - definitely not for sightseeing!! My cousin's niece - so my 'sort of' second... or is it third..or second removed... was getting married. Here weddings generally start at about 6:00pm, with the church ceremony, and then are followed by the party.

So what I'll do is describe is as I remember..... My cousin picked us up from our hotel and we drove to the church. There we made slight detour to a florists to buy flowers - very traditional. You buy either one or three - NEVER two! Plus, it seems that it's always the man who carries the flowers! Aussie he-men take note!! We gathered outside the church and spoke to people in our sort-of Polish and English. Meantime the parents of the bride (my cousin and wife) were dashing around talking to everyone. No one was n church at this point. After all, there was a Mass going on!

Just before 6:00pm we wandered into the church and sat anywhere. People who had been at Mass stayed to watch the wedding too. First real surprise - parents have nothing to do with the church side! Father of the bride was sitting with his wife at the front of the church. Normally there is the one priest, but on this occasion there were three - because two of them were Dominican Brothers, friends from Lublin of the bride and groom. The other was the Parish Priest.

Music began and the priests walked up to the door to welcome and invite the couple in - and they walked to the altar, the bride on the groom's arm. The wedding ceremony was interesting. Prayers, no hymns, readings, the bride's sister sang, the priests talked to the couple. Then the actual marriage was quite short. As it was in Polish I hadn't expected to follow it but it was pretty self evident.

At the end the priests walked away, and then when the wedding march began the couple got up and walked out, followed by family then the rest of us. Strangely, the music sped up - but of course there was another ordinary Mass about to start!! So hurry up people - get out!!

I found out afterwards that the couple had probably already signed the legal marriage documents before the ceremony so were in fact married before the church. This can be done up to a month before the actual church ceremony! The couple stood outside church and we all congratulated them, handed over the flowers and presents/money, and then we went to a hotel for the party.

We had to wait for the new husband and wife to arrive - and he had to carry her up the stairs and into the room where we all sang 'Sto lat!" (100 years). great song - see link! It is used for any celebration - E.g. my family sand it to us the first time we visited Poland. http://www.polishamericancenter.org/StoLat.htm

After that it was tuck-in time. There was so much food and drink but no one was drunk! We ate lots then had to dance. The couple had been practising and started it all off with two dances. The first was traditional... but then! They did a wonderful Bollywood feature! Bollywood is really popular here.

OK - so heaps of dancing and Poles can dance! Note to self - dancing lessons when back in Australia!!!!! Even the real oldies were fantastic dancers. Periodically we'd go back to eat more, then sing songs and dance again. This went on till midnight, and just after that there was another ceremony -the throwing off of the veil. First, the bride sat and we sang to her, while her sister removed the veil and she threw it down to show she was no longer an unmarried girl. Then all the unmarried girls walked slowly round her while a song was sung. At the end she took her veil and threw it. The girl who caught it was to be next to get married! Then the process was repeated with the groom. His best man removed his tie and after the men walked round him he threw it. Again whoever caught it would get married next.

But we weren't finished. The parents stood in front of the couple while they spoke to them, a speech in which they thanked their parents for everything they'd done for them. It was a really lovely touch.

By this time it was nearly 01:30!!! We were not the first to leave - by the way - but we left shortly after this. Sometimes the party goes on till 5 or 6am. All in all - a fantastic experience. We spoke to lots of people and everyone had a great time. And after that we fell into our little hotel bed before falling into a train and back to Krakow for one last day's work on the Monday.

I'll stop here 'cos the next installment will tell you all about our Turkish adventures!

What did we do before the post office?

2008-06-24T07:29:00.000-07:00

Yes - I know it's nearly the end of June. But I have a list of excuses as long as your arm. First of all, having been to Belgium we came home to Krakow to a sudden uping of pace at work. Yes, that's right. The end of the year is nigh and there were reports to write, tests to think about and then we had the finales.

I wasn't looking forward to them and then guess what? I ended up on a free trip down to Zakopane. Now that was just perfect. We went courtesy of our boss who had an English couple staying. The rain held off until we got to bottom of the gondola but we went above the clouds and I have to say that the view was wonderful. I did my usual - stood with one leg in Polska and the other in Slovakia! We walked along the ridge and I was especially interested as my father has fled Poland in 1939 through the High Tatra Pass. This wasn't it, but I got a clear idea of what it must have been like. There was still snow as you can see, and we started off in wetproofs but went to shirt sleeves!

We also had a weekend in Korbielow (Polska) on the Slovakian border, and did the Zywiec Brewery, and went into Slovakia. Thanks to Schengen, there are no longer borders and we just drove through. Mind you, we had to negotiate our way through the crowds of cars driving up to a Mass on the border! It was Corpus Christi weekend! We wanted to see a particular castle and it was worth the short trip. After avoiding being killed by manic Polish drivers intent on stocking up with cheap Slovakian beer, we arrived at Oravsky Podzamok, built on a precipice. It was a great trip. Not the place for those with no head for heights or for those working for any Health and Safety Unit! Up and down so many steps - I lost count. We also managed to have a lunch and as we were in a bit of a hurry before we joined our Polish tour round the castle, we just chose anything on the menu. Yes.... David got the garlic soup! Y-U-K!!!!!!

And of course we stocked up with beer on the return trip... REAL Bud, not that crappy Yank stuff. This we drank on the balcony of our awful "Edward Gierek Memorial Hotel" real name Hotel Harnas. NEVER stay there. Believe me, it was unreconstructed communism. Bar? Closed. Heating? It comes on at 15:00. Restaurant? You must book your meals 24 hours in advance (and they were measured in grams!) Breakfast? Well, kind of if you like chocolate cereals and strange fish pastes!

So to the post office. I have tried to write a letter to my aunt and uncle in the UK. The trouble is that after I put it in the post I heard that the PO was on strike. Well, funny how the offices were open. Yes true. They were hading out the pensions but NOT accepting letters to post. So here I am sitting with another letter and about to post that when I hear that they went on go-slow but now are back on strike. Three weeks later we suddenly see they are no longer on strike. How did we know? Easy. We got our phone bill!! Oh joy. But now it's hardly worth posting the thing as we're off across to UK and I'd be faster taking it with me!!!! Aarghghgh....................

Yes, semester is days away from being finished and then I have the whole summer to travel and play and try to put posting on this blog! So look out for things from: Scotland, Turkey, Germany, France, Belgium, Czech Republik, Slovakia, and maybe Bulgaria.

Poperinghe and Menin Gate

2008-05-18T08:57:00.000-07:00

Where does time go? A moment ago we were in Belgium, then back to Krakow, and now it seems I'm trying to recall the battlefields whilst thinking of our next trip!

I think I left you in V-B and I have to say that after 3 solid days of WW1 cemeteries and memorials it all begins to blur. Therefore, it might be best if I stick to some highlights. For example, a definite highlight was our visit to Toc H! It was a very moving time as 3 of the 4 of us (not me!) had a grandfather at the Somme, Ypres and Tyne Cot. To go to a place where they had been was almost too much. We all felt that we had paid our respects and given our thanks - ghosts wander these streets and buildings.

In Poperinghe, Toc H was set up by 'Tubby' Clayton and was a true refuge for the lads going up to the Front, or returning after a 'push' or offensive. Real name Talbot House, it became the place where rank was left on the doorstep and everyone was welcome. On the top floor, up a steep flight of steps is the chapel. It is somewhat disquieting to read names on chairs etc of lads who chose to be confirmed just before they went up the line - most never to return. Yet seeing the tiny oil lamp that lit the way for the soldiers to Toc H gave a feeling of warmth and welcome.

We were warmly welcomed by the caretakers and offered a cup of tea - rather as the grandfathers might have been in 1915/16/17/18/. After a tour of the house and beautiful gardens we had our cuppa and, feeling much refreshed, went on our way.

At Toc H soldiers could borrow a library book to read in house - there were no library cards, and a soldier handed over his hat as collateral! After all, it was a chargeable offence not to wear one's hat outside - so no books went missing! There are many stories - far too many to relate here. Suffice to say - if you are in this area - go to Toc H!

Another must is of course the Last Post at the Menin Gate. So solemn and so respectfully done by the Belgium Police and Fire Brigade. On the evening we went an Australian Digger recited the lines and wreathes were laid. It is true to say that before the ceremony people were really rather holiday-like, but as soon as it started the atmosphere changed to one of reverence. I was so glad I had gone to this.

The memorial gate itself is much bigger than at first glance. You really have to go all round it and then up the steps and out to the back where even more names are carved. All sorts are there from units we might recognise to those such as the Jamaica Corps! Or the Cyclists Corps.

The next highlight was the day that we found an Auberge in 'Plugstreet' where my husband's late granpa was! We found the Sheffield Pals!!!! We walked round Plugstreet, saw deer in the woods where German defences still exist and then went to try to find various places that Pop might have been!

And that is it for today. Incidentally, yes! I did manage to find Belgian chocolate in Ypres and yes I did eat my favourite choc au pain!

In Flanders fields

2008-05-03T05:13:00.000-07:00

This entry is published just after our trip across to Belgium. We wanted to do a couple of things. First, we wanted to see some old friends whom we hadn't seen for 16 years - and we also wanted to see some of the WW1 scenes of battle in Flanders Fields.

We were flying Wizz and that meant the totally inhumane start of 01:00!!!!!!!!!! YUK! A taxi to the bus station at 02:00, then the Wizzbus at 02:30 - for a 2 hour bus run to Katowice. (That took longer than the actual flight to Charlerois!!! We boarded and were all set to take off - we pushed back and ..then sat on the apron for TWO HOURS because the fog was so thick. We thought our flight was doomed, but at least they let us use our mobiles...so we contacted our friends so they wouldn't leave the house too early.

We finally took off and got to Belgium without further dramas. N & V were there to meet us and what a reunion! Of course we all claimed we hadn't changed a bit!! Despite the early start I managed to stay awake all day. Wed went to a SSAFA lunch, then relaxed till evening when we had a BBQ and a few friends came round. That was such a good night. Roast lamb bbqed! Oh boy! First lamb we'd had for 6 months........................ Just delicious.......

Our friends live just outside Mons and we had an absolute ball with them. It's amazing when you can just pick up the pieces and gossip as if you've just been away for a week or so!! We were very lucky as our friends took leave to spend time with us and so the four of us went off together....

On Sunday we did the Battle of Mons, guided by a friend who knew his stuff. We learned a great deal, such as ...did you know that the first and last shots of the war were fired about 10 meters from each other - on opposite sides of the road? Or that the first and last allied dead are buried in Mons Military Cemetery opposite each other? That was by chance.

The first blood drawn as actually by sabre - not by bullet and the places where the first and last 'action' happened is literally meters apart. You could say that the allies managed to cross the road after more than 4 years of bloodshed!

Well, after that we had to have a decent sit down so repaired to a lovely Belgian pub called the Maggots by our SHAPE friends. Excellent beer and company....

Monday was set aside to drive to Villers Brettoneux. This was our chance to see part of the Somme and visit the Australian memorial. the town is very pro-Aussie. As you can see, they are into kangaroos!! We'd managed to adopt a couple of stray Aussies and they came round with us. We found the smaller of the two places and after walking round I found the original grave of the Australian Unknown Soldier. That was quite a surprise. I can tell you.

Then we had a typical French lunch -the set menu and wine! This was very good and set us up for the afternoon when we went to the main cemetery which is HUGE. With the rain -which decided to fall we had a good idea of how soggy and awful it must have been for the men trying to fight over the impossibly open ground. Our resident experts enjoyed talking tactics while we listened and read some of the notes and so on that had been left.

I leave today's notes with an image of mixed sentiment. There was a cyclists' corps and someone had visited. Sad yet so apt.

Playing the game

2008-04-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

A cold, windy day. Noses going redder and redder and the only consolation is a hot drink or a beer at half time. Nowhere to shelter. An old fashioned grass-roots stadium where mud is the order of the day and the players are full of enthusiasm. No rich contracts here, just the joy of the game. Even the uniforms aren't! In fact one of our team has red shorts when the rest have blue!

The crowd is small - after all this game is not yet widely supported in Poland. Our team, Juvenia beat Lodz a couple of weeks ago and played Warsawa last week. Today it's against a team from ???? Why the puzzle? Because the publicity is so bad that the game isn't even publicised until about two days before it's played.

This is rugby - Poland's little known game!

The thing is - these guys aren't professional and yet the variety of the play is really good. It may be freezing cold but they can catch the ball. They aren't afraid to run it and their scrums are really good. The violence only surfaces late in the game; before that it's a clean game and very enjoyable to watch. The ref is totally up to speed and well in control and the linesmen race up and down as if they were on the field of a big international match. No one plays the prima donna. On this occasion one player is taken off and appears on the bleachers near the end with his leg freshly bandaged - and is happy to regale his mates with what happened!

Children tear up and down, or play on their bikes. Adults wander around or stand on the bleachers. there are ...oh about... 20 plastic seats! We stand or sit on those bleachers. There are no fancy pom pom girls, no big screens, no hyped up ads, no and no weird mascots. In short this is how it used to be - before the marketers and accountants got a hold of the game everywhere else!

It was great!

So where do we go from here? Well, we await with baited breath the announcement of the next home game. Only trouble is... we'll be in Belgium and France, doing World War 1 Battlefield tours with some very dear friends from olden days. Thus you can look forward to some interesting (I hope) photos and commentary.

The joys of public travel

2008-04-10T05:20:00.000-07:00

Ah yes! Today's blog will feature the public transport system here in Krakow. In actual fact, it's pretty good and it's amazing how adept you can become at negotiating the city on buses, trams and on foot even when you don't have a car.

We live near a tram depot which is linked to several buses. This is terrific as we don't have to worry about getting to work or to town or even to the other side of the city - as I had to do a few weeks ago.

Let's talk about the 138. I walk about 6 minutes to the stop and along it comes. Now in the morning you have to very careful as the woolly hat brigade are out in force! These elderly women are on the prowl for food! By that I mean they are off to market. Old habits die hard and they do this every day it's open! Not for them the Tescos or Real supermarkets. Oh no! They elbow their way onto the bus and look for seats. And woe betide you if you are sitting where they want to sit!! They have two methods of moving you. Number 1. The pathetic look accompanied by heavy sighs and/or coughing fit. You feel obliged to move. Number 2. The LOOK. ..... You move! Not exactly subtle but there you are. Many a grown man has quaked in his boots and trembled with fear as these haridans of the potato queue descend in force!

Drivers of the 138 have been specially trained at the Schumacher School of bus driving! Hurtle along the straights, yank the bus on the bends - and the special of the day? Slam on those brakes as hard as possible and watch as passengers fly forwards tumbling over each other with much "Chory" ("Sh--") or Praszam -sorry.

And then there are those denizens of the Kontrole. These are innocuous looking individuals who board the bus or tram, and wait till it has started. Then with a mighty cry of "Kontrole!!" they rip open their jackets, show their official badges and brandishing their electronic scanners proceed to examine tickets! Many a tear has been shed as the ticket avoider is nabbed and fined on the spot! Not us I hasten to add -we have monthly tickets that we renew at the machine.

Trams are great fun. The old stock here is gradually being replaced but for ease of travel - that's the way to go. I can quite literally go from north to south or east to west. In winter they can be a bit chilly - specially the older ones, but now that Spring is here the windows are open and a trip in the tram is not to be missed. The city even has a special cafe tram -haven't tried it yet but we might later.

Instead of the bus grannies there are the tram drunks. These specialists have refined the moving pub. They stand at the back of the tram and suriptitiously sip their cans of 7% beer. This is highly naughty - just as on the buses, but they still do it. In extreme cases they can even be found slumped in a seat - nar the back of course. Funniest is when the tram reaches the depot and everyone gets off - except Mr Boozey. he stays asleep and can be seen going all the way round the track to start again! Presumably he wakes up somewhere on the way back wondering where the hell he is!

I haven't talked about trains although I will just mention that I can get home by train! It's a 4 minute ride and not worth sitting down. However, I am waiting as they are about to start the integrated ticket system so my monthly ticket will cover buses, trams and city limit trains... then I'll use them much more.

And there we have it for today. I will now go to work - on the 138! But as it's afternoon I won't get the woolly hat brigade -I'll get the granny brigade - complete with child from school in tow. But I'm not afraid - much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tempus fugit...

2008-03-30T10:10:00.000-07:00

Yes - I know. I promised to be more attentive to this blog, but somehow time just runs away here. It's not that I am overworked!!!! It's not that I am overly busy!! But!! We are discovering the joys of living without a car!

Example: We want to go shopping and so we set off.... first we walk to the bus stop; next we wait......... the bus comes and we go to the tram stop. we hop on the tram. Now, if we go to Tesco, the number 19 is terrific - but it is a 25 minute ride. So far then we have taken about an hour on a bad day. We shop! That takes maybe 45 minutes. We are now professional shoppers in Polish!

But wait! There's more. We now have to ... pay! We queue up and may wait as long as 20 minutes just to get to the stage of paying. But even then it's just not simple. We know that at least one item won't register. Oh Boze!!! That means a l-o-n-g wait till they find the price. sometimes we just give up on the item. OK. So we've paid. Now to get home. With no car we have fine tuned our needs to only buy what we need. I prefer the backpack but Dave is happy to use the IKEA giant bag and the Tesco bag. We have really cut down on plastic bags as they don't last the journey home! We are NOT boring old greenies!!

Right - if the free Tesco bus isn't on it's a walk to the tram stop, then wait...you get the picture. In a nutshell, it can take us up to 3 hours to do a simple shop!! I HATE shopping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apart from that. We went to Tarnow one Friday. Another pretty town which had a huge Jewish population till the Nazis decided to get rid of them. There's also a Romany museum with caravans. We went by train which was fun and very relaxing.

And of course we had Easter -this time in Lodz. We had a great day on Sunday with my family. So much wonderful food and just managing to communicate this time in Polish was very satisfying. But it snowed and was very very cold.

We ate one night in a Jewish restaurant. It was wonderful. The ambiance was great, the food was sooo tasty and there was a fiddler - on the roof - so to speak. The young man in question climbed up a sort of ladder and sat there playing. Then the chef came out with a bottle of kosher vodka - no! we don't know how it was kosher. Anyway, he had lots of glasses in his pocket and gave them out and then filled them up. And after a suitable interval.... he came round and did it again. What an evening.

Lodz is improving very much. They are renovating lots of old factories. Our hotel Focus was a textile factory and the rooms are really big with high ceilings etc. The staff are very friendly, and speak good English - so much for trying out our Polish!

Wet Monday, when boys try to throw water over girls was a literal washout! Padal sneg! It was snowing! So we left Lodz and went to see our good friends in Godzanow. We had yet another great day and overnighter and we have now been given an invitation to their elder daughter's wedding in June! How wonderful. That'll be such a good day and our first Polish wedding.

And that brings me up to date. Our next holiday is in 4 weeks - this time to Lille and Mons. We'll be doing WW1 battlefields with old army buddies -and catching up on 16 years gossip!!! And eating Belgian choccies, French cuisine.... Mmmmmmmnnn!!!

Catching up with Telekom

2008-02-20T07:31:00.000-08:00

Well, it really has taken this time to get Internet at home and we are now enjoying NOT having to rely on work computers - mainly because they don't work well anyway!

I left the blog in December as we moved into our own little apartment. Since then, we've enjoyed being frequent 'flyers' at IKEA, surmounted the problems of Polish bureaucracy, linguistic problems and finally we seem to have the place as we want it!

For anyone thinking of buying a place here, make sure you either speak Polish, have a good real estate agent, or simply get someone else to do it all for you! Luckily, when it came to the signing of documents there had to be a sworn translator present, which was good. Other possible pitfalls? Well, if by awful chance the City decides you have paid too little (!) for your property, they can fine you and you pay lots of interest etc etc.

Work. We are both working as English teachers = well, that is what we do! The main difference is that we teach from about 0800 for a spell, then there's a huge gap till the afternoon. Sometimes you can teach till 9:00pm; luckily I do till 7:15pm every night. We did remain true to our cause and we "don't do Fridays".

We've had a trip to Wroclaw - a very pretty city. We've seen this place in snow and rain and seen the sun about 6 time in 3 months. Yes - it is winter. We've also had a few days in Budapest - very nice break. Good food etc etc.

I will attempt to write more now I have my Internet - so be patient!

Meantime, a photo of Budapest to keep you going!

How to enjoy IKEA!

2007-12-15T10:02:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been some time since the last post - where to start? We went to Edinburgh for a long weekend to catch up with elder son (now starting PhD research) and other family members. It was great to see the place but I'd hate to live there. Such a Nanny state!

In addition, we ended up giving a Pole directions to the bus station!!!! We also saw Polish pet shop, hairdressers, credit facilities and newspapers!! Weird. Mind you, Princes Street now has a beautiful Adventsmarkt. It's in the central European style and quite took us back to our days in Germany.

Since our return, we've managed to struggle our way through the maze that is IKEA - believe me, it's no fun when you are trying very hard to organise transport and get phone calls in rapid Polish saying that your bed is about to be delivered - and you're on the other side of town.

Tomorrow, we move into the apartment that we've bought. There's no kitchen so we'll be camping out for a couple of weeks but it'll be ok as long as we can keep a sense of humour!! Younger son arrives in a couple of days and will enjoy his third of the investment we hope.

Jobs. We have both managed to find jobs starting January 2nd! That's a bit much for Scots but rather that than no job. Teaching here is very professional and I am glad that my qualifications are actually recognised properly here in Poland. The teachers in the school all have a minimum of a BA, and many have MAs. At last----....

As from tomorrow, I'll have no Internet for a while so the posts will not be online for a while. However, to anyone reading this, I wish you a peaceful and happy Christmas and a very good New Year.

One hundred ways with cabbage

2007-11-24T11:39:00.000-08:00

Right, well. It's been a pretty busy week with Polish lessons and visiting the Notariusz.

We have reached the wonderful stage of the past tense and unlike English, we have to decline the verbs depending on whether it's male, female or neutral! In addition there are irregular verbs and those are very difficult to remember!! It's still fun despite this and we feel much more confident in shops and at the market. I recommend making the effort with a new language as most native speakers will appreciate the fact that you are at least trying!

Last Tuesday we went to sign the pre-contract on our little apartment. We were there for 2 and a half hours! This was because the official translator was held up at her previous job and was over an hour late. The good ting was that we had time to meet the owners of the place and 'discuss' in our terrible Polish, their minimum English and their son's excellent attempts to translate a few things.

After the signing we all went to the bank together and money was transferred. We should have completed this coming Thursday, but there has to be a meeting of all owners and one is away, so this will have to be postponed. Doesn't matter.

On Wednesday after class we walked to the apartment - it took us oooh..... about 15 minutes sauntering! We met the owner and his son and we went in to measure. Wow!!! They'd installed lights, the bathroom fittings and had even contacted their friendly kitchen designer/builder! We meet him this coming Wednesday to see what he can do. No need to try to draw things for IKEA (WHEW!!!!!). They had also cleared out most of the rubble from our big cellar (we have 2!) and whitewashed the walls!

It looks like we are being helped above and beyond... The son is about to start renovating the apartment under us and he plans to live in it. I have already suggested we build a barbecue in the back garden and he looked very interested!!! We will NOT be bbcuing on Australia Day!!

The title? Well, we seem to eating a lot of cabbage - cooked, with carrots, with seeds, in salads, as a big side dish, and frankly it just seemed important enough to dedicate this instalment to the humble cabbage!

Today we took a tram out to Nova Huta -YUK! We went to the end of the line, hopped off, walked 50 meters and hopped on the one going back again. It reminded me of the early days in Brisbane, when we tried to find the centre of Ipswich!!!

The weather is changeable. Very pretty until yesterday when the snow started to melt and be mucky and 'orrible. Last weekend we had a lovely time with our friends and on Saturday evening we walked through the snow to the Rynek for dinner. It was beautiful.

and finally... we managed to miss the election by voting 10 days ago! Ah-the postal vote is a wonderful thing! Nothing like voting at your kitchen table with not a single sausage sizzle in sight! And no one annoying you as you go in. I am making a habit of this. Last time I voted at the Consulate in Brunei, and this time I sent it up to the Embassy in Warsawa!

Right. That's about it for now. Thanks for the comments-great to hear from you lot! Keep it up! We fly to Edinburgh to see family there next Friday early, so I'm not sure when I'll update - I'll try before I go! NO promises.

Property Barons!

2007-11-14T08:30:00.000-08:00

Well - we did it! We are now the proud owners (along with our son) of a studio apartment in Krakow!! The owners accepted our offer which surprised us but we were very pleased. We celebrated with a bottle of Chilean red! The title of today's blog is courtesy of our son! I beleive in polite Mayfair Society it might be described as a 'bijou residence'....

Now the fun begins. I have to do a crash course in 'How to arrange for IKEA to come and measure and install a kitchen' - any bright ideas??? I have an idea of what we need but it's going to be a challenge and if I get it wrong we'll be sleeping in a very big sink and who gets the taps is anyone's guess!!!

Yesterday we bought a toaster, jug, iron and some cutlery and plan to build up the stuff before we move in in December. One BIG move will do us, thank you!

We are slowly improving our Polish and our two teachers are very good indeed - and very patient too. We do have some funny times both in class and in shops. The girl at the bread kiosk now knows us and is almost guessing what we'll order -[Note to self: must catch her out tomorrow by changing the order!!]

We are having fun using 24hr tickets and travelling lots of places. And this coming weekend my cousin Monika and her husband Jacek are coming to stay for the weekend so we will ask them to translate some stuff in the IKEA (again) catalogue. We are taking them out to dinner in Hawelka. Anyone reading this who knows Krakow will know it's a top restaurant in the Stary Miasto. I am REALLY looking forward to it!!!!

I promised a pic so here's one. Remember the apartment is newly renovated!!! See the roof? See the windows? Well they are our apartment!! Yes, I know it doesn't look much but it's really nice inside - clean lines, wooden beams (the roof is split new by the way) and very very bright.

Here's another one, this time of the inside! This is one half of our living area and you can just see the beams and the gap to the right is the kitchen area!

Anyway, as things progress I will keep the blog updated. This is one of those bizarre moments from a reality show!!!! Plumbers and electricians are now required - I believe they have all gone to the UK so may be some time!!!

Flats, lessons and more...

2007-11-12T06:40:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy week with a fair bit to do. We've seen some flats. Hmmmm!! A couple were possibilities and a couple were, frankly, revolting. Anyway, we were just thinking of binning it when one of the other agents in the same office called me. He wanted to show us a newly renovated flat - 2 rooms but in a solid building. Okay - we thought what the hell!

It's a little gem!! It's about 54 square meters - which doesn't sound much, but it's bright, feels good and has bonuses. There's a garden - with...wait for it... a well! Plus, there are TWO cellars. It's what you might call a studio apartment with sloping roof - NEW roof. We are very taken with it and have put in an offer. And that's another story.

Here you go to the agent's office and say you want to make an oferty -an offer. You hand over PLN 5000 - in our case less. Then you make your offer. This is recorded on a contract with dates for various completions. We now know that it's not the price - but the TAXES that count! On top of the price you add the notariusz (notary), the court fees, then VAT then the agent's fee then more VAT....... We got quite faint until we realised it all came to 7% of the offer price! Then we had to sign the papers.

Next stop is that the agent takes the offer to the vendor who will of course laugh like a hyena! Then they will make the counter offer - again written formally and signed. We are at the "Please come to the office at 5pm today" No hints at all although we just know the will have refused our offer. So... we will be making a counter counter offer and it all starts again.

Watch this space - if we do get it we'll be really happy.

We have been to IKEA to measure and price kitchens - oh yes -we have to put it all in! Actually IKEA will put everything together -whew!

And on top of that we started our Polish lessons. We were delighted to have one of our teachers from last year again and we feel we are making some progress. She did a quick revision and we are now up from beginner to elementary. We can now put sentences together as well as answer people in the tram and in shops. We do our homework and today's is time. I thought I understood the 24 hour clock! Let's say no more!!

And guess what! It's been snowing!!!!! Yes - unlike last year we already have sneg! It's very cold and I bought a lovely jacket the other day - quilted, black and very cheap - PLN 190,- about GBP30 or AU$65!!!

Yesterday was Polish National Day. 11-11-1918. Pilsudski was handed control of the newly independent country. Up at Wawel there was a huge Mass, then parade - military band soldiers, policed, miners, firemen, old boys, lancers, cavalry..... etc etc. We went up to watch and had a great time. Everybody walked with the procession and stopped at the Katyn memorial of course. Then on to the Rynek. It was great. I took a few pics. This one is the honour guard at the Katyn Memorial.

Because it was a holiday no shops were open but we ate obiad in one of our favourite places. The staff know us already - we're the foreigners who speak Polish!!! The very nice waiter gave us each a cherry wodka - free!

Well, that's about it for now. Wish us luck this afternoon!!! Wonder if they'll accept our counter counter offer? I'll keep you all posted and if all goes well will post a pic of the place!

The adventure begins!

2007-11-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

We've been in Krakow for 3 days now and have managed to reacquaint ourselves with the area. Because we are living here, as opposed to being tourists, we are more interested in real estate and IKEA than in where to buy postcards etc etc.

So we now know the trams for Tesco, the busses for IKEA and Real as well as the gym and pool. We must learn to buy more than one ticket - not to save money, but so we aren't wondering where to buy the tickets!!!

The area is improving. Many of the buildings have been painted and are looking heaps better than last year. There is a great deal of new apartment building going on and we have now decided to try to buy an established place as the 'off the plan" ones are much more expensive. Plus, the government is about to slap an addtional tax on new projects!

To this end we went to a Real estate agent today and now have appointments next week, to look at some places. They are about 60msq which should be enough. What is important is the number of rooms!! We are looking at 3 rooms - this means 2 bedrooms plus living area.

Apart from that, the weather has been mixed and we are happy our boxes arrived from Oz so we have more than just one shirt each!

More on the real estate when we have results!! Could be most interesting......