To celebrate Huia's birthday we (Huia, Henry, Rach, Naj, John and MC) took off for a long weekend in Poland. We flew into Wroclaw (pronounced Vrots-wahf) which has a very attractive (and big - the second largest in Europe actually) market square and some fun bars! Most of the town (which up until the end of World War II was part of Germany and called Breslau) was destroyed in the war but it has been beautifully restored. We didn't spend a lot of time exploring Wroclaw's sights as we only had one day there but we did have lots of fun sampling the Polish vodka that night and meeting some friendly locals!!
The main square at night and MC, Naj and Rach jumping off seats.... to keep warm....?
Rach ready for a sleep at the end of a big night!
Girls being silly.
John pouring his own beer, the boys were quite impressed they could order this contraption!
Mmmmm lard. No really. This didn't go down quite as well as the Pierogi (boiled dumplings stuffed with various fillings) which we ate lots of!
John and Henry.
Huia and her pork knuckle.
After our short stay in Wroclaw Rach, MC and John headed to Krakow for the next few days. Above is MC and Rach in the market sqaure in Krakow (which happens to be largest in Europe, followed by Wroclaw!).
While in Krakow we visited the Salt Mines (Wieliczka). These mines produced table salt from the 13th Century up until the late 1990s. There are lots of sculptures carved by both miners and artists - including Da Vinci's Last Supper in the photo above.
Rach in the cathedral at the end of the tour - even the chandeliers are made from rock salt!
John and MC outside Wawel Castle in Krakow. We didn't have enough time to go in as we spent our first day at the Auschwitz concentration camp and our second at the salt mines.
On the very old-fashioned looking train from Wroclaw to Krakow!
Oops photos are a bit out of order - back in the square in Wroclaw.
Rach in Wroclaw.
MC, again in pretty Wroclaw.
So we had a nice (if a little bit freezing cold) time in Poland. Unfortunately we don't have any of our own photos due to our camera being broken so thanks to Huia and Rachael for letting us borrow theirs!
Sadly our first Polish experience was slightly (actually pretty much completely, or so it felt at the time) marred by our first travel disaster! As we were sitting comfortably on the airport train in Krakow, Rach enquired as to whether there was only one airport in Krakow so MC thought she better check the flight details.... where she discovered the airport was called Katowice/Krakow (Katowice being a city about a two-hour train ride away). Upon further investigation and much heart-pounding nervousness we discovered that the airport we were flying out of was actually in Katowice NOT Krakow!! So we were in completely the wrong city... (damn those budget airlines... grrrr WizzAir - we don't like them anymore!!) Trying to decide what to do next was hampered by not being able to get through to WizzAir (grrr again), actually getting back on the airport train and going to Krakow Airport to see if we could get on a different flight back to the UK (we couldn't) and a freezing cold smelly train station filled with urinating homeless bums. Eventually we found the tourist office and an internet point and booked new flights for 6am the next morning from Katowice and hoped we could get on a WizzAir shuttle bus to Katowice airport at 2am. In the meantime it was freezing cold (minus 2 deg) and we had nowhere to go except join the drunk bums in the station, which wasn't a thrilling prospect, so finally we found a hotel bar by the station and then their lobby to sit in when the bartender kicked us out at 1am. Tired, grumpy and cold, we then trudged to the bus station, hoping there were three spare seats on the shuttle bus to the airport.
There wasn't.
BUT thankfully the bus driver called his mate who soon arrived with a second bus and finally we were on our way!! From there things went smoothly and we arrived back in London about 8.30am and rushed home and then straight into work! (Or the girls did, John of course had to take a nap first...).
We now have a new camera so hopefully you will enjoy the photos in the next update - a weekend away in Switzerland!
MC rugged up in Dresden, with the Frauenkirche and Christmas markets in the background.
Snowy Dresden, on the banks of the Elbe river.
Colourful lebkuchen.
The main market in Dresden, there were at least five different ones.
The Christmas market on Altplatz - the oldest in Germany apparently, since 1434.
Market by night.
Outside the Semper Opera House in Dresden. The buildings may look old but over 90% of the city centre was destroyed near the end of World War II and has been reconstructed since the 1950s.
John in Theaterplatz, Dresden.
MC in the snow along the banks of the Elbe.
The Frauenkirche, restoration of which was only completed in 2005.
John hates chair-o-planes as much in Germany as he does at the Nelson A&P show!
Pretty Neumarkt in Dresden.
John's massive slab of schnitzel, most of which couldn't fit in the burger.
And onto Leipzig! John and the city chambers.
Statue of Bach outside Thomaskirche, where he worked for about 30 years and is buried.
More Christmas Market action in Leipzig.
Cool wall in Leipzig.
Close-up version.
For Mum cos I know she loves the Leipzig Hauptbahnhof!
Mmmm crepes....
And gluhwein to warm us up. Although that lady is giving MC a decidedly cool look!
John's half-metre sausage!
