Thursday, July 31, 2008

Hooray!

I have a new niece! She was born in Vancouver on Sunday morning at approximately 7:30 am and weighs close to 7 pounds 4 ounces.

That's all I know. She's still waiting for her name to reveal itself.

It seems amazing, yet completely right, that you can love someone you've never met, heard, or even seen a picture of.

Welcome little girl, I can't wait to meet you one day soon.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Canada needs more dragons

I never realized how dragon deprived I was growing up until I moved to Krakow, a city full of castles and dragons, including one that breathes fire.

This is the only dragon I consorted with as a child in Alberta:

It's a bird, it's a plane

Sometime in May or June, I don't remember exactly when, only that it was a rare Saturday without a guest, I checked out the annual dragon parade in Krakow. This year's version was led by this giant flying beast



The beast swooped and soared, and much to the delight of the gathered crowd, came perilously close to landing on the masses. Instead of fear, the beast inspired joy in the hearts of all (including me) who were lucky enough to touch his giant head as he sailed down upon us.



And if he were to turn nasty, we were lucky enough to have these knights to protect us. I am particularly fond of the knight wielding the cooler lid as a shield.

Cat, cat, cat

Like all my houseguests, Sofie was fascinated by Flannery and Small. Most guests, however, do not run after the cats, yelling "cat, cat, cat" at the top of their lungs.

It took Sofie only a few tries to be able to pronounce Flannery correctly, but throughout the week she insisted on calling Small Tiny.

L told me yesterday that Sofie now refers to all cats as Flannery. And kisses the cat page in her animal book. Apparently Sofie's strongest memory of her trip to Poland (her father's birthplace), is of my cats.

Flannery and Small miss their petite admirer. It's not often their every move is greeted with such enthusiasm: "cat going Mama", "Mama, cat", "see cat" and my personal fav, "Who dat?" whenever a cat walked by.

And Tiny never even bit her.

Monday, July 21, 2008

And . . .

I just planned two more trips for later this fall. So much for boycotting air travel.

Jet setting

One of the perks of living in Europe is the proximity to, well, the rest of Europe. Since I moved here 14 months ago I've tried to visit as many places as possible, usually just for a few days or weekend.

However, the downside of all this jet setting around is air travel itself. The flight schedules are always seductive: Look, I can be in X, Y, or Z in just 2,3,or 4 hours.

But that's the best case scenario. Yes, I can be in Paris in 3 hours if everything is on time, which, anyone who has flown in the post-911 era knows, occurs very rarely.

And it seems more and more lately, that even if the plane is on time, the luggage isn't, as I discovered on flights in both January and February. It's not much fun skiing when you are at the hill and your skis aren't.

So you won't be surprised when I tell you that my short weekend trip to Nuremberg to visit Y this weekend ended belatedly just a few hours ago.

It all started well on Friday, with both me and my luggage arriving on time in Nuremberg. The weekend, which involved a new haircut and colour (yes I've succumbed to the bob again), lots and lots of shopping and purchasing, and participation in a city-wide inline skating event, promised to end well when I arrived on time for my flight at the Nuremberg airport Sunday evening.

Until the woman at the desk told me the flight to Munich was canceled. The next woman I talked to at the ticket desk seemed to believe that I could make my flight in Munich, which is two hours away by car, by taking a taxi, even though my flight was scheduled to leave for Krakow in exactly two hours. So, although skeptical, taxi chit in hand, I hopped in a cab with a German businessman. Everyone involved seemed to think I would make my flight, except Y, so off we went.

The taxi driver made a valiant attempt, sometimes driving up to 190 km an hour, but couldn't do anything about the traffic we encountered 30 km from the airport. By the time I arrived at the airport it looked like I had missed my plane.

I briefly regained hope that I might make my flight when the woman at the check-in said they would hold the plane for me, which was already delayed, until she saw my luggage, which was too big to carry on. Damn those rollerblades.

I ended up staying in Munich overnight, along with many other displaced passengers of various flights (apparently the Munich airport had suffered severe weather late Sunday afternoon, playing havoc with the schedule), and was back at the airport around 9:45 am ready for my flight.

I shouldn't have been surprised when I made it to the gate and saw that the flight was delayed.

I'm home now and maybe I'll stay here for a while. At least until I am seduced by the idea of being in another European capital in a few hours.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Shake!

The jazz restaurant and bar across the street serves real, honest-to-goodness milkshakes. That is, a milkshake made with ice cream and milk, and whatever else you care to put in it. It's the first ice cream milkshake I've found in Poland (other than at McDonald's which I try to avoid), and it was excellent!

Technically, I shouldn't be drinking milk or eating ice cream (lactose issues), but sometimes, a girl's just gotta have a milkshake.

So the next time you are craving live jazz with your milkshake, I know just the place. And it's right next door . . .

Waiting for Sofie

Tomorrow afternoon, Sofie, star of Letters to Sofie, arrives in Krakow, with her parents in tow.

Sofie, at the ripe old age of 20 months, has the distinguished honour of being my youngest overnight guest to date. As a result, special preparations are in order.

I've borrowed a pack and play (a portable playpen for those of you not in the know), a car seat, and a giant cardboard box (more on this later) just for Sofie.

I also made a special trip to the grocery store to stock the fridge for her dietary needs. Apparently Sofie, unlike almost every other toddler I know, does not eat yogurt, bread (!), or cheese. But she does like fruit, crackers and cookies. And she likes her milk as high in fat as possible (I was only able to find 3.2 percent, which seems luxurious compared to my skim milk).

I also purchased some apple juice, because every other kid I know drinks it. I'll keep you posted on whether that's on her yes list.

Back to that cardboard box. I may not have explained that my apartment (oddly enough, just like my home in Toronto, where Sofie lived for several months last year), is a death trap for small children. Although beautiful to behold, the open wood and glass staircase doesn't meet any safety code I know of, particularly not one to protect toddlers.

So my friends lent me a large cardboard box that I plan to use (in it's flattened state) to block the upstairs entrance to the stairs. The box is so big that a friend and I spent a good ten minutes getting it into my car. I spent even longer trying to get it out by myself this morning.

I haven't quite figured out the logistics of keeping Sofie safe, while allowing Flannery and Small free run of both floors. I forsee there may be a few long nights of meowing ahead.

But Sofie (and her parents) are more than worth it.

Check back in a few days here or at Sofie's own site for an update on what Sofie thinks of Krakow.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Zalipie

While on my short roadtrip in May with EO, we visited the village (perhaps more aptly described as a hamlet, as the village didn't even contain a main street) of Zalipie. Zalipie is famous for folk art, particularly painted houses.

We spent a few happy hours driving around the area, stopping almost every time we saw anything painted.



The detail on this house is quite typical of the Zalipie style:




For more pictures of painted dog houses, doll houses, barns (including cows), and houses, see here.

Friday, July 4, 2008

Summer nights

Several months ago a new restaurant and jazz bar opened up in the building directly across the street from me. I've been meaning to try it for weeks, but it wasn't until S visited that I finally checked it out in person.

The food and decor were fine, but my favourite part of the experience was listening to the live music.

However, sitting here at my desk writing this, listening to the sax accompanied by the noises of the street on a summer night, is even better.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Kazimierz Dolny

When S and I finally embarked on our abbreviated tour of Poland a few weeks ago, we headed to Kazimierz Dolny.

I'd heard a lot about Kaz D over the past few months. It is only a few hours southeast of Warsaw (to which I still haven't been), and has been an artists' haven for the last two hundred years. Plus it has fantastic architecture and is set in a lush forest on the banks of the Wisla river.



S and I spent a few days wandering happily around town, checking out the artists' workshops and buying several of their wares. We also managed to visit a few castles, climb a few hills, see a Red Army Cemetery, and get lost in a farmer's field.



All in all, I'd highly recommend it next time you are in Poland.

See more of Kazimierz Dolny and the surrounding area here.

Dzien Kanada

At some point in the last few months, I had big plans for Canada Day. One of the writers on my team is also Canadian and we had discussed multiple ways how we could possibly celebrate the event. But as I wrote in my last post, as the day got closer, I seemed to run out of ideas.

Somehow July 1st snuck up on us both, and we arrived at the office today without any plans.

So, last minute, I decided to invite my team for ice cream to celebrate all things Canadian after work. No matter what your nationality, ice cream is always a crowd pleaser.

It was all very nice, but I'm missing Canada right now. Funny how I miss home more on the national holidays then I do on the regular everyday days.