Just a quick recap.

Hi there. Remember me? Here, in the blogging sphere? I know I've been saying that I would get back to blogging. That I would make up for all the "lost" posts and write what I've been wanting to write for so long. But I haven't done any of that yet. It's not that nothing is happening. It's not that we're lying in beds all days long, belly up, doing absolutely nothing. But since covid is blocking so many things in our lives, it just felt strange to write about our adventures, be it present or past ones. 

The older kids are stuck at home back again. Have been for a few weeks now. Back to online schooling. The youngest is still going to preschool, with her own successes on the way. She's changing to a big big girl, and so fast! K. is still working from home, which is not going to change till the end of June, most likely. I'm going to my office, which is a five minute walk away from home, and I hardly meet anyone either in the building or on my way to/from work. We're spending a lot of time together as a family these days. More than we've ever spent together. More than we'll ever spent in the future, most likely. So although the pandemic itself is not welcome by anyone (I guess), we should make the most of the time we are given. Get to know each other more. More in depth. Appreciate the lack of commute. See more of what's local instead of the distant places we often tend to long for more. Work more on your other hobbies and passions (mine include crocheting, cardmaking, playing board games, among others. Just for the record ;)). Oh, and I'm cooking and baking more than I used to (as in: before I quit my full-time job) and finding much more pleasure in it. So, yeah, there are some good sides to this year, too :)

Oh, yes. And I dyed my hair purple. It's washing out quickly already, so I'll get back to my brighter hair colour soon, so I'm taking in every minute as it still lasts :) Yes, I like this colour a lot, yes I feel good in purple hair, it's just too demanding. I mean I have to redo the colour way too often for the colour to look really rich. 

I'm still working on spending my evenings writing some new posts on our past travels. Obviously, because of the pandemic, we didn;t go anywhere far this year. But we're still trying to make the most of this year. Our this year's Eurotrip changed into Poltrip (or Polandtrip), with much focus natural sights, but not only, of course. It was warm, mostly sunny and great. A totally different experience for us. The kids enjoyed themselves a lot, but towards the end they said that what they missed the most was the tent experience. Yes, we rented flats on our way, instead of taking a tent with us (weather here is too unstable for my taste. And while we were enjoying ourselves on our roadtrip having amazing weather, my parents, just 300-400 kms away from us, had it cold and rainy. Yes, the weather can change overnight. And even though I still remember it being just 9 degrees in Croatia mid-August at noon a few years back - who would have known, I know! - usually it is more predictable). We also go to Hel as often as we can. For weekends mostly. And every other weekend (or at least the kids try to go every other weekend, mainly with my parents, while we reorganise various places at home. Last time - girls' room. Now it looks totally different. As they themselves say - it looks much cleaner now. I'm proud that they can appreciate it, too). 

Ok, so that's basically it for now. Only a quick recap of the last few months. 

 

That's us in Hel in mid-October.

Hi, there! Remember me?

It's been a long while since the last time I wrote anything around here. To be honest, life caught me. And caught me hard. Having three kids with so much different needs, and different levels of development plus a full time job and some other passions was just too much. The things I was doing started feeling more like being obliged to do them than feeling pleasure from doing them. Besides, after a long day at work, then an afternoon with the kids (schoolwork, play time, cooking, bath time and anything else you might want to add to the list), I didn't feel like spending the evening sitting in front of the screen trying to be any kind of creative. Taking this long hiatus from blogging was what I really needed. And even though I treat this blog more like a diary, a solid collection of the places we visited combined with our memories, adventures and things we (dis)liked in various places, I wanted to feel excited, happy, passionate when writing the posts. So that when I read them a few months or years later, I still enjoy what I'm reading and not feel the pain I felt writing them.

That being said, a lot of things changed this year. 2020 hit us with so many various things. The obvious one being the pandemic and spending most of our times at home. Getting familiar with online schooling. Getting to know each other in ways we didn't know each other before.I am among the happy ones who can leave their homes every morning and go to work. It's especially important for my mental health, and I'm very much aware of it. Plus, I left my job of almost ten years basically overnight at the beginning of January. I decided it was time to leave. Although I very much appreciate the last year at my work and all the things we managed to organise, all the goals we reached, tasks we fulfilled, our team broke into pieces. And nothing was even remotely similar. Nothing more could be done. That was it for me. Getting back to the previous standards was no longer an option once I tried something else. So, now, I'm doing something totally different, working a new job, getting new skills. It's all so fascinating, so new. New people, new tasks, new responsibilities. No commute! since we have our office ten-minute-walk away from our home, which is awesome (I used to spend about 3 hours in a car going to and from work, so that's a huge change).

Both our older kids are already at school and the youngest is in preschool. Ok, that's what it should look like. For now, the older two are online schooling, though holidays start in less than two weeks. And they're already going to spend the last week of school (next week that is) with their grandparents away from home. Or in their second home, as they actually see it. The youngest got back to preschool last week after a long break caused by coronavirus. We're trying as we can to get back to normal, if that is still possible. We'll see how far we can get in the nearest future.

For the upcoming posts, I'm going to take you back in time. At least mostly. I'll probably try to sneak in some present day comments or short get aways, but for now, I mostly want to make up for the places we visited some time ago. Just to keep it in some kind of chronological order. At least for most part. Our trip through Slovenia from 2018 ain't over yet, so say the least. I barely started that one. And during that trip we also managed to spend three days in Croatia and 3-4 days in Italy. So there's still a lot to tell. How we got totally cold in Croatia in mid-August. How we got lost in Venice. How we got to Sirmione and had no idea what we missed. Yeah, there's still a few stories to tell. 2019, on the other hand, took us to the western end of the European continent. We spent most of our time in France, but not entirely. As usual, we tend to spend 1-2 nights in a given place and then move forward.

We still don't know what we're going to do this year. On one hand, it's so tempting to continue travelling our way. Through Europe. On the other, as most people this year, we'll probably stick to our own country. Poland has a lot to offer and there are still many places in our own country that we haven't seen yet (be it separately or together). For now, we're trying some day trips around our area (ok, we had one. The second one didn't make it due to family issues, but that's a whole other story, not really for the blog. Next ones will happen, I'm sure of that).

Ok, so that's basically it as for a quick catch up after this long pause.I hope I will manage to stick to what I have planned for myself ;)

A rainy day in a cave

After the first two nights spent in Czech Republic and Austria, we were ready to cross the Slovenian border. 

We had no idea where we wanted to stop and if we wanted to stay at one campsite for the whole time in Slovenia or change it somewhere on the way. We had some idea that the best place to stay for us would be somewhere in the area between Postojna, Ljubljana and Bled.  So we kept driving forth, passing by Maribor (hey, we’ll come back to see you), Ljubljana (we’ll be back to see you, too), until we realised that, hey, it’s time to choose our destination! Cause if we keep driving, we’ll end up either in the Adriatic Sea or in Croatia or Italy. No bad (I mean the last two, cause driving a car into the sea, any sea, isn’t that good an idea). So we stopped on one of the resting places along the highway. Probably not far from the exit to Postojna, as there was a train truck there advertising Postojna Caves.

Anyway, while the kids were running around, trying to get rid of the energy they were accumulating since we left the last campsite, we were trying to figure out where we want to spend the next few nights. At last, we decided that the campsite in Ljubljana looks promising. And since it’s situated close to highways, it would be a good starting point for sightseeing in any direction. We got back into the car and drove back to Ljubljana. Luckily, they had a free spot for the ten nights we decided to spend there. The pit was shadowed, so it wasn’t getting too hot in the tent, close to the sanitary area and the playground.

We spent the afternoon setting up the tent, organising our things and getting to know the area. We also went for a walk along the river, which was right behind the campsite’s fence. Any drawbacks? Yes, the train line connecting Ljubljana with the surrounding areas, also right off the campsite’s fence. It was loud every time the train was passing. Not to mention the sound signals. But after some time, we even got used to that. 

Our first night in Ljubljana was… wet. It started raining in the evening, around 9-10 p.m., if I remember correctly. And stopped around 8:30 in the morning. And it was really pouring rain, with three-four thunderstorms on the way, without a break. We ate breakfast in the tent. Everything was wet and we had a huge pond right at the entrance to our tent. Ok, a tiny little bit to the side, which allowed us to even leave the tent. Luckily, we had no water inside. But what can you do on such an uncertain (weather-wise) day? Seeing any landscapes in heavy rainfall – not so much. But what is Slovenia famous for? Yes, you’re right! Caves!

We weren’t planning to hit the caves right for the start. But the choice was pretty obvious. The choice was between Skocjan Caves and Postojna Cave. We chose the latter, as it was closer. We drove to Postojna, parked the car at the huge car park ready to take in the tourists. M. was asleep, so K. went to stand in line, while me and the kids stayed in the car. We waited until the baby woke up and joined K. then. We didn’t book the tickets online (we could have done it while standing in that line, too, I know), so we spent a few hours in the line. Once we got the tickets, we still had about two hours to wait for our turn. We wanted to grab something to eat, but all the places in the restaurants were (surprisingly) full, as it was lunch time. We bought some crepes, and it was basically our time to get into the cave. I only wrapped up the baby and put her down to sleep. That way, she wasn’t bored, and we could all enjoy the beauty of the cave. And there was a lot to feast our eyes on.

First, you ride in a tiny train. It takes a few minutes. Then you walk for another hour or something and you leave the cave by riding that tiny train again. Once you get into the cave, you have a guide that’s leading your way and telling you the story of the cave. I have to say that the guide is rushing and trying to make you run through the cave instead of helping you appreciate it. Their job, most likely, especially if they want to squeeze in all the tourists willing to see the cave, but also annoying. Once you wait half the day to be able to get into the cave, you wish for a little bit more time inside. Or at least no rush.

Apart from the amazing rock formations, stalactites, stalagmites in various shapes and colours (our imaginations were bursting with ideas of what we’re looking at. And I can’t tell you how many Elsa’s castles we saw there…), at the end of the tour, you get to see human fish. In my opinion, seeing them and listening about them, was the most interesting part of the visit to Postojna Cave when it comes to our guide’s involvement. Human fish are creatures living in the darkest parts of the cave. And our guide talked about them with interest and passion. They live in water, their skin colour resembles that of humans (hence the name), although it has no pigmentation. It doesn’t have eyes, but its other senses are better developed. We not only got to see the adults in the aquarium in the last chamber (they change the ones in the aquarium often, so that they can get back to their natural habitat), but we also got to see the newborns on the screens (they were in the laboratory). So it was very interesting.

We got out of the cave only to see that the skies were getting greyer again, no sun anymore, and it was starting to rain again. We got to the shuttle bus that took us to one more place we intended to visit once in Postojna – to Predjama castle. Predjama is a castle built (as the name suggests) on the entrance to a cave. It looks as though it is glued to a huge rock forming a hill. Or part of it, really. Looks amazing from the path leading to its entrance. If you have a combined ticket with Postojna Caves, you don’t need to buy a new one, of course, so you don’t have to wait in line for the ticket. Just pass through the gates scanning your tickets on the way. We had no guided tour. If I remember correctly, audio guides were available at the entrance, but I can’t be sure since we didn’t take any anyway. We just wanted to take a look into the halls of this peculiar castle. And yes, you can enter the cave as well. The look from the cave onto the surroundings is pretty amazing. Even though it was raining, it was dark and cloudy, it still looked pretty good.

Spending our time in and around Graz

Havingspent the first night of our #Eurotrip2018 in Czech Republic, we were ready to continue our road trip and head over to our next stop. The plan was to spend the night in Graz, Austria. 

Before #Eurotrip2016, we bought a book on campsites in Europe. It’s a German thing, giving details on various campsites in most European countries. Of course, Germany is most represented in the book, but each (or almost every) European country has a section dedicated to its own campsites. 

Anyway, we found a campsite in Graz. Happy, we directed our steps in its direction. When we finally got there, it turned out that, true, there is a campsite, but it is tiny and serves only motorhomes. And, to make things worse, that was the only campsite marked in the book in the area. No worries, no worries. We took our navigation that has already saved our butts in Northern Spain, and found yet another campsite, close to the highway, a little off Graz. 

We got to the spot where there was supposed to be that navigation mentioned campsite… What we saw were some gates, a huge car park right behind them and a huge building that looked like a swimming pool. Were we in the right place? Where are the tents? Or at least motorhomes?  We parked the car somewhere on the side and K. went to the people sitting at the gates to ask for the campsite. Luckily, we were at the right place. And yes, they have a free spot for a tent. Score! What we had to do was to only follow a car that would take us to our spot. We drove through recreation areas by a lake all the way up to the campsite. It took a few minutes. The pitch was small, but on grass. In the open sun (at it was around 30 Celsius), but a 5 minute walk from that lake. The lake was artificial, if I remember correctly, but it was well organised. With a few playgrounds and places for kids to play. With water equipment renting places, bars and restaurants. And it wasn’t too expensive either. 

We spent the early afternoon by the lake. The kids with K. were swimming and playing in the lake. Once they were tired, we decided to get changed and head over to Graz. We were still planning to see the town. 

We got there around 4 p.m., so it was still quite early. Finding a free parking spot wasn’t too difficult, as there are quite a few underground car parks. We took a walk to the old town square. The houses were beautifully ornamented, packed one next to another in the tiny streets and secret passages. We had delicious ice cream and decided to walk up the hill to the clock tower, which was lurking at us strolling through the narrow streets. 

The way up iis… interesting. At least from the side where we got. You can easily get all the way to the top with a stroller (checked, the kid survived) and the path goes through a park. At the bottom of the hill there is a passage leading to the other side of the hill through a tunnel. There used to be shelters in case of bombing in that tunnel. 

We got up to the hill, up to that clock tower and were actually surprised how tiny it was. I mean, you usually see a tower mounting proudly over the surrounding area. And this one… is also mounting proudly over the area but by being on the verge of the hill top. Up there, it looks as if somebody stepped on it and pushed it inside the hill. It still is beautiful, though. And the view over Graz is amazing. There are benches next to the clock tower where you can sit, rest a little and simply stare at it. Or the people around you. Or read a book. Or do anything else for that matter :)

 We went back down and through the tunnel to the other side of the hill. Walked down the narrow streets until we got to a small playground, where the kids finally got a chance to play. After a little while, we got back to the car and then to the campsite. It was already getting dark. Finally, the following the, we were ready to cross the Slovenian border.