Outside of Teresa's house in Warsaw..

Warszawa, our first stop into Warsaw was supposed to be strictly business. We had to arrange for our Chinese visa to enter China later in September. SO, the first day after checking into the hostel, we simply walked around the town for a quick overview of Ewa’s favourite streets and hangouts from when she lived in Warsaw back in 2001-2002. We also stopped in to visit with Teresa, Wlodek, and Asia Ewa’s Aunt, uncle and cousin. They treated us to a wonderful night with a great table-top BBQ, some picture shows and great conversation. We had to cut short the evening as we had a busy day the next day, and with us returning to Warsaw later, we knew we had more time to catch up later. The evening ended at 2am ha!

That night in preparation for the busy day trying to get our visa we bought our train tickets from Moscow to Beijing. While surfing the website for the train tickets, we found that the train ticket agency would be able to provide visa service over night for China once you get into Moscow. With this new knowledge we went to bed and decided to sleep in a little, thinking the stress of the visa was quickly over.

After a lazy morning, we checked our E-mails to find out that the visa service in Moscow is only for Russians and UK citizens, not Canadians. Now the Panic was on! We spent the next 5 hours frantically trying to sort out what we would do and trying to find a FedEx office. In the end we sealed our documents, applications and visa forms to a visa service company in Vancouver. 16:30 in the afternoon, passport-less, we both needed some time to recover emotionally and physically, a little space, so Ewa went for a haircut (Funny enough they cut my bangs with a electric shaver!) and some shopping to find an outfit for the wedding coming up in Znin, and Chad headed for an ice cream and some time on the internet to sort out more plans. At the end of the night we were exhausted from the stress and hectic pace of the day and we just stayed in and hung out in the hostel. It was interesting that night as we had left some laundry to be done at the front desk of the hostel. In the morning as we were leaving they returned our clothes and our money. Somehow, they managed to ‘dry’ our clothes, but had forgotten to wash them. I have no idea how one does this, but they did, because the clothes were much more wrinkly and tight!

Outside of the entrance to the university in Warsaw

Old town square in Krakow

It’s great to be back in Poland! We arrived in Krakow after a short night stop over in Bergamo Italy and flew into the motherland at noon. We settled into our hostel and explored the city a little bit. Our hostel was right off the old town, a perfect location. Right away we saw the sukkienica which is in the middle of the old town square and a 14th century cloth house which was built by one of the former kings of Poland who loved Italian fashion, quality of cloth and of course who was also married to an Italian princess. In the evening Chad finally got to experience a Milk Bar that Ewa had been telling him about. Milk Bars are not the typical bar, they don’t serve any alcohol, you can only get tea, coffee, kompot (a Polish fruit punch) and warm milk. Back in the Communist days, these restaurants were subsidized by the government to help keep the prices low. What they specialize in is cheap traditional Polish food, yummy yummy Polish food. After Italy we were ready for some home cooking! The first night we ordered Bigos (Hunters stew with cabbage and sausage), Pierogi, Zurek ( a soup made of yeast), Krokietki (chicken rolls), and potato pancakes. Stuffed? Just a bit! However after walking around the town a little, the empty hole in Chad’s leg opened up and made room for some ice cream. Earlier in the day he had seen someone with a chocolate dipped cone and we searched the streets for over an hour and a half to find a Lody shop that sold the right kind. In the end, we had to make due with a ‘ice’ cream ice cream cone. It’s hard to explain the texture, but it is certainly not overly creamy, but it is what you could imagine frozen sugary milk that is ground up into tiny ice crystals might taste like. Still quite good!

Yummy Polish food from the Milk bar!!

The next day we were off to the Wieliczka Salt Mine which is about an hour outside of Krakow. The Wieliczka salt mine reaches a depth of 327 meters and is over 300 km long. It features a 3.5-km touring route for visitors (less than 1% of the length of the mine's passages) that includes historic statues and mythical figures. The oldest sculptures were carved out of rock salt by miners; more recent figures have been fashioned by contemporary artists. Even the crystals of the chandeliers are made from rock salt that has been dissolved and reconstituted to achieve a clear, glass-like appearance. This mine is now closed as there is no major salt deposits left, but they had been mining salt here since the 14th century! What the miners left behind is pretty amazing, they carved many statues out of the salt and surrounding earth. They also created one of the most beautiful spiritual places underground, a big church or place of worship. We didn’t get to see all of the rooms but the ones we saw were pretty amazing. It was quite interesting to think of what life would have been like to work long hours underground with only torch light to guide your way. They even had livestock underground to help with the work. Essentially an entire town was underground and now you can have a wedding underground, with all the trimmings as there is a ballroom, a restaurant and all the facilities you would need.

For Dinner, again we went to eat at one of the other Milk bars, where we had more amazing Polish food, more potato pancakes, golombki (cabbage rolls) and pierogies!! At night we wandered around the town and stopped in on our own little pub crawl of some of the local bars. They were all practically empty and we only stopped in for a drink at each bar. However, they are all totally different from each other, and with a flair that is not present in Canada or many of the other European towns that we have visited. It was nice to see that the vodka was always kept in the freezer so that it is ice cold for serving. At the first bar, it actually had small ice particles in the vodka, so you can imagine how cold it was! However, at the last bar right beside the hostel, Ewa and I got turned away by the bouncer. He told Ewa that we couldn’t come in, and that “It’s not going to happen”. Face patrol didn’t like our tourist flip-flops and wrinkly shirts!

The next day was a bit sombre as we went to Auschwitz, which is called Oswiecim in Polish. There are two different camps on this site that were then given German names, Auschwitz and Birkenau covered around 425 acres. The camp commandant, Rudolf Höss, testified at the Nuremberg Trials that up to 3 million people had died at Auschwitz. The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum has revised this figure to 1.1 million about 90% of whom were Jews from almost every country in Europe. Most victims were killed in Auschwitz II's gas chambers using Zyklon B; other deaths were caused by systematic starvation, forced labor, lack of disease control, individual executions, and purported "medical experiments"

outside of the gates to Auschwitz..."Work will set you free"

We only visited the first camp and the guided tour was about 3 hours. There is then a bus will take you to do another few hours to visit Birkenau. However after the first 3 hours we didn’t feel up for the second half. You are only allowed to take photos from outside the buildings and we didn’t take many pictures. It’s very hard to describe the impressions of such a place, it is horrible what happened. The way that so many innocent people were treated based upon their race or religion is difficult to process. At the same time we think it is something that should be seen in order to remember what happened and pay homage to those that lost their lives. As a note to anyone going to visit, the site is free, however in the hours from 9:30-3:30 a guided tour is mandatory as it is so busy. You have to pay for the tour. The site is really not equipped to handle the hoards of people trying to visit the site, so it creates a busy, cramped stressful atmosphere when you go to buy your tickets. As the tours are a great way to get some of the background information, we would suggest to get up very early in the morning and try to get on one of the early tours.

That night we again hit up another milk-bar style restaurant, and had a filling of wild mushroom soup, nalesniki (crepes with various fillings), pierogies and for dessert, we had more pierogi with blueberries! We walked around the town again at night found that the town square was filled with a stage and a concert of Polish singers, rather than the usual night performers (fire dancers and drum players). They were all dressed in old fashioned uniforms from WWI and previous wars. They sang old Polish folk songs and ‘soldier ballads’. It was an amazing experience to stand in the crowd, as everyone was singing along with the artists; they even had lyric sheets handed out to everyone. Chad felt that it was his first real emersion into Polish culture while in Poland. The artists were very talented!

When we got back to our hostel they were having a Polish shot night, the specialty of the night was Wsciekly Pies, which translates to mad dog, after some hesitation Chad tried one of these typical Polish treats J They are made of raspberry syrup, Tabasco and Wodka…sweet, spicy and strong.

For those who have been following the blog, you will notice that the story is much longer than normal... this is the product of having our computer to type away on while we are on trains. SO, hopefully this will be a good addition to the blog, and if it's getting too long, let us know we can go back to the old quick and sweet format! :)

written by  ECRadventure on August 5, 2009 from Krakow, Poland
from the travel blog: ECRadventure's Travel Blog
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Riomaggorie at sunset

Cinque Terre' means 'five lands', and Italy's famous Cinque Terre are five villages laid out on steep, inhospitable cliff faces and their surrounding vineyards which scale the steep mountainsides in hard-won terraces.
The Cinque Terre stretch of coastline is a National Park, and a Protected Marine Area, included on UNESCO's World Heritage List. After being placed on a list of sites at risk, the Park Authority began a longterm project to revitalise the farming practices behind the characteristic hillside terraces, many of which were falling into abandonment. It also aims at a sustainable level of tourism, maintaining the character and beauty of the region. We stayed in the village of Riomagiorre which is the last of the five villages.

Riomaggorie!

Vernazza ... along the cinque terre hike

Swimming at Vernazza

Pasta dinner in Riomaggorie

Ewa and our picnic in Riomaggorie

Beer in Riomaggorie

written by  ECRadventure on July 21, 2009 from La Spezia, Italy
from the travel blog: ECRadventure's Travel Blog
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Venice map

Coming into Venice is something like stepping into a different world. We got out of the train station and looked outside and bang! Water! No joke! A huge canal as soon as you get out. To get to our B & B we had to take a water bus...a WATER BUS! So awesome! We didnt get too lost as Map Man (Chad) has already been in Venice and knew his way around. The streets are so narrow and windy. There were only a couple of times that we ended at a dead end. The city is small, but overflowing with tourists, haha, as is most of the world we are finding out!

Venice canal!

We basically spent two days exploring the city, walking along the canals and watching people get gondola rides. We wanted to take a ride but as with everything in Europe it was waaay to expensive about 80 Euros for a 45 min ride..ouch. So we just watched and enjoyed them that way. We also spent a bit of time looking at all of the masks that were for sale but we couldnt take a picture as none of the vendors or stores allowed pictures to be taken. Top it all off with nearly 100% humidity and 36 degrees C. Talk about hot and sweaty! Off to Riomagiorre!!!

Venice canal and fruit seller!

Frances

Schongau and the train ride from Munich to Schongau are the stuff that German fairytails are made of! It is a mountainous area covered in lush green vegitation and rivers. The communities along the way all have communal gardens, solar panels and seem to have limited vehicles on the roads. It is really peaceful!

Frances and Chad on the way to the Schongau park

When we arrived, Frances took us for a small tour of the country side, around the town and then to pick up groceries. He treated us to a feast of a delicious 'secret' recipe of some sort of tomato juice (like a caesar, but not at all) soup, other veggies, bread and on and on.

Frances prepaired feast!

After the feast, the rain cleared up and we were off to a small pond just outside of town. A perfect get away! There is an amazing beach volleyball court, a water slide into the pond, surf boards (strange for a small pond, but actually quite fun!), changerooms and a covered area BBQ pits. Essentially the perfect park! There we relaxed for the day, played some volleyball and went swimming (well Frances did anyways).

Schongau park and pond

The community is acutally one that is world wide recognized for it's sustainable living, and we found it an incredible place that would be amazing to live at!
That night, we took in some of the local culture and cuisine with Frances!

The next morning off to Itlay!

written by  ECRadventure on July 15, 2009 from Schongau, Germany
from the travel blog: ECRadventure's Travel Blog
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Old city Square in Munich

From Koln, we headed South to Bravaria and Munich! We arranged to meet up with our good friend Frances in Munich. We stayed at the Nymphenburg hotel, which by the way has the very best breakfast that we have had so far! Everything that you can imagine and more! Fresh and canned fruit, deli meats, olives, many fresh juices, museil, seeds and nuts, scrambled and hard boiled eggs, many kinds of bread, 6 kinds of jam, pate, nutella, gummie bears on and on!! Yes, gummi bears!

Ewa and Francis at the beerhall

The first day we mostly just relaxed and waited for France to arrive, before we headed out to a huge beer garden and enjoyed a full on Bravarian meat and beer feast!

The next day we explored the city on foot, taking in the sights and people. We decided for a couple hour break to explore the city on our own (shopping trip) and at this point we had a few issues with our banking. After a couple of tense hours, it was all sorted out with no real issues!

Chatting at the Munich beer hall!

Munich Beer hall!

That night, Frances took us to a small fresh organic fast food place which was amazing curries and salads for cheap! We headed off to a local pub for a few bevies and good conversation.

Ewa and Frances on the metro in Munich

Infront of The Cologne Dome

I spent 5 years living in Koln, from when I was 5 until I was 10 when I came to Canada. Going back was a little strange, I havent been back since I left almost 19 years ago. I was excited if it actually was how I remembered it to be.

Fireworks Festival

German Heart Cookies! They are huge.

The Mouse from Die Sendung mit der Maus

Ewas old appartment building, on the left third floor

Ewas elementary school

Ewas kindergarten play area

At the neighbor hood pub in Weiden

written by  ECRadventure on July 12, 2009 from Koln, Germany
from the travel blog: ECRadventure's Travel Blog
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Hang on tight!

Amsterdam! Back on the mainland! Amsterdam is amazing and fun and out of this world. The red light district, drugs of all kinds and friendly people. We were only here for 3 days but it was very memorable. Our hostel was a few blocks away from the red light district, which always made for a very interesting walk home at night! It is a little strange sight to see if youre not used to it, a lot of doors with ladies standing behind them and then watching the propositions and acceptance/decline of the offer.

Drinks with Nadine

Amsterdam street

Day two we didnt get up to much. We walked around the canals, and ended up at Vondelpark, just relaxing and taking in the sites. That night we met up with some friends we had met in Spain. Oli, Robert and Matt. We met up at their local hang out and caught up on all of our adventures over the past few weeks.

Testing out the new bike

Clogs Clogs Clogs

The Isle of Skye

From the hike at Ben Nevis, we were off up the highlands to the Isle of Skye. The road was treacherous, but the scenary was amazing! Rain off and on, and narrow, curvy roads made the trip interesting! We pulled in across the Skye bridge onto the island a little later in the evening. We were staying at the Saucy Mary's guesthouse, which was a decent place to stay.

The island is quite large and we didn't get much time to explore it. However the views and the walk along the beach we had in the evening made it worth the trip! Due to the hot day, the Fog rolled in off the ocean and provided an amazing view. We were mostly alone along the walk, which was a nice quiet time to enjoy our scotch! That night, we got treated to disco music until 3 am, and then drunk conversations to lull us to sleep until 3:45 right outside out window. Ahhhh

Ewa and Chad on the Loch Ness Cruise

After the cruise we continued up the road to Inverness. We were told that there was supposed to be a Scottish bagpipe and highland dancing parade through the town, but it was on the night before we got into the city - Missed it by one day! We ate supper at a fantastic restaurant and waited for 45 minutes to get into a local pub that was playing traditional Scottish music. After waiting, we found out that there was a £8 cover, and decided that we were too tired to last long enough to make it worth while. (With the exchange, that's about $14 each, just to get in). We headed back to the room, and relaxed there.

The next day, we were up early again for the long drive back down from the highlands to Perth. We stopped for the afternoon at the Palace of Scone, once home to the Stone of Destiny, where old Scottish Kings were crowned. We spent the day touring the palace and the gardens outside. There was also a Scottish game fair going on right outside the Palace, where traditional hunting methods (archery, clay pigeon shooting etc) was going on. We didn't have time to visit, but we could watch from a distance. Perth is a beautiful little city-center baised town that makes walking very easy! We spent the evening walking around the city, before settling down for a bite to eat at Paco's! Hahahaa.... first Mexican food on the trip! That evening, we took the owners of the B&B Kinnard house up on their offer to use the library. It also, I might add, have featured a complimentary decanter of Port and one of Scotch. It was a good night in reading and sipping on the digestives.

The next morning we were off to Edinburgh! Before we hit up Edinburgh, we stopped in at the Rossyln chappel. A highlight of the trip so far for Chad, because this chappel is steeped in mystery and symbology linking the Holy Grail, Knights Templar, Paganism, Christianity and so many other conspiracies throughout history. The chappel is under renovation, but it is open to the public. The carvings and intricate work done are breathtaking to see. It is hard to imagine the amount of work that was completed to build this chappel. We weren't allowed to take any pictures, but I would recommend googling it, the interior is amazing. There are so many depictions of Pagan characters along side of Christian symbols which is very rare in christian churches.

Rossyln Chappel

We'd like to thank Damian, Tricia, Jim & Gina for sponsoring us for the rental car! It really was great to be free to go where you want and we appreciate the wedding present!! After Rossyln we checked in, dropped the car off at the airport, got groceries and the night was almost over, or so we thought. After dinner and meeting some of the people at the hostel, we settled into the chill-out room for a quiet night and to watch a movie. After getting to know Patrick and Noelle from Germany a little, we decided to head off to the pub for a few drinks... which turned into quite a long night! We had a lot of fun getting to know them and hanging out in the pub! The oddest thing is that Patrick is almost a twin to Chad's good friend Bryan Colvin back in Calgary. Some of the pictures on our flickr account capture this, and others don't capture it as well, but in real life, after a beer or two, it's hard to tell the difference, especially because so many of their mannerisms are the same too!

Patrick and Noelle from Germany

Day two in Edinburgh saw us wandering the city, checking out the Camera Obscura and optical illusion museum and having a quiet night in. The third day we spent updating pictures, e-mailing and the blog. We ended our last night in the UK with a Ghost hunt on the 'Terror tour' going through the underground city of Edinburgh. The tour took us into the underground vaults which support the South Bridge and were constructed in 1785. By 1830 they were abandoned and remained empty. This eerie setting is home to dark, mysterious and often tragic apparitions whose ghostly presence leaves a lingering sense of immense sorrow and deprivation. Visitors have stumbled backwards in response to a malevolent lunge. Witnesses testify to the presence of the cobbler who labours industriously. A little boy, laughing playfully, has held visitors’ hands in his cold grasp as a brown dog with long, wiry hair runs between their legs. It was creepy going down under the city with a group of 8 of us and one guide who told us all about the history of the vaults and the various strang things that have happened on previous tours. When entering the Vault Ewa got a bit nauseous and generally just freaked out by the whole thing. But in the end we did not experience any strange phenomena, but it was definatley worth going.

written by  ECRadventure on July 8, 2009 from Edinburgh, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: ECRadventure's Travel Blog
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