Poland Adventure

 

After beautiful Prague and our Viking Elegant Elbe trip it was time to move on to our Viking extension visit to Poland.  

We had a great coach ride through the Polish countryside on the way to Krakow, stopping at a little non touristy town on the way for lunch.

Not sure of what to order, we opted for the one thing we recognized on the menu - Pizza!

A few minutes later two bowls of borscht were placed in front of us - and we tried to explain we did not order it.  The server did not understand - until a woman behind us ( this was a place were lots of local people ate lunch ) tapped me on the shoulder and told us that the soup was included with every meal.

It was delicious!

Later that day we arrived in Krakow - a beautiful city.

A fabulous hotel right near the river and castle area...then our Viking Guide took us on an orientation walk to the main square and how to navigate back to our hotel.

Lot of beautiful restaurants and activity on the square - we said we did not want pierogi ( a Polish stuffed dumpling) for dinner because we knew we would be having them on a food tour the next day... 

After we ordered ravioli we realized we were really having Italian pierogi!

The next morning we headed out for a tour of Krakow...

the square where Jews were deported during WWII - this was a scene in Schindler's List which was filmed here...the empty chairs symbolize the thousands who were gathered there.

Site of a memorial and a nearby pharmacy that tried to help the people who were in the ghetto.

Then up castle hill...

Some Polish royalty on hand...

then back to the main square and the beautiful cathedral - 

where we got to hear the "Trumpeter of Krakow" - a tradition of the playing of a Polish tune that warned the residents of invasion many years ago.  Now, firefighters take shifts and play this tune to all four sides of the tower and do it 24 hours a day. 

The "Trumpeter of Kraków" legend, popular in Poland, tells of a trumpeter in the 13th century who alerted the city to an approaching Mongol invasion by playing the Hejnał (St. Mary's Dawn hymn). He was fatally struck by an arrow before completing the melody, and the Hejnał has been played hourly in Kraków ever since, ending abruptly at the same point the trumpeter was silenced. 

It was very moving...and at the end, the trumpeter waves to the crowd from the little window!

That afternoon we took a walking food tour of Krakow -

first stop - Pierogi!

We enjoyed potato/cheese, pork, and new to us - apple !

Then walked to an underground cabaret to sample local beers and the traditional street food -

Obwarzanek is a type of bagel, also known as a pretzel. It has a chewy texture and is usually sprinkled with poppy seeds or sesame seeds. It is believed that this braided pretzel originated centuries ago in Kazimierz, Krakow’s Jewish Quarter. You are likely to find Obwarzanki easily enough all around the city.

My favorite beer had an orange flavor to it!

Then onto a restaurant called The Dragon - in honor of the dragon that in legend lived in a cave underneath the castle...

and the food was amazing!

Three different kinds of soup...

Halupki - stuffed cabbage

Platzki - potato pancakes..

and kielbasa, too!

We were stuffed...but the walk continued down to the Vistula River where were boarded a boat and enjoyed some dessert.

And VODKA!

Na Zdrowie!

We were so full...so after a quick nap we then headed out that evening to see the castle dragon -

he breathes fire every so many seconds!

And headed back to hear the trumpeter once more...as they play every hour around the clock.

And explored a Polish supermarket to find Linden Tree Tee...which one of our guides told us was good for colds.  We picked up a cough and thought this would be a nice way to end the evening.

We left the next morning for Auschwitz...a site I have wanted to visit since I learned about the Holocaust in 9th grade. That will be the next post on Our New Vista.  Thanks for coming along on our Polish Adventure.  Have you visited Poland ?  What were your favorite cities or foods?  Please leave a comment below - I love hearing from you.

Until then, have a great week and thank you for stopping by Our New Vista!

Librarian Brunch

 

Librarian Brunch

April is the month to celebrate libraries, and last week was National Library Week - so I thought it would be fun to host the retired school librarians that I had the pleasure of working with for a Library Brunch.  And, since we are close to Easter I decided to mix the two themes together - and it was such fun!

There are six retired school librarians in the group - and only one could not make it.  Anybody else noticing how difficult it is to plan an event or get together with friends?  Everyone is SO busy - but people moved schedules around and we were glad to get together and catch up on each other's lives.

We started with mimosas and sparkling water!

John left us to catch up...and coincidentally returned my library books and then went bowling at the Clubhouse.

I used my white wedding china - vintage 1977 - with silver chargers.  Water glasses were a wedding gift engraved with J and A

Spring color napkins from Kohls several years ago, and the bunny napkin rings are new - found them the day before the brunch on sale and had to have them!

Simple centerpiece with silk tulips in terracotta post...

Love the little bunnies!

I did not take a photo of the brunch food...my usual overnight French Toast, quiche from Costco, fruit salad, bacon and sausage...and I set up this little dessert section for after our meal to enjoy with coffee...

Apricot White Chocolate scones - you can find the recipe here - 

Scones

and bought the egg shaped cookies from Wegmans.  They were so good.  Always like to to have seasonal colored M&Ms, too.

A coffee and tea set up over in the corner of the kitchen...hot coffee ready to go!

Since it was National Library Week I made some "take home and read" favors...Easter treat bags, scones, some tea, and bookmarks with great sayings on I purchased from Amazon. 

 You can find them here - 

Bookmarks

I tied the bookmarks with the cute little book on the outside of the bags with yellow ribbon...

put them in a basket...

and had them by the front door to give as everyone left.

It was a great day!  

Now looking ahead to Easter...thinking I will take all my Easter decorations down and put them away now - because later this week we have our Annual Cleaning.  This is a great perk of living here in Willow Valley.  Once a year a team of workers come and clean our apartment top to bottom...everything - even our screen patio.  We move everything off of the tables and counter top so that the cleaning can be complete.  First year we had this done we thought "how good can it be...we clean", but WOW - it is a thorough cleaning and so nice that our date falls in the Spring for Spring cleaning! So, I will pack up Easter and get out some early summer/May things our when the cleaning is completed.

Are you hosting Easter this year ?  We are invited to our next door neighbor for Easter dinner.  I am going to make a recipe for dessert that I have not made in years!  Stay tuned...I will post about it soon.  And I will be back to finish up our Viking adventure...Poland!

Please leave a comment below and let me know what you are making/taking/doing for Easter.

Wishing everyone a Happy Passover and Blessed Easter!

Thanks for stopping by Our New Vista!

 

Prague !

We loved Berlin and our wonderful cruise with Viking on the Elbe - but it was time to leave the river behind and start the Viking Extension to Prague and Poland.  We had a wonderful guide from Viking with us the entire time - full of information about all the places we would visit.

We left the ship and traveled by bus to Prague, with a stop for lunch in a little non touristy town somewhere in the Czech Republic.  Had some issues as we wandered on our own for a bit and had lunch.  We ordered a pizza - and all of a sudden we were brought two bowls of borscht.  We tried to say we did not order soup...but the waiter did not understand.  Then - as this seemed to be a popular lunch spot with locals - a woman behind tapped me on the shoulder and told us that borscht comes with every meal!  It was delicious!

We had a great tour with a local guide of the castle hill, the castle, and cathedral.

Then a walk around old town Prague...

the amazing astronomical clock in the square...

beautiful churches...and we learned that the towers are not the same size...one is a little larger. Male and female for Adam and Eve.

Stop for lunch and some good Czech beer...I am not much of a beer drinker, but the beer there was great!

We then walked back to our hotel  - easy walking distance from the historical center - and an art deco hotel with lots of history.

All of the hotels we stayed in were great - this was a very large and comfortable room.

Great bathroom - 

with a fabulous tub that was a little tricky to get into - very high!

After a quick break we headed back out to enjoy beautiful Prague...

We felt very safe walking around the city

and enjoyed a great dinner.

The next day we had free - no scheduled tours.  We had two things we wanted to see...the church where the Anthropoid paratroopers hid after assassinating the Nazi "Butcher of Prague" Reinhard Heydrich.  We saw the movie about this operation a few years ago and wanted to see the actual site.  The Viking representative in the hotel - another reason we like Viking, there is always a help desk to answer questions - told us the trams in Prague were free for people over 65 and we could get there easily...so we headed off with his directions and boarded a tram!

With our map in John's had we headed out...and found the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius. First we visited the church, then entered the crypt where the paratroopers were hidden.  There was an amazing museum there - great information, a 25 minute movie, and it was very moving.

Bullet holes remain....

All of the paratroopers perished...either killed in a gun battle in the choir loft, or killing themselves in the crypt as it was being flooded by the Nazis. 

The priest who helped them was then killed by the Nazis, as well as the underground members and the family that hid them before the attack.

A moving memorial to honor them all.

If you want to learn more about Anthropoid you can watch the movie

or read about all that happened here -

Anthropoid

After that very moving morning we took another tram to find 

The Infant of Prague.  

Are you familiar with the Infant of Prague ?

It is a statue of the child Jesus that was brought to Prague from Spain in the middle ages and has a rich history.  After spending twelve years in Catholic School this was on my list of things to see -

The statue is housed in a beautiful church

There is a tradition of donating robes to dress the Infant...

so we toured the museum to see all the robes that were offered over the years.

You can read about the Infant of Prague here - 

The Infant of Prague

After all that history we needed lunch and a treat - 

After a quick sandwich we stopped for a traditional Prague treat -

A kind of cake like cone is put over a gas fire...

It slowly gets to be golden brown...

The cone is then filled with either whipped cream or ice cream like custard...

We chose caramel apple...there were small pieces of apple in the middle of the cone...

Super yummy !

After that it was a nice, slow walk back to our hotel...

across the Charles Bridge...

A wonderful ending to our day out in Prague.  What a beautiful city - so easy to get around and so many beautiful sites.

Sorry to leave Prague so soon...but tomorrow we are off to Poland.

Come back to share our Polish adventure soon.

Next week is National Library Week - as a retired librarian I am a huge supporter of libraries.  Will be hosting a "Retired School Librarian Brunch" here for the friends that I worked with.

So...have you been to Prague ?  What did you love about it?

Do you use your local library ?  What is your favorite thing about your library ?  Stop in during National Library Week and - excuse the pun - check out all that libraries have to offer.

Thanks for stopping by Our New Vista today - please leave a comment below.  I really enjoying hearing from you and connecting with so many of you!

Take care and enjoy the Spring weather and flowers!