Krakow

Jayne and I went to Krakow on Saturday morning and came back today, Tuesday afternoon. It was a pretty good holiday, nice break to get away from the city and see something different but a little depressing as we spent a day at Auschwitz on Sunday.

I'm loving the traveling living over here but thought it was pretty crap that I'd gone back to Vancouver for a visit in early June and am scheduled to go back for Christmas at the end of December but hadn't gone anywhere or done anything spectacular in the interim.

A bunch of us girls had tried to organize a trip but it's a bit though with 8 or 9 people all trying to decide when and where. Kat and I had started off with a plan to go to Berlin in early/mid October but then somebody suggested different dates, then there were different places being thrown into the mix and we both ended up pulling out of the plan altogether - just too much hassle. In the end Kat wasn't really able to do much anyways as she's met a new boy and is all loved up!!

So Jayne decided she'd be up for a trip...mentioned a few places she wanted to go and Krakow was the only place that I hadn't been. So the plan was set.

I checked the weather a few days prior to leaving and it was scheduled to snow. Yay, I love love love snow! So we packed for cold weather but weren't prepared for the 6-8 inches of snow that was on the ground when we got there on Saturday! It was interesting walking from the bus stop to our hotel in all that snow and the sub zero temperatures which we weren't used to. We got there in the end.

Our first day we wandered around, checked the place out and had a dinner of perogies, borscht and then mixed berry perogies for dessert - so tasty!

Sunday was the day we had reserved for going to Auschwitz. We made an early start as it was a 1.5 hour journey there and another 1.5 hours back. So after a little breakfast at the hotel, we made our way to the bus depot and were lucky enough to find the shopping mall on the way!!

There were a ridiculous number of tours being offered for PLN 100+ but we decided to do it our way....we got the bus which was PLN 7 each (each way) and PLN 26 for the tour. So it was only PLN 80 for the both of us for the day! The bus on the way out was pretty good; spacious and comfy even though it probably dated back to the mid 50's. After 1.5 hours we got to Auschwitz (all 11 of us) and checked out the tours, picked the one we wanted and set off.

I was shocked that there were so many people there what with all of the snow, the temperatures, the time of year etc. But the 13:00 tour had about 75 people in it and had to be split into 3 different groups. The day started off with a 30 minute video about the history and was a bit tough to watch in parts because it was a little graphic. Then we started our tour of Auschwitz, we went into a lot of different buildings, saw lots of interesting stuff and then took a break. After the break we went off to Birkenau which was actually a much bigger camp than Auschwitz but unfortunately the museum had to cut the tour short by almost an hour as they were closing early due to weather.

It was a shame we didn't get more time at Birkenau - we only got about 30 minutes compared to the 2.5 hours at Auschwitz. But we had to run for the bus....if we didn't get the 4:15, we'd have to wait OUTSIDE until the 5:30. That's right, the museum closed at 4:00 and I really didn't fancy sitting/standing outside for over an hour. Unfortunately I didn't have time to use the little girls room before getting on the bus back to town and it was absolutely rammed! Instead of the nice comfy bus with reclining seats that we got on the way out, we had a city style bus on the way back and stopped at almost every single stop on the way. Nobody could understand how they fit that many people on the bus and I'm sure we passed the legal limit (if there is one in Krakow) for passengers!

Luckily Jayne and I got seats but that didn't help my cause! And it's not like we could have gotten off the bus for a bathroom break as the route from Auschwitz to Krakow was through small winding roads down the mountain and there weren't any rest stops - especially at 5pm on a Sunday. So I just had to hang on for 1.5 hours. Luckily I was alright, made it ok and we made a stop in the shopping mall to use the facilites (and maybe do some shopping!)

That night we unfortunately went to a place called Shinx Club for dinner which was very North American. Jayne liked it but it wasn't much good for me - firstly being a vegetarian and secondly hoping for slightly more authentic food. But in the end.....dinner was dinner and we'd had a long day so went back to the hotel to pass out.

Monday we woke up and the plan was to go to the Wawel Cathedral and castle, then do some shopping and general wandering around. Unfortunately the Cathedral and castle were closed on Mondays so we had to do the shopping and wandering and do the rest of it on Tuesday morning before going to the airport.

The shopping mall was great but we didn't find much of anything (for those of you who know me that's a shocker!) so decided to drown our sorrows in cake and tea for lunch. Then it was back to the hotel for a nice long steam before dinner. There was a restaurant at the end of our street which had been packed every night that we thought we'd try out. We got ready, stopped in at the little Mexican place on the way for a couple of drinks to get the night started and then got a table for dinner.

Dinner was great and so cheap! We had 3 1/2 litres of wine which I'm guessing is just over 2 bottles, I had a pizza (weird I know but there wasn't much veggie on the menu), Jayne had a steak, a side dish of veggies and another of fried beetroot which was awesome! Then we shared this huge portion of apple pancakes for dessert. It was so good and less than GBP 40!

We met some crazy people while having dinner....Mark and Garrett from Melbourne who had clearly had some drinks before arriving. They met up with a couple during the day and were having dinner with them......we all got to chatting and had a good time. The couple ended up heading back to their room and we went for just one more drink. As it was a Monday night things were a little slow....so after our night cap we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.

Tuesday, woke up early to go to the cathedral and castle before getting the plane. It had warmed up a bit and for the first time in 3 days I didn't need my scarf and hat and it was kinda nice..... The castle was a bit disappointing in the end as it had burned down in the 18th century so none of the furniture was original and half of the building itself was re-built and not in the original way. So we had our tour and then went into the cathedral which was gorgeous. I lit a candle for my Grandad (as I always do) and we set off back to our hotel to get our bags.

The flight back was uneventful which I'm alright with as we got in on time. From Gatwick, I found a great little shortcut home. Instead of getting the train from Gatwick into London Bridge and then getting on my train into New Beckenham and then walking home......I got off at East Croydon and hopped onto the tram which takes me pretty darn close to my house! So I got in about 1.5 hours after landing!! Crazy!

I'm glad that we went to Krakow at this time of year....shame we missed the Christmas markets as I still haven't seen any....but it was good to see some snow, do something different and interesting and it wasn't just about going somewhere and sitting on a beach for a week. Recommend it if you're thinking of somewhere to go.....

David Gray

Saw David Gray last Wednesday at the Roundhouse in Camden. Fabulous venue!! I would guess that there was only about 2,000 people there, it wasn't too packed and the sound was great.

Couldn't have been better timing as he'd just come out with a new single a few days earlier and his greatest hits 2 days before.

The first set was acoustic and was amazing (of course). The second set was with a full band and had a little light show and was also pretty damn good. All of my fave songs were played and he did an interesting/country version of Long Black Veil. It was good but didn't even come close to Dave Matthews version.

Fab concert and it was nice to see him indoors as the last time I saw him was outdoors at Dublin castle earlier in the year. March and Dublin outdoors don't mix! But London indoors after a good dinner and a few cocktails does!

Dinner and a show

You can get fabulous "dinner and a show" deals for GBP20-GBP60 on www.lastminute.com depending on the show and the venue for dinner. So last Monday I went to see Avenue Q with Caroline and Jayne and the show was absolutely hilarious!

I'd heard of Avenue Q before but didn't really know what it was about. Apparently it's puppets for adults. There's a song about how the internet is good for porn (sung by puppets) and another one about how everybody's a little bit racist....it's bizarre but true - and funny!

The dinner's can be a bit hit and miss. For example, we had an amazing dinner at Planet Hollywood of all places (it was the only place offering dinner for a comedy we really wanted to see) but last Monday went to a place called the Verve Bar which was mediocre at best. It's in Covent Garden on a super busy intersection and you'd think it would be good but it just wasn't. Last Minute had advertised the Verve as offering either 3 "nibbles" (appies) or a main course and a cocktail. So we get in, order our cocktails and were then told that they had decided to change their menu to 2 nibbles instead of 3.

Clearly we weren't too pleased with that as it's not what we thought we had paid for and the GM was not interested in talking to us at all! Luckily our friend Jayne has a friend who works for Last Minute - told this fellah at the Verve that and it was interesting how quickly he decided to give us the menu that we had paid for.

In the end, there was an awful lot of food, we had some pretty ok drinks but the service was shockingly bad. Don't think I'd go back there if I had the choice.

But.....I would recommend Avenue Q to anybody who has an open mind, good sense of humour and isn't easily offended. It's hilarious but just make sure you're in a laughing mood....

Money, money, money!

It finally arrived....the remainder of my money from the sale of my apartment back in Vancouver! Thanks to the Canadian Government, I've been waiting almost 5 months for the remaining 2/3 of my money which has been ridiculously frustrating!!

So my Mom phoned me last week saying that it had finally come through and it was on it's way over to me...and finally today - it arrived!!

So...now that I've padded my bank account a little bit - the hunt is on for an apartment but perhaps I should do a little shopping first......

Happy day!

Today rocks! I haven't been this happy in ages, well for the last few weeks at least.

Not only did I go on a fabulous 4th date with a really nice boy last night BUT....today is the first day of Starbuck's Christmas drinks!!! I feel like a kid in a candy store. Hooray for gingerbread lattes! Nummy...