Thaw in Skarzysko!

Sun this Sunday in Skarzysko. It is melting the loads of snow and when all the white substance is gone, the bare truth will be exposed again, at least until foliage and grass trims the barren townscape...
I decided to take a walk in the company of a friend who is forced to regular walks because of possessing a dog. We had to choose a route most carefully in order to avoid pavements covered in uneven layers of melting snow and ice. The road leading to the church was a good bet. We had to take it going back as well, because we reached the point where none of the pavements ahead of us was walkable for a person with crutches. I should have taken a picture there, but I didn't.

Loch Ness Monster fiddling on the roof in Skarzysko!

It looks like the potential for an avalanche!

See the forest on the horizon? I love it!

Behold the pavement!

Many streets in Skarzysko lead to the forest

Hard to find a rubbish bin when you need one

A Sunday churchgoer

A view towards Armii Krajowej (The Home Army) Street 

Wilenska Street leads to another forest

Cheddar cheese and fuss-free hair!

I've just heard from a friend who spent Easter  in Bath and also visited Cheddar. When I learnt she didn't go to the famous cheese making place, because she'd been told the famous cheese wasn't made there any longer, I did my little online research and found this: http://www.cheddargorgecheeseco.co.uk/acatalog/about-cheddar-gorge.html , pleased to see them still on the market. The website reminded me of one particular tour I guided when we visited a cheddar making place in the village. (Whether it was the same spot or there used to be more attractions of the kind, I'm not in a position to tell you here and now.) 

The man who showed us around was in his element joking all the time. His cheerfulness was contagious which was most welcome under the circumstances. Imagine a party of  some thirty or forty randomly gathered  adults touring Albion by coach, after an overnight journey across the continent and a few nights at different tourist class hotels, following packed up to the brim itinerary and you will get an idea... 

Anyway, as he was most humorously explaining the intricacies of the cheese making process, I kept interpreting simultaneously, making sure the funny side was highlighted and not lost in translation. At the end of the tour, when we were admiring and sampling the final products, our guide, naturally lacking a single hair on his skull, stroked his head gently and smiling gave us a stern promise: 'And if you regularly eat a lot of cheddar cheese...' - here he paused for a moment - '... you will have such lush and beautiful hair as mine!'.

No 'war paint' today!

Hello! Just heard in the news that today (April 5th) is NO MAKE-UP DAY! Not that it makes a difference to me, for a good while my skin and eyes simply do not agree with any cosmetics I'd try. You get used to that! And you save the time!

Pop corn alert!

April the fourth and it's snowing again in central Poland. Radio is warning against buying pop corn in Poland, better avoided these days as it is contaminated by some strong allergen.  A large shipment imported from Argentina got to the shops and cinemas before it was discovered. Mad cows, bird flu, horse meat, always fauna ... It is only fair flora threat haunted us for a change!

On Polish spas and resorts

Snow greeted me again this April morning. On Skype a link to 'The Independent' article on a Polish spa awaited me:
http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/the-polish-sovietstyle-spa-experience-8557381.html
I am quite familiar with that part of Poland and can recommend it both as a spa and as a holiday-making spot: great mountainous location, lots of scenic hiking routes and sightseeing, plenty of interesting history. I remember one hot summer in the 1990s when I took my father and son to Jelenia Gora which is a pretty town in The Sudety Mountains. We stayed at my uncle's house with an amazing garden on the slope of a hill.
Unfortunately, we were banned from eating fabulously red and aromatic wild strawberries. The aunt had warned us that they were unsafe to eat, because she had to treat the plots with some insecticide. Anyway, the weather was fabulous: sunny and pleasantly hot, between 25 and 28 Celsjus or so, there was plenty of space for children to play and a park nearby to ride their bikes. And the house wasn't an ordinary villa; built for a rich German family ( twisted Polish - German history makes a bow again...), it contained a subterranean bomb shelter! That reminds me of an atomic shelter in a house in Switzerland I was shown when staying with friends. I was told every house in that country has one. That's a sensible thing for a neutral country, I daresay.

Every day my father, who was recuperating after a stroke, would be driven to the nearby Cieplice Spa for various treatments which served him really well. Besides, we travelled a lot around the area and visited a lot of local attractions.

My own experience of a Polish spa was a February stay in Kolobrzeg over ten years ago. That was great, despite the weather, and resulted in two fantastic friendships. One day I may get back to my days in Kolobrzeg, to tell you about Mira Szerląg, a painter I met and befriended, as well as about other people and places.

Another spa treatment I subjected myself to was a fortnight in Busko last February/March which I described here in my earlier posts. When comparing the prices, we found a better deal than the one in the above mentioned article. At less than 150 zloty per day we enjoyed full board accommodation in the renowned sanatorium called Marconi plus five treatments of a wide choice advised by the spa doctor on seeing our medical test results and examining us on arrival. There was a rich program of concerts at the concert hall downstairs and many activities like excursions around the region on offer. As to the staff? You meet various people everywhere... Yes, you still come across this pre-1989 attitude, but why not treat it as another attraction?;-)

Snow and some shy sun

Let me start today with adding a morning view of today from a series: April in Poland!


It's almost 11 p.m. I'm back from Krakow and tired. My slowly recovering limb had to go through more treatment there and now needs to be straight and rest.

Here are a few pictures I took on the way:

A welcome break, the sun must have made us thirsty!

 I often thought of stopping by the church in Slomniki:

Slomniki church  with the golden door!

A strange structure in Krakow near Rondo Mogilskie

Slomniki centre

Wet Monday'2013

Easter Monday is nearly over. It was nice to be with family.:-) In the morning I managed to be the first to sprinkle water on them following the old Polish custom called 'Smingus-Dyngus'!