Day Trip to Łódź

Yesterday most of the group decided to make a trip to Łódź.  It's about 1 hour and 45 minutes away from Płock.  And for the first time, I didn't have to drive!  Sadly if I would've driven we probably would have gotten there faster, but oh well.  I enjoyed being a backseat driver.  We had a few small detours - like needed to stop and reprogram a GPS, taking the wrong turn, being routed to a grocery store instead of the city.


There was one instance where the driver of my car missed a left hand turn, and only a few minutes after pointed out that there was a girl on the street who was showing a lot of skin.  I found it amazing that he could see her and point her out, but he missed the left hand turn after I told him to turn left twice.  Men...


Łódź was known as the commercial and industrial capital of Eastern/Central Europe.  It is known for the textile factories.  Now there is a huge mall with a textile museum and a fully functional mall.  It was pretty neat.  There was a huge courtyard outside and it had fountains for kids to run through, sand volleyball courts, all sorts of statues, there was a concert.  

Entrance of Mall

We saw a Palace that is now a Museum:

Front of Poznanski Palace

Meagan in Courtyard of Palace

Courtyard of Palace

We also got to see a few other sites in town as we walked around.  It was a fairly large city.  In fact, it was the first city where I didn't see an Old Town.  I'm sure there is one, but we never walked through it (at least to my knowledge).

Happy Father's Day!

There are several reasons why I like Father's Day.  I mean it's in June and there's normally pretty good weather in June.  It's a Sunday - yay weekends!  Oh yeah and cause of my dad!

My family in Chicago a few years ago

Mom and Dad a few years ago at Christmas Eve

Gotta love a dad who dresses like this for Halloween

A Visitor Came to Town/Torun Poland Trip

So last week we had a manager come visit us at site.  In addition to him, we also had four new advisors show up.  Let's just say - I'm tired of socializing.  I'm not the biggest social butterfly to begin with, and this going out every night thing is wearing me out.  Don't get me wrong - I had fun.  But I need a break from drinking!

Sunset One Evening

The Whole Group Minus Me

Dinner

And within the same weekend the advisors and myself with to Torun, Poland.  It was not affected by World War II so much of the architecture is original.  A lot of the town is medieval.  Torun is also the birthplace of Copernicus, the astronomer.  I got to see the house he was born in, along with every attraction there might have been within the Old Town Area.  It was really nice to be able to go to another place with a group of people.  I think most of us had fun.  There were also several churches in town.  The picture below had to be the worst clock tower I have seen since I have been in Europe.  And go figure - it was the only church that wasn't Catholic...  :-)  All I'm gonna say is that Catholics know how to build a clock tower - other churches take note.

Lamest Clock Tower Ever

Croatia - Dubrovnik

Croatia - Dubrovnik
Originally uploaded by Sandro Mancuso

This is where I'm going in two weeks for my visa trip. Life is rough...

Horoscope

Today I read my horoscope and this is part of what it said - and it is sooooooo me - 


"Perhaps you have your guard up because you don't want to get hurt by thinking that there is something wonderful coming your way when really there is not. Always have faith that you deserve the best, and that the best is on its way to you."


So I'm going to try to follow it because I do deserve the best!

Krakow - Round 2

Before Salley left she really wanted to see Krakow and Auschwitz.  While we were down there we had the chance to visit the salt mines.  These mines are made up of 95% sodium chloride (NaCl).  There are small areas of pure sodium chloride, but they are few and far in between.  Our guide told us we could lick the floors, the walls, and ceilings - just not the sculptures.

The whole experience reminded me of caving in Mammoth Caves in Kentucky with Andrew and Swapnil - but way less exciting.

The salt mine is typically 14 deg C and the tour starts at 63 meters below the ground.  The end of the tour is about 164 meters below the ground if I remember correctly.  You have to walk down over 350 stairs and you get kind of dizzy.  Fortunately you get to ride the elevator up.  Unfortunately it is the scariest elevator ride of your life.  It shakes and it is a double decker elevator.  There is one "elevator" on top of another and they move together.

Mine Shaft

The mine is full of various chapels.  People can even get married in the largest chapel.  There is a full service restaurant that serves Polish food.  And there is a reception/ballroom as well.  All of the chapels are filled with salt sculptures.   The largest chapel has chandeliers that were made with wood and salt crystals.  They're gorgeous!

Road Trip to Prague

Because it was possibly Salley's last weekend in Poland, we decided it would be a fantastic idea to see Prague.  The trip, according to maps.google.com, was only supposed to take about 9 hours from Plock.  However, if you decide to listen to your GPS you may end up going in circles...

Our trip started well.  We got to take one of the toll roads, so the condition was great and the speed was really nice.  On the smaller country roads it is difficult to go faster than 100 km/hr because the conditions of most roads is not the greatest.  Sadly the trip got progressively worse.  It started to rain - no big deal.  Then it got foggy.  And when it got foggy we were off of the highways and onto the small country roads.  From that point on we ended up going in circles several times.  Sometimes the GPS thought there was a road, but there was not.

Eventually we made it - we got there around 1am.  The next day was packed with all sorts of tourist action.  I found a guide to Prague from the Marriot hotel we were staying at and decided to bring it along - best idea ever!!!  It had a map - thank goodness!!  And it gave good restaurant tips!

We saw all sorts of things.  We walked through Old Town Square, across the river, up to the castle, waited in three lines to get the audio tour information we wanted and headed out for our tour of the castle.  St. Vitus Cathedral was absolutely amazing!  Below are a few pictures I took while I was there.

Stairs in the King's Apartment

Small Chapel in St. Peter's Basillica

St. Vitus Cathedral

After the tour of the castle we wandered back to Old Town Square and had a lovely lunch outside on the square.  Drank some Pilsner and enjoyed the wonderful weather.  After that we did a little shopping.  I got a few things for myself and for my sisters.  We saw Wenceslas Square and then stopped at Starbucks (so excited there was one!!) for a break.  Salley and I even figured out the metro - go us!  We used it to get to this Japanese restaurant.  The sushi was pretty good - it was a nice change of pace.

Astronomical Clock in Old Town Square

Prague Metro