Category Archives: Things to See and Do

Away in a…..Crib??

24 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by in Things to See and Do

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

,

If you haven’t figured it out by now my bucket list, for living in Poland and when we are traveling, is to visit as many churches as I can.  Sometimes, what you think you are going to see, is not really what you end up seeing at all.  And our trip to Vienna was no exception.

On our last day there we had a few hours to kill before it was time to take the train back to the airport for our flight back to Poland.  So armed with a map of the city, we went looking for churches.  And Vienna doesn’t disappoint.

The first church we visited was St.Stephens, the most important church in Vienna that I shared with you in my last post.  We took the underground to get there and when  you come up out of  the station to street level, it literally looms in front of you!IMG_7368

Continue reading →

Christmas Markets – Vienna Style

17 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by in Everyday Life, Things to See and Do

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

One of the first things that you get introduced too…or hear about…in Europe are the Christmas Markets.  They run from late November through the Advent season and sometime into early January.  In some cities and towns, it might just be for one day….but in others, they are an everyday event.  People come from all over to experience the market…sometimes going to other countries, because the “goods” are cheaper than in their own country.   They can be anything from a few wooden stalls erected on a street or small square to the huge markets that  can boast over 280 different stalls filled with food, handmade baked goods, decorations, and more!

Since we have been busy traveling the past few week-ends, we have been able to experience the Christmas Markets first hand.  Our first experience was at Schoenbrunn Palace in Vienna.  We arrived on a Friday afternoon to view the Palace, so having the market there was an added bonus.IMG_6872 Continue reading →

Touring Torun

15 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by in Things to See and Do

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , ,

IMG_6519 It was so foggy when we got to Torun that you couldn’t see the opposite side of the river…and could barely make out the bridge.  Although we did manage to find this landmine that is next to one of the gates to the city. Continue reading →

Exploring in the Fog and Gloom

09 Wednesday Dec 2015

Posted by in Things to See and Do

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

What to do on a foggy, gloomy day?  Hop in the car and go exploring, of course.  It’s been foggy and gloomy for weeks and one Saturday early in November was no exception.  We decided to forge out anyway and check out a place we haven’t been before…and make a return trip to Torun to see some of the sights we missed on previous visits.

Our first stop was Ostromecko Palace and Park in…where else? but Ostromecko.  This is one Polish town name that I can actually pronounce!  The Palaces (yes, there are actually two!) and grounds are now used as Hotel and Cultural Center. Continue reading →

If it’s Christmas, It must be time for Pierniki!

08 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by in Things to See and Do

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

Pierniki!  Who loves piernicki?  Ok, let me ask again.  Gingerbread….who loves gingerbread?  Who loves the smell of fresh gingerbread cookies?  I do!  I do!  If you want to be engulfed in the smell of fresh gingerbread, come to Torun, Poland, where they have been making gingerbread since the early 13th century!  And you can learn how to make it too!  When my sister visited in October, we went to the Gingerbread Museum in Torun, took a tour and learned all about the history of gingerbread and then how to make gingerbread cookies! Continue reading →

Checking Out Churches

02 Wednesday Dec 2015

Posted by in Everyday Life, Things to See and Do

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

All you have to do it wander down the street, take a few wrong turns on your way to a market square that you haven’t been to before, with a friend who has been there but doesn’t quite remember where it is, and ta-da! You’ve walked by four churches you’ve never seen before.

The first one, I’ve driven by multiple times (ok, ridden by….David was driving), but it’s not readily apparent that it’s a church.  It’s the local Mormon church and it’s neatly tucked in-between some other buildings. IMG_6457 Continue reading →

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It’s Off to Working in the Salt Mines

20 Friday Nov 2015

Posted by in Things to See and Do

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

The best thing about a TBT (Throw Back Thursday) post is that I am writing this in Poland and most of my readers are in the USA…which is 6 hours behind in time…so I have extra time to get my thoughts together.

Last week I recounted our adventures driving to Krakow.  One of the biggest tourist attractions is the Wieliczka Salt Mine, which is visited by more than a million tourists each year!  The mine was built in the 13th century and produced table salt continually until 2007 and is one of the oldest working mines in the world.

The first part of the tour (once you’ve gotten your tickets and stood in the “English” tour line) is to descend into the mine….by stairs….wooden stairs….wooden stairs that wind down a shaft….260 stairs to be exact.  (It was a physical therapy workout!).  Once you were down those steps….you entered into a mine full of passageways and tunnels that lead you deeper down into the mine (and yes, there are more stairs…178 more!).  The tour is a 1.9 mile journey….but you only see 2% of the mine!  So you can imagine how HUGE this mine is. Continue reading →

The Dom Cathedral

09 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by in Things to See and Do

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

Part of my bucket list while we are in Poland (and other parts of Europe) is to see as many churches and cathedrals as I can.  They are so beautiful – and each one is different and they are a real testament to the faith of the people who lived here centuries ago.  When we saw this building on our wandering jaunt to get to the Berlin Tower it seemed like the perfect place to visit.  (Ok, really, we just wanted to see if we could get up to the walkway as the views would be amazing.)  We didn’t realize it was a Cathedral until we got around to the front and read the sign.  Completed in 1905, it’s the largest Protestant Church in Berlin and was patterned after St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.  Although technically, it’s not a Cathedral as it’s not the seat for the Bishop (which is what designates a church as a cathedral).  As with most other buildings in Berlin, it too was heavily damaged during World War II, and was closed and not reopened until restoration work was completed in 1993.IMG_5688 Continue reading →

TBT – The Drive to Krakow

05 Thursday Nov 2015

Posted by in Everyday Life, Things to See and Do

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

It’s TBT!  (Throw Back Thursday) Well, I’m not throwing back very far…only to the week-end of August 14-16.  David and I went to Krakow that week-end…our first week-end trip.  There’s soooo much to see and do there that we drove instead of taking the train so we could have a little extra time for sight-seeing.  But it didn’t really work out quite that way.  What our Google Maps and Waze apps said was a 5 1/2 hour drive actually took 9 hours!  First the oil light came on and we had to stop and put oil in the car.  David,  being a good former Boy Scout, was prepared and had a bottle of oil in the car.  But he didn’t count on forgetting that his cell phone was in his lap when he got out of the car.  It fell onto the cobblestone pavement and shattered the screen.  A few choice words that I have never heard David say before in the 37 years we have been married just might have slipped out.  But it was still working! (yeah!).

So now we’re driving along admiring the countryside (and the weird things on the side of the road, like this tank)…IMG_4527 when a strange noise starts coming from the car when we hit little bumps in the road.  Continue reading →

Taking Care of Business

04 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by in Everyday Life, Things to See and Do

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

It’s not all fun and games when you live (or are trying to live) overseas.  Sometimes you have to take care of business….visa business to be exact.  I briefly mentioned I had a visa problem in an earlier post and it took a trip to Berlin (well, actually two trips) to get everything straight.

If you have a passport, you can pretty much travel the world, but if you want to actually LIVE somewhere, your passport can only get you so much time….90 days to be exact if you are in Poland (or one of the other Schengen countries).  When David came in January, he applied (in February) and received a temporary resident card (in June).  He’s working here, so he’s allowed to stay the length of his job contract.  My situation was different because I didn’t come to stay until the end of June and then several things complicated matters.  Continue reading →