Tag Archives: Poland
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Gdansk Kamienice

For the first time we got to climb the old City Hall Tower – as it is only open during the spring and summer. Needless to say the views are equally as spectacular as they are from the main church tower next door but then again the climb is a lot easier too for the […]

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Uphagen’s House

The Uphagen house is one of only a few 18th century merchant town houses in Europe that is open to visitors. The Uphagen house was purchased in 1775 by Johann Uphagen, a merchant, historian, art collector and city councillor. He remodelled it to suit the needs of a wealthy 18th century merchant. After Uphagen’s death […]

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St. Joseph’s Church

The church was built between 1905 and 1909, and designed by Jan Sas Zubrzycki in the Gothic Revival style. It is the largest church in the area. The interior is shaped in the likeness of a Gothic cathedral in the so-called Gothic Vistula style. It is filled with numerous altars, benches and other items made […]

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Pomnik wyrwanych serc

This monument was erected in 1964 to honour those who were murdered in the adjacent concentration camp between 1943-1945 in Płaszowie.  Actually the monument is in place where routine massive executions took place before most of the people were shipped to Auschwitz.  There was a stone quarry near by where most of the prisoners slaved […]

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Wieliczka Salt Mine

Wieliczka Salt Mine has been around for about 7 centuries but it was originally explored from Neolithic times . Wieliczka salt mine, excavated in the 13th century, produced table salt continuously until 2007, as one of the world’s oldest operating salt mines and now a museum and a UNESCO site.  There are some 287 km […]

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Amber Museum

Gdansk certainly deserves to be called the World Amber Capital or so the local sentiment claims.  This museum is brand new, it opened last year and it houses some amazing pieces of art and history.  It also houses the larges amber in the world weighing in at 68.2kg.  Every colour and every shade of amber […]

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National Museum in Gdansk

This museum is located in the old late-Gothic Franciscan monastery, which has been used to house exhibits since the end of the 19th century. The museum used to hold  a sizeable collection of historical works of art. In 1884. The core of the Museum’s collection constitutes the collection of Jacob Kabrun, which includes several thousand […]

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Oliwa Cathedral

The archcathedral in Oliwa is a three-nave basilica with a transept and a multisided closed presbytery, finished with an ambulatory. The façade is flanked by two slender towers, 46-metres tall each with sharply-edged helmets. It is enlivened by a Baroque portal from 1688, as well as three windows of different sizes and three cartouches. The […]

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Park in Oliwa

Today we are doing something more productive.  Right after we finished the morning coffee and other drinks we set off to Oliwa, a small suburb of Gdansk that’s  famous for its parks, gardens and the large cathedral with a huge organ.  Did I mention cakes, lots of amazing cakes to eat too.  

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National Independence Day

National Independence Day  is a national day in Poland celebrated on 11 November to commemorate the anniversary of the restoration of Poland’s sovereignty as the Second Polish Republic in 1918 from the German, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires. Following the partitions in the late 18th century, Poland ceased to exist for 123 years until the end […]

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European Solidarity Centre

The European Solidarity Centre is a museum and library in Gdańsk, Poland, devoted to the history of Solidarity, the Polish trade union and civil resistance movement, and other opposition movements of Communist Eastern Europe.  It resembles a hull of the ship both inside and outside.  It is done exceptionally well with lot of amazing exhibits. […]

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Westerplatte

A place that is near and dear to every Polish soul.  A place where the WWII started, a place where the first resistance started and a place that gave every person a bit of hope.  We got off the boat that took us there and decided to go for a nice walk through the park […]

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Sunny Winter Day

Last night it snowed, big heavy flakes falling so slow it all seemed like it was in slow motion.  The morning we woke up to a beautiful and sunny day, a bit windy but no trace of snow and blue sky.  Here it is then, the best part of Gdansk seen from the islands in […]

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Gdańsk By Night

There is no shortage of things to do and see in this city.  Even though the old town is not massively  huge there seems to be a million different ways to get home and just as many restaurants and bars to try on the way there. We really are spoiled for choice.  

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It’s Sunny!

According to the weather forecast it was supposed to be cloudy with a chance of light snow so we abandoned the idea of going to Sopot and going to the beach!  Instead we decided to do some tourist things around Gdansk and a bit of shopping as well.

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Back in Gdansk

This really is a last minute trip – a quick getaway to relax before the holidays.  November in Gdansk is cool and grey but the atmosphere is amazing, the food, so far, has been phenomenal and every time we take a turn onto a new street there is a new restaurant or a bar or […]

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St. Alexander’s Church

Getting out of the house for a walk is the only remedy for not just sitting and eating and eating and eating.  We got out for another afternoon walk to work up an appetite and to explore more of Warsaw.    On the Three Crosses Square surrounded by  Hugo Boss, Burberry, Church’s, Ermenegildo Zegna, Max Mara, Coccinelle, W. Kruk, JM Weston, […]

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Warsaw Uprising Museum

The Warsaw Uprising Museum is located in the Wola district of  Warsaw dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The museum opened on July 31, 2004, marking the 60th anniversary of the Uprising. The museum exhibits are very modern but the layout of the museum is reminiscent of an old city streets which were boomed and destroyed during the war. This is […]

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We have arrived

Despite our prefuse protests, we are 7 months in and in Poland for the 3rd time.  However, having said that, this is the first time we are here for holidays.  No passports, no paper work, no government offices to visit.  We did an afternoon run leaving Nuremberg at 1:30pm and arrived in Warsaw at 8:40pm […]

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Citizen P

Today I finally got an update on the status of my Polish citizenship confirmation. It appears that the Polish bureaucracy is finally starting to crack and give in. Officially then, Poland has confirmed that I am and always have been a Polish citizen. Next step is to wait for the documents to arrive and head […]

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Antler TIme

We have assembled the house and actually moved some furniture around today to get that new minimalistic look we are hoping to achieve here. Basically no one is carrying any more boxes upstairs and no one is interested in assembling anything anymore. We are in a travel mood. After 10 days of hard graft, it […]

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Thank you

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 […]

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Quintessentially Polish

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 […]

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Malbork Castle

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 […]

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Kasia’s Birthday

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 […]

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Sopot

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 […]

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Going Back

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 […]

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TIR-owka

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 […]

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Copernicus

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 […]

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Torun

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, […]

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