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show me your neighborhood
have you ever wanted to take a peek into the neighborhoods’ of others all around the world? i do and i love seeing where other people live. finally it’s my turn to show you my current neighborhood in české budějovice, czech republic (where i’ve been since january 2013) through the show me your neighborhood around the world project. the rules state that i must include photos of these six things: a school, a typical method of transportation, a playground, a supermarket, a street nearby, and a typical house or building. the thing i like most about living in budějica is that everything i need is so central and that i can walk to work…
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what to do in český krumlov
kicking off czech week with a spotlight on everyone’s favorite (myself included) little medieval czech town, the UNESCO heritage protected and perfectly picturesque český krumlov (chess-key kroom-loav), located in south bohemia. a czech friend once told me that all visitors to the czech republic should check out both prague and krumlov before heading out– how can you really get to know a country without visiting a different region and a piece of small town life? i also have to credit it with the main reason we decided to move down to this region– i had been here before and i knew south bohemia was beautiful and probably a good place to live in.…
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the american old west… in germany
a week ago, i popped into germany for a day to visit a nice little town called pullman city. the name doesn’t exactly sound very german because it’s actually an american westernstadt theme park, located in south-east bavaria just north of passau. the theme of an old-western american city from the 18th and 19th centuries is very strictly kept to. needless to say, i was really looking forward to this trip. i have been to the bavarian-themed village leavenworth in washington state many times, but this was actually the very opposite: an old american village in bavaria! (mind explosion) and a very popular one at that. if you’ve spent any time in…
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how to live abroad (short-term)
the most exhilarating thing i have ever done was quit my day job of four years. it was four very important years of my life, but still four years grueling early mornings and late nights that i am happy to have moved on from. a couple months later, i found myself living in scotland (temporarily) and had no end-date, besides when my money or visa ran out. before this, i desperately wanted to live abroad. so much that i knew i couldn’t even think about doing anything else before that dream was accomplished.but did you know there are ways to live abroad (from anywhere to a couple weeks to a…
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Whimsical Toruń
toruń, poland (a UNESCO heritage designated city) was just a hop and a skip away from warsaw on polski bus (which was actually early. what?!) and we arrived to this cute little town with the whole afternoon ahead of us! toruń is sort of a smaller kraków. the česky krumlov of poland, if you will. it’s incredibly tourist friendly and is the kind of place that invites lingering with an ice cream cone on a bench and people watching. there is ample signage all over and a couple of museums dedicated to the two things toruń is famous for: its gingerbread (piernika) and its famous scientist, copernicus, who was born here. but if you’re…
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A Bit of Wroclaw & Bus Madness
and now, for the continuing saga of cynthia’s polish odyssey. after pulling ourselves away from the wonderful tatras region, it was time to move on to bigger and busier places. and the best way to do this: polski bus. i’d heard a bit about the quality of poland’s roads and was eager to find out for myself first hand. polish rail is pretty affordable, but polski bus tickets are half the price of the train, sometimes lower. with comfortable seats, a toilet and free wifi on board, the decision was made. what i didn’t expect was the mad rush that occurred when the bus pulled up to the station in…
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Sunday Cookin’: Borscht Soup
this week was full of downtime compared to the weeks that are to come, so i wanted to make sure to cook a lot of healthy and delicious meals. and man, did i ever. i picked up a couple of beets at the farmers’ market last weekend specifically with the intention of making a huge pot of borscht for the coming week. you know, that funny pink eastern european soup that nobody really seems to like. well, after eating my way through poland last month, i vowed that i would make my own after i got home. i found polish barszcz to be a bit sweeter and more brothy than i…
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The Day When (Almost) Nothing Went Right in Warsaw
a few days ago i shared my perfect monday in berlin, so it seems only right to balance that out with a travel day that was quite the opposite. i had such high hopes for my last day in warsaw. you know how last days are– a final chance to fit in all the things that you’ve learned about in the first couple days. unfortunately, the day turned into an almost laughable example of a travel day gone awry. sure, we weren’t actually travelling this day and the weather was quite good so i admit it could’ve been much worse. i really enjoyed parts of this day but even then it…
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best monday
about two weeks ago, i had one of the best mondays ever. i can’t say the best monday because one monday in scotland i visited the oban distillery at 10am. and another monday in scotland i went to the isle of eigg for the day, which was one of my all-time favorite days, period. but two mondays ago in berlin… that comes relatively close. finally got out of bed about 10:00 after lazing around reading for a bit. breakfast time. about 11:30, walked to volkspark hasenheide to play mini-golf! one of my absolutely favorite vacation activities: nothing says “i’m on holiday” quite like mini-golf. the weather was nice and sunny, with only…
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First Day in Warsaw
i’ve been jonesing to go to warsaw for years now. there’s so many preconceived ideas of what it’s like there and i couldn’t wait to see it for myself. to best appreciate warsaw, you have to take into account it’s strange history. it looks so new in many areas because almost the entire city had to be rebuilt from the ground up. this is why to me, it seems so much of a modern mish-mash. i still don’t quite know what warsaw wants to communicate to the world; what it wants its grand message to be. (below, the famous palm tree) it’s not necessarily the grey dreary city you’d always…
