Here are some lovely “exploding flowers” I stumbled across… brought a little smile. Appreciating the simple things in life these days… how beautiful are these exploding flowers?
Source: Qi Wei: Exploding Flowers
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Nowa Huta, Poland
On my Polish flattie’s suggestion, my sister and I booked ourselves a date with the Crazy guides to visit the old Communist town of Nowa Huta, the eastermost district of Krakow, Poland.
Arriving in style, in the freezing morning chill, Joanna our friendly and cheerful guide ushered us inside this 1950′s style car, complete with black and bright red zebra print car seat covers!
Chugging along, Nowa Huta was originally commissioned to be a “great modern city.” The Communists at the time, tried to attract people from all over Poland to go and help build up the “great city” in return for a free apartment.
Our first stop was a once-popular Communist restaurant, where the interior is still exactly the same as it was back in the day. At 9.45am… the idea of downing a shot of Vodka didn’t sound quite so attractive, (despite the freezing cold outside), so a coffee was sipped upon.
The Communist government used all sorts of propaganda pictures, depicting colourful red buildings, heaps of cars on the newly paved bitumen roads, smiling workers eating and working. When in reality, although everyone had a job, it was something along the lines of 4 people doing one person’s work load, which made work inefficient, the buildings were white and practically no one owned cars.
Nowa Huta’s design was originally inspired by Paris, the “etoile” (star) shaped squares, avenues and wide roads. One half of the town was eventually completed, in the shape of a semi-circle, but the other half couldn’t be completed, as the Government had run out of money at that stage.
The next stop was the “steel mill”, the factory where the town’s workers worked at. The pollution emitted from this factory was so intense and thick, that it turned the once white buildings grey.
Lunch time neared, and we drove along to the factory’s cafeteria. There were actually no bathrooms at the cafeteria, because the idea was, that the Government wanted the factory workers to eat quickly and return to work at the factory. We were treated to some traditional Polish food including (polish style!) dumplings, “pigeon” – which although sounds ghastly – (imagine eating those filthy grey things…) actually was rice wrapped in cabbage and mushroom sauce and lastly beetroot and garlic soup.
After refuelling our bellies, our next stop on the tour was a real Communist apartment. It was actually quite cosy and modern for the 1950s, this one had its own bathroom and even a gas kitchen/appliances. The apartment was filled with all sorts of paraphernalia – old cameras, photos, coins, books, records etc.
And of course no visit would be complete, without a shot of Polish vodka and a pickle for good measure. (You gotta stay warm, somehow!)
Walking back out the apartment complex, the snow began to fall again lightly over the parked cars… and oh, a tank. What? A tank?! Yeah… you know, because it’s so usual to have an old tank parked outside in your apartment complex’s communal car park.
Finally, our last stop was a Church that the people of Nowa Huta built. It took 10 years to build and various countries donating materials to the Polish people to build this, as the Government refused to be affiliated with any religion. The people of Nowa Huta built this Church in their spare time, and surprisingly it’s quite modern looking. Pope John Paul II even came to visit once! Something really impressive about this is, the outside of the building is completely covered in small river pebbles – imagine how long that would’ve taken!
What to see:
Crazy Guides
The Crazy guides offers a range of tours. For more information of the other tours they have, check out their site – I highly recommend these guys, you’ll have a fantastic time!
Krakow, Poland – Part One
So the little journey through Eastern Europe continues, this time to Poland. This will be part one out of three. Parts two and three will feature our Crazy guides tour to Nowa Huta (The new steel mill) and Auschwitz-Birkenau.
My sister and I wake up super early at the unsightly hour of 4.15am to get ready, making our way by taxi to the bus terminal. It’s was now 5.25am. The night sky was still pitch black. The air, although still, was freezing already.
We were taking a bus with Orange Ways from Budapest to Krakow. A cheap and cheerful method of transport between these two cities. Although, when you’re at the bus terminal, don’t freak out, not knowing which “terminal” you’re supposed to wait for the bus on. The bus doesn’t actually stop at the terminal. Rather it stops opposite the terminal at the corner. There aren’t really signs or anything saying that’s where the bus is parked. From memory it looked a little like a derelict petrol station with no petrol pumps. :) Haha. Just google before you go and you’re bound to come across a blog with a photo of where the bus will be at, because that’s how I found out where to wait and then all shall be peachy.
The bus was surprisingly modern, with sufficient padding on the seats. Everyone receives a set of disposable ear phones, so you’re free to watch whatever they’re showing, or else doze off to sleep, which is exactly what I did.
The bus chugs along for the next 7 hours, with a toilet break in the middle. As the bus rolls along, through the mountains of Slovakia, you get to see some of the most amazing snow filled landscapes. Coming from Sydney Australia, there’s absolutely zero snow fall, so needless to say I was pretty excited seeing all that fluffy white stuff all over the ground, all over the houses and the occasional deer/squirrel running through the snow.
Firstly, when you arrive at the bus terminal in Krakow, do not exchange your monies for zlotys here. The exchange rate is crap, so just wait until you get into the centre of the Old Town and exchange there.
My Parisian flattie is Polish, so he was kind enough to make up an itinerary of some things to do in Krakow.
On the first night we dined at Szara, a Michelin star restaurant just off the Market square. A beautifully decorated interior, it may come off as “posh and pretentious” at first, but the service was incredibly friendly and helpful, especially with recommendations of some traditional Polish cuisine to try!
A highlight and something unusual that we tried was the reindeer tartar with horseradish.
The reindeer meat tasted a little like the texture and taste of canned tuna… or it just may be my unrefined tastebuds. :P
I also ordered the Rabbit in Provencal herbs with potato gnocchi served in cast iron kettle. The rabbit was really tender and flavoursome… the gnocchi wasn’t so much.
After a very early dinner, we wandered around the Square and the surrounding streets. Firstly we went to this little shop called Krakowski Kredens. Here they make a specialty called “piszinger w czekoladzie” (Chocolate Pishinger). It’s a waffle with caramel covered with chocolate and you can only get it in the south of Poland. (This “waffle” is actually pretty big, and by pretty big, I mean like at least 20cm in diameter and 4cm thick! When I got back to Paris my flattie ate the entire thing in one sitting… haha. Bless his cotton socks.)
Here’s Wawel Castle… quite an ordinary looking Polish castle. Nothing too flash about the inside either… guess the opulence you’d find in the French Chateaus kind of outshine this little castle.
Basically all the rooms look like this, large rectangular rooms, with large hand made tapestries hung up on the walls. We were all made to wear little blue plastic shower cap type things on our shoes too. Can you spot where I’m “hiding”? :P
Remember how I mentioned earlier on, that the air was freezing and there was just snow everywhere? Well lookie here! Try digging your way through all that to get yourself in… hehe. Not only just to get in, but getting all that off, so you can actually see outside the windscreen…
To warm our fingers and toes back to their toasty selves, we made one last stop at Nowa Prowincja. A student’s pub where they serve “the best hot chocolate in town.” My flattie was right, this hot chocolate was delish! It’s not like the usual milk based drink that you may be used to, but rather, it’s this thick, thick hot chocolate, almost like melted chocolate, but slightly more liquid, so that you can actually drink it.
How to get there:
* OrangeWays
Where to eat:
* Szara Restaurant: Michelin star restaurant
* Nowa Prowincja: Student’s pub, serving “the best hot chocolate in town”
* Blikle: Famous Polish Bakery
Cute Blog Award
Yays! Award time! Mashi Mari was sweet enough to award my little blog with the cute blog award. :)
What is your go to make up product?
I’m going to cheat a bit and say 3 items… Bobbi Brown’s corrector and creamy concealer and Natio’s Peach Glow blush!
What was your favourite trend of 2011?
I really liked neon/bright colours that was big towards the end of the year… a nice change from the usual black/neutrals etc.
What is your favourite dessert?
Freshly baked chocolate brownies and vanilla ice cream… nom nom.
Favourite colour?
Blue and purple
What is your middle name?
Anne
What was the last song you listened to?
Born this way, Lady Gaga
Cats or dogs?
Definitely dogs, I especially love Dachshunds (aka sausage dogs)! :)
Tell us something about yourself that you haven’t told us on your blog.
I could eat rock melon and prosciutto everyday! :)
Here are the rules:
* Link back to the person who awarded you: Mashi Mari – Thanks so much dear!
* Answer award questions
* Award as many blogs as you think are worthy of this award
* Make sure you let those you award that they have received the Cute Blog Award
I’m awarding the following blog:
Les Deux Blog
Szia Budapest, Hungary!
As the third part in the Parisian blues series, I’ve decided to share a little something, a little east of Paris, France; from my trip to Eastern Europe during the winter of December 2010.
All together, my sister and I were only here for a little under 2 days, which wasn’t nearly enough for such a beautiful city! Here’s some of the sights were saw during our time here in Budapest. :)
We were also fortunate enough to see a Hungarian Opera too! Though no photos were allowed… the interior design of the Opera House was really opulent… reminded me of the Opera House in Paris. Quite something, to experience an opera in Hungarian.
The river flowing between Buda and Pest.
You can get mulled wine at virtually all Christmas markets…
These sausages tasted so good washed down with mulled wine on a cold, snow filled December night.
These rolls tasted sooo good! They were hollow in the middle, the pastry is toasted over the fire which makes it crispy, light and fluffy, with cinnamon rolled all the outside.
All smiles, despite the cold (And I can tell you it was COLD, like -10 degrees or something cold…), enjoying some food from the Christmas markets. :)
Isn’t the architecture of their Parliament House just stunning?
One of the beautiful bridges connecting Buda and Pest.
The Parisian blues: Deux
So the Parisian blues series continues… Missing the sweet Parisian autumn air…
The Parisian blues…
It was 1 year and 5 months ago that I jetted off on that 767 Qantas plane and said “Au revoir Sydney” and “Saluuut Paris!”
Sigh… I miss Paris. Here’s some eye candy goodness to bring us all back to those beautiful Parisian days. :) Here’s the start to a mini series to reminisce… hehe
RESTAURANT PERRAUDIN
157, rue Saint Jacques
75005 Paris
Tél. : 01 46 33 15 75
Vision board 2012
After stumbling upon Love brown sugar’s post about “how to create a vision board”, I was inspired to create one for myself too.
Basically, it’s a visual representation of one’s goals/dreams/vision for the year. I’m hoping to achieve some pretty big stretch goals this year and hopefully this vision board will be an everyday visual reminder and keep me on track to achieving my goals. :)
Posted in DIY, Life, Work, World Tagged Christianity, Design, DIY, Geometric Skies, Personal struggles 3 Comments
Foodie welcomes 2012
Hi! First foodie post for the new year!
Possibly the lightest and tastiest cake you could have during Summer!
On the 23rd December, a few girlfriends and I went to try Jamie Oliver’s new Italian restaurant to celebrate Christmas. Luckily our group consisted of 6, so we were able to book ahead and by pass the massive crowd lining up outside the entrance.
The atmosphere was already very lively at about 6.30pm and once seated, we were provided menus and our drinks order taken and I was surprised to see such a large variety on the menu at very reasonable prices! Yay! The waiter who served us was really friendly and knowledgeable and made great recommendations. Below is just a taste of some of the dishes we ordered and shared! Definitely recommend that you go visit Jamie’s new restaurant! The italian bakewell tart, the ultimate brownie and the tiramisu were divineeee too.
Happy nom nomming! :)
Jamie’s Italian
Jamie’s Italian
107 Pitt Street
Sydney
NSW 2000
www.jamiesitalian.com.au
Phone Number
+61 (0) 2 8240 9000
