Wedding Picture Update

They’re almost complete. I had a moment of extreme panic when I discovered that one of my memory cards partially corrupted and I lost several hundred images…BUT, luckily, another cousin had the sense to upload them on his computer the day after the event, so the pictures exist, I just need to get them.

Other than that, they came out beautifully!  My cousin and his new wife are both gorgeous and were having so much fun that it was almost too easy to get good action shots.  I have a handful of them up for viewing on the Picasa link below, so feel free to take a peek.

https://picasaweb.google.com/115350760555664506944/MarikaAndLawrence?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKX35pagqfDYFA&feat=directlink

 

Being ‘the Disgustingtons’ in Prague

Our layover in Prague has been in the plan since we originally bought the plane tickets to Poland, but I’ll be honest, after the festivities last night, I was so drained that I was dreading this little detour. Now that brother and I have had a chance to walk around this awesome European town, (with only our carry-ons and the clothes on our back, because being the geniuses we are, we didn’t foresee that our bags would be shipped directly to Atlanta), I’m really glad to have experienced it.  I’ll go into more detail later, but at the moment, it’s just a few minutes till midnight. I’m sitting at the desk of our hotel room, borderline delirious, the 12-foot tall window overlooking an ancient cobblestone street just off the main square, listening to the rowdy bachelor parties on the street below.  Every possible language can be heard on the sidewalk… It’s really a cool place, I would love to come back for real one day

The Morning After

…while the words “I’m never drinking again” keep going through my aching head, the wedding last night was a perfect way to end this trip. Attendance was Polish, Aussie, and Scottish…the ceremony was held in an ancient Benedictine Abbey, and the reception was in a palace. There were bottomless bottles of wine and vodka on each table. There was dancing and fireworks and apparently a whole pig on a spit (which I avoided).  It was this first time in our family’s history that all the cousins were together in one place at the same time…It might be a while before any pictures are posted, though. The next week or more is going to be filled with lots of editing…

Day 2 by the Sea

After a restful night at the Villa, and an amazing, fresh breakfast spread (paired with not-so-amazing techno-pop dance music blaring from the radio in the breakfast room), we set out for the seaside fishing town of Jaskina, which is on a sliver of a peninsula jutting out into the Baltic Sea. The town, or village really, had a main grassy square where there were cafes and shops for the tourists. The beach entry was a few minute walk from there. We caught a morning train from Gdansk and landed in Jaskina a little after noon. After a light lunch in a diner ( I had crepes with fresh fruit–omg, I crave those things when I’m in Georgia!) and a not-so-light dessert and tea at a cafe, mom took us on a quick walk to see the port, then off to the white, sandy beach!

While the beach was gorgeous, it definitely wasn’t a South Florida experience…instead of sun-shielding umbrellas, the beach-goers hid behind wind-guards. And for good reason, too. But a beach is a beach, and, despite the sweaters Mother Nature forced us to put on, we had a wonderful relaxing afternoon, breaking the moments of sun-bathing silence with random stories that came to mind. I even stuck my toes in the water, which was suprisingly tolerable. I have to say, from experience, that San Francisco area beaches and water were MUCH more frigid.

We caught an afternoon train back, with a 4-hour layover in the port town of Gdinia, where my parents used to set sail from during their college/ courtship years. My dad had instructed my mom to kiss the port (which I held her to… air-kiss, of course, but still.) For dinner, we ended up in a fish-and-chips bar, where I concluded that while American bars have better music (this place was blaring the worst possible late 80′s and early 90′s dance noise…I specifically remember “let’s talk about sex” shouting at me from the overhead speaker. shoot me…), Polish bars have better bar food. The food wasn’t half bad, and afterwards, we grabbed some ice cream cones from a nearby booth before the hooligan clubbers completely took over the sidewalks.

I think I slept a tad better on the train last night, but still feel like someone beat me with a bat.

Tomorrow is the big wedding that brought my brother and I here in the first place, so we’re all getting into preperation mode. I’m shooting stills (which I just found out about a month ago), and my brother discovered a couple hours ago that he’ll be playing the role of videographer…yup, it’s going to be an interesting final day in Poland…

mom and brother. i had already found a nice place to plop and dig my toes in the sand. notice the wind-guards in the background…

family portrait. it was a bit windy.

mom and brother taking the plunge…or wade.

I was going for the ‘cape’ look…

tea-time!

hahaha, everyone needs their own safety hammer! i think this one got a llittle lost in translation.

This ship in the Gdynia port was previously used as an educational tool for sailors. Now it’s been retired as a museum. Disappointingly, it didn’t even have sails on it anymore.

intersting shot of brother and Gdinia train station

Polish countryside

haha, brother was done!

Back from the Baltic

The last few days have been exhausting, to say the least, but scenic. I don’t recommend sleeping on a train. While somewhat convenient (although I use the term ‘convenient’ lightly seeing as how we don’t have a car here, and even if we did, none of us would dare drive), it is expensive, cramped, (moreso, I think, than cabins on a cruise), and you have to put aside any wanderings of real cleanliness or hygiene. I mean, I guess they do well for what they have, and the idea of falling asleep and waking up and being on location is pretty tempting, but consider this: the walls are paper thin between cabins, so you can hear EVERY word said in the rooms next to you. The train makes stops on the way, so you’re constantly being woken by loud speakers and mechanical noises, not to mention people getting on and off the train at odd hours of the night. If your window is open (which it kinda has to be), and the guy next to you smokes, well… you get the picture. Not to mention the horror stories I heard from Mom about the bathroom, at least on the way there. She said the ones on the back were much better, but I didn’t take my chances wither way. I think I’m just tired and therefore grumpy. The trip overall, was a nice break from the city.

We took an overnight train from Krakow to the port t0wn of Gdansk Wednesday night, arriving mid-day on Thursday. The old part of the town is absolutely whimscal, with its history and vivid colors. It looks like something out of Willy Wonka’s imagination. We ate at tourist-y but still local dives–we actually found a vegetarian restaurant for lunch, which suited me quite nicely — and took a river tour on the ‘Black Pearl’ with the ‘pirate’ staff performing traditional sailing/ drinking songs. There was even a bar on board… not that I took advantage of it, but totally would have if I had been with different company.

My mom outdid herself when it came to lodgings. She found us this fairy-tale villa a few miles outside of town, on top of a hill, and we happened to have the topmost room, which included a common area and sprial staircase to the bedroom. Not only was the room whimsical, the neighborhood was peaceful and the view lovely! We closed out the night by watching ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’, all huddled together in front of brother’s laptop. I slept well that night.

hanging uspide down from the top bunk to see out the train window. I found this perfectly logical and natural. My mother compared me to a sloth…

view out onto the countryside from the train. The splash of red is from poppies growing among the crops. (not the heroin kind…apparantly, this native type is much smaller…)

The picturesque Villa Isabel

not really sure what the pillow arrangement was about, the the skylight to the right of the picture was a nice touch!

The view from the skylight :)

The main street of Gdansk. The steeple doesn’t normally look like a top hat, it’s currently under construction.

The main street again, lookng back towards the entry.

A detail from the central fountain, if I remember correctly…

Close-up of an awesome door!

Entry onto another street, Mariacki, full of vendors, musicians, and eateries. The echo within these walls was nothing less than enchanting :)

Being tiny and insignificant next to the Mariacki Church

Being tiny and insignificant from within, haha!

Detail of the church doors. They’re probably a tad on the older side…

typical scene from the old part of town

the well-fed mermaid on the stern of the Black Pearl

Ah, The Black Pearl. Unfortunately, Captain Jack Sparrow didn’t make an appearnace! ;)

From the deck, looking out over the town

view from the river

The central fountain, backlit by the afternoon sun

M.I.A.

I’ll be out of commission for possibly the rest of the week. We ‘re leaving for the seaside tonight for a few days, and then the remainder of our stay is packed. We fly out on Saturday. As much fun as I’ve had, and have yet to have, I’m feeling ready to get back home to my boy and my pup!

Minor Differences

okay, so i might have stolen the title from theoatmeal.com… But it seemed fitting.

I spent the weekend at my aunt and uncle’s house, and on the 2-hour train ride there and back, I had a lot of time to think about some cultural differences I’ve noticed and admired from an outsider’s point of view. They’re not anything mind-blowing, or things I didn’t notice every other time I’ve been here, but I feel they’re worth mentioning, and pondering.

Beds: beds, if they exist soley as beds here, are much narrower than American beds. A single bed is skinnier than even a dorm bed. More often than not, beds are often pull-out sofas and futons, so you can actually use them when you’re not sleeping in them. This is due to the fact that there is much less space here, and people’s houses are generally smaller, but still.

Windows: besides the fact that I LOVE not ever having to use any kind of central air conditioning (I don’t even think too many people have it here…) because the weather is perfect—even on a hot day, there’s enough of a breeze to keep the house cool, the window design is ingenious. They are mostly ‘french-door’ style windows. When the handle is down, the window is locked. Halfway up, it opens all the way, like a door. Flipped all the way up, and the window tilts out, so you still get a breeze, but the window isn’t all the way open. Good for cooler or windier days. Some balcony doors are designed like this too. Nice to be somewhere where bugs aren’t a problem, and you don’t need screens…

Public transport: almost goes without saying, but everyone uses it, so it’s insanely convenient and reliable. Watching from the train window, every tiny rural community has a train stop, even if it’s no more than a concrete slab at the end of a dirt road. Have no idea where you would BUY tickets for said train, though, because here in town I’m used to going to the central station a few blocks from our house.

Farming: I LOVE going through the rural communities and seeing people actually working their own land. There are still relatively few tractors. Most people either use a blade, or occassionally I’ll even see a horse-drawn plow. The countrysides are therefore much more peaceful, and I’m sure the air and water quality are well beyond what they would be in Georgia, seeing as how’s there’s less fuel and exhaust being pumped out.

Pets: are fewer, and on a mission. Most won’t come up to you, no matter how much you coo at them. And they’re allowed on the public transport, no questions asked and no pre-requisits. Makes me miss my pup that much more…except I can’t imagine her sitting on the floor. She would insist on sitting her 57-pound ass in my lap, no doubt. Also, the current breed trend is yorkshire terriers. I swear, 90% of the dogs I’ve seen are yorkies.  A close second are french bulldogs.  And actually, I’ve been surprised to see quite a few pits…

Clothes: Obviously, no one walks around in Nike shorts and T-shirts, but overall, I feel like the fashion has loosened up since the last time I was here—there’s fewer people trying WAY too hard to be the next Chanel ad. The general style  is hipster-ish: skinny jeans, high-tops or ballet flats, layered shirts, choppy hair, little makeup.  Basically something I’d see at the 40-Watt back home.

Food: you buy less, but more often (usually you’re walking home with it, not piling a billion plastic bags into the back of your Suburban…). A lot of stores will charge you for bags if you don’t have your own. (They could make a KILLING on that in the states!) Fridges are the size of a typical kitchen cabinet, so even the containers are about half the size, which means you use less to make it last longer…  Plus, most things are fresher and are mostly local (as in, within the country.) My favorite part of groceries, by far,  is the bread. If it’s over a day old, it’s almost considered unetible, and you go to the nearest bakery and buy what you need for the day. I can’t ever get enough of that fresh-bread smell!

I’m not anti-American, but man, Europe does it right on so many levels!

My aunt and uncle's storybook-worthy house and garden

We brought my aunt a bucket of berries...and she turned them into amazing delicious-ness!

My legs might not forgive me for this one…

Don’t know when I’ll get a chance to post pics, but the last couple of days were SO fun and SO therapeutic and insanely physically intense. We went to Pieninski National Park, which is still in south Poland, but not quite as far as Zakopane, which is known for its picturesque, snow-capped mountains. I had never been to these mountains before, or the little towns around them, so it was a great opportunity to see other parts of the country.

Yesterday, we caught several buses and made it to the park , where we began our adventure by taking a two-hour raft-ride on a traditional wooden boat down the river and in between the main ridges. The river, Dunajca, partially straddles the Poland/ Sllovakia border. It would have been completely relaxing had I not been sitting next to a grandma who was clearly Captain Obvious, and she just looooved hearing herself talk. But the weather was gorgeous, the river gurgled and echoed throughout the valleys, so that the only other sound (besides obnoxious grandma) were songbirds and ducks. Occasionally, the mountaineer river guide would throw in some geographical facts and jokes, but for the most part, we drank in the tranquility of the river.

Later in the day, my mom found us a cute rental room in the town of Szczawnica, which is known for its therapeutic mineral waters. It lays right along the bank of the river, and is a quiet but picturesque little mountain town. We walked into town, bought a few groceries and ate at a diner ( the trout that I ordered came complete with head, tail, and fins… I had a lot of trouble cutting off that poor guy’s head…), sampled several different mineral waters (my brother’s face was PRICE-less! he was clearly NOT a fan..)and basically passed out for a few hours once we got back in our room. Side note, mineral waters are anywhere from tasting like plain water to really salty and sulfuric. The ones we tasted were pretty faint, just slightly salty. But not like ocean-level saltiness… More like tears. The lady at the tasting room had faucets that were hooked up to different underground streams. It was fascinating!

We took an evening stroll down to the water before we went to bed, and absolutely could not get enough of the peace and serentity of the place!

Today, we tested our physical abilities by taking a 7 hour hike, much of it (as in, at least 5hours worth) steeply uphill…along the way, we got caught in two thunderstorms, so that by the end of it all, when we were walking down to the town of Kroscienko, we were soaked and our legs were trembling beneath us…and I had this monster of a backpack that had served me well as a rolling carry-on on the plane ride, but weighed a ton and dug into my shoulders all day…but the hike was AMAZING! We made it to the highest peak in the mountin range (Trzy Korony, or Three Crowns), hid from the rain in a cave with an altarpiece next to the ruins of a 12th century castle, and saw a couple of gorgeous salamanders bigger than my hand. Not to mention came upon beautiful scenery and bought a roll of smoked sheep cheese (probably one of my favorite parts of coming back to Poland!) and a cup of punch from a eldery local lady who had her table set up next to the trail. The weather cleared up by the time we made it into town, and we lucked out and immediately caught a mini-bus, then a charter bus back to Krakow. By the time we got home tonight, we couldn’t even make it up the stairs to the floor we live on…had to take the ancient elevator (which I usually avoid taking, partially because I’d rather walk up the stairs and partially because it seems like it’s been hanging on the end of its rope for the last 20 years…)

Now, as I sit here in bed, showered and in my jammies, listening to the chatter and music of Friday nightlife down on the street, and occasionally the tired click-clacking of horses’ hooves as the tourist-y carriages turn in for the night, I have absolutely no wish to be down there…I haven’t been this tired–but content–in a long time.

Near the end of the 7-hour hike, overlooking the town of Kroscienko

Near the end of the 7-hour hike, overlooking the town of Kroscienko

our rental room is the first balcony on the left

green-sheep!

I have to have at least one handstand pic from every place I go…

mom and brother ‘reading’ all the things you’re not supposed to do in the park, haha!

this was the boat that was part of the official trail, since there wasn’t a bridge. We waited a good ten minutes for the quite un-sober staff lad came out of the booth to row us over to the other bank.

Our first scenic stop, overlooking where we had just left.

after several hours of hiking straight up, we made it to the first checkpoint. yay!

this was part of the trail. no joke.

the view was well worth it!

550+ year-old pines, the only ones of their kind in Europe, if I remember correctly…

maybe it was my delirium by this point, but these trees made me laugh. I though it looked like the skinnier one had attacked the other with smooches. Mom said they looked like they were clinging on for dear life.

i took a lot of flower pictures, but this one, shortly after the first rainstorm, is my favorite :)

brother and rain shelter

another inspiring view!

we posed for a victory shot at the top of the Three Crowns. Not only were our legs about to give out, but another thunderstorm was approaching, and the ranger allowed us to quickly walk up the metal stairs while holding on the the metal railing on the ridge of the highest mountain so we could glance at the view. The view was pretty much hidden by fog at that point, but we made it!

the little we saw from REEEALLY high up before the fog swallowed it up

Trying to stay dry in the cave

the things I do to get the pictures I want…

rain, rain, where are you coming from and why don’t you leave???

my brother took a picture of me taking a picture of him from opposite ends of the metal staircase

Once we finally decided that the rain wasn’t going to let down, we left the cave and started back down…and then I found this absolutely GORGEOUS (and un-beknowst to me at the time, potentially toxic) fire salamander!

“…climb every mountain, follow every stream…”

6 meters under

We spent much of the day underground. First we went back to the main square and took a few hours to explore the excavations from the last 6 years…They (not really sure who ‘they’ are…) dug up the original town square and market from the 10th-14th centuries and set up a pretty awesome display of the site and finds. Photographically, it’s not overly-exciting, but just to be around that many artifacts and stonework from that long ago, when the city was in its historical peak, was pretty intruiging. We then ate at a Polish restaurant, again underground. I’m in love with the underground nooks and crannies (i.e. bars and restaurants) in this town. Maybe I can convince the fine people back home to open up THEIR underground passageways… It would make it a LOT easier to barhop on rainy days.

I don’y know how they did this, but it was a light projection of water from the ceiling, but when you walked through it, it rippled like you were walking through actual water. Oh, the modern technological marvels…

13th century coins

a bone knife handle from the 10th century. crazy.

figurines of some sort

a model of the town during the 1300′s…and a family portrait.

“it’s only a model” (Can I get a thumbs-up from all the Monty Python fans? ;D)

a tunnel through the original market stalls

13th century toys :)

kids, pigeons, landmarks

this was on the menu simply as ‘zurek’, or cucmber soup, which is pretty common and traditional. it doesn’t normally look this pretty, though!

one of the dining rooms in the restaurant. I have 1,000-year old walls in my house, too…

mommsies in the staircase

Moon-Gazing

The view from one of our windows.  Specifically, the one my brother is sleeping in.

While it looks peaceful, I’m still getting . accustomed to the sounds of the city.  It’s not even the trolleys, buses, and ambulances, which eventually turn into a hum, that keep me up occassionally. Nor is it the lonely clanging of the clock tower in the town square, or the grandfather clock  that chimes every half hour in my room. There’s a group of guys that get T-rashed down in the greenspace below, just about every night, and after discussing politics and life and death (according to my cousin. I never pay quite THAT much attention to their conversations), they sing. No joke, they belt out Polish drinking songs. I picture them down there, hugging each others’ shoulders, and having their manly bonding time, and don’t know whether to laugh or close the window…I have no idea when they finally pass out or leave, but it’s well after 4 or so in the morning.