Saturday, July 7, 2007
Caught up!
WE DID IT! we caught up to our current day.... now you are with out exactly on the day we are with us!
Poland Day 30 - Day 32
Day 30
When Ola finally got up at noon, we all played some cards till 5ish and then headed to Tomek and Ania's for Filip's birthday supper... It was a very ncie meal and Ola and I got to meet Ania's mother, sister and brother.... Filip is now fully walking as of the last couple of days!!! (Happy Birthday --- your now actually a number... 1 ) ... We then went home and went to sleep!
Day 31
We woke up and headed out with Tomek and Ania to Lowicz, a small town about 1 hour away. The town has a castle, in which we visited, that was constructed in 1,355 A.D. Inside we walked to the keep, where Tomek is convinced they put all the disobedient women, who then let down their long hair to the knights..... We also so a little fabric/textile exhibit... We went to Tum to see a church that was built in 1,140 A.D...... It was unfortunately closed due to renovations, but the outside was very beautiful.... We then went to meet up with Ewa, an old friend of Ola's mom. We walked through a local park, while Ola and Ewa talked, Darrin walked around taking some photographs. After the stroll we headed to Tomek and Ania's for supper and then cards.....
Day 32 (July 7th - in case you lost count!)
Darrin woke up bright and early and watched Ocean's Eleven... Afterwards we left to go with Tomek, bowling. It was Tomek's first time playing and he did pretty good...
Ola scored: 81,79, 70
Tomek Scored: 60, 99, 78
Darrin Scored: 119, 130, 92 (my hand hurt? riiiiiight) - I still won every game.....
After playing for an hour we picked up Ania and Filip and went back home for supper at Tadeusz... He made pork loin, potatoe's and yellow beans with greek salad.... It was very good! Then we got ready and left to go to Ola#2's place.... We hung out there for 3 hours and then headed out to a club called, West port. It was a very cool club, with waterfalls... Darrin wanted to buy a round of shots, so he went to the bar and due to his lack of polish he ended up buying 4 large glasses of Jack Daniels..... Yea, next time Ola does the ordering.... But it was still very inexpensive, for almost 1/2 a bottle of Jack daniels in our 4 cups it only cost 80 Zloty (30$). We hung out there for just over an hour and then went to a second club called: Opium. When we arrived the girls went to the washroom, Darrin lost sight of Marcin and therefore he sat down with some random people and started to speak with them.... one of them happened to know english and told me all about her studies...... Her name is Iza. The girls finally found me, and we moved onto the dance floor... After another hour or so we headed out and called Tomek for a lift home... Now here comes the bad part..... After 33 days of being clean, Darrin and Ola succumbed to the power of McDonalds.... As they were the only thing open at this hour and we hadn't eaten since 4pm... I see this as not an excuse but a simple explanation!
When Ola finally got up at noon, we all played some cards till 5ish and then headed to Tomek and Ania's for Filip's birthday supper... It was a very ncie meal and Ola and I got to meet Ania's mother, sister and brother.... Filip is now fully walking as of the last couple of days!!! (Happy Birthday --- your now actually a number... 1 ) ... We then went home and went to sleep!
Day 31
We woke up and headed out with Tomek and Ania to Lowicz, a small town about 1 hour away. The town has a castle, in which we visited, that was constructed in 1,355 A.D. Inside we walked to the keep, where Tomek is convinced they put all the disobedient women, who then let down their long hair to the knights..... We also so a little fabric/textile exhibit... We went to Tum to see a church that was built in 1,140 A.D...... It was unfortunately closed due to renovations, but the outside was very beautiful.... We then went to meet up with Ewa, an old friend of Ola's mom. We walked through a local park, while Ola and Ewa talked, Darrin walked around taking some photographs. After the stroll we headed to Tomek and Ania's for supper and then cards.....
Day 32 (July 7th - in case you lost count!)
Darrin woke up bright and early and watched Ocean's Eleven... Afterwards we left to go with Tomek, bowling. It was Tomek's first time playing and he did pretty good...
Ola scored: 81,79, 70
Tomek Scored: 60, 99, 78
Darrin Scored: 119, 130, 92 (my hand hurt? riiiiiight) - I still won every game.....
After playing for an hour we picked up Ania and Filip and went back home for supper at Tadeusz... He made pork loin, potatoe's and yellow beans with greek salad.... It was very good! Then we got ready and left to go to Ola#2's place.... We hung out there for 3 hours and then headed out to a club called, West port. It was a very cool club, with waterfalls... Darrin wanted to buy a round of shots, so he went to the bar and due to his lack of polish he ended up buying 4 large glasses of Jack Daniels..... Yea, next time Ola does the ordering.... But it was still very inexpensive, for almost 1/2 a bottle of Jack daniels in our 4 cups it only cost 80 Zloty (30$). We hung out there for just over an hour and then went to a second club called: Opium. When we arrived the girls went to the washroom, Darrin lost sight of Marcin and therefore he sat down with some random people and started to speak with them.... one of them happened to know english and told me all about her studies...... Her name is Iza. The girls finally found me, and we moved onto the dance floor... After another hour or so we headed out and called Tomek for a lift home... Now here comes the bad part..... After 33 days of being clean, Darrin and Ola succumbed to the power of McDonalds.... As they were the only thing open at this hour and we hadn't eaten since 4pm... I see this as not an excuse but a simple explanation!
Poland Day 24 - Day 29
Day 24
We woke up nice and early to catch our train back to Lodz. At the train station we had a coffee with Marciek and said our goodbyes.... When we got back to Lodz and to her grandfathers house it was noonish 
so we decided to go swimming with Tomek, Ania and the pathers. The pool system is very akward at this place. The changing rooms are unisex, but they have individual stalls which you change in before entering and exiting the locker room. Basically you can enter form the front desk entrance or the locker room entrance into the stalls. and when u lock it, it locks on both ends... I could see how some people may feel very uncomfortable with this, but none the less it is a very good system... There is also two sauna's; one is a dry sauna where you must dry off before entering and the other one is wet sauna where it is very heavy to breath because of all the condensation... There is three pools here one for the children, a normal lap pool and then a pool with a slide as well as very cool shower fountains, water pressure holes and a few other little fun gadgets. After the pool, we headed out to go for supper at Aunt Krysia's house... Which was once again Fabulous! We played some cards and went to sleep....
so we decided to go swimming with Tomek, Ania and the pathers. The pool system is very akward at this place. The changing rooms are unisex, but they have individual stalls which you change in before entering and exiting the locker room. Basically you can enter form the front desk entrance or the locker room entrance into the stalls. and when u lock it, it locks on both ends... I could see how some people may feel very uncomfortable with this, but none the less it is a very good system... There is also two sauna's; one is a dry sauna where you must dry off before entering and the other one is wet sauna where it is very heavy to breath because of all the condensation... There is three pools here one for the children, a normal lap pool and then a pool with a slide as well as very cool shower fountains, water pressure holes and a few other little fun gadgets. After the pool, we headed out to go for supper at Aunt Krysia's house... Which was once again Fabulous! We played some cards and went to sleep....Day 25
We woke up in the morning --- well Darrin woke up in the morning, Ola woke up in the "late morning" or I would call it afternoon! We had a very nice brunch prepared by Tadeusz, that consisted of a very scrumptious omelette and a nice cup of coffee ....
afterwards we spent two hours relaxing on the computer and then headed over to Tomek and Ania's for some ribs and potatoe's...... The meat just fell off the bone! After which we headed directly over to Krysia's for an even bigger meal (feel full yet? Imagine having to eat it all)... Tomek and Ania went to see Shrek III, while we helped Krysia clean up the big mess! We waited for Tomek and Ania to come back to pick up Filip and us, as we had plans to go to the Panthers! At the Panthers we just hung out, talked about sports and Darrin learned some more Polish...
Day 26
Darrin woke up at 9 am and went with Tadeusz to his allotment (a portion of land in which you may have a garden, small house/hut, trees, etc) At Tadeusz allotment he has a little 2 room hut, a small garden, and 2 cherry tree's and a small strawberry bush... Darrin picked two or so pounds of cherries and then mowed the lawn, while Tadeusz repaired a few area's in the house and fixed the garden. We were there for about 1 1/2 hour - 2 hours (it was very quite and beautiful). After which we got home to a still sleeping Ola who we forced out of bed at noon, as we were preparing lunch.... After lunch, we taught Tadeusz how to play; 31, Kings, Liar (3 dice game), Yatzee.... Then we headed out for supper at Krysia - While Tadeusz went to a wedding. At Krysia we saw Asia, who was leaving to go away for a couple of weeks since she finished school! She gave Ola a very beautiful bracelet and talked for awhile. Afterwards we accompanied Tomek to drive Asia home to her mom's so she can get ready to leave. We then headed with the Panthers to a Go Kart area. The go karts were very fast and Ola got to do it for the first time ever.... She loved it, but Darrin loved beating her and smashing her into the sides muhahaha....
We then went to the Pathers house for awhile.
Day 27
Today is a very relaxed day... As it is a Sunday and it is the day of rest! hehehe ---- We started of by both waking up late 11ish and then playing some cards... Afterwards we had plans to be at Krysia's to have special meal: Kolduny (sounds like: Co - Dune - Eh). This is what they call their family dish, which means everyone atleast likes it and the most of them LOVE it... It was very good. It reminded me of Perogi's but instead of regular filling, it is filled with meat and mostly the fat.... MMM good good fat! After eating this meal ---> Darrin had 40 or so.... we played some more cards.... and that was all!
Day 28
We woke up had some breakfast and headed out to the Botanical Gardens. Along the way Tadeusz pointed out a few historical places in Lodz, such as; an old factory owned by Karol Scheibler, who built a town like place similar to that of Manufactura, but it was called "The Priests Mill". The new owners of the land wish to turn the location into high class lofts, as well as turn the old town houses of the workers into expensive homes for the wealthy of Lodz... the main building, which is the factory, is not being used at the moment so it will be easy for them to create the lofts, as long as they abide by the laws from UNESCO, while the town houses are currently rented by 100's of individuals, as the strip is that large. The owners have promised to move all the tenants to another location which would be better than their current one... When we got to the Botanical Gardens, Darrin beat Tadeusz to the ticket counter.... but they didn't have change for his 100 Zloty bill... Tadeusz won this fight but I will win the war! The Botanical Graden was very beautiful, however we came during its off season and therefore was not being as cared for as normally done....... After the garden we had some ice cream and headed back home! At home we made some watermelon sorbet, which wouldn't be ready until late that evening and even better the following day! It was very very very very good.......
Day 29
Darrin woke up and had breakfast with Tadeusz, then watched Johnny English until Ola woke up. Afterwards Tadeusz made some amazing potatoe latkes' and then we met up with Ola#2... We then went to see the Poznanski Museum/House which was very big for a small family. The museum itself wasn't that great, but it had some very cool old outfits and some interesting awards which were given to the occupants. There was also a small photograph exhibition on the main floor... In the cellar there were some old Nazi photographs/documents and other misc stuff from the war... We then parted with Ola and went to Krysia for supper....
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Poland Day 22 - 23 (Warszawa)
Day 22
We woke up at 6 am and caught our bus to the bus station (finally on time without having to run --- there is a first for everything)! We took the bus along with Asia and her friend who were heading down to Warszawa as well.... The bus ride was 2 1/2 hours long, which Darrin slept most of it and Ola talked with the other two. We arrived at almost 11, at Centrum station, it was pouring outside so we had to run into the mall to find shelter. We waited for two hours here for the rain to stop, but meanwhile planned where we were going to walk and what we were going to see... When the rain finally stopped we headed out to see the Palace of Culture and Education, it was about 2 blocks away. We tried to enter through the north entrance, but were stopped by locked doors... We then headed to the west entrance, where we were stopped by a very "unpleasant" (fill in the " " as you see fit, but we are keeping this PG-13) security guard who told us it was the pool.... then we finally got to the south entrance where we walked in to find out about the building. Basically inside is an art exhibition as well as a elevator lift that takes you to the 30th floor, where you get to see all of Warszawa... It was kind of expensive and since there was alot more to do we headed out again. We then went to a church about 4 blocks away. This church was different, it was very plain yet serene in its own way, it also had a massive organ which was beautiful, which we photographed. We then headed down one the main boulevards to find something to eat. Along the way we find a little market area where Ola and Darrin bought some sun glasses... Afterwards we found this hole in the wall restraunt which turned out to very nice inside and the food was cheap and delicious. They waiteress and waiter gave us some highlighted places to see and we headed out. We walked past two monuments, which were very nice and then arrived at the National Museum of Warszawa... It was closing in 30 minutes since it was 4pm anyways... We called Ola's cousin and he said he would meet as back at centrum in 1 hour or so.... Ola and I were about a 45 minute walk form there, so we headed back through the side street market area's and finally arrived. We then had about 20 minutes to kill, so we went to the pet store in the mall... Darrin spent 15 minutes talking with a parrot, who actually talked back (was actually whistling with the parrot who mimiced the exact sounds Darrin made). We then met up with Ola's cousin Maciek and his girlfriend Ania and headed back to Maciek's mothers (Magda) home. She made a large meal and we all sat around talking.... At 9:30 pmish Marciek, Ania, Ola and Darrin decided to go out for the evening. We started off by going to an ice club. The whole club is -10 degrees and you are given thermo coats to wear. The walls, seats, counters and everything is made of ice... Including your cup which you drink vodka shots from. There is also some statues here, which if anyone wants to know about you can ask Darrin and Ola as it is not for younger audiences..... After this club we went to the Marriot hotel and headed to the top floor (#30) to see the view of Warszawa during the night (the good thing about here is it is free unlike the culture and education palace). but we still ended up spending 100 zlote on drinks..... After that we went to a shisha bar - the only one in Warszawa, but were denied access as it was 21 over there and they card everyone (Poland legal age is 18, but since it is the only shisha place in Warszawa they could take any clients they want).....We then went back to the house and went to sleep.
Day 23
We woke up to a fancy brunch and then got a lift to the National Museum of Warszawa... We walked through the museum which was interesting but we were very peeved off by the rudeness of the staff... We also got to see a exhibition that was very very interesting. It was a Slovakian artist from the late 19th century and the early 20th. He did most of the advertisements and label for wines, perfumes, food and theatre... His name was: Mucha.
After the national museum we headed to Lazienki (sounds like Wah - Jen - Kee) ---> it means baths.... this large park is home to a palace in which house baths and peackocks. The peacocks also roam freely throughout the park! These beautiful birds were in the middle of their mating season and therefore we got to see the males feathers wide open as they try to attract the females, who seemed unimpressed by their ... ummm oh yea "feathers"! After this Maciek met up with us and showed us around the old town Warszawa.
What is old town?
During World War II Warszawa was totally demolished and therefore unlike the rest of Poland they do not have any of their original buildings. Old town was built slightly after the war in a replica model of how Warszawa used to look, as well as using many of the remains from the old buildings. It only took an astonishing three years to rebuild this part of the city, giving memory to what was lost.
About four blocks south of Old town square, they created a place called New town square. What was funny to see was that old town square was filled with people and busy shops (in a very compact area), while New town square was practically empty and had three times the area of Old town. We then strolled around Warszawa seeing different buildings and churches and finally sat down to eat at a local brewery. Darrin had a wheat beer (was pretty good) and ribs (only 20 zlote/ 8 canadian dollars).... Ola and Marciek both had a club sandwich. Once again we saw the charm of Warszawa with our very "unpleasant" waitress.... After the meal we went to the university where Marciek and Ania study law. Then we went to the airport to pick up Magda from her single day trip to a city close by... and headed home to sleep.... We had to be up at 6 am once again to make our train back to Lodz!
We woke up at 6 am and caught our bus to the bus station (finally on time without having to run --- there is a first for everything)! We took the bus along with Asia and her friend who were heading down to Warszawa as well.... The bus ride was 2 1/2 hours long, which Darrin slept most of it and Ola talked with the other two. We arrived at almost 11, at Centrum station, it was pouring outside so we had to run into the mall to find shelter. We waited for two hours here for the rain to stop, but meanwhile planned where we were going to walk and what we were going to see... When the rain finally stopped we headed out to see the Palace of Culture and Education, it was about 2 blocks away. We tried to enter through the north entrance, but were stopped by locked doors... We then headed to the west entrance, where we were stopped by a very "unpleasant" (fill in the " " as you see fit, but we are keeping this PG-13) security guard who told us it was the pool.... then we finally got to the south entrance where we walked in to find out about the building. Basically inside is an art exhibition as well as a elevator lift that takes you to the 30th floor, where you get to see all of Warszawa... It was kind of expensive and since there was alot more to do we headed out again. We then went to a church about 4 blocks away. This church was different, it was very plain yet serene in its own way, it also had a massive organ which was beautiful, which we photographed. We then headed down one the main boulevards to find something to eat. Along the way we find a little market area where Ola and Darrin bought some sun glasses... Afterwards we found this hole in the wall restraunt which turned out to very nice inside and the food was cheap and delicious. They waiteress and waiter gave us some highlighted places to see and we headed out. We walked past two monuments, which were very nice and then arrived at the National Museum of Warszawa... It was closing in 30 minutes since it was 4pm anyways... We called Ola's cousin and he said he would meet as back at centrum in 1 hour or so.... Ola and I were about a 45 minute walk form there, so we headed back through the side street market area's and finally arrived. We then had about 20 minutes to kill, so we went to the pet store in the mall... Darrin spent 15 minutes talking with a parrot, who actually talked back (was actually whistling with the parrot who mimiced the exact sounds Darrin made). We then met up with Ola's cousin Maciek and his girlfriend Ania and headed back to Maciek's mothers (Magda) home. She made a large meal and we all sat around talking.... At 9:30 pmish Marciek, Ania, Ola and Darrin decided to go out for the evening. We started off by going to an ice club. The whole club is -10 degrees and you are given thermo coats to wear. The walls, seats, counters and everything is made of ice... Including your cup which you drink vodka shots from. There is also some statues here, which if anyone wants to know about you can ask Darrin and Ola as it is not for younger audiences..... After this club we went to the Marriot hotel and headed to the top floor (#30) to see the view of Warszawa during the night (the good thing about here is it is free unlike the culture and education palace). but we still ended up spending 100 zlote on drinks..... After that we went to a shisha bar - the only one in Warszawa, but were denied access as it was 21 over there and they card everyone (Poland legal age is 18, but since it is the only shisha place in Warszawa they could take any clients they want).....We then went back to the house and went to sleep.
Day 23
We woke up to a fancy brunch and then got a lift to the National Museum of Warszawa... We walked through the museum which was interesting but we were very peeved off by the rudeness of the staff... We also got to see a exhibition that was very very interesting. It was a Slovakian artist from the late 19th century and the early 20th. He did most of the advertisements and label for wines, perfumes, food and theatre... His name was: Mucha.
After the national museum we headed to Lazienki (sounds like Wah - Jen - Kee) ---> it means baths.... this large park is home to a palace in which house baths and peackocks. The peacocks also roam freely throughout the park! These beautiful birds were in the middle of their mating season and therefore we got to see the males feathers wide open as they try to attract the females, who seemed unimpressed by their ... ummm oh yea "feathers"! After this Maciek met up with us and showed us around the old town Warszawa.
What is old town?
During World War II Warszawa was totally demolished and therefore unlike the rest of Poland they do not have any of their original buildings. Old town was built slightly after the war in a replica model of how Warszawa used to look, as well as using many of the remains from the old buildings. It only took an astonishing three years to rebuild this part of the city, giving memory to what was lost.
About four blocks south of Old town square, they created a place called New town square. What was funny to see was that old town square was filled with people and busy shops (in a very compact area), while New town square was practically empty and had three times the area of Old town. We then strolled around Warszawa seeing different buildings and churches and finally sat down to eat at a local brewery. Darrin had a wheat beer (was pretty good) and ribs (only 20 zlote/ 8 canadian dollars).... Ola and Marciek both had a club sandwich. Once again we saw the charm of Warszawa with our very "unpleasant" waitress.... After the meal we went to the university where Marciek and Ania study law. Then we went to the airport to pick up Magda from her single day trip to a city close by... and headed home to sleep.... We had to be up at 6 am once again to make our train back to Lodz!
Poland Day 20 - 21
Day 20
Ola and Myself woke up nice and early and had breakfast with Tadeusz. We then got our stuff together and the three of us went to the Jewish cemetery "Zydowski" - it is the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe (43 hectars or 106 acres). This massive Cemetary is home to many of the famous jewish entrepeneurs of Lodz, as well as; The victims of the Holocaust, victims of the Cholera, uprisings and everyday use. As this cemetary is so large, the cost to maintain it is just as great and therefore much of the cemetary is now one with the forest. It is actually a beautiful site to see the vines and ivy all around the graves and trees, as though life itself is forming around usually such a dead place. This magical presence that is formed by the graveyard was even used in many films. Certain section of the cemetary are currently being repaired/renovated by the generous donations of many people from Israel and the U.S.A. The majority of these section are those of the soldiers/citizens who died during the Holocaust. Although much of this renvoation has be done in a manner not to harm the nature or graves, some of the work actually requires moving the graves otherwise further damage to the preservation of its history could occur. In this graveyard, Izrael Poznanski was buried, his grave is one of the most cared for and beautiful in all the cemetary. We then left and headed to the grave in which Tadeusz mother (ola's great grandmother) was buried, in another cemetary. This cemetary was more different and was interesting to see how well kept it was. The reason this cemetary was more kept is that in the Zydowski cemetary, once you buy an area it is yours forever (but the duty of caring for the grave is that of the families)... While at this cemetary you can only rent the spot for 20 years at a time, then someone has to rent it again. So if after 20 years there is no one to pay the upkeep it is given to another individual. We laid some flowers down at the grave and a candle, then headed out to go for supper at Ola's Aunt Krysia house. We had an amazing meal once again (I have not yet found something in Poland I do no thoroughly enjoy). We all sat around till 10 pm eating and eating and eating until finally we were even to full to leave.... We got home and crashed after such a large meal!
Day 21
Darrin woke up once again to have breakfast with Tadeusz, while Ola slept till 10:30. But she's on vacation so she's allowed :) ... We had plans to meet Ola's old friend Ewa for 12pm at her office. The only thing was, where is her office... We left at 11:15 and arrived in the area around 11:45 ----> we forgot to bring the list of phopne numbers..... So we walked around for 2 hours looking in every office building and asking every receptionist if they know an Ewa Grzegorzewska and of course we were unsuccessful... We decided to give it 10 more minutes of searching when Ola finally got a hold of her Uncle Tomek... He was able to contact Ewa and to our surprise we see her stick her head out a window and flag us down.... (we happened to be in a small alley at the time, where her office was located... We still would have never found it! After one and a half hours of chit chatting, we left and headed back home, just to leave 10 minutes later to go to Tomek and Ania's for supper (it was a day of running around with our head chopped off)... We then called it an early night because our bus for Lodz left at 8am for Warsawa, which meant we had to wake up for 6 am in order to catch a bus to the bus station (ironic)!
Ola and Myself woke up nice and early and had breakfast with Tadeusz. We then got our stuff together and the three of us went to the Jewish cemetery "Zydowski" - it is the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe (43 hectars or 106 acres). This massive Cemetary is home to many of the famous jewish entrepeneurs of Lodz, as well as; The victims of the Holocaust, victims of the Cholera, uprisings and everyday use. As this cemetary is so large, the cost to maintain it is just as great and therefore much of the cemetary is now one with the forest. It is actually a beautiful site to see the vines and ivy all around the graves and trees, as though life itself is forming around usually such a dead place. This magical presence that is formed by the graveyard was even used in many films. Certain section of the cemetary are currently being repaired/renovated by the generous donations of many people from Israel and the U.S.A. The majority of these section are those of the soldiers/citizens who died during the Holocaust. Although much of this renvoation has be done in a manner not to harm the nature or graves, some of the work actually requires moving the graves otherwise further damage to the preservation of its history could occur. In this graveyard, Izrael Poznanski was buried, his grave is one of the most cared for and beautiful in all the cemetary. We then left and headed to the grave in which Tadeusz mother (ola's great grandmother) was buried, in another cemetary. This cemetary was more different and was interesting to see how well kept it was. The reason this cemetary was more kept is that in the Zydowski cemetary, once you buy an area it is yours forever (but the duty of caring for the grave is that of the families)... While at this cemetary you can only rent the spot for 20 years at a time, then someone has to rent it again. So if after 20 years there is no one to pay the upkeep it is given to another individual. We laid some flowers down at the grave and a candle, then headed out to go for supper at Ola's Aunt Krysia house. We had an amazing meal once again (I have not yet found something in Poland I do no thoroughly enjoy). We all sat around till 10 pm eating and eating and eating until finally we were even to full to leave.... We got home and crashed after such a large meal!
Day 21
Darrin woke up once again to have breakfast with Tadeusz, while Ola slept till 10:30. But she's on vacation so she's allowed :) ... We had plans to meet Ola's old friend Ewa for 12pm at her office. The only thing was, where is her office... We left at 11:15 and arrived in the area around 11:45 ----> we forgot to bring the list of phopne numbers..... So we walked around for 2 hours looking in every office building and asking every receptionist if they know an Ewa Grzegorzewska and of course we were unsuccessful... We decided to give it 10 more minutes of searching when Ola finally got a hold of her Uncle Tomek... He was able to contact Ewa and to our surprise we see her stick her head out a window and flag us down.... (we happened to be in a small alley at the time, where her office was located... We still would have never found it! After one and a half hours of chit chatting, we left and headed back home, just to leave 10 minutes later to go to Tomek and Ania's for supper (it was a day of running around with our head chopped off)... We then called it an early night because our bus for Lodz left at 8am for Warsawa, which meant we had to wake up for 6 am in order to catch a bus to the bus station (ironic)!
Monday, July 2, 2007
Poland Day 15- Day 19 (19th - 23rd of June)
Poland week #1 (Day15 - Day 19)
Day 15
We had a personal tour of Lodz with Tadeusz (in case you forgot: Ola's Grandfather). We saw Manufactura (a large commercial area and shopping center), which is being built/renovated from the old warehouses of what used to be a Cotton Factory.
What was Manufactura?
Was the main area in which cotton was produced, the #1 export of Poland in the 1,800's and beginning of the 20th century. The owner of this factory was Izrael Poznański, a wealthy entrepeneur of the time. He constructed a whole town "manufactura" for his workers. This town included a fire departement, stores, hospital, restaurants, etc (all these were exclusive for his workers and family). The catch to this little town was that whatever the people earned, they ended up spending at his stores/rent etc giving back to him his money. Although the costs of produce was very low for the people, as he wanted them to favor his location over others.
This area is now for public use and has been generously renovated and repaired for by a French company. The most interesting thing is that the outside was fixed but in its original state and therefore retains the same history. Much of Lodz is cared for in similar manners, as the buildings are under the UNESCO. If you are interested in finding out what Unesco means, just google it. After walking through Manufactura shopping mall and having a coffee we went to the working place of Ola's old friend from grade 1, Ola (her friend has the same name). They chit chatted for awhile and then we headed back to the apartement and had a wonderful polish dinner (curry lol guess Indian dish)... After supper we went with Tomek, Ania and Filip to the Old Cemetery where Ola's grandmother, great grandmother and great grandfather are buried. We walked around the burial grounds and saw many "cool" looking gravestones. We then went for a walk down Pietrkowska, a street with most of Lodz night life. We stopped and had a beer, where Darrin tried his first Guiness (it was delicious).
Day 16
We had a lazy day and walked down Pietrkowska. We saw a monument there which stands for Polands independance and freedom. In Poland the meals work differently then in Canada, we were supposed to be at Tomek's and Ania's house for supper at 3am. Since we woke up late, we didn't have much time to do anything else. We went there and had a very nice meal (chicken, potatoe and salad) - May I add the Polish know how to eat and cook! After supper we went to a pub near by with Tomek, Ania and there two friends: Agnieszka and Lukasz (Agnes and Luke). The pub has a pet camel! After having a beer we headed to park nearby where we walked abit and then played with Filip on the swings and seesaw ---> the six of us had more fun then the 10 month old hehe! We then went to Manufactura for an ice cream and to walk around. Afterwards we ordered and Pizza and went to Agnieszka and Lukasz apartement (They are known us the "Panthers" because of their last name). We sat around, talked (Darrin tried his best), ate and looked at cars and computers on the net.
Day 17
We met Tomek's daugther Asia (prenounced: Ash-A) who we walked around town with. We looked for a bowling alley, but the only one that was even a remote possibilty was only openeing in 1 month. We also stopped by a local computer store and purchased a wireless, optical mouse for Tadeusz to thank him for keeping us in his home. After walking around town all day we went for a 4pm supper at Aunt Bozenka's. The meal was fabulous once again. We then went out with Asia to a nightblub (more pubish) called "club 77". We tried many new drinks, Darrin slowly "learned" polish the longer the night went on.
Day 18
Very lazy day again! Ola slept till noonish and Darrin ate breakfast with Tadeusz and then played on the computer till Ola got up. FINALLY she got up and we headed out to the Cotton factory museum with our personal tour guide Tadeusz. On the first floor we saw machines from the beginning of cotton production till the early 1,990's when it closed down (China became #1 exporter of cotton over Poland). It was very interesting to see the progress of the machines and the amount of woprk required in the early 20th century to create such masterpieces (thanks to Tadeusz knowledge of these machines, we got to learn alot more about them. On the second and third floor there was an art exhibition that displayed works that were created solely with fabric's and material. Alot of these pieces were very delicate, yet stunning. The amount of time to create this art is incredible. After the museum, we went to the European Institute where Tadeusz knows someone who works. This building usually is not one you can just walk around, but thankfully because of family connections we got a private tour around this historical building from (Ania [another one], Ola's third cousin/aunt) - it was in english as she studied in England. This building was another building that has been conserved in the same manner as it was when it was constructed. Even for the institute to change a lightbulb, they need a special architect to come in and approve the change. This building was voted as the most conserved / protected building of original design. It was owned by a gentleman named: Robert Schweikert (a German man - after german retreat from Poland the villa was abandoned). Connected to this building is a soon to be hotel and an already functional conference center. This building was the base of Solidarity movement during the time of Communism in Poland. We saw many of the original pamphletes, photo's and signs used by the Solidarity group, as well as the balcony in which the leader used to speak to the people. The leader of this group was arrested by the communist government, along with his party, for trying to overthrow the government. The leader of the movement, Lech Walesa, is now the president of Poland.
Day 19
We met up with Ola #2 and her boyfriend Marcin. We took the tram / bus to Lodz's zoo. It was very inexpensive to enter (4 zloty/person - 1.75 $ canadian). We spent 3-4 hours here and then headed to their apartement. We ordered some pizza and hung out (Ola and Ola talked while Marcin, myself and his two friends duked it out in playstation soccer). We left around 11pm and headed back home.
Day 15
We had a personal tour of Lodz with Tadeusz (in case you forgot: Ola's Grandfather). We saw Manufactura (a large commercial area and shopping center), which is being built/renovated from the old warehouses of what used to be a Cotton Factory.
What was Manufactura?
Was the main area in which cotton was produced, the #1 export of Poland in the 1,800's and beginning of the 20th century. The owner of this factory was Izrael Poznański, a wealthy entrepeneur of the time. He constructed a whole town "manufactura" for his workers. This town included a fire departement, stores, hospital, restaurants, etc (all these were exclusive for his workers and family). The catch to this little town was that whatever the people earned, they ended up spending at his stores/rent etc giving back to him his money. Although the costs of produce was very low for the people, as he wanted them to favor his location over others.
This area is now for public use and has been generously renovated and repaired for by a French company. The most interesting thing is that the outside was fixed but in its original state and therefore retains the same history. Much of Lodz is cared for in similar manners, as the buildings are under the UNESCO. If you are interested in finding out what Unesco means, just google it. After walking through Manufactura shopping mall and having a coffee we went to the working place of Ola's old friend from grade 1, Ola (her friend has the same name). They chit chatted for awhile and then we headed back to the apartement and had a wonderful polish dinner (curry lol guess Indian dish)... After supper we went with Tomek, Ania and Filip to the Old Cemetery where Ola's grandmother, great grandmother and great grandfather are buried. We walked around the burial grounds and saw many "cool" looking gravestones. We then went for a walk down Pietrkowska, a street with most of Lodz night life. We stopped and had a beer, where Darrin tried his first Guiness (it was delicious).
Day 16
We had a lazy day and walked down Pietrkowska. We saw a monument there which stands for Polands independance and freedom. In Poland the meals work differently then in Canada, we were supposed to be at Tomek's and Ania's house for supper at 3am. Since we woke up late, we didn't have much time to do anything else. We went there and had a very nice meal (chicken, potatoe and salad) - May I add the Polish know how to eat and cook! After supper we went to a pub near by with Tomek, Ania and there two friends: Agnieszka and Lukasz (Agnes and Luke). The pub has a pet camel! After having a beer we headed to park nearby where we walked abit and then played with Filip on the swings and seesaw ---> the six of us had more fun then the 10 month old hehe! We then went to Manufactura for an ice cream and to walk around. Afterwards we ordered and Pizza and went to Agnieszka and Lukasz apartement (They are known us the "Panthers" because of their last name). We sat around, talked (Darrin tried his best), ate and looked at cars and computers on the net.
Day 17
We met Tomek's daugther Asia (prenounced: Ash-A) who we walked around town with. We looked for a bowling alley, but the only one that was even a remote possibilty was only openeing in 1 month. We also stopped by a local computer store and purchased a wireless, optical mouse for Tadeusz to thank him for keeping us in his home. After walking around town all day we went for a 4pm supper at Aunt Bozenka's. The meal was fabulous once again. We then went out with Asia to a nightblub (more pubish) called "club 77". We tried many new drinks, Darrin slowly "learned" polish the longer the night went on.
Day 18
Very lazy day again! Ola slept till noonish and Darrin ate breakfast with Tadeusz and then played on the computer till Ola got up. FINALLY she got up and we headed out to the Cotton factory museum with our personal tour guide Tadeusz. On the first floor we saw machines from the beginning of cotton production till the early 1,990's when it closed down (China became #1 exporter of cotton over Poland). It was very interesting to see the progress of the machines and the amount of woprk required in the early 20th century to create such masterpieces (thanks to Tadeusz knowledge of these machines, we got to learn alot more about them. On the second and third floor there was an art exhibition that displayed works that were created solely with fabric's and material. Alot of these pieces were very delicate, yet stunning. The amount of time to create this art is incredible. After the museum, we went to the European Institute where Tadeusz knows someone who works. This building usually is not one you can just walk around, but thankfully because of family connections we got a private tour around this historical building from (Ania [another one], Ola's third cousin/aunt) - it was in english as she studied in England. This building was another building that has been conserved in the same manner as it was when it was constructed. Even for the institute to change a lightbulb, they need a special architect to come in and approve the change. This building was voted as the most conserved / protected building of original design. It was owned by a gentleman named: Robert Schweikert (a German man - after german retreat from Poland the villa was abandoned). Connected to this building is a soon to be hotel and an already functional conference center. This building was the base of Solidarity movement during the time of Communism in Poland. We saw many of the original pamphletes, photo's and signs used by the Solidarity group, as well as the balcony in which the leader used to speak to the people. The leader of this group was arrested by the communist government, along with his party, for trying to overthrow the government. The leader of the movement, Lech Walesa, is now the president of Poland.
Day 19
We met up with Ola #2 and her boyfriend Marcin. We took the tram / bus to Lodz's zoo. It was very inexpensive to enter (4 zloty/person - 1.75 $ canadian). We spent 3-4 hours here and then headed to their apartement. We ordered some pizza and hung out (Ola and Ola talked while Marcin, myself and his two friends duked it out in playstation soccer). We left around 11pm and headed back home.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Rome Day 14 / Leaving for Poland
Day 14
Since I know your all pretty much sick of hearing about that all american breakfast... i decided to save you today and sleep in :) ! Even though it was free, we decided it was better to miss for everyone's sake (the things we do). Our flight was at 7:30pm so we booked a shuttle bus at 5:00pm from central station ---> which would take us to the airport for 6:00 pm.
We arrived at 12:30pm at the Vatican Museum and payed 15 or 20 euro's/ person (ouch). I don't even think we can explain in complete what we saw here! we had to do it extremely quick since it takes 3 hours to walk through, without really even stopping! which means we only would get out in time for us to take the underground back to central station to catch our shuttle. So we walked very quickly through the museum, which takes minimum 1 whole day to go through! Inside the museum the stuff ranged from: statues of greek/roman mythology, mosaic's of great size, painting/sculptures of ceilings and walls throughout the museum, maps of Europe/waterways/heavens/cities in Italy/etc (all these were painted on the wall down a corridor atleast 0.5km long), pottery and other treasures. The highlight to whole museum was the Sistine Chapel
What is the Sistine Chapel?
It is first of all, the last works of Michelangelo (1475–1564) (who went nearly completely blind while painting the room, from splashes of paint that went into his eye during his works), but the main purpose of the chapel is to bring the new Pope into power.
We didn't have much time to appreciate the room, especially since the chapel was beyond fire regulations, as it had more people then air in the room. It was much much smaller then we had thought or imagined and therefore didn't impress us as much as we had hoped. However it is a chapel and is meant to be smaller then your average church.
After the Museum, we once again looked at the time and had to run to make our shuttle. It was 4:15 and we were on the other side of the city. Third time in a row we are running for a bus/train or plane to get to our next location! We made the shuttle by 10 minutes or so, but if we would have missed one subway tram we would not have made it... Lucky us once again!
We arrived at the airport and waited till 7:30 when we found out our plane was delayed one hour. So we waited till 8:30 and jumped on a bus that took us to our plane (this was very cool). The flight was with Central Airwings (polish airline), and was really smooth. At the end of the flight everyone clapped for the pilot ----> which Ola has been trying to convince me of for 6 years. I have never seen it before, ONLY IN POLAND! (those polish are strange)... It was actually kind of nice. Once we landed we waited again 45 minutes for the luggage to actually arrive and then add an extra 15 minutes for our luggage to come through (one of the last ones, yet we were the first to check-in). Ola is very happy now! we're in Poland..... We found her Uncle (Tomek) and his girlfriend (Ania) waiting for us at the gate. He brought Ola some beautiful flowers. They then drove us to her grandfathers (Tadeusz - Ted) in Lodz, 2 hours from Warsaw where we landed (they also live in Lodz). We said our quick hello's/goodbye's and went to sleep! (that is at 2 am)
Since I know your all pretty much sick of hearing about that all american breakfast... i decided to save you today and sleep in :) ! Even though it was free, we decided it was better to miss for everyone's sake (the things we do). Our flight was at 7:30pm so we booked a shuttle bus at 5:00pm from central station ---> which would take us to the airport for 6:00 pm.
We arrived at 12:30pm at the Vatican Museum and payed 15 or 20 euro's/ person (ouch). I don't even think we can explain in complete what we saw here! we had to do it extremely quick since it takes 3 hours to walk through, without really even stopping! which means we only would get out in time for us to take the underground back to central station to catch our shuttle. So we walked very quickly through the museum, which takes minimum 1 whole day to go through! Inside the museum the stuff ranged from: statues of greek/roman mythology, mosaic's of great size, painting/sculptures of ceilings and walls throughout the museum, maps of Europe/waterways/heavens/cities in Italy/etc (all these were painted on the wall down a corridor atleast 0.5km long), pottery and other treasures. The highlight to whole museum was the Sistine Chapel
What is the Sistine Chapel?
It is first of all, the last works of Michelangelo (1475–1564) (who went nearly completely blind while painting the room, from splashes of paint that went into his eye during his works), but the main purpose of the chapel is to bring the new Pope into power.
We didn't have much time to appreciate the room, especially since the chapel was beyond fire regulations, as it had more people then air in the room. It was much much smaller then we had thought or imagined and therefore didn't impress us as much as we had hoped. However it is a chapel and is meant to be smaller then your average church.
After the Museum, we once again looked at the time and had to run to make our shuttle. It was 4:15 and we were on the other side of the city. Third time in a row we are running for a bus/train or plane to get to our next location! We made the shuttle by 10 minutes or so, but if we would have missed one subway tram we would not have made it... Lucky us once again!
We arrived at the airport and waited till 7:30 when we found out our plane was delayed one hour. So we waited till 8:30 and jumped on a bus that took us to our plane (this was very cool). The flight was with Central Airwings (polish airline), and was really smooth. At the end of the flight everyone clapped for the pilot ----> which Ola has been trying to convince me of for 6 years. I have never seen it before, ONLY IN POLAND! (those polish are strange)... It was actually kind of nice. Once we landed we waited again 45 minutes for the luggage to actually arrive and then add an extra 15 minutes for our luggage to come through (one of the last ones, yet we were the first to check-in). Ola is very happy now! we're in Poland..... We found her Uncle (Tomek) and his girlfriend (Ania) waiting for us at the gate. He brought Ola some beautiful flowers. They then drove us to her grandfathers (Tadeusz - Ted) in Lodz, 2 hours from Warsaw where we landed (they also live in Lodz). We said our quick hello's/goodbye's and went to sleep! (that is at 2 am)
Rome Day 13
Day 13
Another All-American Breakfast mmmmmmh!
We left with our American/Belgium friends to show them abit of Rome in fast pace... They only had 2 days and wanted to see as much as they could. Since this was our last day, we still had two places on our list as well: The Vatican museum and St Peter's Basilica. We started off walking the ruins of Rome again and into the Pantheon (we told them to see the Coliseum and Palatine tomorrow, as we didn't have the time). We then had a nice lunch at a small Pizzeria near the Pantheon. It was delicious! We then headed to the St. Peter's Basilica where we waited for 45 minutes in the scorching heat and then finally got denied access because of shorts and t-shirts................ thats what would have happened if it wasn't for our handy guide that told us we needed long pants. So we got in and started off by going down into the crypt, where all the previous Pope's were buried. There was a little section in which many were mourning / paying there respect to John Paul II. It was a simple grave and very elegant. We then got out and went into the Basilica which was stunning. Every corner was filled with details and perfection. In the basilica there was also the monument for every Pope, which seemed to be placed directly over there graves in the crypt. Not much we could say about its appearance, it is more something you must see. Not even the pictures were able to capture its true beauty. After wandering the Basilica for about 45 minutes we headed to the cupola "the peak" of the Basilica. We climbed up 500+ stairs (which ranged from steep to tight to narrow and much more). When we finally reach the top we got to witness rome 360 degrees. We also got to see the altar of the basilica from the top view. From here we could even see the coliseum which was at the other end of the city (thanks to having the other couple with us, we finally could take some photo's with both of us in them). Afterwards we headed to Trevi Fountain, where we sat and had an ice cream. The fountain was one of the nicest we saw all trip. We then headed back to the hotel, wehere our friends ate Mcdonalds (YUCK! Darrin has a pact not to eat McDonalds while on this trip!). We decided to go vegetarian and made ourselves a nice garden salad... Slowly missing protein...
need MMMM....EEEE....AAAA.....TTTT [ BTW this spells: Meat ]. Around 9pm the four of us headed to look for a local pub (note this is a Sunday). we walked 1 km south to find out the pubs were 2 km north of our hotel! so we walked back 3 km to reach the closest OPEN pub. We then sat, and drank cheap but good alchol! After the night was done 1am or so, we headed back to the hotel and crashed.
Another All-American Breakfast mmmmmmh!
We left with our American/Belgium friends to show them abit of Rome in fast pace... They only had 2 days and wanted to see as much as they could. Since this was our last day, we still had two places on our list as well: The Vatican museum and St Peter's Basilica. We started off walking the ruins of Rome again and into the Pantheon (we told them to see the Coliseum and Palatine tomorrow, as we didn't have the time). We then had a nice lunch at a small Pizzeria near the Pantheon. It was delicious! We then headed to the St. Peter's Basilica where we waited for 45 minutes in the scorching heat and then finally got denied access because of shorts and t-shirts................ thats what would have happened if it wasn't for our handy guide that told us we needed long pants. So we got in and started off by going down into the crypt, where all the previous Pope's were buried. There was a little section in which many were mourning / paying there respect to John Paul II. It was a simple grave and very elegant. We then got out and went into the Basilica which was stunning. Every corner was filled with details and perfection. In the basilica there was also the monument for every Pope, which seemed to be placed directly over there graves in the crypt. Not much we could say about its appearance, it is more something you must see. Not even the pictures were able to capture its true beauty. After wandering the Basilica for about 45 minutes we headed to the cupola "the peak" of the Basilica. We climbed up 500+ stairs (which ranged from steep to tight to narrow and much more). When we finally reach the top we got to witness rome 360 degrees. We also got to see the altar of the basilica from the top view. From here we could even see the coliseum which was at the other end of the city (thanks to having the other couple with us, we finally could take some photo's with both of us in them). Afterwards we headed to Trevi Fountain, where we sat and had an ice cream. The fountain was one of the nicest we saw all trip. We then headed back to the hotel, wehere our friends ate Mcdonalds (YUCK! Darrin has a pact not to eat McDonalds while on this trip!). We decided to go vegetarian and made ourselves a nice garden salad... Slowly missing protein...
need MMMM....EEEE....AAAA.....TTTT [ BTW this spells: Meat ]. Around 9pm the four of us headed to look for a local pub (note this is a Sunday). we walked 1 km south to find out the pubs were 2 km north of our hotel! so we walked back 3 km to reach the closest OPEN pub. We then sat, and drank cheap but good alchol! After the night was done 1am or so, we headed back to the hotel and crashed.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Rome Day 12
Day 12
We woke up again for our All American Breakfast! it was as great as the day before... But it fed these hungry travellers none the less. We then went back to our room, prepared some nice hearty sandwich's and headed off onto the famous rome transportation system!
Buy a Roma Pass - 20 Euro's (all you want transport for 3 days - n0t 72 hours, and gives you 2 free museum entrances)
We started off by going to see the Pantheon, a large old temple that was changed into a church. This one room massive structure is built in a dome shape with a large circular opening at the top without any means of closing. With this taken into account, what happens if it rains you may ask? Well along the floor there is a draining system (26 holes to be exact, I may be slightly off... so not exact). The one thing we cannot answer is, what if it rains during mass...
After the Pantheon we headed over to the largest park in rome ( not exactly sure of its name). As we entered through the main gate, in broad daylight and right in the middle of the open grass, a young couple was showing some of their true public affection... We quickly walked into the park and went on our way exploring the many different piazza's and fountain found here. It was a very nice walk which landed us at our next stop, in the heart of the park: Borghese Museum. This museum had two floors; the first one consisted of many statues and mosaics with different themes in each room (example: Hercules room). The second floor consisted of paintings from the 1,300's - 1,500's A.D along with porcelain statuettes. All in all the museum was well done, a bit short but full of interesting history and objects. Upon exiting it started to rain heavily. Out of nowhere a man selling umbrella's tried to swindle us into buying one, many other had already purchased an umbrella, but Ola and I decided to get soaked! We started heading out to Rome's National Museum. Within 30 seconds to 1 minute the rain abated and we saved 10 euro's (hehe all those suckers who bought umbrella's)! On our way to the museum we stopped at piazza Della Repubblica - a large fountain near central station. We stopped here to have our sandwich's and feel the ncie cool mist coming off of it, it was now very hot. We then made our way two blocks downwards to the museum. Inside we bought our tickets (as we used all of our free entrances at the other museums, but the roma pass still gave us 50% off [6.50 euro each savings]). This museum had three floors: the basement had a massive coin collection - with complete sets starting from around the beginning of A.D to the present - including the Euro's made specifically for Italy. Each display had magnifying glass that moved so u could see the details on the coins... None but two of these magnifying glasses worked (they were electronically used with a keypad, which were broken). So we see that the entrance fee definately didn't pay for those hehe. After that we headed to a second room in the basement which displayed the mummified remains of 6 year old girl and her sarcophagus. There was also a video on the procedure of mummification and how to conserve it. It was a bit eary, so we didn't stay in there too long! The first floor/main floor was like all the other museums, it was filled with statues and head of statues, mostly outlining the different styles/era's. There was also a few pieces of the calenders the Romans used in the past and the holiday dates in which they followed.
Roman Calender
What was very cool to see, was the Romans system of dates is almost identical to the system we use today. (they had 364 days a year + 1 day / 4 years [leap year]) ---> one of the emperors changed it to this sytem when the mathmeticians of the time found this to be correct. For 1 year before this system was introduced the emperor played with the days in order to catch up to the correct pattern! HUH? if your that interested look it up!
In the center of this floor was a garden, it was very nice except for the fact the water probably hadn't been filtered since the roman empire! On the second and final floor were statues of Athletes. here is the order in which they were displayed:
Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Apollo, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Hercules, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete's, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete
(all statues) you get my drift! But it was still fun to look at all the different stances/poses they had! After this museum we were right next to central station, so we hopped onto the underground and then the bus and headed back to the hotel. Ola took a little nap, while Darrin surfed the net and msn, on the one and only computer for 1,000+ room hotel! At 9:30 pm our friends from Venice arrived. They were exhausted and hungry so we decided to find a local pub and pick up some grub! Ola used her italian to order (ohhh ahhh). We then went back to the hotel and went to sleep.
We woke up again for our All American Breakfast! it was as great as the day before... But it fed these hungry travellers none the less. We then went back to our room, prepared some nice hearty sandwich's and headed off onto the famous rome transportation system!
Buy a Roma Pass - 20 Euro's (all you want transport for 3 days - n0t 72 hours, and gives you 2 free museum entrances)
We started off by going to see the Pantheon, a large old temple that was changed into a church. This one room massive structure is built in a dome shape with a large circular opening at the top without any means of closing. With this taken into account, what happens if it rains you may ask? Well along the floor there is a draining system (26 holes to be exact, I may be slightly off... so not exact). The one thing we cannot answer is, what if it rains during mass...
After the Pantheon we headed over to the largest park in rome ( not exactly sure of its name). As we entered through the main gate, in broad daylight and right in the middle of the open grass, a young couple was showing some of their true public affection... We quickly walked into the park and went on our way exploring the many different piazza's and fountain found here. It was a very nice walk which landed us at our next stop, in the heart of the park: Borghese Museum. This museum had two floors; the first one consisted of many statues and mosaics with different themes in each room (example: Hercules room). The second floor consisted of paintings from the 1,300's - 1,500's A.D along with porcelain statuettes. All in all the museum was well done, a bit short but full of interesting history and objects. Upon exiting it started to rain heavily. Out of nowhere a man selling umbrella's tried to swindle us into buying one, many other had already purchased an umbrella, but Ola and I decided to get soaked! We started heading out to Rome's National Museum. Within 30 seconds to 1 minute the rain abated and we saved 10 euro's (hehe all those suckers who bought umbrella's)! On our way to the museum we stopped at piazza Della Repubblica - a large fountain near central station. We stopped here to have our sandwich's and feel the ncie cool mist coming off of it, it was now very hot. We then made our way two blocks downwards to the museum. Inside we bought our tickets (as we used all of our free entrances at the other museums, but the roma pass still gave us 50% off [6.50 euro each savings]). This museum had three floors: the basement had a massive coin collection - with complete sets starting from around the beginning of A.D to the present - including the Euro's made specifically for Italy. Each display had magnifying glass that moved so u could see the details on the coins... None but two of these magnifying glasses worked (they were electronically used with a keypad, which were broken). So we see that the entrance fee definately didn't pay for those hehe. After that we headed to a second room in the basement which displayed the mummified remains of 6 year old girl and her sarcophagus. There was also a video on the procedure of mummification and how to conserve it. It was a bit eary, so we didn't stay in there too long! The first floor/main floor was like all the other museums, it was filled with statues and head of statues, mostly outlining the different styles/era's. There was also a few pieces of the calenders the Romans used in the past and the holiday dates in which they followed.
Roman Calender
What was very cool to see, was the Romans system of dates is almost identical to the system we use today. (they had 364 days a year + 1 day / 4 years [leap year]) ---> one of the emperors changed it to this sytem when the mathmeticians of the time found this to be correct. For 1 year before this system was introduced the emperor played with the days in order to catch up to the correct pattern! HUH? if your that interested look it up!
In the center of this floor was a garden, it was very nice except for the fact the water probably hadn't been filtered since the roman empire! On the second and final floor were statues of Athletes. here is the order in which they were displayed:
Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Apollo, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Hercules, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete's, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete
(all statues) you get my drift! But it was still fun to look at all the different stances/poses they had! After this museum we were right next to central station, so we hopped onto the underground and then the bus and headed back to the hotel. Ola took a little nap, while Darrin surfed the net and msn, on the one and only computer for 1,000+ room hotel! At 9:30 pm our friends from Venice arrived. They were exhausted and hungry so we decided to find a local pub and pick up some grub! Ola used her italian to order (ohhh ahhh). We then went back to the hotel and went to sleep.
Rome Day 11
Day 11
We woke up nice and early to catch our free All American Breakfast! YUPPIE! the eggs were utterly disgusting and the bacon was definately mystery meat... Darrin still ate it for protein mmmmmm! After our hearty breakfast, we picked up our bags and headed out to Rome. This trip took us about 45 minutes where we ended up right next to the coliseum - but before we even go there lets take a quick look at the travel surroundings in Rome specifically the "tube, metro, underground railway system"... Now if you want hot sweaty, disgusting close rubbing sensations..... this is the place to be. You get all of that for your 1 euro worth of a ride! Now if that doesn't please you, you can have free of charge attitude! Besides all of this the ride was near perfect - just a bit bumpy in an old smelly / graffitied up trams.... Now we arrived, ALIVE, at the coliseum a wonderful piece of ancient Rome. As we walked by we decided to start off by going to the Palantine.
What is the Palantine?
This location is where the first evidence of roman civilization was found. They have done excavtions here that lead back to around B.C and have many of these treasures... Not only was this the place of great excavations, it was also the hill in which the temples / Palaces and villa's of the emperors were located. This hill was known as Capital Hill and from there the city grew. We got to see the remains of whole buildings they brought up from beneath the ground. This is truly unbelievable the possible creations the Roman Empire had and all the monuments that surrounded it.
The name ROME came from the legend of Romulus and Remus, two boys who were raised by a wolf just on the bottom of the hill. There were many varations of the legend, but these two boys were thought to be the ones that started the beginning of Rome... Just as a quick fun fact ---> Romulus killed his brother Remus to gain entire power rather than sharing it.
This place was very stunning and has much history to it. It is a must see in Rome and we have many great pictures! After the Palantine we headed over to the Coliseum (created in 80 A.D), the place of Gladiators, Slaves and Lions - oh my! The Coliseum has about an hour or so wait to get in, the palantine had about a 5 minute wait ---> trick: the ticket from the palantine is also good at the coliseum (vice versa)... So we got to bypass this entire line-up hehehe! Inside this enormous structure you see the remains of what was one of the biggest event area in Rome. Surprisingly it was only running for two centuries as a combat field for slaves and gladiators... as it was then seen as savage so it was used for different things (a cemetery, and then a fortress called "Frangipane" and finally a sort of cava for the construction materials)
"in 313 after Christ, the Imperator Constantine proclaimed Christianity the official religion of the empire, obviously forbidding the executions of Christians but also the combats between gladiators and the hunting spectacles."
This massive structure has had much damage to it and is very hard to make out certain details. After many photographs of the ancient ruins, we went to a small exhibition they were having within the coliseum on Eros.
Who is Eros?
Romans were very into worshipping of many different gods, Eros was one of these gods.
In fact Eros was thought to be the most powerful of all gods, including Zeus himself. Eros had the ability to seduce any mortal and non-mortal that he wished. He also had the ability to take any form that he desired, wether animate or inanimate. This gave him the ability to attract anyones desires as well as not reveal himself to them. They may not even realise that they had been affected by Eros's power/charm. Through the years, Eros became multiple personalities, such as; Amor and Cupid!
After this exhibition we headed out of the coliseum to the main road through the ruins of Ancient Rome (Foro Romano). This lead us to the Marcus Aurelius square and the Museum of Capitolini. By this time Ola and I were exhausted, but it was too stunning to stop! We decided to go into the museum and unravel its mysteries within! Mostly potrayed ancient marble/stone statues that were excavated in parts or whole. It was also done in a way that showed the fashions of the different era's within the roman empire (example: the different female hairstyles). It also had the original statues of Marcus Aurelius ---> watch Gladiator the movie if you don't know who this is... and if you don't and have to watch the movie shame on you! We learned however that the movie is waaaaaaay off in the end. Marcus Aurelius was actually the emperor of Rome at one time and one of the greatest in history. We have many photo's of these statues, that we'll save all of you some reading time! In the museum we also saw the original foundation of the Jupiter temple, and from what we saw on the model... the temple was huge!
After this museum we headed back to our hotel leisurely walking through the streets of Rome to the famous underground system.
We woke up nice and early to catch our free All American Breakfast! YUPPIE! the eggs were utterly disgusting and the bacon was definately mystery meat... Darrin still ate it for protein mmmmmm! After our hearty breakfast, we picked up our bags and headed out to Rome. This trip took us about 45 minutes where we ended up right next to the coliseum - but before we even go there lets take a quick look at the travel surroundings in Rome specifically the "tube, metro, underground railway system"... Now if you want hot sweaty, disgusting close rubbing sensations..... this is the place to be. You get all of that for your 1 euro worth of a ride! Now if that doesn't please you, you can have free of charge attitude! Besides all of this the ride was near perfect - just a bit bumpy in an old smelly / graffitied up trams.... Now we arrived, ALIVE, at the coliseum a wonderful piece of ancient Rome. As we walked by we decided to start off by going to the Palantine.
What is the Palantine?
This location is where the first evidence of roman civilization was found. They have done excavtions here that lead back to around B.C and have many of these treasures... Not only was this the place of great excavations, it was also the hill in which the temples / Palaces and villa's of the emperors were located. This hill was known as Capital Hill and from there the city grew. We got to see the remains of whole buildings they brought up from beneath the ground. This is truly unbelievable the possible creations the Roman Empire had and all the monuments that surrounded it.
The name ROME came from the legend of Romulus and Remus, two boys who were raised by a wolf just on the bottom of the hill. There were many varations of the legend, but these two boys were thought to be the ones that started the beginning of Rome... Just as a quick fun fact ---> Romulus killed his brother Remus to gain entire power rather than sharing it.
This place was very stunning and has much history to it. It is a must see in Rome and we have many great pictures! After the Palantine we headed over to the Coliseum (created in 80 A.D), the place of Gladiators, Slaves and Lions - oh my! The Coliseum has about an hour or so wait to get in, the palantine had about a 5 minute wait ---> trick: the ticket from the palantine is also good at the coliseum (vice versa)... So we got to bypass this entire line-up hehehe! Inside this enormous structure you see the remains of what was one of the biggest event area in Rome. Surprisingly it was only running for two centuries as a combat field for slaves and gladiators... as it was then seen as savage so it was used for different things (a cemetery, and then a fortress called "Frangipane" and finally a sort of cava for the construction materials)
"in 313 after Christ, the Imperator Constantine proclaimed Christianity the official religion of the empire, obviously forbidding the executions of Christians but also the combats between gladiators and the hunting spectacles."
This massive structure has had much damage to it and is very hard to make out certain details. After many photographs of the ancient ruins, we went to a small exhibition they were having within the coliseum on Eros.
Who is Eros?
Romans were very into worshipping of many different gods, Eros was one of these gods.
In fact Eros was thought to be the most powerful of all gods, including Zeus himself. Eros had the ability to seduce any mortal and non-mortal that he wished. He also had the ability to take any form that he desired, wether animate or inanimate. This gave him the ability to attract anyones desires as well as not reveal himself to them. They may not even realise that they had been affected by Eros's power/charm. Through the years, Eros became multiple personalities, such as; Amor and Cupid!
After this exhibition we headed out of the coliseum to the main road through the ruins of Ancient Rome (Foro Romano). This lead us to the Marcus Aurelius square and the Museum of Capitolini. By this time Ola and I were exhausted, but it was too stunning to stop! We decided to go into the museum and unravel its mysteries within! Mostly potrayed ancient marble/stone statues that were excavated in parts or whole. It was also done in a way that showed the fashions of the different era's within the roman empire (example: the different female hairstyles). It also had the original statues of Marcus Aurelius ---> watch Gladiator the movie if you don't know who this is... and if you don't and have to watch the movie shame on you! We learned however that the movie is waaaaaaay off in the end. Marcus Aurelius was actually the emperor of Rome at one time and one of the greatest in history. We have many photo's of these statues, that we'll save all of you some reading time! In the museum we also saw the original foundation of the Jupiter temple, and from what we saw on the model... the temple was huge!
After this museum we headed back to our hotel leisurely walking through the streets of Rome to the famous underground system.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Just quick information
We are actually on day 4 in Poland... Which is about 8 days behind our blog posting... Just wanted to let everyone know, we are trying to catch-up. We are currently in Lodz Poland at Ola's Grandfather's (dziadek) house and having a great time... Ola has recovered from the egg!
We plan on still going to Warsaw, Krakow ---> then to Amsterdam, Holland! We'll keep you informed and get the blogs rolling!
We plan on still going to Warsaw, Krakow ---> then to Amsterdam, Holland! We'll keep you informed and get the blogs rolling!
Day 10 - Leaving for Rome
Day10
- We woke up at 8:30 am, because we had to catch our 11:24 train. 9:30am we got to the breakfast area, where Ola did not eat an egg and had nothing but Tea.... Darrin Enjoyed an egg thoroughly infront of her mmh mmh mmmmmhhhh. During Breakfast we met another couple: Winda and Jake. Winda is a Singer from Belgium and Jake is an American that is living in Germany working for the army in transportation. After talking with them for 20 minutes we found out the would be in Rome in 2 days and gave us their hotel name and number. Since we like winging stuff we decided we may as well stay at the same place. We then headed out to the boats to catch a ride to the train station. While on the boat we decided to check the time, and realized because of being side tracked, it was now 11:00 and the boat ride takes 35 minutes. Which means we will be missing our train.... So Darrin came up with a plan to get off the boat at the beginning of Mainland Venice and RUUUUUN through the whole city in less then 13 minutes... All this while carrying our big backpacks and running through the directionless winding streets of Venice which you never know if your heading north, south, east or west..... Of course because of the egg Ola was not feeling well, so Darirn ended up carrying two backpacks 75% of the way while running (not jogging RUNNING)... All this to say, we amazingly caught our train while the engine was starting and two minutes to spare and find our seats.... The train ride was 3 and a bit hours before finally arriving in Rome. We then had a 45 minute treck to our hotel, which was not in the center of Rome as indicated, but in the middle of nowhere! Since Ola was sick and it was 4pm we decided to rest up and just start early the next day.... CNN I love you!
- We woke up at 8:30 am, because we had to catch our 11:24 train. 9:30am we got to the breakfast area, where Ola did not eat an egg and had nothing but Tea.... Darrin Enjoyed an egg thoroughly infront of her mmh mmh mmmmmhhhh. During Breakfast we met another couple: Winda and Jake. Winda is a Singer from Belgium and Jake is an American that is living in Germany working for the army in transportation. After talking with them for 20 minutes we found out the would be in Rome in 2 days and gave us their hotel name and number. Since we like winging stuff we decided we may as well stay at the same place. We then headed out to the boats to catch a ride to the train station. While on the boat we decided to check the time, and realized because of being side tracked, it was now 11:00 and the boat ride takes 35 minutes. Which means we will be missing our train.... So Darrin came up with a plan to get off the boat at the beginning of Mainland Venice and RUUUUUN through the whole city in less then 13 minutes... All this while carrying our big backpacks and running through the directionless winding streets of Venice which you never know if your heading north, south, east or west..... Of course because of the egg Ola was not feeling well, so Darirn ended up carrying two backpacks 75% of the way while running (not jogging RUNNING)... All this to say, we amazingly caught our train while the engine was starting and two minutes to spare and find our seats.... The train ride was 3 and a bit hours before finally arriving in Rome. We then had a 45 minute treck to our hotel, which was not in the center of Rome as indicated, but in the middle of nowhere! Since Ola was sick and it was 4pm we decided to rest up and just start early the next day.... CNN I love you!
Day 7, 8 and 9 - Venice
Day7
We arrived in Venice around 1:30pm from the 2hour and a bit train ride from Brescia... We are abit restless wanting to see more of Italy right now! We get to the station and walk outside, to our amazement the so called bus number are not what we thought... These buses are very different indeed, they 're actually boats, and taxi's are smaller boats. We purchased a 1 way ticket (6 euro's each) to Lido, one of venice's islands just out of the main Island. We arrived at our hotel about 30-40 minutes later, checked-in and quickly ran out of there. With our stuff safely stored we now headed back to the "bus system". Here we had time to look at special offers (which we should have done when we got to the train station but didn't - would have save 12 euros [20$]). They have something for people under thirty called Roaming venice, it costs 4 euros and gives u discounts at almost every museum and site, as well as instead of paying 30 euros each for a 72 hour boat pass, we only had to pay 18 euros... So total cost of passes (22 euro's each and half museums!) So we got our passes and landed at Zaccaria stop, this is where Piazza San marco is and most of the life of the city. We decided to skip the museums for the first day and just get lost in the millions of alley ways and side streets in venice (no cars or vehicles are in the streets of Main Venice... everything is by foot or boat). We spent 3 hours+ walking through everywhere checking out all the cool little shops and a few of the churches. The masks that are everywhere in Venice stores are amazing and all differently designed. We stopped at this little restraunt at 8:30 pm to have some dinner, we decided if we are going to have one romantic expensive dinner, it may as well be in Venice. We ordered a bottle of wine (whihc was fantastic) and each had a pizza (ola had the Tuna and Darrin had a Salami) - This was the best pizza we have ever had. We ate pizza in Italy two more times, but nothing compared. After walking for the entire day, we headed back to our island and dropped by the local store to buy bread, drinks and sliced meats/cheese to make sandwich's for the next 2 days. Off to our room to play some cards (crazy eights) and straight to bed.
Day 8
Ola wasn't feeling so hot, so I decided to let her sleep in a bit... I watched CNN news, the only channel in english anywhere in Europe (exept english countries) - I was really up to speed my whole trip on everything worldwide hehe.... at 11pm I pulled Ola out of bed, as we only had 1 more complete day after today to sight see and Venice may be small, but there is still alot to see.
We started off by going into the museum of Ducale. This place brought us into the old Palace (Palazzo) of the Doge - An elected official for life that represent the state.
What is a Doge?
{The Doge once elected was the doge till he died - like the pope (except not religous icon). His duties were to attend all counsel meetings and courts procedures. He had to move himself and his family into this palace and live there everyday. He also could not leave the city without a special permission letter from the counsel, and he had to be escorted where ever he went. He was considered the speaker/symbol of Venice, but actaully did not have any more power than anyone else in an assembly, exept for the fact he was the symbolic figure to the people.}
In the palace, we saw many of the pillars, statues and original structure of the building. We also saw many of the art work on the ceilings and walls that were typical of the time. It brought us through the living quarters, into the armory, the court houses and even into the underground prisons - all accesible from the palace. *this is our top choice of museums to see - if you could only see one. It has a little of everything and is very large (took us 4 hours ++ and abit to walk through this gigantic place, but Ola and I really take our time reading everything, so probably 2-3 hours normally) Because we started so late it was about 5pm and we hadn't eaten. We grabbed our packed sandwich's and ate in the middle of San Marco Square. We then walked around abit, checked out a few more museums, as well as this little exhibition on Music (mostly violins and other string instruments). We got back to our hotel at 9pm so we could get an early start for our last day.
Day 9
Up at 7:45 and eating breakfast by 8:30 (we did it, nice bright and early start :)! )
*important point for later on - I tried and egg and said "this tastes funny" Ola tried it anyways and argues that it doesn't... With me telling her not to eat it, naturally she does anyways!
Okay backto Day 9...
we started off by going to the correr museum. When we arrived we found out that our tickets from Ducale also included here... We left our tickets at our hotel - 30 minutes away... so we could A. Go back and get them which will take 1 hour out of our day or B. pay 7.50 euro (10$) each and just buy new tickets.... After 3-4 minutes of thinking we decided to buy the tickets... The man at the counter who watched us discuss the whole thing gave us two free tickets and let us go in.... This museum included: spacious rooms filled with wall/ceiling art work, many sculptures and libraries in their original states. It was also linked to the National Archeological Museum - which had many painting and large armory section and many pottery/coin and other misc objects found during excavation. After 2-3 hours we were done and headed off to the largest cathedral in Venice - Santa Maria della Salute (three stops from Zaccaria - called Salute) unfortunately it was closed till 3:30pm so we took a bite to eat (sandwich's) on the stairs and then headed a few blocks down to Peggy Guggenheim Collection (museum of arts). It was filled with many famous artists and even had the burial site of Peggy Guggenheim herself along with her 12 dogs that she had during her life {GROSS} but whatever.... 3/4 of the way through the museum ola started feeling sick
***** REMEMBER THE EGG?*****
this little part is my payback hehe
... So we left and headed back to the hotel, where Ola was extremely sick all day and most of the night! Cannot say i didn't even have a little smirk on though, even though i was the one taking care of her! I felt so bad for her I let her win at cards.... (Ola even today believes she won fair and square). -------> CNN news once agains was fun while she slept mostly... and Darrin watched reruns of news every 30 minutes :)!
We arrived in Venice around 1:30pm from the 2hour and a bit train ride from Brescia... We are abit restless wanting to see more of Italy right now! We get to the station and walk outside, to our amazement the so called bus number are not what we thought... These buses are very different indeed, they 're actually boats, and taxi's are smaller boats. We purchased a 1 way ticket (6 euro's each) to Lido, one of venice's islands just out of the main Island. We arrived at our hotel about 30-40 minutes later, checked-in and quickly ran out of there. With our stuff safely stored we now headed back to the "bus system". Here we had time to look at special offers (which we should have done when we got to the train station but didn't - would have save 12 euros [20$]). They have something for people under thirty called Roaming venice, it costs 4 euros and gives u discounts at almost every museum and site, as well as instead of paying 30 euros each for a 72 hour boat pass, we only had to pay 18 euros... So total cost of passes (22 euro's each and half museums!) So we got our passes and landed at Zaccaria stop, this is where Piazza San marco is and most of the life of the city. We decided to skip the museums for the first day and just get lost in the millions of alley ways and side streets in venice (no cars or vehicles are in the streets of Main Venice... everything is by foot or boat). We spent 3 hours+ walking through everywhere checking out all the cool little shops and a few of the churches. The masks that are everywhere in Venice stores are amazing and all differently designed. We stopped at this little restraunt at 8:30 pm to have some dinner, we decided if we are going to have one romantic expensive dinner, it may as well be in Venice. We ordered a bottle of wine (whihc was fantastic) and each had a pizza (ola had the Tuna and Darrin had a Salami) - This was the best pizza we have ever had. We ate pizza in Italy two more times, but nothing compared. After walking for the entire day, we headed back to our island and dropped by the local store to buy bread, drinks and sliced meats/cheese to make sandwich's for the next 2 days. Off to our room to play some cards (crazy eights) and straight to bed.
Day 8
Ola wasn't feeling so hot, so I decided to let her sleep in a bit... I watched CNN news, the only channel in english anywhere in Europe (exept english countries) - I was really up to speed my whole trip on everything worldwide hehe.... at 11pm I pulled Ola out of bed, as we only had 1 more complete day after today to sight see and Venice may be small, but there is still alot to see.
We started off by going into the museum of Ducale. This place brought us into the old Palace (Palazzo) of the Doge - An elected official for life that represent the state.
What is a Doge?
{The Doge once elected was the doge till he died - like the pope (except not religous icon). His duties were to attend all counsel meetings and courts procedures. He had to move himself and his family into this palace and live there everyday. He also could not leave the city without a special permission letter from the counsel, and he had to be escorted where ever he went. He was considered the speaker/symbol of Venice, but actaully did not have any more power than anyone else in an assembly, exept for the fact he was the symbolic figure to the people.}
In the palace, we saw many of the pillars, statues and original structure of the building. We also saw many of the art work on the ceilings and walls that were typical of the time. It brought us through the living quarters, into the armory, the court houses and even into the underground prisons - all accesible from the palace. *this is our top choice of museums to see - if you could only see one. It has a little of everything and is very large (took us 4 hours ++ and abit to walk through this gigantic place, but Ola and I really take our time reading everything, so probably 2-3 hours normally) Because we started so late it was about 5pm and we hadn't eaten. We grabbed our packed sandwich's and ate in the middle of San Marco Square. We then walked around abit, checked out a few more museums, as well as this little exhibition on Music (mostly violins and other string instruments). We got back to our hotel at 9pm so we could get an early start for our last day.
Day 9
Up at 7:45 and eating breakfast by 8:30 (we did it, nice bright and early start :)! )
*important point for later on - I tried and egg and said "this tastes funny" Ola tried it anyways and argues that it doesn't... With me telling her not to eat it, naturally she does anyways!
Okay backto Day 9...
we started off by going to the correr museum. When we arrived we found out that our tickets from Ducale also included here... We left our tickets at our hotel - 30 minutes away... so we could A. Go back and get them which will take 1 hour out of our day or B. pay 7.50 euro (10$) each and just buy new tickets.... After 3-4 minutes of thinking we decided to buy the tickets... The man at the counter who watched us discuss the whole thing gave us two free tickets and let us go in.... This museum included: spacious rooms filled with wall/ceiling art work, many sculptures and libraries in their original states. It was also linked to the National Archeological Museum - which had many painting and large armory section and many pottery/coin and other misc objects found during excavation. After 2-3 hours we were done and headed off to the largest cathedral in Venice - Santa Maria della Salute (three stops from Zaccaria - called Salute) unfortunately it was closed till 3:30pm so we took a bite to eat (sandwich's) on the stairs and then headed a few blocks down to Peggy Guggenheim Collection (museum of arts). It was filled with many famous artists and even had the burial site of Peggy Guggenheim herself along with her 12 dogs that she had during her life {GROSS} but whatever.... 3/4 of the way through the museum ola started feeling sick
***** REMEMBER THE EGG?*****
this little part is my payback hehe
... So we left and headed back to the hotel, where Ola was extremely sick all day and most of the night! Cannot say i didn't even have a little smirk on though, even though i was the one taking care of her! I felt so bad for her I let her win at cards.... (Ola even today believes she won fair and square). -------> CNN news once agains was fun while she slept mostly... and Darrin watched reruns of news every 30 minutes :)!
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Day 6 - Flight to Italy
Day 6
We woke up at 5:30 and quickly got ready to leave for 6:00 to catch our 8:15 flight an hour away ride. To our luck about 10 minutes from the airport, there was an accident which happened about 10 cars infront of us. This delayed us 50 minutes and started to worry us about making our flight. We got to the airport for 8:00 am and had just made the check-in, which they had allowed 20 minutes later then normal. Thankfully we got to our gate at 2 minutes before departure... Now came the 3 hour flight on Ryan Air (not very comfortable and was abit uneasy), we slept most of the way and arrived in Milano safely. We jumped on a coach to Brescia a little town in between Milano and Venezia (Venice) where we decided to spend the night before leaving by train the next morning. It was a quaint little town with not much to do, especially since it was Sunday and EVERYTHING was closed. After the lazy day of walking and sleeping we found a internet point in order to book our hotel in Venice (3 star for 80 euro's - very good place/deal)
We woke up at 5:30 and quickly got ready to leave for 6:00 to catch our 8:15 flight an hour away ride. To our luck about 10 minutes from the airport, there was an accident which happened about 10 cars infront of us. This delayed us 50 minutes and started to worry us about making our flight. We got to the airport for 8:00 am and had just made the check-in, which they had allowed 20 minutes later then normal. Thankfully we got to our gate at 2 minutes before departure... Now came the 3 hour flight on Ryan Air (not very comfortable and was abit uneasy), we slept most of the way and arrived in Milano safely. We jumped on a coach to Brescia a little town in between Milano and Venezia (Venice) where we decided to spend the night before leaving by train the next morning. It was a quaint little town with not much to do, especially since it was Sunday and EVERYTHING was closed. After the lazy day of walking and sleeping we found a internet point in order to book our hotel in Venice (3 star for 80 euro's - very good place/deal)
London Day 3, 4 and 5
Day 3
Our day started at 10:00 am because we had to wait for ela to come back home to lock up... Everyone had left early for exams and work and therefor we had to wait for the first of them to come home so they can see us out and lock up... We started our day with jumping on the train and metro back to london... We took the tube to a place called Bank, where it had the national bank of England which was huge! We then continued our journey to St. Pauls to check out the cathedral there. We then hopped back on the tube towards the "ducklands" or canary wharf (the name of the station). It was where we saw the largest building in England and the second largest in europe.... (50 floors) which seemed as high as every other building in Montreal, but in comparison to most other buildings we saw there, it was magnificent :)... After seeing the "sky scraper" and had a little picnic in a park, we headed on over to tower hill (tube station) to go visit the London Dungeon. [on a side note: these museums and sites are very expensive 15-25 pounds per person (2.25 dollars = 1 pound)... we were very fortunate that Tomek had 2 for 1 coupons... If u want you can also spend 10 pounds at a local Tesco to get one of these coupons... so u still save money and get some food :) ] The london Dungeons was a walking tour that brought you through London's history. It outlined the prison torture chambers, court systems (where Darrin got told he had a little affair with a horse... i was to be executed) , the famous murderers (ex: Jack the ripper), the black plague, the great fire and finally we all got hung for treason! After this wild adventure we headed over london bridge to look through some of londons scenery. We found two cool buildings; one was a Lloyds tower (insurance firm) which looked very futuristic with open glass elevators everywhere on its outside, and the other was a office building in the shape of an egg (alothough to britains, it looks like a cuccumber... wierd) After all this we decided to go back to Heathrow and hang out with the gang. We had a nice evening bowling (where Darrin showed them how to play the game, Canadian style - for all those who are lost... i kicked their bottoms).
Day 4
Ola slept in as to usual... But darrin followed. We were extremely lazy and only hauled our butts out of bed at 10:30 leaving the house an hour later... We arrived in London at 12ish and headed over to Madame Tussauds (wax museum)... The one and only day we forget the camera :'(... The pieces of works were stunning, they looked as though the people were real and right there with you... They varied from Tom Cruise to some English star we don't know... and even had sports icons, scientists (albert Einstein), political leaders and much much more, A must see! but bring a camera. it is about 60 canadian dollars a person (25 pounds) - so u should buy 10 pounds at tesco just to get the 2 for 1 coupon! We had spent so much time here we lost track and had to run to reach our destination.......... The theatre! Our nice hostess's and host's purchased us 2 tickets to see the musical: Fame. It was a very enjoyable production about young aspiring indivduals who wanted to be in the "show bussiness". After the show we headed back, had a bite to eat (cooked by Clive) and went to sleep.
Day 5
We headed to Windsor, about 45 minutes from Heathrow or a 25 minute train ride. We went with Ela and Kasia who were our tour guides for the day. We had a lovely time and saw the castle in which the queen spends most of her days. We strolled through the village/town and checked out all the stores and sites... We saw a very expensive wedding as well, as everything in this town is very pricey. An average size home in Montreal goes for 800,000 pounds here (about 2 million dollars) don't even get started on the cost of an apartement (3000+ pounds a month). Then we headed back home and cooked dinner for the family. Our way of thanking them before leaving to go to Italy. We then sat around all night and Ola made a whole bunch of cocktails for the family. We finally got to sleep at 1 am when we had to get up by 5:30am to catch our flight!
Our day started at 10:00 am because we had to wait for ela to come back home to lock up... Everyone had left early for exams and work and therefor we had to wait for the first of them to come home so they can see us out and lock up... We started our day with jumping on the train and metro back to london... We took the tube to a place called Bank, where it had the national bank of England which was huge! We then continued our journey to St. Pauls to check out the cathedral there. We then hopped back on the tube towards the "ducklands" or canary wharf (the name of the station). It was where we saw the largest building in England and the second largest in europe.... (50 floors) which seemed as high as every other building in Montreal, but in comparison to most other buildings we saw there, it was magnificent :)... After seeing the "sky scraper" and had a little picnic in a park, we headed on over to tower hill (tube station) to go visit the London Dungeon. [on a side note: these museums and sites are very expensive 15-25 pounds per person (2.25 dollars = 1 pound)... we were very fortunate that Tomek had 2 for 1 coupons... If u want you can also spend 10 pounds at a local Tesco to get one of these coupons... so u still save money and get some food :) ] The london Dungeons was a walking tour that brought you through London's history. It outlined the prison torture chambers, court systems (where Darrin got told he had a little affair with a horse... i was to be executed) , the famous murderers (ex: Jack the ripper), the black plague, the great fire and finally we all got hung for treason! After this wild adventure we headed over london bridge to look through some of londons scenery. We found two cool buildings; one was a Lloyds tower (insurance firm) which looked very futuristic with open glass elevators everywhere on its outside, and the other was a office building in the shape of an egg (alothough to britains, it looks like a cuccumber... wierd) After all this we decided to go back to Heathrow and hang out with the gang. We had a nice evening bowling (where Darrin showed them how to play the game, Canadian style - for all those who are lost... i kicked their bottoms).
Day 4
Ola slept in as to usual... But darrin followed. We were extremely lazy and only hauled our butts out of bed at 10:30 leaving the house an hour later... We arrived in London at 12ish and headed over to Madame Tussauds (wax museum)... The one and only day we forget the camera :'(... The pieces of works were stunning, they looked as though the people were real and right there with you... They varied from Tom Cruise to some English star we don't know... and even had sports icons, scientists (albert Einstein), political leaders and much much more, A must see! but bring a camera. it is about 60 canadian dollars a person (25 pounds) - so u should buy 10 pounds at tesco just to get the 2 for 1 coupon! We had spent so much time here we lost track and had to run to reach our destination.......... The theatre! Our nice hostess's and host's purchased us 2 tickets to see the musical: Fame. It was a very enjoyable production about young aspiring indivduals who wanted to be in the "show bussiness". After the show we headed back, had a bite to eat (cooked by Clive) and went to sleep.
Day 5
We headed to Windsor, about 45 minutes from Heathrow or a 25 minute train ride. We went with Ela and Kasia who were our tour guides for the day. We had a lovely time and saw the castle in which the queen spends most of her days. We strolled through the village/town and checked out all the stores and sites... We saw a very expensive wedding as well, as everything in this town is very pricey. An average size home in Montreal goes for 800,000 pounds here (about 2 million dollars) don't even get started on the cost of an apartement (3000+ pounds a month). Then we headed back home and cooked dinner for the family. Our way of thanking them before leaving to go to Italy. We then sat around all night and Ola made a whole bunch of cocktails for the family. We finally got to sleep at 1 am when we had to get up by 5:30am to catch our flight!
Friday, June 15, 2007
London Day 1 and 2
First Day:
Came from airport with no hitches, smooth ride and everything went as planned. We came to Ela's house (my mom's friend in London) and met her two kids: Kasia and Tom. Kasia proved to be a very helpful guide and helped us plan a lot of our stay there. So we arrived at their house around noon and we were so exhausted we decided to just hang out at their place and plan our next couple of days. Come evening, we met the last member of the family Clive (Ela's boyfriend) and went out with him and Ela to a nearby pub, the english way, (White Hart) and Darrin got to taste some nice beer : London Pride and Discovery. Ola had a bacardi breezer :P.
Day Two:
We still had a bit of jet lag and woke up quite early, which gave a bit of a head start for our adventures. We went to the train station and took it to their metro system called the "Underground" or "Tube" which at first was very confusing but came out to be more organized than Montreals. One thing about them is that they're only half the time underground, otherwise it's a regular train. We set off to Westminister Abbey and then followed our way to the parliament and Big Ben. We headed over to the London Eye (which is a giant ferris wheel) which gives you the view of almost the entire city (to put things in perspective, it's a 30 min ride). We then we walked the Princess Diana Memorial, Trafalgar Square and then visted this museum ( can't remember name, will fill in later). It was stunning and showed lots of beautiful paintings (Ola was quite impressed with Darrin's focus skills). We walked up to Buckingham Palace which to our dismay wasn't that great compared to the rest of the buildings we saw that day. We returned to our lovely base camp and recieved greatfully a semi english/polish meal. Then we crashed, ready for Day 3.
Came from airport with no hitches, smooth ride and everything went as planned. We came to Ela's house (my mom's friend in London) and met her two kids: Kasia and Tom. Kasia proved to be a very helpful guide and helped us plan a lot of our stay there. So we arrived at their house around noon and we were so exhausted we decided to just hang out at their place and plan our next couple of days. Come evening, we met the last member of the family Clive (Ela's boyfriend) and went out with him and Ela to a nearby pub, the english way, (White Hart) and Darrin got to taste some nice beer : London Pride and Discovery. Ola had a bacardi breezer :P.
Day Two:
We still had a bit of jet lag and woke up quite early, which gave a bit of a head start for our adventures. We went to the train station and took it to their metro system called the "Underground" or "Tube" which at first was very confusing but came out to be more organized than Montreals. One thing about them is that they're only half the time underground, otherwise it's a regular train. We set off to Westminister Abbey and then followed our way to the parliament and Big Ben. We headed over to the London Eye (which is a giant ferris wheel) which gives you the view of almost the entire city (to put things in perspective, it's a 30 min ride). We then we walked the Princess Diana Memorial, Trafalgar Square and then visted this museum ( can't remember name, will fill in later). It was stunning and showed lots of beautiful paintings (Ola was quite impressed with Darrin's focus skills). We walked up to Buckingham Palace which to our dismay wasn't that great compared to the rest of the buildings we saw that day. We returned to our lovely base camp and recieved greatfully a semi english/polish meal. Then we crashed, ready for Day 3.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Italy
arrived in Brescia, Italy. No time to comment, but more will come about UK and our upcoming plans!
Just quick itinerary:
-one night in Brescia
-off to Venice for 3days/2 nights
-to Rome till the 18 of June
-fly off to Warszawa (Warsaw, poland)
Just quick itinerary:
-one night in Brescia
-off to Venice for 3days/2 nights
-to Rome till the 18 of June
-fly off to Warszawa (Warsaw, poland)
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
UK!!!
So we've arrived in Heathrow with no hitches in ride, it was actually a very smooth ride. My mother's friend picked us up, so we've got a place to stay. We haven't decided yet where we're going or what we're going to do but we'll plan it out. We've actually had some trouble trying to call from cell to Canada, because apperantly you need 2 extra digits and something. but we'll figure it out... so no plans yet, but we'll update soon :)
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Purpose
So, hopefully, through out my Europe backpacking trip I'll have access to computers to keep all those interested updated on our ( as in Darrin and I ) adventures.
As I heard someone say "We are not tourists, we're travelers!"
Toursist look for comfort and minimum adventure, while travalers look for the cheapest corner for maximum adventure.
We'll see how things go.
As I heard someone say "We are not tourists, we're travelers!"
Toursist look for comfort and minimum adventure, while travalers look for the cheapest corner for maximum adventure.
We'll see how things go.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
