At the beginning of June Ania and I took our annual pilgrimage to the small town of Chłopy to spend some time by the sea. We reserved the same house, the same room even, as we did a year ago and the beach was only a two-minute walk away. While early June is still fairly…
The German name for this mountain spot in the south of Poland is Wilde Löcher, which Google translates into Wilde Holes or Openings. Polish translation would sound more like Erroneous Rocks. The overall idea is that there are a lot of big rocks, stones, and boulders here with very tight walkways made in-between, making getting…
Happy Fat Thursday everyone! And thank you Boss for treating us to a day full of sweets! Here’s a quick write up I did about this “pączek” day a while ago. https://polvadis.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/fat-thursday-tlusty-czwartek/
Winter in Poland is yet to show its ugly gray and cold self, but for the time being days here feel more autumn-like, and in some instances even spring-ish. Autumn, because with golden leaves everywhere it sure feels the winter is coming. Spring, because some flowers and trees already began blooming due to warm temperatures…
I spent Saturday tearing up Czech slopes with my boss buddy Nick and his girlfriend Mariola. Poland has its fair share of ski resorts yet for some reasons everyone I know always makes the drive to the Czech Republic down south. Those reasons may have to do with the cost and the bang you get…
Yesterday I did something extraordinary by my standards in that I rode 57km (35 miles) in the toughest conditions my mountain bike has ever seen. Come to think about it, it was the toughest conditions I’ve ever seen as well. I’ve had my Marin bike for a few years now. Probably did a couple of thousand…
A couple of weeks ago, on the one hundredth anniversary of starting the Monte Carlo race, 239 teams took off from six various locations to participate in the Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique. One of the start locations was in our very own Warsaw where nine Polish teams put their pre-1980’s vehicles to the test. Six out…
In 1782 the Baczewski family opened a distillery in a small suburb of Lwów, Poland. It has since been recognized as the oldest Polish distillery. In 1810 it was one of four distilleries in the city, but as it pioneered new technologies, such as double rectification process, it stood out from the pack and produced…
This ain’t no Rio, but Poland likes to party just as much during the carnival time. This past weekend we danced the night away in a small town of Bierutów about 45kms outside of Wrocław. Karolina’s friends are from there and we met up with them along with two other couples to occupy a table…
Going to the beach is not what it used to be; take the 405 freeway to the 10 and about 35 minutes later cruise the Pacific Coast Highway on a beautiful SoCal day. The beach has moved quite a bit for me now, 284 miles away to be exact, a 7 hour drive through beautiful…
You may have already noticed that I give photo credit to Karolina every once in a while. She even said that there’s no need for it, and I haven’t been doing it as much lately, but the truth is we both like taking photos and often have friendly arguments who takes better pictures. We enjoy…
This past Monday was the All Saints Day in Poland. Although I planned on not going into a gridlocked cemetery that day, I did eventually visit my grandfathers grave site. The Church points out that All Saints Day shouldn’t be a sad and gloomy day at all. That it should in fact be a happy…
When I first started this blog I wasn’t sure what to write about or who would ever want to read it. But one hundred posts later I must say I’ve had a lot of fun and look forward to the 1,000 post mark. I recently read that a blogger for Engadget claimed the Guinness World…
I’ve been listening to Polish hip hop off and on for many years now. Started way before even Poland was ready to accept it, and surely before any of my friends in the States were ready for it either. But even a few of my American friends found the beats interesting, others just gave me…
This story has been making its rounds in Poland for a while now. It’s about an “Alligator attack in Illinois”. A guy in the kayak, speaking a very funny Americanized Polish, first feeds an alligator from a kayak, then get’s a small attack as the beast wants more chicken. However I just saw a great…
“In case of an emergency, twist the handle and open the door” Unless of course that handle is covered up by a screwed on plexiglass that prohibits that very action. So much for safety on our buses.
While Americans, and pretty much the entire western world, had Mickey Mouse, Poland had Bolek and Lolek. Two animated cartoon characters that began their adventures back in 1964. Through 2 feature films and 150 short 9 minute episodes, they became heroes for every kid growing up in the communist era Poland. Although I don’t remember…
Wrocław is one of the candidates to be a European Capital of Culture for the year 2016. If awarded the title, Wrocław would for a full year organize festivals, concerts, workshops, conferences, and other events that would bring focus on Wrocław, people living here, and the entire region as well as the European continent itself.…
My friends over at Wrocław Daily Photo have already taken a few shots of “The Train to Heaven“, but there is a small display in the city square with photos and information on how the upright steam locomotive came about. Here’s some info straight from the poster: The idea of a locomotive-steamengine riding up to…
The new fad that’s taking Poland by storm is the espresso machine. It seems a regular coffee maker, even a cone filter one, is not good enough anymore. I’ve counted 45 different models in a local store ranging in price from $300 to $2,000 dollars. I don’t remember that good of a selection in any…
