Krakow - The Pope and the Prohibition

Friday
Despite an obscenely early start, Loreen, Felix, Linh, Henry, Claudine, Yang and I made it on our 7:35am flight to Krakow. Incidentally, our trip to Krakow coincided with Pope Benedict XVI's official visit which resulted in some last minute changes to my itinerary due to changes in opening times at Auschwitz-Birkenau and Wawel Castle. The taxi driver also informed us on the way to the apartment that due to the Pope's visit, Prohibition was in place and so we wouldn't be able to buy alcohol (as you can imagine, much was said about this in language not appropriate to be repeated here!).

After dropping our bags at the apartment we headed for lunch at a polish restaurant recommended by the taxi driver (where almost every dish had something deep fried) and then straight into sightseeing:

- Main Market Square, the centre of the old town and full of cafes, restaurants and shops in restored Palaces and Burghers' houses (pic. St Mary's Church where Pope Benedict XVI gave mass later that evening and where we stood outside for over 2 hours to catch a 2 second glimpse of him)



- Church of St Peter and St Paul



- Wawel Royal Castle, where Poland's kings resided (pic. Wawel Cathedral where Pope John Paul II celebrated his first mass as Bishop of Krakow)






- Polish bottle shop so that certain alcoholic members of the group could purchase Polish vodka and beer before the Prohibition started at 6pm

Saturday
Went to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest concentration and extermination camps within which the Nazi genocide took place. According to historical investigations, 1.5 million people, mainly Jews, were systematically starved, tortured and murdered in these camps. It really makes you wonder how people can be so intolerant of other races/religons that they could imposed such cruelty onto fellow human beings. The sheer size of the camps was just surreal as were the stories of the living conditions and human experiments, and the 2 tonnes of hair (which the Nazi's sold to textile companies to make cloth). "For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity" (pic. Train tracks at Birkenau where prisoners were transported for 'sorting' as workers or for immediate extermination)

Once back in Krakow, we walked around the Jewish Quarter and saw a few synagogues and then met up with Mariani and Errimy for dinner. Due to the Prohibition, we doubted that the bar/club scene would be very happening so ended up spending the evening back in the apartment having shots of cranberry and honey vodka that we purchased yesterday...nice end to the day don't you think?!

Sunday
Another early start with a visit to the Wieliczka Salt Mines, where we walked through tunnels and chambers 135 metres underground. (pic. Outside the Wieliczka Salt Mines)





On the way back from the Wieliczka Salt Mines, the taxi driver took us to Schindler's factory, where Oskar Schindler employed jews during WWII and through which he saved 1200 jews from the Nazi death camps. It is no longer operational but has two small exhibits on Oskar Schindler (the plan is to make the factory a holocaust related museum in the future). (pic. Outside Schindler's factory)





We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for souvenirs in the Cloth Hall and enjoying the sunshine (first time all weekend!) on the Main Market Square whilst having a coffee at Cafe Redolfi (Krakow's oldest cafe - 1823)

Our last dinner in Krakow was a jewish meal at Alef, where Steven Spielberg and his crew dined whilst they were filming Schindler's List. Food was great and cheap too. (pic1. Felix, Loreen, Me, Yang, Claudine) (pic2. Mariani, Errimy, Henry, Linh)

London - Yay I got a job!

This week started fantastically with 3 job offers in the space of 2 days...thank goodness as I was beginning to think there was something seriously wrong with me! Anyway, I decided to take a role at Shell as I thought it would be a good career decision given I will be coming back to Perth soonish. The downside of this role is that it is going to take me 1 hour to get to work compared to the Credit Suisse and Barclays role which were both based in Canary Wharf (yes, I am giving up being able to walk to work and to not smell people's armpits on the tube...).

We had dinner at Jane & Ed's on Monday so I finally got to see her apartment. Jane is such a good cook...who needs Viet Hoa when you have Jane cooking for you!

Dinner with Yang's cousins on his Dad's side at Four Seasons on Wednesday, which included watching the last half of the Champion League Cup final between Arsenal and Barcelona FC which was very exciting as Barcelona scored 2 great goals so close to the end to ultimately win the Cup.

Inspired by Jane's cooking on Monday, I went all the way to See Woo Oriental supermarket in Greenwich to buy groceries so I could try out her recipe myself. Used Sean, Loreen, Felix and Yang as guinea pigs on Thursday...I think it turned out okay as I saw them the next day and they didn't seem to be suffering from food poisoning!

Friday was my first day of work at Shell...almost fell asleep with the amount of reading they put in front of me...thankfully I had Corinne's leaving drinks that evening to look forward to! Check out Corin's Blog for more photos.

On Saturday, F&L, Linh, Kah Leng, Joe, Sean, Henry, Yang & I headed to Cambridge to celebrate Loreen's birthday. We stayed in a hotel by a canal called the Moat House Garden House (not sure who named that hotel, but I think they only needed the word 'house' once). We went for a walking tour around Cambridge and then went punting where the boys took turns in controlling the punt (some more successfully than others as there were several collisions with other punters and the canal walls along the way!).

- King's College and its famous Chapel (built by Henry VI and then finished by Henry VIII)




- Wren Library (named after Sir Christopher Wren who designed the Library and also designed most of London including St Pauls. The Wren Library is in Trinity College which is where Prince Charles studied)




- Joe waving to a punt that we were about to collide with during his 30 second turn at punting and Sean showing us how it should be done.








- Canals and St John's College interpretation of the Bridge of Sighs in Venice




After a busy day sightseeing, F&L, Linh, Kah Leng, Yang & I celebrated Loreen's birthday in style at the Midsummer House. The restaurant had 2 Michelin stars and the food and service were fantastic which was a great relief given how disappointing some Michelin star restaurants in London are.

London - Looking for work

Another week of meeting recruitment agents (and I can't emphasise how horrible they are to deal with, most dishonest bunch of people ever...they just try to talk you into everything) and going to actual interviews.

By the end of the week I was most depressed that I still hadn't got a job (well I was offered one role, but it was 1/2 hour out of London) so I cheered myself up by going shopping and buying a pair of shoes (and since Sean moved out on Saturday there is so much more space for shoes on the shoe rack!).

Saturday was mostly spent helping Sean move house and cleaning Sean's room after he moved. It was amazing how much he had accumulated in London in less than a year.

On Sunday, Yang went to the V&A for a special exhibition and then I met him for lunch at Oriental Canteen. After lunch we (well mainly I) went shopping around Knightsbridge and Sloane Square. Then met Henry at the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221b Baker Street:
1. Sonia in Sherlock Holme's bedroom
2. Yang smoking a pipe with Dr Watson
3. Henry on Sherlock Holme's commode



Conveniently, Darren and Kelly were having their leaving drinks next door at The Volunteer so we went over and had a few before having dinner at Base (also on Baker Street).

London - Catching up with friends weekend

It was great weather this week so on Friday we made the most of the sun and blue skies by having drinks outside at Via Fossa with Jane, Ed, Patrick (Jane & Ed's friend from Scandanavia), Thao, Will, Loreen and Felix. This was followed by dinner at Sri Nam, also in Canary Wharf so it made it really convenient for us to get home!

On Saturday we met Mariani, Errimy, Allison and Aaron for dim sum at Royal China. After dim sum, Allison, Aaron, Yang and I endeavoured to burn the calories we just digested by walking to Bond Street where I made Yang go into De Beers to scope out some 30th Birthday presents (yes, I am unfortunately turning 30 this year). We had Loreen and Felix over for dinner, I cooked Bak Ku Teh (1st time...it didn't taste quite right!) and then we all headed off to West India Quay for a drink at Beluga Cafe and to watch Mission Impossible III.

Finally on Sunday, we went over to Linh's for afternoon tea. Ming and Linh baked an absolute feast of pastries and sandwiches!

Malta - Yang learns to swim!

Whenever you mention that you are Australian to someone in Malta, they say "Do you know that there are more Maltese in Australia than there are in Malta?" But to set the record straight, this statement is not true and so I draw your attention to evidence contradicting this at http://www.aboutmalta.com/grazio/austmalt.html.

Unfortunately for us, early May wasn't the best time to visit Malta. Although the sun was out and the skies were very blue and clear (aaahh it reminds me of home!), there were still some strong winds which caused a few sightseeing hiccups along the way. So we spent quite a bit of time in the indoor pool at the hotel, which gave me the opportunity to finally teach Yang how to swim for more than 2 metres (I would put up photos but I don't think he would be impressed).

Main sights during our trip:
- Valletta (the capital city)

- Grand Harbour

- Ricasoli fort (where they shot scenes for the films Troy and the Count of Montecristo)

- Hypogeum (an underground burial site and UNESCO world heritage site)
- Tarxien Temples
- Sliema (Seaside Resort town)
- St Julians (Seaside Resort town where we stayed - Le Meridien St Julians)

- Spinola Bay (heaps of great restaurants here)

- Paceville (lots ot good pubs)
- Blue Grotto (famous for its sea caves - although we only walked the cliffs as the wind was too strong so they didn't have any boats taking people out)
- Comino (another island - but we only got to see it as the winds were too strong so we couldn't anchor on the blue lagoon as planned)
- St Paul's Bay (where we anchored and soaked up some sun, but Yang was afraid I was going to push him into the ocean with a life jacket on so he decided to dress in jeans and a jacket so that I wouldn't!)

- 40 lira cent gelataria on Coast Road, St Julians (cheap and good, I'm lov'in it!)
- 1960 Maltese buses