Off to Berlin

My house guest leaves Krakow on a 6 am flight tomorrow morning and I leave shortly after (at 8:30 am) for Berlin. I'm off for a week of training and will be back Friday night, just in time for my next guest who arrives on Sunday.

Between working and entertaining, I don't have much time to blog these days. Maybe in July . . .

Polish roadtrip

My old friend EO is visiting me from the US this week and we are in the midst of a short roadtrip. We arrived in Sandomierz yesterday afternoon and spent the remainder of the day wandering around the pleasant little hill town overlooking the Wisla river.

This morning we visited a fabulous castle ruin in Ujazd. The castle, which was built by a rich eccentric Pole in the early 1600s, contains 52 rooms (one for each week of the year), as well as 365 windows, and a special 366th window that was only unveiled on leap years. The guidebooks described Ujazd as deserted and off the beaten track, stating that you might be lucky enough to be the only visitor.

Not so for us. Somehow we managed to visit Ujazd on the one weekend of the year that the castles hosts a medieval fair, complete with reenactments of battles and medieval life. Although I am not much for reenactments, I was impressed by the mounted soldiers dressed as Hussars, completed with feathered wings. I'll post pics when I'm home.

Tomorrow we'll make our way back to Krakow, via the painted village of Zalipie. Apparently the women of the village repaint everything the weekend after Corpus Christi, which was last Thursdaz, so everything should be freshly painted by the time we get there.

More details when I get home.

My heart will go on

Apparently Celine Dion is coming to Krakow. According to one of my writers there are billboards all over the city and he was shocked that I didn't know about a Canadian superstar coming to town.

So he sent me this link.

I'm not a fan, but the idea of 60 000 people in the Blonia (a big open park in Krakow - 2 million of the faithful gathered there to mourn the Pope's death), intrigues me. I guess Celine really is a world wide superstar.

Several readers who accompanied me to Pelee Island many years ago may recall that Celine Dion's My heart will go on was in constant rotation at the restaurant in the hotel we stayed at. In fact, we believe it was the only CD they had. Who knew there were so many versions (all sung by Celine) of the same song?

Heavy

I thought hauling suitcases and groceries up the 62 steps to my apartment was a pain, until I saw 4 men carrying a piano up to the top floor yesterday.

Sadness

Although I've had company for the last week and have enjoyed it immensely, my thoughts have been with old friends who have recently lost people very dear to them.

One of the hard things about living in Poland means I can't be there in person for the people who matter to me. My parents will be my proxies at a funeral I would very much like to be at this week, but somehow it doesn't seem quite enough.

No matter how great technology gets, it will never replace a good old fashioned hug.

Marathon

I started running again a week or so ago. I figured it would be easier to go running in the mornings before work (ha!) then get to the gym in the evenings when all my spring and summer company is here.

So far so good. I was particularly pleased with myself yesterday when I went running in the morning, despite the rain. It wasn't until I was a few minutes into my run that I realized the Krakow marathon was on. Part of my regular running route had been blocked off for the marathon. I just slipped under the tape and ran it anyway, enjoying the admiring looks of some of the passers by. Of course the real marathon runners were long gone.

I saw many of them finishing the race a few hours later, after I had gone home, showered, eaten lunch and done various other things.

In love with Ljubljana

Ljubljana entranced me when I visited in mid-April. A small city of less than 300 000, it is entirely walkable and utterly charming.



See more of Ljubljana here.

Wroclaw

I've taken advantage of a long weekend in Krakow to catch up on posting some of my photos from recent trips. I was in Wroclaw with my parents in mid April and thoroughly enjoyed it. See here for more photos.

Sigh

As I was walking through the Rynek today (the main square in Krakow), I noticed that the Hard Rock Cafe has opened in a prominent location.

I suspect this means that other American chains like Starbucks and the Gap can't be far behind.