European Adventures

In April, Brian and I met up with our best friends, Magda and Jeremy, for some European adventures.  Brian and Jeremy, and our other friend, Brett, headed to Tilburg, Netherlands for a metal music festival called Roadburn, and taking advantage of this opportunity, Magda and I went to Poland to visit Magda's Babcia (grandmother).  A radtastic time was had by all.  Since I wasn't in Tilburg, (or Eindhoven, where the boys were based), I didn't get to experience Roadburn first hand. Thus, you are stuck with only my half of the adventure :).

As a result of awesomeness of modern travel, we all met up at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.  Magda and Jeremy had a long flight from Calgary, so they arrived a few days early to sleep off the jet lag, and as a result we were all raring to giver once we found each other.

Ain't we cute?

From Amsterdam, Magda and I traveled to Warsaw, Poland, and I must say, having a Polish-speaking bestie is pretty fabulous :).  Many people in Poland spoke little English, if at all, so she was definitely a saving grace for me.  Thank you for ordering all my food, Magda!! :D

Warsaw, as I learned, was pretty much flattened by WWII both structurally and economically, and the communism vibe is still pretty apparent.  The architecture of most of the city is bleak and without pizazz, and many areas appear to be in some state of disarray. That's not to say that Warsaw isn't a place worth visiting, but there are half finished buildings Magda pointed out to me that have been half finished since the 1950s.  Also, there are buildings that were constructed on a make-do basis, and without any real planning process, so they look like a series of additions made from whatever materials were available at the time.  Sometimes I couldn't tell if an apartment was thriving or a squat of some kind.  At the same time though Warsaw is in the middle of a full-scale, and seemingly city-wide public transit development that looks to be a means of expanding and building commercial and economic development in the core, which is a shiny, sky scrapered downtown.  It's a city of many contrasts, with some citizens hitting the streets dressed to the nines, and others looking quite the opposite.  I really enjoyed my short time in Warsaw because it is so different from any other place I've visited, and it is clearly still in a state of transition.

The *Joseph Stalin* Palace of Culture and Science (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Culture_and_Science,_Warsaw).  Key landmark when trying to find your way around without being able to understand the road markings :).

Sweet chandelier at The Kebab King, a donair restaurant.

That's right.  When in Poland, get donair for dinner.

Courtyard view from our hostel. It's a very popular place for moms with toddlers and people walking their dogs.  In fact, there are little parks like this all over the place, which is great.  Many of them have neato monuments and statues in them, but I couldn't read the inscriptions to get a gist of what was being remembered most of the time.

Chopin must have lived or studied here.  We also found an office once occupied by Marie Curie that had been turned into a museum.  Totally cool.  Or rad, if you're into radioactivity puns...

BFF with a suitably Magdalena-type car.

The older part of Warsaw was destroyed in the war, so they rebuilt it as it would have looked before the destruction.

Look, Edmonton!  Train on the roadway and no one's getting hit!  No safety arms, no bells, no flashing lights!  Impossibru!!!

Magda said that she remembered these buildings as a child as "milk carton houses".  Good analogy methinks.

The main square in the old quarter.  They were just in the process of setting up for a film festival as well as all of the outdoor restaurant spaces.

Perogy-specific restaurant!!!!  Fantabulous for prairie Canadians :).

Heading toward the castle wall.  In the little nooks artisans were selling their wares.

No idea what's going on here, but I suspect this wall/castle had been around since 1656...

Despite the milk carton-esque architecture, there is also a love of round buildings and edifices.

I love how colourful and happy this place looks.

Aaaand, a trip to Poland wouldn't be complete without trying to understand the effect of WWII.  This is a demarcation of the location of a section of wall encompassing the Warsaw Jewish ghetto.

The lighter bit in the middle is the ghetto, with the remainder being Warsaw City.

An explanation of the ghetto and the wall, thankfully translated for the Polish-inept.

One of many memorials for Jews slain during WWII.  The plaque indicates that on a certain date "Hitler's men murdered" a number of Jewish residents of the city at that location.  These memorials are clearly visited often by those directly affected.

From Warsaw, Magda and I trained it to Krakow!  This is the river by Magda's babcia's apartment :).

Gorgeous churchy building.  The different styles of brick are so neat.

There were oodles of horses and carriages in which to tour the City.  I kind of took pictures of all of them... :).

Supercute couple playing traditional Polish muzak.

This is the centre of a huge shopping/restaurant square, and I believe this is a church.  The middle of the building is a makers' market full of woodwork, jewellery, handmade toys and leather goods.  It's A-MAZ-ING.

Yay!  Been part of the EU for 8 years :D.

It was a beautiful day, which of course required hand-squeezed specialty lemonade.

Cool floating lady.

So interesting.  Like right out of a fairytale.

Yep, I'm leaning on some ran do's car.  But it's a Polski Fiat.  How can you not love something this cute called a Polski Fiat????

Beautiful church down the street from Babcia's house.

Outside of Krakow is this UNESCO world heritage site - a salt mine!

Unbelievably, people started mining salt here in the 1200s...
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wieliczka_Salt_Mine)

Even the chandeliers and light fixtures are made of salt.

Some of the miners were so talented that in addition to their day job, they also carved figures and scenes of religious and historical significance.  Unreal.

Since the miners spent so much time underground, and due to the high incidence of fatal accidents, they built several chapels within the mine for worship and prayer.  This is the largest and most intricate, not to mention hundreds and hundreds of feet below ground.  Amazing.

Mmmm, salt chandelier looks like a jellyfish.

Sadly, we had to leave Poland and head back to the Netherlands to meet up with the metal heads.  Magda and I flew back to Amsterdam, and bussed our way for an overnight stay in Haarlem.

Haarlem!  This photo does not do this quaint place justice.  People cycling everywhere, all the lovely buildings with different facades.  Absolutely lovely.

Seriously, it doesn't look real, does it?

Beautiful church just outside the hostel.

Heiney Hotel!

After an all too short stop in Haarlem, it was time to go round up the boys and head in our different directions.  Magda and Jeremy were leaving that afternoon to go on a month-long tour of Japan and South Korea, and we came back to Edinburgh.  It was a WONDERFUL trip.  If you're thinking of taking a trip to Poland, do it!  It's such an interesting and diverse place, and mostly untouched by tourism.  Also, the Netherlands is gorgeous.  Green, clean, organized.  Magnifique.  Can't wait to go back!

M