Friday, April 10, 2009

Poland

We’ve just come back – Mr Life, Daughter 2 and I - from five days in Poland. We stayed in Krakow - above, you see the city's Wawel Castle with the Cathedral - and had one day trip to Zakapone, in the Tatra Mountains - which you see below.

It was very interesting indeed and I would definitely recommend going there. Some of the architecture in Krakow is stunning and the Poles are all very friendly and – fortunately for us – speak pretty good English.

However, language isn’t a simple thing. Various sayings of our Zakapone tour guide will stay with us; the best of her invented words was “architectonical”. And a local restaurant had a sign outside with an English version of – we assume – a Polish proverb: “If the pot fits - eat it”. This may have lost a little in translation.

We had a lovely time but it’s always nice to come home. As we traipsed through Edinburgh airport today on our way to collect our baggage, Mr Life glanced through a glass wall at a packed departure lounge and said, “What a shame for these people – they’ve got their holidays to come.” He was joking. More or less.

Daughter 1 and Son-in-Law have kindly been looking after the cats, who seemed unperturbed to see us back. We’d been looking forward to seeing them, though. Our Polish apartment, above, seemed unfurnished without little furry friends. (It’s also good to see our human loved ones.)
More later, but now I must go and find what you’ve all been up to.


13 comments:

  1. Oh, how wonderful!


    It looks a beautiful place. One of my friends travels there very often, he loves it. Your apartment looks very sweet.
    And spectacular snowy peaks as well?

    I hope you have a lovely easter. I am sure your daffodils must be looking very easterish right now...and all your lovely flowers. Enjoy yourself back in your garden.

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  2. How nice to hear about Poland - as youll see we are going to do a tour of Central Europe later this year with a couple of nights in Krakow and a couple in Warsaw. It looks beautiful. Might even manage a catch up with you this visit. Z xx

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  3. So nice to have you back Isobelle! I was wondering where you'd gone. And I'm delighted that, once agan, the 'plane miraculously stayed in the air and bore you there and back safely. Hats off to your bravery!

    I mailed back, by the way :)

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  5. You lucky Life family! I would love to visit Europe.

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  6. I am Glad you Had a Good Holiday. Have A happy Easter.
    Hugs Mary.

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  8. Wow. I will be eagerly awaiting the next installment.

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  9. I have been missing your blog, but now that I find out you have been in Poland, all has become clear. I have a very dear Polish friend, so feel interested in the country, and its history. But I cannot get my mind around the spelling and pronunciation of the Polish language.

    Happy Easter to all of you.

    Pam??

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  10. We've just come back from our holiday too. Ours was Sydney, not nearly so glamorous. It sounds like you had a lovely time.

    Love the Polish proverb... I'll try saying it in class and see what the kids say!

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  11. It's good to see that you are promoting Krakow and Zakopane. I am privileged in having Polish friends, and have been able to see a bit behind the scenes of this fascinating place. Poland has the most profound history and culture - and tragedy, too.

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  12. My parents went to Poland (to pretty much the same places, I think) and absolutely loved it too. They are planning to go back some time soon. My favourite mangled tour guide English was a lovely gentleman in Lubeck, northern Germany many years ago, who explained to us that during the war the old town had been "devarsted" during the bombing. I still use that word, it's so evocative.

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  13. What a lovely picture! [first one.] Did you buy any of that lovely blue and white Polish pottery? As great as it is to go, it's even nicer to come home.......What's that? Eh? Oh, just my tongue tucked firmly into my cheek into my cheek. La,la,la,la,la,la,la.....

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