Poland

So my first trip of the year ended up being a 3-day soujourn to Poland last week. I admit I don't know a lot about the country or culture, but the opportunity to visit Auschwitz was what attracted me. Aside from the cheap flights of course! Auschwitz is a place I've always wanted to visit, and I believe it is an important place to visit because of it's historical significance. Also, we have a Polish sous-chef at work called Gosia who I really like and who had told me Krakow was a beautiful city, so a Polish adventure it ended up being.

When my flight arrived in Krakow at 4pm, it was getting dark. And when I got out of the train which had taken me from the airport to the centre of town, it was pitch black. Unfortunate, as I didn't get to see any sights that first night. I walked from the station to my hotel, which was only a block away (yes, I planned that), checked in and dropped my stuff off. It was a nice little hotel, simple but spacious, clean and comfortable. I then decided to go on a walk to find food. On this walk I discovered a 4-storey shopping mall called the "Galleria" so went for a bit of a wander inside. It was fairly standard, with all the chain stores they have here in England, as well as some other shops that were new to me. They had a huge Sephora which I wandered around longingly, and some really cute jewellery stores. It was funny because they also had some shops with names like "Pretty Girl" and those sort of terrible but lovable English-as-a-second-language type names. Anyway I found a mini-mart and got some food for dinner. The Polish currency is the Zloty, and a salad is typically around 8zl, piece of fruit would be 3zl, large chocolate bar 11zl, loaf of bread 6-8zl. Got my food, went back to the hotel, turned on the TV but everything was in Polish (funny that) so turned it back off, got out my book and ate while reading. Had a lovely hot shower, then went to sleep early (had been up at 5.30am that morning so safe to say I was pretty tired!

This was the selection of Vodka at the tiny mini-mart. It's true, Poles love their vodka!

Polish Zloty

The next day I got up at 7am and went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast (included in the price - win!). The buffet was ACE. Cereals, fresh fruit, yoghurt, hard boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, toast, rolls, sausages, lots of salads, cheese, cold meats, tea, coffee, juice....it was freakin' great! I decided on scrambled eggs on toast with some ham cause I figured that would be the most filling. Once I'd finished I also grabbed an apple and nutella sachet (had to) as snacks for the day ahead.

Best breakfast buffet ever! This is maybe half of it.

After that I checked out of my room but left my big bag in the luggage room, and took my smaller bag with me for the day. I went to the train station to see when the next train to Oswiecim was, which turned out to be in about 1.5 hours. Which was sweet as because it meant I had time to go and wander around Krakow. Whenever I get to a new city, I love to just go wandering around. I love looking at the buildings, the people, the menus on restaurant windows, the parks etc. And boy oh boy is Krakow beautiful. It's got so much character to it, with lots of old, colourful, statuesque buildings. I walked through to the main market square which had big St Mary's church in one corner, restaurants along the other sides and the Cloth Hall on the opposite side. There's a big memorial in the middle too. It's super pretty. Super instagrammable. Haha. So I just wandered around here for a while, taking in the sights and sounds and getting pestered by pigeons. Then I slowly made my way back to the train station to catch my train.

All these photos are in the market square

Oswiecim is 50km west of Krakow and was my destination because it's where Auschwitz is located. I'm gonna do a full post on Auschwitz next because I think it deserves one in itself. Anyway, the train was quite old and rickety and slow, so the journey took about 2 hours. The countryside that I saw on this trip was pretty dire, if I'm honest. Krakow centre aside, I don't think Poland is a very pretty country. The landscape was very grey, there was hardly any greenery anywhere, there were heaps of creepy woods with those super skinny tall trees and there weren't any hills or mountains or anything nice. Complete opposite to NZ. When I got there, I walked the 2km to the camp and began the tour. I was there for about 2.5 hours, which I will detail in the next post. After that I got the train back to Krakow, picked up my bag and hopped on another train up to Warsaw. This train was really nice with HEAPS of legroom and it wasn't overly crowded which was nice! The train took 2 hours to get to Warsaw, and because it was pitch black I didn't get to see anything out the windows. But I had my book so it was ok :) Ended up getting to Warsaw central station around 10pm then I got a cab to the apartments I was staying in. When I opened the door to my little apartment I was stoked - it was very modern and fancy, with cool light shades and a nespresso machine! Plus a super comfy queen bed. Happy Dale. Wished I was staying there longer!

Awesome bed

Nespresso! Yussss.

Nice little bathroom

The next morning when I looked out my window there was quite a bit of snow on the ground! According to my phone it was 1 degree, and it certainly felt like it. I tried out the nespresso machine (delicious!) then checked out of my lovely room (sad). My phone said it was 25 minutes to the train station so I decided to walk it so I could see a bit of Warsaw. In stark contrast to Krakow, Warsaw is very urban, with sky-scrapers and lots of metal and glass. There are electronic bill-boards, lots of advertising and the business of a captial city. It was interesting enough, but I definitely prefer Krakow. From what I saw of it anyway. Got the train to the airport, did a bit of duty-free browsing and then made the journey back to London.

While I liked Krakow and had a very moving and worthwhile experience in Oswiecim, I don't think Poland is a country I'd go back to. I'm glad I went, for sure, but there wasn't enough oomph (for lack of a better word/phrase) to make me want to go back. Though they do know how to put on a great breakfast ;)

Until next time.
xx

New Years Eve + Day

Happy 2016!!

I cannot believe its a new year already, and that I've been halfway across the world for over half a year now. And that means I've used up 1/4 of my visa already! Gawsh. Anyway, I was lucky to get NYE and New Years Day off work which meant I could make the most of my first New Year's celebrations over here. Nicole and I booked tickets a while ago to this awesome sounding ball in Battersea Park (right next to the Thames) so I got the train in to London on NYE and ventured out to Wimbledon to meet up with Nicole to spend the day getting ready, catching up and then eventually heading out to this ball.

Getting ready in Nicole's room was fun - it's nice to get all made up sometimes!

Getting ready was heaps of fun and we got an Uber (my first uber experience) to Battersea at 7.30pm. When we got inside we were amazed by the decorations. The Ball had a 'New York New York' theme and was decorated accordingly, with yellow cabs, brick paving and graffiti (sounds kinda trashy, but it definitely wasn't). There was an acrobat performing when we got there, which was cool and then at 6pm the doors to the main room opened and the dining room (157 tables!!) was revealed. It was all done very well with table centerpieces and all that jazz and the room itself was stunning, with fairylights running the length of the ceiling and a huge stage at the front decorated with a NYC skyline backdrop. Nicole and I were seated at a table with two Russian girls, an English couple, an American couple and an Australian couple (ew, couples) who were all friendy enough (though the American and Australian guys were kinda annoying). 

This was one of the bars inside the venue (there were about 4 dotted around the place)

Pretty fairylights all over the ceiling :)

This pic gives you an idea of the dining room. There were 2000 people so it was pretty packed!

Before our meals were served there was entertainment on stage which was really good. It was just dancing and singing but it was all very well choreographed. The best part was when the song 'New York New York' played and women in showgirl outfits with big headpieces came out and did the exact dancing you imagine goes along with that song. Dinner was then served and it was exceptional! Our entree was a salmon and vege dish with beautiful presentation. Our main meal was a hunk of beef with a potato cake thing, baby carrots and very flavourful gravy and for dessert we got cheesecake with poached pear. After that we had a massive cheese platter delivered to the table. Oh and each table had a selection of wine, beer and waters. And a bread basket!

Entree

Main

Dessert

Once the formal part of the evening was over the band came on stage and started playing songs that we could dance to. Nicole and I went and danced for ages and stayed up front for the countdown. They had a big screen with a live-stream of the epic London fireworks which started at 12, so that was cool to see. It was such a cool event because everyone was in such high spirits and everyone was dancing. Such a cool buzz! Nicole and I stayed till 2am and then got a taxi home, so it wasn't a super late night for us. Once our heads hit the pillow we were out.

The next day we went to the Nutcracker on Ice at the Royal Albert Hall. This was simply spectacular. The actors/athletes were phenomenal, I was marvelling at their athleticism the whole time (and wondering if any of them were Olympic athletes cause their jumps, lifts and turns were amazing). It was a silent show, but easy enough to follow. It was more of a showcase of the skating than a performance of the Nutcracker, but it was very well done. I had this cute old Russian (I think?) lady sitting next to me who was chatting to me during the intermission telling me how she was having a nice day out with her daughter. What an old darl. After that Nicole and I got lunch in Kensington and then parted ways at the underground station as we went in different directions to get home. It was a busy 24 hours in London, full to the brim with spectacle. Every time I go in to London I love it even more - I can't wait to move in! So it was a great start to 2016 for me, I hope the rest of the year follows suit.

The Royal Albert Hall,

The ceiling in the Royal Albert Hall - what a venue! It's a circular shaped concert hall and it's sooooo pretty inside with all the arches and elegant decor.

The rink - we had a great view from our seats.

Tired girls watching the show.

xx