Thursday, 29 February 2024

New adventure

 



Let the grey clouds clear and let the big birthday year commence with gusto.

Its time to head off on another adventure in the next few weeks, totally unexpected and not one that had been on my radar, which in reality is the best way I think.

I always like to surprise myself.

I had said that after Krakow, I would be having adventures in the UK for a couple of months, but always one to grab a bargain, I am off abroad again in a matter of weeks.

Now where am I off to?.......


Well its a city.

I may well be dancing by the river.

I could be observing from a spaceship ( stretching it a bit there)

I will absolutely  be tasting their wine ( possibly in the dark)

There is a castle ( I love a castle)

There are lots of monuments to search out.


And that's all I'm saying until I get there.








Wednesday, 7 February 2024

Krakow the debrief


 

Well, what can I say.

Krakow did not disappoint, from fabulous architecture, to amazing food, it was a weekend of  great Polish culture.

I stayed about 10 mins amble from the old town, and  about 5 mins from Wawel Castle. I was virtually on the river bank and  had easy access to the floating restaurants.( well worth a try, Aquarius being very good).


I love a good museum and the Rynek underground museum is well worth a visit.

I chose not to do anything that was related to WWII. There are lots of museum and things to see in The Jewish Quarter relating to  this. My focus was seeing the city for the city.

There are lots and lots of churches, and most you are able to go into.

The old town square is stunning with  beautiful architecture and lots of places to sample local food and drink.

Wawel Castle was a great morning out and the views across the river were wonderful, even on a grey day.

Even just strolling along the river was lovely.

I went out in the evening and wandered around, seeing everything ( literally) in a different light.

Food and drink are very reasonable and the local dishes are tasty if sometimes a little heavy, however its easy to walk this off.

Would I recommend Krakow?


Without a doubt, I am considering going back again to see some more of it.

From friendly people to just being  purse friendly , there was absolutely nothing to fault.



Lastly a huge thank you to Dale at   https://dalesidebottom.notjusttravel.com/ my longsuffering personal travel agent, who goes the extra mile no matter the strange request that I send him.


Monday, 5 February 2024

Monday in Krakow

 


oh my, what a wet and windy day Monday was, but undeterred and always the trooper, I set off to the restaurant for a hearty breakfast to get me ready for the day ahead.


I went for bacon and scrambled egg, and then had brie and grapes on rye bread, well I am on holiday. A couple of cups of Earl Grey and I was ready to set off to towards the old town.

Wowsers!!!!, the rain was really coming down, the sky was very dark grey, however the drainage system around the city obviously worked amazingly as not a puddle in sight, the rain falling on the roads drained straight away.

Walking close to the road where trams and buses were racing by, in the UK I would have been drenched by a shower of dirty water. 

As I got into the old town, I did a 360 turn and realised what a stunning place it really was. 


I headed back to the Basilica, the beautiful Gothic Church and then stopped in my tracks



something/someone was determined that I did not see the inside of this beautiful place.

Well, so be it, so I headed off to the tiny church at the 'bottom' of the square.

The Church of St Adalbert (or Church of St Wojciech), this is the one of the oldest stone churches in Poland. 


It is the tiniest little church but I went in, I had 15 minutes before eucharist. The interior was stunning.

I knelt to say a prayer, when I felt a hand on my head, as I looked up  the Priest smiled at me as he walked toward the alter.
I'm so glad that it was raining when I went outside, at least it sort of hid the tears, that I  couldn't stop.
A very moving experience.

I wandered into a few shops, and tried on some stunning sheepskin hats, very Doctor Zhivago!!! and then decided to head off back to the hotel.

Believe it or not my stomach was rumbling so I headed into a restaurant across the tram lines from the old time, called Velo. Here I had French toast with smashed blackberries, roasted peaches and raspberries with  mint and lime sauce. This was just an absolute revelation in how to jazz up French toast.



I had by this time clocked up another 8.5k steps so headed back to the hotel for a chill out in the bar.



I have to say the beer was definitely high on the agenda.

Sadly before I knew it, it was 4pm and time to get the taxi back to the airport, I had originally decided to take the airport bus, but the weather changed that idea,

An evening flight, landing straight into a gusty little headwind, a bounce down the runway and an hour queuing to get through passport control, saw me come back to England with a real bump.
I arrived back home at 12.30 am 

Sunday, 4 February 2024

more sights to see

 




Up and in the restaurant early, and with a very unhealthy amount of cheese consumed as well as 'cakes'  under my belt  ( which if I wore a belt would have had to be taken off), I set off for a walk up to Wawel Royal Castle.

Heading out with the dog walkers along the river, and speaking to every dog I passed, I found the Polish equivalent of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.




I arrived at the castle and headed off to the Crown Treasury. Each area of the castle is payable by ticket   (you can buy one for all the areas), all of the outside areas are free to roam around and it really is a beauty.




The crown treasury consisted of 12 rooms of exhibits, all information given and lots of films explaining the history of them. I was fascinated, (obviously) and the one thing that really surprised me was the back of a bejewelled shield. It was fabric lined at the back and had a little cushion for your  fingers/knuckles to rest on. I really think that I need to get out more when this is the stuff that amazes me!!!!




There was a miniature that had about  4 rows of diamonds around it, the photo does not do justice to the sparkle of them, I was peering in the cabinet to get a good look at the diamonds just seeing how they were cut (looked very roughly).



I sat through a film about the crown jewels and how they were lost, melted down, remade, lost, melted down, remade........ I was totally in seventh heaven.





The castle itself , with its  multi building area and  Wawel Cathedral (closed due to a church service) was a morning well spent.

I walked back 'the long way' and  came through the old town, stopping off for a beer in the square. By this point it was past 1pm and I was a bit tired, so I made my way back to the hotel for a nap.

45mins later I was up and raring to go. However the weather had taken a real turn with lashing rain and what felt like a wind chill factor of -100. I headed out to the river with the intension of walking to the Jewish Quarter, but it really was filthy weather and so I headed back to the hotel to dry off  and unfreeze my cheeks and have a glass of champers.


I had also forgotten that it was Sunday and  the supermarkets were closed ( civilised), there were a couple of Carrefour Express, but having been into one I didn't think another soaking was worth it as they had a very small wine selection. So my chance of sampling another bottle of Polish wine was lost.

The remainder of my afternoon was spent watching Netflix, to be honest I was tired with over 45000 steps since Friday, I thought I deserved a bit of feet up time.

I then had a long soak in the fabulous, deep bath and covering myself in the fabulous Rituals toiletries supplied by the hotel, I floated out of the bathroom in a haze of lotus flower & white tea.

Time for dinner and a meal that I had been looking forward to for a couple of months after reading the menu online. I headed up to the roof top restaurant and decided against a starter. I ordered slow roasted beef cheeks with wild mushrooms and flaked almonds, sweet potato puree with roasted peaches and I order a side of roasted potatoes, too many for one person.


After that I couldn't even think about dessert, so two glasses of champagne  and then I went for a walk by the river ( to try to aid digestion), and half an hour later I was back in my room watching Netflix.

What a day.

And now I am preparing for another wet and windy walk to the basilica which I didn't do yesterday.




Saturday, 3 February 2024

Saturday in Krakow

 





I was up and at breakfast at 7.30am, always the early bird!

Firstly scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, followed by my body weight (which is increasing as we speak) in cheese, OMG, goats cheese, mild blue cheese, marinated feta cheese, you name it, it was on my plate. 



I waddled back to my room, where I watched 'Midsomer Murders' dubbed in Polish for half an hour. Now here is an interesting piece of information ( gleaned when I watched House early evening). I think that there is only one dubbing artist in Poland, he seems to do all the American and English programmes..............AND he does all the characters including the woman! It makes for a very monotone  commentary. When I was watching House, Hugh Laurie was getting very animated but 'the voice' remained calm and carried on reading ( obviously for a sheet). When I saw Ghandi dubbed in Spanish it was nothing like that!

I headed out at about 9am to walk to the old town, to my Museum of the day. I am just going to leave this here before I am asked. I have chosen not to go to Auschwitz. I know what happened and I really do not want to go. If I come again I possibly would. I just wanted to be in the city and see what it has to offer. 

And off to the main square I went, which was very quiet although there was lots going on around the 'edges'.


I helped an old lady who was struggling down the steps of a mini market (good deed for the day) and then wandered through the cloth hall, were modern day traders were setting up their wares.



My museum of the day was Rynek Underground, a museum which is spread  under the market square. This museum is the result of 5 years archaeological excavation, it takes you on a journey to medieval Krakow.



Lots of interactive information as well as great displays .





There are parts of the old traders stall from the 13th century. As well as the original street cobbles. And that's just scratching the surface
I was here for over 2 hours, I guess you could do it in an hour, but I read every piece of information, and went on every interactive board.

At a price of  just over £6 entrance fee, it was worth every zloty.

I came  back up to street level and headed over to the St Marys Basilica


A wonderful example of 13th century Gothic architecture.



 There was a service on so  I lit a candle and said a prayer for all who need some help or support at the moment. I'm hoping to have time to go today for a walk around.

I took a long  and winding way home, I sat in the park at the entrance to the old town, and watched the world go by, the trams running through the city and the children playing  in the park, sometimes it is worth just stopping and watching for a while.

By this time it was mid afternoon and I decided to head to the river and have lunch, there a few floating restaurants near the hotel so I went to 'Aquarius' which I had read good things about.



After a belly busting lunch of traditional potato pancakes for starters and non traditional tagliatelle with wild mushrooms, washed down with a Mimosa Eldeflower buzz (very very nice), I was ready to have a nap, which I did.

My evening was very much spent walking and taking in Krakow by night, there are lots of stalls set up around the city to sell kebabs, tacos etc which are very busy all day long.

I came back to the hotel and decided to test a bottle of Polish wine.



This was a fizzy red wine, which was very nice, although sweeter than expected.

Good bubbles which stayed right down the glass.

18 zloty  which is just over £4

Enjoyable.

And now................off for breakfast and a new day, its raining so it will have a lot of brisk walking and plenty of coffee stops.















9











9


Friday, 2 February 2024

Krakow adventure

 





I arrived in Krakow at about 6.30pm last night and hopped into a taxi to the hotel. 

What a brilliant taxi driver, he gave me a run down of the best restaurants serving traditional Polish fare and also the best Polish street food to try, he was amazing and by the time he dropped me off I was pretty much sure that I would be 20 stone when I get home.

I checked in, and what lovely staff! I left reception armed with my map and lots of information.

I headed off to my room,  which is HUGE! and has a bath so 20/10 there.

I went up to the roof top restaurant for something to eat and the views over the city were wonderful. I went out onto the terrace and walked around, just soaking up the views..



Quick bite to eat, and it was soooo good. Baked  goats cheese with winter berries and chopped nuts. I have decided to go again on Sunday evening, for the full 3 courses.


I also had dessert which was just as wonderful to look at as it was to eat, it did beat me and I only managed half of it.



After dinner I walked round to the supermarket next door and then went and sat by the river. It was cold but invigorating.

Back to my room and  a  bit of CSI ( dubbed in Polish) before bed.

I'm now off for brekkie and then go and find my museum du jour.

Thursday, 1 February 2024

Not quite how I wanted to start to my 60th year

 




Well, I've sort of been through the mill over the last few weeks.

Not quite how I was hoping to start my big birthday year.

There I was with the image of me sailing through January, reclining on a chaise longue, eating chocolates and drinking champagne, to ease myself through the month.

I didn't expect to do quite a lot of local travel, be reclining on examination beds and waiting on results and more results and even more results., but well, the best laid plans and all that.

I now have no nails, am slightly more reclusive than I was before and finding it very difficult to talk about it all without bursting into tears, hence writing it down, I did say that I would document my year!!!

It all started as I was just getting over the flu ( and yes it was the flu and not a cold), I was hobbling towards New Year when I went on what I thought was a routine appointment  and it just spiraled from there.

 I waited for results, only for more tests and waiting again for results.

By this time, worry, shock and thinking 100 steps ahead had taken hold. The first couple of weeks, I could hardly eat ( to be honest, I could last quite well just living on the resources stored in my rump!). So tired all the time I would  just take myself to bed, whether I slept or not. I mentally made notes of what needed sorting out. 

The time spent waiting on results is the longest time ever!!!

Numerous sets of results came back negative, but still they couldn't find an answer to the problem, so more tests were done.

I am now awaiting a further set of  test results, and next week the investigation steps up a notch, and then? well I don't know, I just hope I find out something.

And so I am in the second month of my birthday year still hoping to get some answers, very soon.

I do ask that you don't comment, and I'm not answering any questions regarding all of this, I don't actually know anything myself, I just thought it easier to write it down ( in hope that it takes it off my mind for 5 minutes). The whole thing has taken a huge toll on me and I just want to concentrate on getting answers.

I am now heading off to the airport to try to put this all behind me for a few days as I fly off on my next trip.







And the bookings begin

  So, I am now fit to fly and getting myself into full booking mode, however, for the remainder of this year I have decided to spend my time...