Getting older

Welcome on my Birthday, everyone! Yup, I’m one year older. I can’t believe it’s already my birthday! And I still haven’t managed to show you my gift that I got from my lil’ brother and his wife for my name’s day (yup, that’s something we celebrate in Poland – every occasion is good for a bit o’celebration).

Something like a week before my name’s day I was browsing the Internet looking for nothing in particular. And I came across a photo gallery of mugs. Strange mugs. And it was brilliant. One of them was particularly interesting for me and I thought it would be sooo perfect to have one of these! Of course, I told no one how much I wanted such a mug. Especially because I thought that it would probably be impossible or really hard to get in Poland.

Much to my surprise I got one of these mugs from my brother and his wife! I love it sooo much! And here it is :)

Muffin baking!

I’m really proud of myself. Why? That’s simple.  Yesterday afternoon I baked muffins for the second time in my life. The first ones were lemon muffins (baked two weeks ago), these were strawberry. And they’re already gone. But that’s not what made me feel so proud. I’m proud because I managed to bake them before my husband got back from work and with our lil’ boy being at home with me. I thought he’d help me, but this time he said a definite NO! Luckily I managed to do everything and half the muffins were gone yesterday evening and the rest this morning! I’m really shocked and proud at the same time. But I must say they were delicious! I’m really falling in love with muffins. They’re so easy to make, so fast to make and so delicious! Just perfect!

Maritime Culture Centre in Gdansk

While I take my time to get through all the pictures I took during the two trips and choose the ones I want to share with you, I’m going to finally publish a few posts that I’ve been putting aside for quite some time now.

When I wrote my posts about Kniewo and Kaszuby that we visited during the long Mayweekend, I mentioned that we decided to postpone our trip for one day. Why? On Saturday, April 28^th, PolishMaritime Museumin Gdansk was opening its new department. Maritime Culture Centre. We decided that it was a good opportunity to go there and see it. Plus we wanted to visit the Old Town in Gdansk, which I like a lot but don’t go there too often. It’s usually way too crowded for me. Although I try to visit it for the Dominican Market (when it gets even more crowded than usually). 

However, we know that getting anywhere near the Old Town by car is not the smartest idea. That is why we took the SKM train (local train) from Gdynia to get there. You get off in Gdansk Glowny and take a walk through the Old Town to get to the tourist spots. It’s a short walk and I’ll describe that another time. This time I’m going to focus on the Museum itself. 

When we got to the Museum, the queue was really long. I expected that. After all,  I wasn’t the only one knowing about the big opening, was I? So we waited patiently to get to know that it was impossible for us to get to the interactive exhibit. I mean, theoretically it was possible. After 4 pm. We were there at noon. We decided it wasn’t worth it. We saw the exhibits that we were allowed to see. And left. Totally disappointed. I get it that it was the opening, so there were many people there. And I get it that the entrance was for free (but that’s not the reason why we went there. The tickets are cheap). And I get it that there can only be up to 50 people in the interactive room at once. What I don’t get, though, is the fact that people were entering the room and leaving after half an hour tops and for the rest of the hour the exhibit was almost empty! That was a total waste for people such us! We couldn’t wait for four hours just to get into that one room. And the rest of the Museum…? How to call it nicely… Totally not worth it. I’ve been to other departments of the Polish Maritime Museum and they are much better than this one. I totally don’t get all the fuss. It’s probably all due to the interactive exhibit. But the situation that we had might as well happen during the high season. The Centre is located right by the Motlawa River, next to one of Gdansk’s most famous symbols – the Crane. So there are so many tourists there. Well, we’ll see how it’s going to function during the high season. 

For us it was a beautiful, sunny day and a wonderful walk around the Old Town. And that’s how we want to remember that day.

 That was probably the best thing in the Museum. If you pushed the button, a specific stinky smell was pushed at you so that you could guess what the stink was (from the things that you can find on old ships)

And we're back... again

And we’re back once again. I kinda feel that recently I’m always either off or back. Off to work – back home during the work week. And off for a trip and back home on weekends. I love it, but I’m getting a bit tired, I must say. Well, I’m longing for a peaceful and quiet day spent preferably in our garden, enjoying ourselves. That’s why it’s enough for longer distance trips for now. I don’t mean trips at all. Just longer distance – like four hours with a three-year-old on board. But it was great! Our kiddo was great on the ride, sleeping most of the time or enjoying the views. It really makes me feel positive of the road trip we’re planning for the summer. And we’re planning on preparing more attractions for the ride itself for him. So that is great! I was really scared that he might get totally bored with the ride sooo quickly that we wouldn’t be able to continue the ride. That’s what he was like when he was younger. I was sitting with him on the back seat entertaining him in every possible way. And by every I mean EVERY! And this time I decided to sit in the front seat from the start. To our astonishment Artus fell asleep right away. Both ways. Just that on the way to Poznan he woke up after two hours and spent the rest of the ride enjoying the views. And on the way back he woke up already in Gdynia. I have to admit that I needed that to calm down about the summer drive with him. And so I have. At least for now…

I must say I still feel like at home when I’m in Poznan. And the weather was really great. Warm. Lots of sun. Hardly any rain. It was cloudy at times, but sunny at the same time. Perfect for sightseeing. After the five years I spent in the city a couple of years ago it was high time for a bit of sightseeing! 

I’ve been to the zoo before. Just before our wedding. But back then half of it was closed as they were building the elephant house. I’ve seen the old town soooo many times, it’s totally impossible to omit it. Most of the nightlife takes place in or around the old town. So on one hand most of the stuff we saw wasn’t new to me. Yet I was looking at them in a totally different way, from a completely different angle. Appreciating them. Trying to take in as much as possible. Breathing in the air, spotting the colours and shapes. Discovering the city once again. A bit from a child’s perspective. A bit from a mother’s perspective. A bit from an adult’s perspective. A totally new experience!

We're off for the weekend again!

We’re off for the weekend again. Why am I writing this on Wednesday? Tomorrow’s Corpus Christi – a day off in Poland. We also have Friday off, so we’ve decided to hit the road already today. Tonight, to be exact. We’re going to Poznan – a place where I studied, where I had many of my dates with my husband, where we got engaged… A place that will always have a special place in my memory and in my heart.

I still don’t know, however, if we’re coming back Saturday or Sunday. We really wanted to stay there till Sunday, but the first Euro 2012 match in Gdansk is on Sunday, so half of the roads in the city will be closed. Imagine the traffic jams then! I’m not even going to dare and do it. Spain is playing against Italy. That’s all I know. I’m not a football fan. Neither is my husband. I’m glad that we have Euro in Poland, a lot of positive changes in the country took place thanks to it. I’m glad that there are only four matches in Gdansk, though. The stadium is quite close to where I work. And I have to drive through the whole TriCity to get home. Luckily the matches are in the evening. All of them except for the first one, the one on Sunday. Hence our doubts. We’ll see. We’ll have to talk it through and then make the decision. Anyhow, read you next week!

Enjoy yourselves for the rest of the week! No matter if you have to work or you have days off.

We're already back... Leba!

Another work week has started and I don’t even know when. Time is flying sooo fast. I’ve got so many things to do, so many plans, so many things on my mind that I don’t know when one day is finishing and another is starting.I know I've been quiet for some time now. That time that is flying soo fast.


Not that long ago I’ve been preparing myself for Leba, getting ready, longing to go there, feeling that it’s still soo distant. And now we’re already back! Can’t be! And yet it’s true.

I must say that it was fantastic! It was sooo cold and sooo windy. Definitely not what one could expect from the first weekend of June. But still we managed to have a lot of fun. After all it’s all about the atmosphere, not about the weather, right? We saw some stuff, left other for the future. It has been our first visit to Leba, definitely not the last one. We both want to get back there some day. And we’re going to get back there this summer for sure.

I’m going to describe Leba later on, when I manage to browse through all the pictures I took there and choose some to show you. Now I can only say that Leba is a great place to spend time with children. Lots of facilities, lots of places where your children can have fun (on such a small piece of land that Leba occupies). Plus there are really loads of bike roads and routes there. Don’t think too much, just grab a bike (either your own or rent a bike in one of many bike rentals) and go see the marvelous nature views that Leba has to offer. Or simply walk all around it, if you’re more a walking than cycling kind of person. A perfect place for that as well!