Christmas Market Tour: Dresden

In the city of Dresden, there are eleven Christmas Markets. We only attended two of them... The market in which we spent the most time was the Dresdner Striezelmarket which was celebrating the 579th anniversary of the first market held in 1434.

Tis the Season

It is Christmas market season - my favorite time of the year here! Last weekend we were in Wroclaw, where there is a beautiful market. A couple of carnival rides for the children, lots of lights and decor, stall upon stall of traditional gifts and to top it all off, a generous amount of traditional fare to choose from along with grzaniec (mulled wine) to finish. You really can't have too much Christmas..!

Grzaniec

Budapest

I have visited Budapest (Hungary) twice now and I would still like to return at least a couple of more times... I would certainly say that out of all the cities that I've spent time in, Budapest is probably my favorite. Certainly probably.

Chain Bridge

A Look at Vienna

I'm still making my way through the overwhelming amount of pictures that I have taken in the past couple of months... As Vienna is just under a four hour drive away, it is one of our frequented places to travel. The food and beer are similar to those of the Bavaria region of Germany (our favorite) and the crisp whiteness of the architecture has an unruffled tranquil feeling. It's my city of contentment.

View of the city from St. Stephen's Cathedral

Snapshots of Norway

This summer we took a trip to Norway where I discovered the most amazing land that I've ever seen, met the most wonderful relatives and spent a lot of time in the rain - it was glorious!

Boat Tour from Stavanger to Preikestolen.

Castle Trekking: Silesia (Part Two)

Another day, another castle... The first castle today is Siewierz and the tour will end with my favorite of the bunch, Ogrodzieniec.

Ogrodzieniec Castle

Castle Trekking: Silesia (Part One)

This weekend we spent a total of two hours driving to visit five pretty cool castles in the region of Silesia. I'll cover three of them today and follow with the remaining two on Thursday.

Zamek Bedzin (Bedzin Castle)

Katowice: Airshow

Perhaps one of the greatest attributes of life in Katowice is that you just never now what you'll stumble upon.

Katowice Airshow

Castle Trekking

It has been a busy summer! Between traveling through Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and a long return visit to Montana, I am posed with a tremendous amount of pictures and a bad case of writer's block!

   To get things rolling, I'll begin with Germany. More so, the region of Bavaria in which my visits revolve around three things; butter breze (a halved pretzel sandwiched with a thick slather of butter), bier (by the liter mugful) and leberkase (a thick slice of liver meatloaf sandwiched in a crusty roll with mustard).

Neuschwanstein Castle

Interview: First Time European Visitors

For the last three weeks, my parents have been visiting and we've traveled through several countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Norway). In the following interview, my parents will answer the questions that I was ever-so curious to ask. Also, in the month ahead, I will provide more detailed posts about the individual places that we visited.

Ready, set....

Red Army Cemetery

There is a sobering amount of war history in Katowice that I have yet to fully put together. I have a feeling that in order to fully understand the city, these pieces of the recent past are important. This post skims the bare surface of a small portion of these events.

Katowice in Bloom

Today, a distraction from my almost typical musings. Instead I have been inspired by the intensity of spring; behold a bouquet of unpredictable randomness.

American Treasure

On today's adventure, Lottie and I swung into a large grocery store to grab some rolls for our picnic in the park. My usual store does sell packaged sliced 'wonder' type bread but it is stashed up out of reach high above the fresh rolls. Today like the star of the show, I all but stumbled upon loaves and loaves of US tost (toast) stacked on a table in the center of the bakery section.

   The glory of it being called US tost made me chuckle right out loud. In case you're curious, duza paczka is advertising that it is a large package.

Seasons change!

Yesterday's snowman became today's puddle and it looks as though the season of being cooped up in the apartment is over! Now that we've made it through our first Poland winter, I hope to have a lot more daily life adventures to share.

Winter Wonders

By fair definition, it is still winter here. My favorite piece of evidence is this tiny little snowman that we passed on the sidewalk while walking into town.

Discovering Mikulov

About two hours from our flat is a small yet glorious town in the Czech Republic called Mikulov. Surrounded by vineyards, Mikulov sits right in the heart of wine country with 1200 km of bike paths that cross the region with stops at wine cellars and tasting centers. I definitely have a lot more exploring to do here!

View of Mikulov from afar.

Easter in Vienna.

This last weekend we drove four hours to spend a four day holiday in Vienna. And it was cold. But it was also lovely and wonderful.

Graffiti around Soviet War Memorial

Roadside Snapshot

During today's travels we passed this dreamy little church out on an island in the Czech Republic not too far out from Austria. The snowy-overcast skies add a mystic lure to this already wondrous site.

Jarmark Wielkanocny (Easter Fair)

Today we strolled down to the town square to peruse the Easter Market. Katowice's markets are smaller than markets in other cities, but I greatly appreciate that they put forth the effort to put one together. And although it is the wrong season for gluhwein, there are still plenty of indulgences!

Eating out in Katowice.

We were not in Katowice for long before winter set in and the sidewalk tables at the eateries on Mariacka were pulled inside. I'm still waiting for spring to come along so that the tables return...

Mariacka St.

Spring in Katowice.

Yesterday was a pretty nice almost spring-like day, so Lottie and I set out to enjoy the town. It was nice enough that we walked the couple kilometers to town, but on colder days, this is the train that runs by our flat that we ride occasionally. I appreciate the old-town romanticism married with chewed bubblegum on seat backs that the ride offers.

Scenes From Sunday

Similar to my home states of Montana and Wisconsin, we are currently stuck in Mother Nature's contemplative choice of a season. A few days of sunshine and blue skies (the first time the sky here was not gray in months..) led me to preemptively transfer our winter gear to the back closet. Which of course was quickly revenged with 20 degrees (f) and days of snow. I have a feeling that our bikes are not too far from being pulled out of the garage, but in the meantime...

Zupa

I'm just an ordinary American girl living in Poland with a fancy at current for curry. My pantry is quaintly stocked with the ingredients to make Dahl whenever the mood should strike. Which hasn't been since Wednesday... So today to mix things up a little, I came up with a Red Lentil Curry Soup.

Red Lentil Curry Soup

Sunday Snapshots

A collection of shots from Rome and Bergamo, Italy.

Carousel - Rome

Pancake Saturday

Pancakes have been a weekend tradition for our little family, however the move to another country made a simple pantry recipe seem almost exotic.

Today we saw the Pope.

This morning we flocked like many other people to St. Peter's Square to listen to the words of gratitude and prayer from Pope Benedict as he stood in the Vatican window for the last time. The experience was one that we had not necessarily planned on, but one that we will always treasure.

When in Rome...

Troy just can't get enough of my wise cracks, but I have done a good job at finding opportunities to use the when in Rome line... Look on for a few examples.

Scenes From Sunday

A walk from our flat to Three Ponds Park.

Deep Thoughts in Katowice

One of my favorite works of art is up on the second story of a building on Mariacka - a walking street in Katowice lined with shops, bakeries and restaurants.

   Whether it symbolizes the struggles of communism or is more optimistic and represents that with courage one man can have the strength of several, I have no idea. Maybe it's just men tugging on a rope. My curiosity has spent many a moment pondering this scene that stands life-size in front of classic Katowice architecture.

Note: A friend of mine found some information! The scene was created by Mark Jenkins for the Street Art Festival and is titled "Tug of War".

A Visit to Zakopane.

Yesterday we drove to Zakopane which lies up in the mountains that separate Poland from Slovakia. A winter paradise, it was hard to discern whether we were in Poland or Jackson Hole.

Holy Family Church

It's Fat Thursday...

Have you had your paczki yet?!

Rum Pudding Filled Paczki

   A walk down the street past a piekarnia and we could smell these donuts baking in the ovens last night. Although they are meant to be consumed today (Fat Thursday), they were packed into the bag while still warm. How could one resist? We couldn't.. Like sneaking a Christmas cookie before Christmas, it was the best donut that I've ever had.

A Day in Milan.

You know when you walk by window after window looking for just the right place to grab a bite and you see so many terrific spots go by; you begin to fret that perhaps the one you choose may not be as good as the others that you've passed. Well, that didn't happen. Our first stop was a cafe for a late breakfast. I had a chocolate tart. Because it looked phenomenal. And I was hungry. In Italy. Amore. And at a later stop around lunch time, pistachio gelato. In Italy. Amore.

I'm dying because of a pizza.

Partially true. But really just an inside joke about translating gone wrong.. At any rate, today I have spent the day wandering the streets of Bergamo, Italy. The buildings, the pebble pathways, the Alps in the background of it all and the cafes, bakeries and pizza.. Today was a day in a dream.

Church of St. Michael Archangel

One of my favorite places to wander is Kosciuszko Park. The home to gorgeous landscaping, monuments and several other curiosities, one of my favorites is this church.

Kościół św. Michała Archanioła w Katowicach

Big Day

Today we arrived at the Slaski Urzad Wojewodzki (Silesian Regional Authority Office) to receive our residence cards. They're pretty neat but not quite as neat as the elevator in the building. I didn't take a picture as I wasn't sure if it was permitted...

Slaski Urzad Wojewodzki

Road Trip: Fussen

In a valley that lies under the hills bestowing two beautiful castles is the small Bavarian town of Fussen. In an atmosphere that is reminiscent of Glacier Park, stands in pure magnificence, Schloss Neuschwanstein. Even if you have never visited Fussen, one quick glance and Neuschwanstein may look quite familiar as it was the inspiration behind the castle made famous by Walt Disney.

Schloss Neuschwanstein

Christmas in Munich

Extend me an invitation to Munich any day and I'll be there. I just love this city. Now, given the choice, you really can't beat a nice summer day here. Or I would assume fall or spring day. When drinking your choice of beer by the liter, to me it just goes down smoother sitting out at a sidewalk table with a ray of sunshine. It may also be that my first visit to Munich was a July so I know the summer city better. Dressed for Christmas, the city was gorgeous but I had lost my familiarity. And my favorite gelato stand was not open.

Christmas Market Extravaganza - Nuremberg

For the holidays we took off for an eleven day jaunt around one of our favorite spots - the state of Bavaria in Germany. We travelled via train to visit five cities - two of which we had visited a couple of years ago and the remaining three were new. To best share the places with you, I will break the blogs up by city or it will just be very overwhelming..