The Big Owl mountain is only 1,015m above sea level (3,330feet) but it is fairly nearby and it has a cool lighthouse looking observation tower built in 1906 atop of it. Whenever we feel like getting out of the house to do some moderate snow hiking, the Big Owl is our go-to destination. The views…
Yesterday I ran my first half-marathon of the year, but it was a ‘first’ in a few other ways, too. It was my first half-marathon in the winter time. Snow, mud, ice and all. It was my first marathon in the mountains. An elevation difference of only about 600meters, but still 600meters more than the…
Yesterday was Wroclaw’s first real snow day of the season and the city freaked out. Perhaps it didn’t freak out as much as it simply shut itself down. And that shouldn’t happen in Poland in the winter time. It’s only natural that we associated winter with snow. I know, I know, but in Poland that…
Even though we’re about halfway through January as of this writing, winter has been pretty modest for us in Wroclaw thus far. The temperatures have hardly dipped below freezing, snow is almost none existent, and I even rode my scooter to work a couple of times. In January! So today, on a tip from Ania’s…
So, what’s up? Haven’t been on here in a while. I’ve tried, time and again, to write that special ‘first 2016’ blog post…and sort of lost track of time. January is almost over and my last post was somewhere mid December. Crap. Is anyone out there still reading my stuff anyway? Well, to those that…
This winter season has been very very weird to say the least, weatherwise that is. There’s hardly been any snow, temperatures have barely dipped below freezing, and the overall feeling is that of a late fall or early spring rather than the actual calendar winter we’re supposedly in the middle of. Media in Poland has…
Bavarian Curling, also known as Ice Stock sport, is Southern Germany’s answer to long and cold winter evenings. Looking somewhat similar to the standard curling we’re already used to, Bavarian Curling dates as far back as 16th century as seen on this Peter Bruegel painting from 1565. Fast forward a few hundred years and this…
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…
I’ve been wondering why every winter I seem to blog a lot less and the answer is quite simple; there’s a lot less time for things to write about. On this blog I write about stuff going on in my life, events I’ve been to, places I’ve visited, so naturally if I don’t really do…
Karolina took these photos of frozen over Wrocław on her way to work the other morning. Deciding to walk instead of taking the bus turned out well photography wise, but was quite a feat at -15°C below zero (5°F). It’s getting warmer now, and just in time, too, as my car battery is hanging on…
It’s been freezing cold for the past week with -15°C at night only warming up to about -5°C during the day, that’s 5°F at night and only 23°F during the day for my Fahrenheit friends. That is cold, and feels even colder when it just stays the same for days. But the weather has been…
When I left Wrocław on my latest visit to Sicily my plane had to get de-iced, twice. I knew it wasn’t going to be very hot in Palermo even though only a week ago it was around 80°F up here, but it has gotten ridiculously cold, and yesterday we even had snow! Our B&B host…
To those of you who still don’t know, the dog on these photos is Charlie. He’s Karolina’s dog, and my newest walking buddy. He’s surprisingly well trained and actually listens to my commands. I say surprisingly because I’ve had a hard time controlling my own dog in the past, and yet this one listens to…
There is nothing that will warm you up faster on a -16° Celsius night than a warm cup of wine. Well, I suppose I could think of one other thing, but certainly not in the middle of a crowded city square. Mulled wine, or Grzaniec as it is known in Poland, originated in Germany and…
Waking up in the morning to a yard full of snow is very romantic. That is until your brain processes that there’s about two hours of snow shoveling ahead of you. I’d say the romance lasts about 2 minutes every morning, the time it takes me to fully wake up and fully understand the aftermath…
