London (1)

Always when the plane touches down at London Heathrow I feel this wave of relief and "Gods, I am home!" washing over me. Suddenly everything is the way it should be, the accent, the attitude, the understatement - even the sun and the colours are not as bright and sometimes annoying as you can find them in Central Europe.... To put it all short: I love England, and I certainly LOVE London.

It is so good to be back!

I don´t know if you have been, but I know I won´t ever be - namely up there. But the Shard definately is programmed for Hasi and David next time. I prefer to stay on the ground having a good chat and a drink, since I am not sick of living.. Not a cat´s chance in hell you can get me up there!

After a trip down Memory Lane like seeing the Tower Bridge and the Tower it definately was time for a visit at the local pub.

Our Sunday visit at Buckingham was a bit boring. Seen it too many times, and HRH was not there anyway. Should we have told the hundreds of tourists waiting? There was this tiny little sign in front of the palace that there would not be any change of guards on Sunday...

I have a new favorite quarter which is Shoreditch! It is the former East End, now a place full of little shops and little markets, singers in the streets and plenty of good food. Next time I will be definately saving some appetite to try the Brick Lane Bakery there. And of course there is Curry Lane... I so would love a nice Curry now....

Hasi and David went up the eye (after a brisk and long march through the city from Shoreditch to the Thames). Larissa and I had a good chat at the river banks, while the guys probably had a good time up there too. I am sure it was a great ride, but I am also happy I did not have to do it myself and simply can enjoy the pics.

Yeah, we are all back together, and we all survived! And now off to some good food...

Great evening at Wagamama´s! We all love Asian food, and the food there is lovely and tasty. Oh, and because mine came 5 mins late I got mine for free, how cool is that.

Afterwards we walked for a while to get back to Towerhill Station. The air was mild, and there was just the best sing-a-song-writer playing his guitar beneath the Eye. What a perfect evening it was!

Krakow

Krakow is holding the 2nd oldest university of Central Europe und is Poland´s "secret capital". When you arrive you instantly get the feeling that this little town might not be "typically polish" - it is hip and trendy, all is newly renovated and decorated and you see a lot of young people here who definately have a little bit of money in their pockets.

We came here to visit an old friend from University who had been teaching in Krakow for a semester, otherwise I probably would have never gone to Poland, but it was a surprisingly nice experience. (Even though I am still not sure if I have seen the "real" Poland. Maybe I will look into this some more some other time, who knows.)

In medival times Krakow was the capital of Poland and in war it almost had not been destroyed, therefore the historical centre remains almost untouched. You meet at the Rynek Glowny (the main square), where you also find the Koscial Mariacki (St. Mary´s church) and other places of interest, it is a busy, lively area where you can spend a lot of time if you want. (Guys: I do not have a clue about the Polish language and I try my best, but please just ignore my missing accents here and there, I do not know where to put them and I am too lazy to look it up.)

We did a free walking tour, the "food tour", and it was a great experience. Our guide dragged us around in the little streets of Krakow and introduced typically Polish dishes to us. At the end you paid what you felt was right, and I really can recommend this kind of tour. We tasted wonderful food - sausages, pierogi, cakes, soup.... delishious and fun-filled!

Afterwards we needed a break and rested at the "barka" at the river "Wisla" or "Weichsel" in German. We were trying to pull our strength together for a visit to the famous "Schindler´s factory" which is close by in Kazimierz, the jewish quarter right on the other side of the Wisla. Actually "Schindler´s list" has been filmed here, and it is a place full of history. Unfortunately the photos of Kazimierz did not turn out really well, so I have nothing to post here.

There are many things to see and do in Krakow, for example they have a remarkable number of historical and new war monuments. They seem to be scattered everywhere over the city and you find them when you least expect it.

Then of course there is the famous Wawel, the castle and cathedral overlooking the city, the former residency of the Polish kings, where many of the kings and queens have been laid to rest.

And of course we had to visit the university area, which is friendly and newly decorated. It must be great fun to study here! 

It definately were a couple of interesting days, special thanks to our tour guide who scheduled the perfect tour for us as if we were VIPs and who (being a historian) had many interesting things to tell!

What also was remarkable that coming from a "Western" country staying in Krakow is wonderfully low-budget even though you eat lovely food and see lovely things. The food you get everywhere is definately high quality and the entrance fees to museums and sights are absolutely affordable. I especially recommend the famous pierogi - we were taken to a tiny little place where they offered more than 50 kinds of pierogi - Heaven for a carb lover!

And of course don´t forget the Zapiekanki, basically the Polish version of a baguette, mostly with a layer of tomatoes and mushrooms and then all other sorts of toppings. They are nice to-go food and will definately fill you up for a while!

Krakow is great fun. If you are in doubt - go anyway, it is worth a trip. Even Benedict Cumberbatch was here, and he cannot be wrong, right? ;-)