Yikes on bikes I am not very consistent am I???
SIDE NOTE!!! Ian and I were in Denmark for 3 days and didn’t want to do a blog post but we went swimming and oh my THERE WERE LIL JELLYFISHES in the water. Looking magical. I got freaked, exited the water, googled them and realized they were harmless so all was good. But was definitely a shock. A couple came to swim and I told them to warn them and they were not as excited as I was. Maybe should’ve let them discover it on their own. Oopsies. But i kept them distracted while they swam.
Anywho MADE IT TO POLAND!! First town we were in was Szczecin!! Just beyond the German border (I think?). We were staying in the Old Town centre which oh my… I am really loving the cobblestone squares of Europe. With the streets that you turn down and there’s rows of restaurants and just … feels like an adventure every time you turn a corner. Looove the the architecture. Frolicking on cobblestone, while dangerous, is very exciting. Highly recommend.
Our apartment was very cute, small but did the job. Modern and EVERYTHING WAS PINK. Miss you lil pink fridge. First night we got tasty tasty Asian food. Also it is very nice for Ian to be in the land where he can speak and understand. I am slowly trying to learn ahaha lots of different sounds!! And letter combos. J’s are Y’s, C’s are Ts, I’s are E’s, W’s are V’s, Y’s are I’s!!! So many mouth movements my body has never tried before.
We wanted to take it a bit slower now, relax and not rush as we were there for a week. It’s weird travelling y’all - balancing being a person, and seeing the sights and feeling a pressure to do things to “make the most of it”. But to be honest? My fave things to do are wondering around. Seeing where things lead. So trying to not feel bad about not doing it all.
We chilled, worked, explored a fun summer fair type thing (a smaller Ex for the Toronto peeps), ate yummy Schnitzel and roamed around. One day we went to this lovely park, found these wooden hammocks and read for awhile. Szczecin was cool bc there was this like long path with streets on either side through the city with restaurants, fountains, statutes, parks. Was great to just walk down that. ALSO!!! Breaking news Poland (and maybe Europe as a whole??) has very fun turrets.
After Szczecin, we hopped on a train to Olsztyn!!! To see Ians grandma who graciously hosted us for the week!! There definitely was a language barrier, and I’m grateful for Ians patience being the translator, but was lovely to meet and talk with her. Also speaking of lovely old stone cobblestone courtyards/squares, Olsztyn was the PLACE TO BE!!!! Every day Ian and I would go one two walks just around seeing the sights. One night we got a drink at a place with a saxophone player :) he was great and would put some boogie in his shoulders on some songs. Very fun. Also the town was bumping!! Most nights there were activities and concerts and we could hear it from the apartment.
One weird thing happened where a person gave us this flyer for this hip hop event in the square and according to Ian was VERY adamant we come!! Started at 9 or 10!! So we were hype!!! But we show up at 9 and …. Seemed everyone was packing up!! So sad we missed that. Hope the hip hopping was fun.
Ians Grandma made us delicious sweet pierogi with blueberries. I learned you eat it with cream and sugar and wow it was delightful. Reminds me of the pies my grandma makes. She also made delicious schnitzel!!! Very grateful and definitely ate a lot this week.
One of the days we ventured out for a beach day!!!!!! Very exciting the weather has been pretty sunny and hot. But surprise!! Shocking!! The water had bacteria so … the water wasn’t “open” for swimming :( there was a fountain that we splashed around in. But there were fun water activities and like an inflatable course in the water and climbing wall that looked fun… but alas luck was want in our favour. We did play frisbee, had fun lemonade, and read in the sun!! So still successful beach day.
On the last day we surprised Fela, a grandma type figure Ian was close with as a kid, and that really warmed my heart. We surprised her when she was out at coffee with Ians grandma and she was so happy to see him. We chatted for a couple hours and they got to catch up. Sweet stories of him as a kid. Very lovely to meet her and wish we saw her more!! Maybe when we come back…
Anywho we are now in Wrocław!! A bigger city it seems, more diverse which we are happy to see :) younger crowd, more tattoos and fun hair colours. let’s see what fun we get up to here!! We have a concert tomorrow, the Hu, a Mongolian throat singing rock band!!!!! So cool.
City square (also cobblestone with fun stores and restaurants all around. You look through a laneway and there’s a lil corner with a restaurant or a fun coffee truck at the end), has many performers, and GNOMES EVERYWHERE??? Not sure what is going on there but loving it. Will let you know when I find out!!
Currently: sitting in another Polish square with a water fountain and a saxophone player playing :)
Some images
