Team Towbel Returns

We had a 6:45am flight out of Krakow, which makes for a very early morning. Around 4:30 we called an Uber, or at least we tried. Turns out, there aren't any Uber drivers at 4:30 in the morning in Krakow. Also, it turns out that none of the taxi companies answer the phone that early. The next train wasn't until 5:30 which would be cutting it very close. As you can imagine, we started to panic. Dave brilliantly found some Polish taxi app, entered a request, and crossed his fiingers. 

Given the early departure, our Airbnb host asked us to leave the keys in the mailbox. I dropped them in and then Dave and I headed towards the building exit. After a few steps, we turned and looked at each other, both with an 'Oh, F!' look in our eyes. You need a key to leave the building! Panic part 2 set in. Thankfully, we were able to fish the keys out of the mailbox. And our fabulous taxi driver was waiting outside. So all was well, but not the most stress-free start to the day. The rest of the day was smooth sailing, thankfully. 

Here's a look at our trip by the numbers:

0 - museums we entered (don't judge)

2 - races (Dave a 64k, me a half marathon)

4 - plates of pierogi - expected it to be more

8 - places we spent the night

54 - lodys (ice cream) consumed

64 - beers consumed

109 - hrs Dave played Pokemon Go (don't get me started...)

117 - miles ran

186 - miles walked

2,000 - kilometers driven

4, 211- churches we passed

5,468,980,116 - Polish words we mispronounced (probably an understatement)

We had a great time exploring Poland for two weeks. Did I mention Poland is pretty?

Highlight of the day: Coming home to this from our awesome roomie, Freddy.

And to this cutie pie!

Happy Birthday, Dave Scheibel!

As Dave informed me today, he's 'into his 40's' while I'm 'still in my 30s.' He's 41 and I'm creeping up quickly to 40, but I'll take it. We had some celebratory cappuccino and croissant this morning. We could call it second breakfast. Or more like third breakfast if you count the pretzel. 

Our guide book talked about famous Krakow big pretzels and we were determined to try one yesterday. They're on every corner, according to the book, but we found none. We were ready to chalk it up to a myth, similar to the quince-flavored vodka I've been looking for since we landed. Well, apparently pretzels are for breakfast because this morning they were, in fact, everywhere. So, of course, we indulged in a morning pretzel. And it was delicious.

Yes, there are two pretzel stands across the street from one another. It's worse than Starbucks in Seattle.

After the 3 birthday breakfasts, we decided to burn some calories by walking up the clock tower in Old Town Square. On the plus side, the views were great, I was surprised and delighted to see some old school festive garments displayed, it was free on Monday, and there were fewer stairs than I anticipated. On the not great side, there were fewer stairs because each step was the equivalent of 2-3 typical stairs. 

Next, we walked around the Wawel Castle and Cathedral. Quite pretty. 

And nearby was one church thought to be the prettiest in Krakow. There are over 170 churches in K-Town so I can't agree with certainty, but it's a very gorgeous church indeed.

Then, we walked to Kazimierz for lunch to have our favorite Polish beer (Tyskie) for the last time on the trip.

And we stopped for some freshly squeezed lemonade on the way back to Old Town.

We went to a swanky French restaurant for dinner. It was in the charming cellar of a building from the 14th century. The food was pretty modern, however. Service was immpecibile and we had a wonderful meal to celebrate Dave's bday.

Highlight of the day: Celebrating Dave's bday all day, in particular at dinner. 

Running & Relaxation Role Reversal

Today was my day to run while Dave enjoyed a massage at the hotel spa. I ran a scenic half marathon in 2:09. It was a very picturesque run through country villages and rolling hills. I'm happy with my time (although hopefully next time I'll be faster) and am not that sore which is great. 

After a much needed shower, Dave and I both enjoyed our race finisher lody (or two) before heading back to Krakow. 

We walked around Old Town and had a yummy dinner, including delicious passion fruit panna cotta. 

Then, we went on a golf cart tour of the Kazimierz neighborhood. Pre-WWII it was the primary Jewish area in Krakow with a population of 68,000 Jews. Post-war there were only 3,000. Incredibly sad.

The golf cart tour was nice because we could hop off to take photos easily. We decided to stick around the neighborhood for a drink before walking back to our Airbnb in Old Town. If we lived in Krakow, which we easily could, we'd live in Kazimierz. Lots of character, and good restaurants and bars.

Highlight of the day: Seeing Dave cheering for me at the end of the race. The last bit was uphill on cobblestone, aka the least fun part to run. He was so happy for me it was hard not to smile. Love that man.

Running & Relaxation

Dave was up and away before 6 to catch his shuttle to the start line of the 64k race. I woke up at a respectable 10am, ate a leisurely breakfast, and went for a little run. Then, I got ready and headed to the spa for a massage and facial. After my pampering, I headed to the finish line and waited for Dave to finish his race. The running festival is pretty big and fun to be part of. People yell out 'bravo' to the runners. I like it. There's a stage next to the finish that has rotating bands. Today while I was waiting there was a kids singing competition with some impressive talent. There were also several people in costumes. It didn't seem like they were runners and I'm still curious why they were dressed up. 

Super proud of Dave for his run today. It was pretty tough and it was hot out which never helps. Here are some pics he took along the way. He ran right on the border of Poland and Slovakia. I like to think that one foot was in each in country - how cool!

And some pics from the finish.

Highlight of the day: It's a tie between seeing Dave cross the finish line and me spending two hours in the spa (okay, it's not really a tie, but both brought me great joy).

Krynica: Water & Running

After breakfast we headed South to the spa town of Krynica. It's close to the Slovakian border and near mountains (yes, I should probably know which ones; yes, I'm sure it's written down in the travel book over on the table; and yes, I'm too lazy at this moment to look it up, so let's all call them pretty mountains and be done with it). It was a very scenic drive here. Have I mentioned that Poland is pretty? 

There's a big running festival here this weekend which is a reason we traveled to this neck of the woods. Dave is going to run a 64k ultra tomorrow and I'm going to do a half marathon on Sunday. We went through the fun adventure of registering for our events and picking up our packets. Thank goodness so many people speak some English! It was difficult enough with that, it would have taken forever otherwise. Next, we gotall our gear (hopefully) and stopped briefly for Dave's race briefing (basically pointless for us to be there since it was all in Polish).

We got some local mineral water from the town's 'main pump.' Krynica is known for their mineral springs and there are several waters you can purchase that treat a variety of ailments. We picked three: one was tasty, one was a little yuck, and the third was flat-out awful. It had so many minerals it was grayish in color. I'm sure it was therapeutic though. 

This was parked at our hotel. It says 'Mike Tyson Collection' towards the back. I have no words....

Highlight of the day: Finally getting our race bibs after hours of standing in various lines, finding people who spoke some English, a fair bit of charades, and being grateful for Google Translate. Bring on the running!

A Somber Day At Auschwitz

We left our idyllic, serene sanctuary and headed East to Auschwitz. It was one of the top things I wanted to do in Poland, but I wouldn't say I was looking forward to it. As we got closer and were driving along the forest, it hit me that this was probably a similar view the incoming prisoners had on their way to the camp. Or at least for those who were able to see out the train car. The gravity of where we were headed started to sink in. 

The experience was informative, eerie, depressing, sorrowing, and so many more emotions. Questions kept running through my head. How could people treat others that way? How did the prisoners cope? Has the world truly learned from this atrocity? At one point there was a baby crying and it got me wondering what the camp sounded like. Gunshots, screaming, crying, pleading, praying.

The most poignant display was the stack of women's hair. Women prisoners' heads were shaved and their hair (I forget how many thousands of kilos) was sold by the Nazi's to be used in textiles. There was half a room full of hair on display: brunette, blonde, gray. And some braids, which I imagine were from children. It was heartbreaking.

Dave and I were both glad we went and glad to leave. 

From Auschwitz we headed to Krakow. It took us three tries to find a hotel with availability, but thankfully the three hotels were on the same block so it was pretty easy. After settling into our room, we walked around Old Town and had a nice Italian al fresco dinner in the square where we could watch the horse-drawn carriages. Guess what, Krakow is pretty. 

Highlight of the day: a tough day to think of a highlight, to be honest. Dinner was quite nice. Feels kinda wrong to have any highlight on a day when we were at Auschwitz.

A Spa Day

This is a guest post from Dave. 

We decided to spend another night in Polanica and have a relaxing day without travel. We started with a run around town, then a quick breakfast. By 9am we were getting massages. Pictured below was our morning coffee. 

Jami was intrigued/scared of some signs around with bear footprints on them, so we decided to investigate. It turned out to be just a marker for a hike around town and the nearby hills. We followed the path and were surprised by how nice it was, and how long it was. We also ran across some work horses hauling logs around.

By the time we got back it was time for lunch and a beer. We ended up at a mexican restaurant. We'd noticed them before but hadn't felt adventurous enough to try them until now. I ordered a pig knuckle and Jami a veggie enchilada. My knuckle was good, although didn't resemble any mexican food I've every run across. With horseradish and mustard as accompaniments it was more like a pot roast. Jami's enchilada was less desirable... it had green beans, zucchini, white beans and other strange ingredients and the sauce tasted more asian than mexican, but unfortunately not close enough to either to be good. Also, the tortilla was more of a crepe. I love crepes, but not like this. Thankfully we also ordered a side of fries.

After a pleasant walk back (and some Lodi) Jami retired to the spa and I went on another run on the newly found trails we had found on our walk (I've been itching for some trail running since getting to Poland). After my run I joined Jami in the spa, which of course had a bar. We enjoyed another beer, in a plastic cup for safety of course. Eventually it was time for dinner and more beer. We opted for safe pizza and pasta, but did try some cherry vodka. Unfortunately it tasted like cherry NyQuil.

Highlight of the day: warmer weather, trail running, relaxation

Wroclaw & Scenic Silesia

After pigging out on a big buffet breakfast, we left Poznan and headed south to Wroclaw (pronounced vrots-wahf). Let's talk about the Polish language for a minute. It's tough. Vs are Ws, there's a letter that looks like an L and a lowercase T had a baby and that's a W sound, there are about 14 different pronunciations for the letter C, several words are double digits long with 1 or 2 vowels. It's tough. Regardless of how you say it, Wroclaw is a good looking city. It was beat up pretty badly in WWII and has been rebuilt to be charming, classic, and modern all at the same time. It's called the second Venice because it's on a river and there are many islands. 

We ate at an Indian restaurant for lunch. It was quite good. There was some Polish flare to the menu, but seemed very close to Indian food we have the US.

There's a shrine for Pope John Paul II in the Wroclaw cathedral. Props for the Polish pope.

There are two buildings in the town square that are called Hansel & Gretel. Not quite sure why, perhaps because they're attached? There is also a legend of the dwarfs related to the buildings, or maybe it was the city. Anyways, I indulged in the dwarf photo opp.

After a nice afternoon in Wroclaw, we proceeded to go deeper into the Silesia region. Poland is pretty, and Silesia has been the most gorgeous region we've driven through. Rolling hills, lush green countryside, cute villages. Helped the time go by, especially when getting stuck behind a truck or tractor (which is often).

We've seen a lot of wind turbines throughout the country. Yay for wind power!

And finally we landed in Polanica Zdroj, a breathtaking spa town nestled into the hills of the Klodsko Valley. Serene and tranquil with healing waters. People come to stay to reap the benefits of the healing waters. There are several spa towns in Poland, with varying benefits of the water depending on the region. Our hotel has a health spa and a couple of tubs with the mineral water. There are some other fancy spa things that we haven't see in the US. There's a foot bath with 4 chambers that you walk through, alternating from hot to cold water. And there's a chair with different lights above it - we couldn't figure out what it was so we hung out in the hot tubs, sauna, infrared sauna, and steam room. After several days in cities and driving a ton, it's nice to dial things down and relax.

Highlight of the day: Parking for the day. We've been doing a lot of driving and are both happy to be out of the car for awhile.

A Big Castle & A Long Drive

There was a military tank monument in the park next to our hotel - not something you see every day. 

Malbork Castle was huge and awesome. The first building was started in the 13th century by the Tuetonic Knights. The castle was badly damaged in WWII and they're still rebuilding some of it. You can see where new brick was used to repair it on the facade. The castle was very impressive and I'm glad we made the trek to see it. A whole lotta red brick. 

After touring the castle, we grabbed some coffee and a snack.

Then, we headed east and stopped in Gnierzno for lunch, and got to say hi to a couple peacocks. The Gnierzno Cathedral is considered the birthplace of Catholicism in Poland and even though it's a small town it plays a big cultural role for the country. Poles are masters of red brick - a lot of beautiful brick buildings throughout the country. 

Based on internet photos, I expected Poland to be pretty. It's surpassed my expectations. The drive today also took us through several small, gray, run-downish towns and we got to see some of the less-pretty Poland. Perhaps it was the gray sky that made them look more depressing, or maybe this was our first glimpse at Poland B. Apparently, people refer to Poland A as the thriving cities where people are doing better financially, and Poland B as the places that aren't doing as well and resemble more of the communist past. We've also passed several large plots of land / forest surrounded by barbed wire which feels much different than much of countryside that's really stunning. 

After lunch we continued on to Poznan, the capitol of the Wielkopolsa region of Poland. Guess what, Poznan is pretty. We're staying at a funky, modern hotel. They gave us an iphone that we can use to unlock the door, call the concierge, and adjust lighting in the room. There's a square toilet which looks rather cool, but isn't the most comfortable. So for all of you who are contemplating installing a square toilet in your bathroom, I think there's a good reason most thrones are oval. 

One awesome thing about the hotel is that they gave us complimentary welcome drinks. The bartender is noted as one of the best in Europe (or at least according to the concierge) and she made us yummy yummy cocktails.

I will say, the food in Poland is not the best I've ever had. It's not bad, just not amazing. There's a lot more variety than what I was expecting, which is great. When traveling, I enjoy checking out snack food options and flavors. Here are a few chip options in Poland - Roasty Ribs anyone?

Highlight of the day: Malbork Castle was breathtaking. The amount of work that went into building it, and the intricate details throughout were stunning. We considered skipping it, and I'm so glad we didn't.

To Hel And Back

There are a lot of yummy bakeries and treats in Poland. The one next to our Airbnb is one of the fanciest we've seen. We stopped for coffee and Dave also indulged in a raspberry mouse / cake thingy that came with a syringe-like thing that is used to pour raspberry juice over the breakfast dessert.

 After a final 'Gdansk is so cute,' we packed up and headed to the Sopot, a popular resort town on the Baltic Sea. As you can see, it was the perfect day to spend at the beach. We're at the start of the longest wooden pier in Europe. The white expanse behind us is the rainy Baltic Sea.

Of all the places to post terrorist attack how-tos, I thought this was an interesting choice.

I'm sure Sopot is lovely when the weather is the same. There was an interesting 'crooked house' and fun (when it's sunny) activities and shops.

I'm also a fan of the walrus bike racks.

The rain didn't stop us, and we continued to the Hel Peninsula to ensure we got our fill of rainy beach towns. Just outside of Sopot we drove through the forest and there was a huge cemetery. I didn't get a photo, but it was an interesting mix of beauty and spookiness. At each entrance to the cemetery (there were a few) there was a tent selling flowers and candles, which seemed rather, well, odd to me. The country is very, very Catholic. I've seen a ton of nuns here. Also on the way to Hel there was a huge parade / processional of people carrying shrines, signs, and pictures of Jesus and Mary. Every once in a while, the shrine people would break into a little dance. 

Hel is a cute beachy town (no, not as cute as Gdansk) and the restaurant where we ate lunch was nice and festive.

I tried another Polish drink - beer with juice and a straw. The concept of beer with juice could be tasty, this one was not. It tasted like cough syrup was mixed with the beer - not my favorite.

One thing I'm continuously surprised at is the number of cocktails at every restaurant. No matter how small or basic the food menu, there are long cocktail menus. 

We walked around after lunch and had some coffee and cheesecake. I've seen a lot of cheesecake in Poland. This one was dryer and more crumbly than what I'm used to. I think I need to try more to see if that's the Polish way or if it was just cheesecake from Hel (ha!). 

Slightly different standard names on tourist gifts than we see in the US.

While driving back along the peninsula, Dave and I tried to figure out where we'd head next. Yesterday we thought we'd go to a resort town on the coast, but after a rainy beach day we had our fill. Sadly, tomorrow's weather will also be soggy by the sea. After examining a few different routes, and changing our minds a couple times along the way, we decided to head to Malbork, home of the largest castle in the world (by surface area). It was very rainy on the way there and was great to finally settle into the hotel. Looking forward to exploring the castle tomorrow.

Highlight of the day: The gas station has plastic gloves you can wear while pumping gas and/or washing your windshield. Genius! Why don't we have these (and the fancy Torun toilets) in the US? 

Sleepy Saturday

We haven't been sleeping super well since arriving in Poland, and last night our bodies decided to catch up on some much needed zzzz's. I woke up around 1:30 in the afternoon, and Dave got up close to 2:30. We had a delicious breakfast of pizza and beer at 4pm. I was curious about the Tropicana pizza, but opted for plain cheese instead. Not sure about peaches on a pizza.

We walked around Gdansk some more, while I continued to talke about how cute it is. 

I love that you can get ice cream and dessert waffles on every block.

Not quite sure what this is about.

Then, we rented a little motor boat that looked like a car and made our way up and down the river. Gdansk is so cute! Seriously, the photos don't do it justice. My photos don't do Poland, justice, especially Gdansk. 

There are nods to America throughout the country. Right in the heart of Gdansk are photos of some American icons next to an American restaurant.

We made our way back to the Airbnb and hung out in the pool, sauna, and steam room for awhile. At dinner I tried something quite Polish - drinking beer with a straw. Apparently, it's mostly a lady thing. Glad I tried it, and I prefer beer straight out of the glass.

And then all of a sudden it was bedtime. Guess that's what happens when you sleep half the day.

Highlight of the day: All of Gdansk - it's so cute!

G'day, Gdansk

We said farewell to lush, green, historic Warsaw and headed to pick up our rental car.

We headed north to Gdansk, Poland's largest shipping port on the Baltic Sea. Driving in Poland is not for the faint of heart. Poles, as with most Europeans, drive fast. We were going a little over 100 mph and plenty of cars zoomed right past us. And they merge into your lane inches in front of you. Intense, but pretty fun too. We stopped at a roadside rest stop for a snack and I was delighted to find fresh squeezed carrot & orange juice since my veggie intake has been low. We also found this funky cheese in the shape of fettuccine. 

Next, we stopped in Torun, a charming medieval town (one of Poland's oldest). It's the home of Copernicus, a cute town square, and the coolest public restroom I've ever seen (more on that in a bit). We strolled the city, re-hydrated, and had some ice cream before getting back on the road. Oh, and we may have been stopped by the police because we were driving on a pedestrian-only street. The cops rolled their eyes, probably called us stupid Americans, and pointed us in the right direction. Oopsies....

We made it to Gdansk around dinnertime and I was instantly smitten. It's one of the cutest towns I've ever visited. Simply adorable. 

Our dinner, sadly, was not so lovely. Lesson learned that travel book writers don't always share our same taste. It is one of the oldest restaurants in Gdansk, so it had that going for it, and they served a specialty vodka with gold flakes which was interesting (but tasted awful). We were both pretty underwhelmed by our dinners, including overcooked asparagus and cold salmon. We rectified the situation by grabbing a tasty dessert waffle on the way back to our Airbnb. 

Highlight of the day: The Torun public restroom! When you flush, this contraption extends from the back of the toilet and the toilet seat rotates around (twice) and gets disinfected by the contraption. I was in awe. I should have taken a video. It was particularly cool because there was this fancy toilet underground and right above it was the remains of the original gate to the city. Not sure what I was more impressed with. Actually, yes I do. Don't judge. History is awesome, but the toilet seat rotated around and got disinfected - twice!

The toilet was under this

Wandering Around Warsaw

We both started the day with a run, Dave's being much longer of course. We wandered the streets of Warsaw and admired the beauty of the buildings and city. We both were expecting it to feel more communist, bland, and full of concrete, and were somewhat surprised at how pretty it is. There are a ton of cool parks, the architecture is interesting and diverse, and there sculptures and monuments everywhere. 

Yes, we're staying well hydrated.

We decided to go on a bus tour (our first one together) to learn a bit about Warsaw. Admittedly, we aren't great at learning about the history of the places we visit. We like to walk around and look at buildings and eat a lot when traveling. Once in awhile we'll go into a museum or church, but we usually leave a country only slightly less ignorant about it from when we entered. We'd be better humans if we dove in and learned more, but we're happy with how we travel and have a great time, so ignorant (or slightly less) we shall remain. We did learn a little on the bus tour, emphasis on little. It was still cool to see the city from the top of an open-air bus.

Highlight of the day: Dave took me out to dinner for August surprise date to a vegan sushi restaurant. When I think of Warsaw, neither vegan nor sushi come to mind, but let me tell you, it was amazing!

Both punk and non-punk Jami agree, 2 thumbs (or pinkies) up for vegan sushi!

Team Towbel Goes To Poland

And we're off! We've been looking forward to our Polish road trip and are excited the time has come. Why Poland, you may be asking? Well, several months ago we were trying to figure out where to go and had a short list of about 25 places, none of which were Poland. The list ran the gamut: Turkey (probably good we didn't pick that given the events of late), Vietnam, Thailand, Greece, New England, original England, and many more. Then, I (Jami) saw an article about interesting places to visit in 2016 and thought I'd peruse. Poland was on the list and the photo looked cool. I looked up more Poland photos online and became more and more intrigued. I passed my laptop to Dave and he got sucked in, too. In addition to it being pretty (at least in the online photos), it was somewhere neither of us had been and we like that the country is geographically diverse - everything from Baltic Sea towns, vibrant cities, quaint country towns, and scenic mountains. And, we read that the people were quite nice. So, it was decided, Poland would be our big vacation destination of 2016.

In true Dave and Jami fashion, we planned very little ahead of time and procrastinated many things until the last minute. We shopped for clothing and footwear the day / night before and started packing about 3 hours before our flight departed. It all worked out, as it always does. Maybe next time we'll be better. Probably not. I did find time to get my hair done the day before we left and decided to shave the side of my head. Not quite sure why, not quite sure what I think about it, but glad I tried it. It does make me feel a bit more European, so there's that.

We left Seattle Tuesday afternoon, had a brief stop in Paris to change planes, and landed in Warsaw Wednesday morning. Thankfully we slept a good amount on the flights, but still felt pretty weary eyed. Stepping out of the Warsaw airport we were welcomed by a reminder that Poland is quite proud of being Chopin's birthplace (the airport is named after him) and looking across the street, that we're never that far away from America.

After a short Uber ride into the city (yay, Uber!) we settled into our Airbnb (yay, Airbnb!) and then headed out for lunch outside in the sun, our first beers in Poland, and a walk around Old Town. 

We also dined al fresco for dinner. I was tempted by the 'Bowls full of vitamins' and 'Dishes with fish in the leading part', but decided on pierogi and beer, as did Dave (dinner twinsies). 

Highlight of the day: Ice cream after dinner. Poles love their ice cream (lody) and can find it just about on every block. It reminds me of all the gelato shops in Italy. We went to a place that uses liquid nitrogen to make their ice cream. They add it to cream in a mixer and it hardens in front of your eyes - basically magic. There was a sign that said the liquid nitrogen makes a smoother texture, and it did. So creamy and yummy!