Food and Travel Overseas [2] 2008 (Poland)

Table of Contents

Poland

POLAND

♥ Poznan (Sep 2008) 

a) One of my favourite cities because of the opportunity to roam freely around the street at night to discover that Poland has undoubtedly the most good looking people around in Europe that I have seen. The Polish women are small size but voluptuous. I felt like emigrating to Poland to be surrounded by all the good lookers.

The simplicity of the town, lightly dimmed released a very soothing and tranquil feel from the heart. I felt safe walking on the street unlike Budapest, Hungary which seemed more dangerous with many people holding liquor bottles in their hands in the evening.

b) Despite the ‘melamine scare’ during the year 2008 which could cause kidney failure, I still bought my favourite chocolates, Snickers, in Poland. They sold a variety over there which I had not tried before. It cost 5.47 zloty which was equivalent to S$ 2.10. Dirt cheap for 3 bars of Snickers.

♥ Wieliczka (Sep 2008) 

Wieliczka Salt Mine – Gives new meaning to the phrase, “Back to the Salt Mine”…and “You are the salt of the earth.”

Wieliczka is a town in southern Poland in the Kraków metropolitan area. It is of the world’s oldest operating salt mines in operation since prehistoric times. Deep underground in Poland lies something remarkable but little known outside Eastern Europe.

An astounded place of interest not to be missed. For centuries, miners have extracted salt there, but left behind things quite startling and unique. I even took some salt and place inside my mouth just to try.

c) Rules for Vistors: “Visitors enter the mine descending a 380-step staircase to Level 1 (64 metres below ground level). The return to the surface is by lift up, from Level 3 (135 metres below ground level).”

d) This place has tested my powerful semi-pro camera. Inside the salt mine, darkness conquered and normal camera was not able to capture any images as tested by most of my disappointing travel mates who could not get any photo shot to appear on their camera inside salt mines.

I had a good camera but poor knowledge about the usage because it did not belong to me. I had to twist and turn the button to try out different settings in order to capture one decent shot. One scenery can come out in different colors with different photography settings.

What amazed me was that the place was so dark, you would not see the original colors of any statuettes until i had captured a shot successfully, then the original colors of the statuettes appeared inside the photo.

e) In once instance, one could not even see a dinosaur right in your eyes in utmost darkness. Until a picture was taken randomly to test out my camera in the start, I was astonished to see the cute little weirdo inside the photograph. These were hidden gems not visible in the dark. What a shame!

f) In the lift area, a normal camera setting vs a special camera setting. Most camera would have taken photographs that looked like pitch dark.

g) With a special camera adjustment, the same scene shot has increased its visibility.

h) The gate outside the lift which is very old fashion that you cannot see in Singapore. Outside the lift.

i) I was always the last one left behind by the group in this tour (or rather for most city tours) as I was always busy testing my camera in this challenging environment. Other photo shots taken during the trip.

j) Replica revolver at Euro 8,235 = SGD 17,21, Euro 8,353 = SGD 17,45 and Euro 7,647 = SGD 15,98 respectively. Any taker?

k) Wieliczka Salt Mine building and the garden at the front of the building.

l) This was a cute bread that looked like a kettle without a handle… It contained very concentrated mushroom soup and was the tastiest mushroom soup I had ever eaten. A lot of nice mushroom soup I had tasted before were not concentrated enough until I drank my first mushroom soup this round in Europe.

I tried my best to finish up the whole bread but it was just impossible… I found it a waste to throw away the cute looking bread. Till today, it was the most creative mushroom soup that I have ever seen.

The interior of the restaurant had this ancient-looking woody ambience. Very European style and very beautiful. The waitresses and the performers were dressed in traditional Polish clothing. Everything created a lasting impression because I was totally bowled over by the intricacy of the overall presentation.

m) Don’t belittle this shot. I need to take 10 times in different camera settings in order to capture an extreme clear close up view of the rose and its dew. The dews were so fresh on the flower that I could almost lick it. Flowers were outside the restaurant.

♥ Warsaw (Sep 2008) 

n) Warsaw is the capital and largest city in Poland. In the morning, the trams were packed with people going to work. I always complained that Singapore has a lot of people on the train during peak hours. It seemed like all big cities are the same.

o) The Old Town of Warsaw was magnificent, romantic and historical. We were told that if you can afford to stay in the houses inside Warsaw city centre, you must be quite rich. It was described that the price was equivalent to a house in the Orchard area.

p) Kinky name of a pub. I wouldn’t want to go into this pub. Who knows what kinds of patrons are inside.

q) The horse had a nice starry coat of fur.

r) We stayed at the Novotel hotel in Warsaw. The interior of this hotel was rather posh.

♥ Kraków (Sep 2008) 

Kraków is the second or third largest city in Poland after Warsaw according to various statistic reports. It is also one of the oldest and traditionally being one of the leading centres for Polish scientific, cultural and artistic life.

s) Trams are essentially the main modes of transport in Poland. Because the conventional cabled tramway system is still in use, it enhances the ancient value of the cities which was what I appreciate seeing.

t) The gold structure outside Wawel Castle was made of real gold. The green scenery surrounding the castle had a soothing effect. I wish to be like the 2 girls having the time there to relax and talk.

u) Jagiellonian University founded in 1364 is the oldest university in Poland and the second oldest university in Central Europe after Charles University in Prague. It is also another popular place to visit for tourism.

v) Florian gate is the entrance gate to Kraków Old Town. It was built in the 14th century as part of the city’s fortification against the Turkish attack. It is one of the focus spots. St. Mary Basilica, adjacent to the Main Square.

w) The Main Square is also the name for Kraków Old Town and the centre is called the Cloth Hall. Few photos were taken here. This was also another Old Town which I liked very much apart from the Old Town in Warsaw. There were a lot of musical street performances and a lot of people walking on the street.

x) Horse carriages as one mode of transport is commonly seen on the street and not just in tourists’ attractions.

♥ Oswiecim (Sep 2008) 

y) Oswiecim is where the famous Auschwitz Concentration Camp is located. The results of ambitious Hitler and the inhumanity of his Nazi Army towards the non-Germanic Race and his hatred towards the Jews. This camp has murdered at least 1.1 million people in World War II in which the majority are Jews and Polish. Unfortunately photo taking are not allowed inside the building.

Otherwise, how would you feel to see tonnes and tonnes of blond ladies hair, children’s clothe, piling suitcases of the dead, few hundred cans of Zkylon B that were used to exterminate the Jews and minorities in the Gas Chambers. Furnaces were built just to burn the corpses amounting to 7,000 corpses per day. Their ashes were thrown into the Vistula River.

z) Another beautiful restaurant that I went to but I can’t remember the food that I had eaten. Probably fish and chips in this restaurant but that wasn’t fantastic at all I must say. It was tasteless, very dry due to overcooking and tasted like dried-up chicken. At that moment of eating, I thought Singapore has better fish and chips than this restaurant.

An EXCELLENT 15 minutes documentary of The Final Solution – Auschwitz Concentration Camp by Steven Spielberg not to be missed. The documentary about World War II being triggered when Poland was invaded and how the Germans tortured and killed the prisoners which were mostly Jews… As ever, always a heart-wrenching sentiment after watching…:(

Next Page

    • ✈ Banska (Slovakia)
    • ✈ Budapest (Hungary)
    • ✈ Vienna (Austria)

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