Into Norway

I spent yesterday wandering around Stockholm again, but this time with new friends! We visited the Vasa museum where an old war ship is preserved (it sank in 1628). Then we wandered around the old town and did some window shopping. We watched the changing of the guard and even had moose burgers for lunch!!

Today we head into Norway, first stopping at one of the largest lakes in Sweden (there are 10,000) for a picnic. Should be a long day of travel, but I'm looking forward to getting to know my new friends more.

Strolling in Stockholm

Well, this is day 1 of my Scandinavian tour. I will be in Stockholm through tomorrow night, then we are headed all around southern Norway, back to Sweden for a quick stop and then to Denmark. I arrived in Stockholm this morning, but don't meet my tour group until this evening. So I took some time to wander the city on my own. Stockholm is made up of a bunch of islands and canals (check out a map-it's pretty cool looking!) and also seems to have quite a bit of forest around.

I got myself to the center of town and then headed out to one of the main islands which is made up of parks and museums. I had some lunch there, did some fantastic people watching and strolled around looking at the impressive private boats.

The people here are tan, fit, friendly and welcoming. The city is clean and proudly mixes old and new. Everyone seems to be active and there are lots of people outside enjoying the summer weather.

I'm not sure if I'll get to blog every day but I will do my best to keep this updated as I go along. Unfortunately no pictures because I don't have my own computer. :( I'm going to take a quick nap now since I've been up since 5 am and still have 2 hours to meet my new friends!

Happy Independence Day!!

Warsaw

OK, so then we were in Warsaw. It was the hottest day of our trip, so finding the hotel with our bags was a bit uncomfortable. But we found it and got ready to head out. Our hotel was a bit east of the center of town AND there was a lot of construction going into town, so getting where we wanted to go was a challenge at first (and took awhile!). But we finally made it and were happy to sit down and check out some more yummy Polish food. Afterwards, we enjoyed walking around the Old and New Squares and taking in the culture around there.

There seemed to be a heavy classical music culture (of course, Chopin was from Warsaw) and always I was struck by the tenacity and courage of the Poles. The entire city of Warsaw was destroyed and pretty much evacuated during WW II. However, today it has been rebuilt to its previous glory and you would never guess that the city was literally a pile of rubble 60 years ago. That just goes to show that the Poles have a deep sense of national pride and put a lot of effort into rebuilding their lives instead of just moving on or giving up.

Royal Palace

Old Square

City Walls

New Square

On Friday we tried to visit the Russian bazarre but it was pretty dead and there was no English spoken anywhere, so it ended up being quite difficult. So we headed back to the Old Town and toured the Royal Palace. This building has also been rebuilt and restored and it was spectacular!

One of the many thrones

Some old masters (Rembrandt)

Magnificent architecture

After that it was time to head back to the airport and back to London. We were both very pleased with our trip. Ben was able to explore his homeland and is excited to return with his mom sometime. I had never really thought of Poland as a destination, but now I would recommend it (particularly Krakow) to anyone thinking of venturing to Eastern Europe.

Poland - as promised!

I absolutely LOVED Poland! Perhaps it was because of the company, the nicer than normal hotel, the decent weather, the cheap food, the not too crowded cities or the Polish culture. Whatever it was, this was a great and FUN trip!


We started in Krakow on Saturday night (after Ben had flown all night from Denver the night before, poor thing) and headed straight out to check out the city. Then on Sunday we hit up all of the hot tourist spots in the main part of town - central square, castle, fire-breathing dragon (not real and not real big). We had some great food and made some new friends to boot!

Main square - centuries old and the largest in Europe

Castle hill

Looking over the river

Fire-breathing dragon (told you)

Tasty treat

Monday we took a small day trip out of town to visit the salt mine. The mine has been in operation since 1300 something (I think) and has 9 levels. We were able to visit parts of 3 of them, but only saw about 5%!! The highlight of the tour was a massive chapel in the middle that was entirely made of salt - the walls, the floors, the pictures, the statues - everything! We both thought the mine was pretty sweet, but were happy to be back in some fresh air and a little sunshine at the end.

One of the caverns finished in 1666

The miners made many statues throughout the mines

In the chapel

By Tuesday we were realizing that we were going to want more time in Krakow than we had previously planned (until Wednesday). So we arranged to stay another night in our hotel. Since we were traveling by train to Warsaw, it was easy to postpone buying those tickets. So with all of that settled, we set out to visit Auschwitz and Birkenau - the Nazi prison/death camps. This was a very sobering trip and it didn't help that it was gloomy and rainy most of the day.

Entry to Auschwitz I

Birkenau - much bigger and more morbid, if possible

The Nazis burned most of the barracks (each of which held at least 700 people!) when they retreated. These chimneys remain as a grim reminder.

Ruins of the gas chambers where many Jews were sent if they were deemed unfit to work

Thankfully we had ALL DAY on Wednesday to still explore Krakow! We did a lot more wandering, especially in and near the park that circles the middle of town. We also did some souvenir shopping and just enjoyed the day.

A cute restaurant

People watching

The Park

Grilling our own sausage

On Thursday we boarded a train to Warsaw. This train was different than the trains I use in England. It was much more "old-fashioned", if you will, as in it had compartments with 6 (1st class) or 8 (2nd class) seats and a door that opened onto the hallway. We traveled 1st class and shared our compartment with only one other person, so we were very comfortable. We slept quite a lot and watched the countryside pass. If you must know, it looks a lot like Wisconsin - lots of deciduous trees, mainly farms and some small hills.

I'm going to have to take a break and show you Warsaw later...but hopefully this is enough to keep everyone happy!

Kathy is...

• Going to Poland tomorrow!
• Very busy at work, even though it's not busy season.
• Not very good at updating her blog (but then again, she hasn't been farther than the southern suburbs of London since Easter).
• Wishing it was warmer/sunnier in England.
• Wondering if she's ever going to hit all of the must-see locations on her "list".
• Ready to begin her summer travel season.

Pictures of Poland to come the last week of May!!

Easter in the Cotswolds

I had the fun privilege of traveling with 4 of my friends (2 from work and their spouses) to the Cotswolds for Easter weekend. In the UK, Easter is a 4 day weekend and a lot of people celebrate by doing some traveling, even if it's not far. The train ride we took was just shy of 2 hours, but it was like being in a different world! The weather was "typical" English - cloudy, a bit rainy, with some spots of sun - but that didn't dampen our spirits.

On Friday after a yummy lunch at the pub we were staying in, we took a long country walk on some steep footpaths. The Cotswolds are very hilly and we experienced the hills first-hand while we were scrambling up the muddy paths and trying not to slip and fall coming down! There were lots of sheep around and even though it was raining, we had a good time and felt that we got plenty of exercise so we could justify a 3 course dinner. :)

Saturday turned out to be a gorgeous day! We had arranged to rent some bicycles from a shop in another town so after breakfast, we headed over and picked them up. They gave us a very detailed map with several long rides through lots of villages highlighted. We had a fabulous time cycling up and down the hills (well, the uphills weren't too fabulous), checking out the villages along the way, taking lots of pictures of the countryside and enjoying the sunshine and sheep. I think we visited/cycled through 7 villages and they were all distinct in their way. We stopped in quite a few to do some extra "sight" seeing, including a long stop for lunch and a wander through the church in Chipping Camden.

On Sunday we celebrated Easter in the church in the village we stayed in. It was a traditional Anglican service in a beautiful building and I really enjoyed worshipping there! After church, we had a bit of a wander around, found some lunch and then headed back to London. It was a fantastic weekend and I'm so happy that it all went well and we were able to take a good break from the demands of London and work.

Dover Cliffs

Last weekend I once again started my day trips around the UK. Last year I was able to start doing these almost as soon as I moved here, but this year my work schedule was quite a bit different in February and March so I had to delay until April. Thankfully, the UK has impressed me once again and I am ready for more and more day trips in 2009!

I went with a work friend, Lauren, down to Dover where we explored the castle and took a hike along the cliffs. Thankfully the weather was SUNNY and pretty warm, especially since we were outdoors all day and walked about 10 miles, much of it uphill it seemed!

The castle has been there for hundreds of years, but was especially strategis in WW II due to its underground tunnels and crucial look-out points over the Channel. We toured the tunnels and wandered around the castle grounds some after we had a brief picnic lunch. We were both antsy to find the cliffs and start hiking in the open though.

After getting some interesting directions, we walked about 2 miles, mostly along a country road that wasn't quite wide enough for 2 lanes AND us, until we got to the beginning of the cliff paths. By that time, clouds had entirely covered the Channel so it was very difficult to see past the ferry docks, let alone all the way to France! But we enjoyed a good hike and took some fun pictures - which hopefully you enjoy as well!

Entrance to the underground tunnels

View of the castle from the cliffs

Me on top of the cliffs with the Channel behind me

The White Cliffs of Dover

A view down to the beaches below - the cliffs were literally bright white!

And in case you didn't believe I have a friend......this is Lauren :)