After a good night sleep in a nice little hotel just off the main square and an early visit to the bakery for some croissant, and baguette and some pain au chocolat we set off in search of some fine French countryside covered in vineyards and dotted by small chateaus. We did not have to go […]
After Strasbourg we pointed out Alfa Romeo in the general direction of Dijon. Both of us visited Dijon in 2001 and remember it very fondly. We wanted to get lost in the French country side. Take the secondary roads and stay off the highways, just like we did last time. Endlessly drive through […]
We are off to France for a few days. The drive is comparable to going to Calgary so why not. Strasbourg is the official seat of the European Parliament among other things. It has a colossal Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg which was the tallest building in the world for over 2 centuries. This is a magnificat […]
My passport application has been accepted – FINALLY
So, a short distance from Garmisch is the famous Neuschwanstein Castle. Last year when we visited the site the castle was covered in scaffolding as it was being renovated. The renovations are done now and that only means one thing – the tourists are back with a vengeance. By the time we got here at […]
We bought 8 different cheeses at the cheese meadow place as well as some bread and promptly after a nice drive back home we sat down for a cheese and wine dinner. Low calories!
We stopped at this place in the middle of nowhere for a coffee and a cake break. They also sell some cheese so we got some for dinner. This is what you get for €1.90 – a home made cake.
The walk from the top of the mountain ends at Partnach Gorge which leads back to the Olympic Park.
It is true that I don’t drink beer, but I started drinking Radler, which is beer with lemonade. It’s so good. At Mohrenplatz , where we were having lunch, in Garmisch, I ordered a small one. The waiter looked at me and said “girl size” and I agreed. He told us that usually this works […]
Fresh mountain air, no crowds and spectacular vistas is our reward for getting up at 6 am and driving out early to Garmisch.
We are off to the mountains today to relax and take in some views.
The Mozejko’s are leaving today. Our first guests, and visitors, are heading back home today after a nice, albeit hot as hell visit. It was a great visit and as always a one that was far too short. It was also a hard one too as we are in the middle of assembling out […]
Other than Legoland I think Pottenstein is the kids second favourite place in Europe. Although Boris has mentioned that it is time we visited some bigger cities, like Paris, London so he can promptly get the equivalent Lego architecture set to assemble. As per usual we still like photographing all the great food we eat. […]
We are back in Pottenstein to explore the town a bit more. We are still moving, we still have guests over and we are traveling. Our schedule is rather insane at the moment. We stopped in this little restaurant in town to have lunch. SO far the best currywurst I ever had. I am no […]
So we have had a chance to drive our new old car back from Poland. We put just a bit over 2,000 km on the car and so far we absolutely love it. I don’t think this car will go faster than 250km/h or even 240km/h for that matter. In fact loaded up to the […]
We finally got home from Poland today. This is what we have managed to fit into the car – including the four of us. Got to love those station wagons. You can put pretty much everything in them, including the kitchen sink.
We are setting off to go back to Nuremberg. We are saying good bye to our great hosts the Karnath family in Pruszcz Gdanski. Not only were they gracious enough to offer us a roof over our heads and feed us 10 meals a day but Kasia’s mom also helped me get the paper work […]
We headed out to do some shopping for the apartment today and then went to the beach. Once again the sea was angry today, but the water was so nice and warm. Great way to waste an afternoon.
Storks are quite ubiquitous in Poland, they are revered and loved in Poland – unlike the post Soviet area bureaucracy which still lingers around like a nasty smell. Today I had to take another stab at it and try and file some papers, to get the papers I actually need. To do this however, I […]
As if Malbork wasn’t impressive enough on its own – there was one more surprise in store for us. Malbork Castle and its grounds are serving as a stage for a sculpture exhibit by a number of famous Polish artists. Feast your eyes.
There are a lot of impressive sights in the world and a great number of wonderful buildings. To me there are very few as impressive and as memorable as the Malbork Castle. The sheer size of it, the scale of buildings and the magnificent decor and layout are simply stunning. Malbork is 3 castles in […]
Today, Kasia is turning 29 again. There was a small gathering of family and friends to celebrate this momentous occasion. We were quite exhausted after a full day of walking around so it was nice to just sit down and relax for a bit, listen to some crazy travel stories, eat a great dinner and […]
A short drive from Gdansk, is the seaside city of Sopot with its grand pier that stretches into the Baltic Sea. At 511.5m, the pier is the longest wooden pier in Europe. A lot has changed here, there are a lot more stores and restaurants, but don’t come here looking for traditional polish food. We […]
Tourist trap heaven, but if you know where to look – you can find a nice slingshot which is naturally what Evelina bought!
When one has the will and energy to climb the 410 stairs of Kościół Mariacki tower, one gets rewarded with spectacular views of the city.
On the other side of the great old town buildings is a narrow little street called ul. Mariacka. The street is lined on both sides with artisan shoppes where you can find all sorts of amber and silver jewellery and pretty much everything else made out of amber which in Gdansk is king. In one […]
A stroll down ul. Dluga. It still is as beautiful as I remember it – less the 50,000 Zywiec umbrellas littering the street on both sides. We could not ask for better weather, with sun and a bit of breeze this was a beautiful day to explore the old town of Gdansk.
So after almost 30 years I am back in the city I grew up in. While a lot has changed it here, not much really did. In the end it is really all a matter of perspective. What seemed bright, huge and wonderful as I remembered it, is now aged, dull and all plastered in […]
TIR stands for Transports Internationaux Routiers” or “International Road Transports. TIR-owka then is a lady that works in a service industry, that stands in a forrest, on the side of the highway, usually dressed in a very revealing and easy to spot from the distance neon clothing ready to help the big truck drivers relax for […]
We went to explore the house where Copernicus was born, where he lived, studied and in the end turned the world of astronomy on its head. His house was comprised of two buildings. Even by modern standards this was a huge house. It is also worth noting that Copernicus was a distinguished guest at the […]
Since we are not in a great rush today to get to our destination, we are taking a few stops on the way to explore some things worth seeing. First on the list today is Torun, a city where Copernicus was born. A leisurely stroll through the old town, and around the old Teutonic ruins, […]
Meanwhile somewhere in Poland, on the side of the road is this guy with a wide array of forest goods for sale – all nicely displayed on the hood of his car. I think it is time to give our Alfa some personallity. We are going for that off road rugged country style look. It […]
After a long drive we stopped for the night at this little place. What can be said about it – it was clean, cheap and very pleasant. I think the rooms were €30.00 per night and the breakfast was about €2.50 each. We promptly ordered 5 breakfasts for the 4 of us in the […]
This then is the official European Vacation Wala Family Chariot. It is a bit shorter and less powerful than the Volvo we have been driving but I think we are going to like it very much. It is an Alfa Romeo 159 Stoprtwagon Ti Turismo. It’s black and it ‘s pretty, and it converts diesel […]
Since we are not in a great rush today to get anywhere in particular today, we made a quick stop in Gniezno as we were driving by. This then, according to legend is the birth city of Poland – officially in 966. It is quite beautiful here.
Any guesses on our new ride?
Obviously we are not very with it when it comes to train travel. First we almost missed our first stop where we were supposed to get off and switch trains. We pulled up to the platform and suddenly we realized that we are not packed. Anna and Boris run off while I was waiting for […]
We are traveling in style First Class on the bullet train with coffee service to boot. Life is good and this journey should be nice, pleasant and short with service like this.
We are setting off to Nordhausen to pick up our car. We are taking a train there and once we pick up the car we are setting off on a bit of a holiday/business adventure. Essentially we are pushing more paper into the bureaucratic back hole.
I cannot tell you all how excited we are to be seeing our good friends Henrik et al next week. We haven’t seen them in … well …. about a year I guess but we have so many years to make up for at this point! All I have to tell you is get ready […]
It’s official. We are finally going to go and pick up our car. We booked the train to Nordhausen for this coming Thursday. We are taking the ICE train which is the German equivalent of the bullet train. We are looking forward this experience. After all, its been at least 15 years since I took […]
After the Kellerfest, we were invited for an espresso and a drink over to Volker’s brother’s house. We found out that the main portion of the estate was built in the late 1700s. It consisted of a large winter mansion, smaller guest house and a tower. There were supposed to be 4 of these towers […]
The english equivalent of a bush party. Actually what it really is – is a cellar party for local breweries that are organized on the outskirts of a village with lots of beer and good food. All food is made at home by families who run the show, the picnic is set up and if […]
This is the first time we saw an accident on autobahn. It looked alike a 3 car accident with a big van overturned and laying on its side. After that, miles and miles of traffic. \
On the way to Harztor we passed through the largest village in the region. Nordhausen has a population of about 44,000 and was 75% destroyed during the bombing raids during WW II. This little town is very charming and well preserved. It has been rebuilt and renovated and it certainly worth coming back to for […]
We are back in the former DDR to a town of Harztor – looking at a car which we think has a great potential. This was a great drive of about 300 km each way. If a person wanted to do a castle tour taking A73 north from Nuremberg this would be a good start. Let’s […]
The Delta Machine – Köln Thu, 11/21/13, 8:00 PM LANXESS arena Willy-Brandt-Platz, 50679 Köln We are going to be there!!
We are back at the Polish Embassy in Munich trying to push some papers through. IT hasn’t all gone according to plan, in fact, nothing so far has, but at least we did managed to push some papers through and for the rest there is hope on the horizon. We know for a fact, we […]
There are no other ways of describing this sighting. The original Trabant 601 DeLuxe Limousine – all in one piece. The best thing about this car was the old country sticker on the back window which read DDR with both the first D and the R faded out. This is the car that outlasted the country […]
On the outskirts of Nuremberg there is a huge forest with an old canal that was built in the 18th century. Since it wasn’t blistering hot outside we went out for an afternoon stroll in the park.
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