Skiing in Polish Mountains

I love winter! Like most of my friends, who live in Poland, we appreciate the most when it's snowy and white. And this is how it was this time during Christmas and just after it.

You don't need to ask us twice - Mario and I were born ready to skiing ;)

Together with our fantastic friends, we spent a lovely day at Laworta in Ustrzyki Dolne (Bieszczady mountains) in the South of Poland.

Here are some snapshots from this great trip.

M&M in a snowy land

four flat mates from Manchester: Łukasz, Mario, Marta, Aga

Men's team

Freaky Misiek showing off on his snowboard :)

stretching in groups

me with Mario's Dad

Also M&M: Mario and Makum

artistic skiing in pairs

like from some kind of fairly tale...

relaxing in the bar

It was a special day tanks to: Mario, his Dad, Łukasz, Aga, Makum, Misiek and Ewa
:*

Dreaming of a White Christmas in Poland...

For lots of us this time of year is special...not surprisingly, one may say: there is plenty of free time you can spend visiting your family, on fantastic sales in shops or just at home watching TV.

Yes, we all love Christmas, or should I say, Xmas time...

But here, in Poland this time of year means a true waiting for the baby Jesus to come to this world. Christmas gives us hope and joy and is a time of coming together...

Unique traditions and lots of symbolism are also here for people make this time even more special. Show me any other country like Poland that has more colorful traditions connected with Christmas.

Boże Narodzenie in Polish means literally 'a Birthday of the God' and this name of the festive time managed to stay unchanged for years. Just imagine how special and important this name is - here you don't celebrate some commercialized and enigmatic 'Xmas', rather you are happy because the God has come to our poor world to make it better place...Beautiful and joyous, isn't it?

bulbs - a must-be item on every Christmas tree

Here are some pictures from this year's celebration we had in Karaś Family in Poland. As most of Poles, we try to keep as much of the traditions as possible. And, you need to know, there are millions o them. Just imagine over 500 kept and regularly singing Christmas Carols or 12 traditional dishes served during Christmas Eve (24th December)...

a scene from Bethlehem
this one is hand-made version made by our friend

special night needs special setting - our Christmas table ready for 12 dishes

some hay and the wafer - Opłatek - traditions you'll find only in Poland

By sharing and breaking the wafer, we wish each other all the best and luck and we express hope that all the dreams for the New Year will come true. Everyone who comes to Poland during Christmas finds this tradition the most amazing and worth-copying in their home countries. For me it is a small gesture that means a world to my family!

Polish Christmas Tree - gold symbolizes wealth and red - love and joy

one of the twelve dishes we serve are Uszka - dumplings with mashrooms
always home-made on the Christmas Eve day

new tradition in my family - Mom is reading her own rhymed wishes
she prepared for the whole family

eating those 12 dishes takes time...

Santa (Święty Mikołaj) has also visited our house

happy like kids from their presents: Marta and Krzysiek

Mom with her present

Bonjour! ...Romantic Weekend Break in Nantes, France

There is a lot to say about France...and, no - I won't be bothering you with some of mine "fantastic stories" of this country. Here is to say chapeau bas! to one of France's beautiful city - Nantes.

If you are, as we were, planning to visit this vivid city, here are some insights for you with a very best wishes from M&M (Marta Karaś and Mariusz Andreasik) with a small request - please, send our greetings to Nantes ;)

Mario with his beloved croissant

As Mariusz (Mario) is always surprsing me with a sudden trip to a place we have never been before, this time wasn't odd. How easy is that? - just buy tickets online, reserve a hotel with a small help of Lonely Planet website and off you go!

A must-have item in Nantes!

For us it was a wonderful, romantic trip full of walking and sight-seeing. This city is definiately worth it, because of its historic buildings, small narrow streets full of bars, creperies, to mention but a few.

Autumn in Nantes is so lovely!

If ou are an amateur of admiring the city while using your own feet instead of public transport, there is a tip for you - find a hostel in the city centre...and here is a nice surprise - it's not so expensive. Drop me an email if you need more details ;)


Here is how we spent that intense, but very enjoyable weekend:

Day 1 (Saturday)
A nice little show of a (student) band playing wind-instruments in the Place Royal has definiately a power to turn you from being a tourist to feel familiarly in Nantes...

Every way good to make money - but those guys where amazing!

Nantes has welcomed us with some its most beautiful monuments. Passage Pommeraye packed with fantastic local shops, as well a the Theatre Grasil, on the other hand, help you to discover the rich history of this eautiful city.

in the Passage Pommeraye shopping is a pure luxury

But there was no chnage we could only stick to the uildings and monuments. As France is famous for its fantastic uniques cuisine, we simply needed to try some of those specialities. Local chocolateries are there for you to choose from tousands of types of French finest chocolate and galletas (biscuits and cookies).

Please, leave me there! ;)

Bulangeries and patiseries, on the other hand, offer great, warm and fresh bread and famous croissants. Mmmmm, if I could choose where I want to spend my day, I have tousands of ideas but would definiately start it in France, where the best baguettes and breads are!

Day 2 (Sunday)
Mario and I went for a lovely walk along the streets of Nantes and had a chance to get to know its long history.

Not bad at all - The Theatre

The best place to do it is to visit the famous Castle of the Dukes of Brittany, which is just in the city centre and then to discover a monumental St. Pierre's Cathedral of Nantes, that has been built for 'only' 400 years!

reminds me of Paris...

Perfection in every detail...after 400 years

Mario in a search of Autumn's remarks...

...he is in it but not alone...

bad girl!

Our exploration of Nantes has lead us to the old factory of LU biscuits, that has now being redesigned as a luxury bars, restaurants and SPA destination.

Mario and LU Tower - no cookies - sorry, folks!

The next stop was a house-museum o Jules Verne,a famous writer of many scince-ficton books. A long walk to get to the museum has payed off - the place gives you a bit of Verne's story of life and an overview of his creative activity in a light, easy-to-consume way.

Day 3 (Monday)
Since the famous Museum of Machines was closed - 'surprise, surprise' - on Monday ;) we only had a quick view on the massive Elephant, that 'lives' on the Island of Nantes. It's really enourmous and what's better - you can have a nice ride on it... just don't do the same mistake we did and do check the opening hours and dates :)

which one is the mechanic one? ;)

me in a circle of life

tell me, what you see?

Since my beloved football fan, Mario wanted to discover the stadium of FC Nantes, we also went there (just 14 stops by tram) ;) Then, the visit to the local Jardin du Plantes, became a 'cherry on this cake' we were having that day.

one big football fan and one small stadium

Go, FC Nantes!

peaceful in the park

M&M in the Jardin Botanico

hello!

***
Overall, that way fantastic idea to leave Manchester for a weekend and explore this friendly city with fantastic monumnets, building and restaurants! Higly recommended for a weekend break awy the city.

us... :)


Pictures from series: who's food is it anyway? ;)

in the Taverne du Chateau: finger-licking duck!

hell of a crepes with an oranges

in famous La Cigal where you are pampered by the food and the interiors

mozaic ceilling and walls in La Cigal

mmm...pure joy

Stuffed - in the Amour du Pomme du Terre (Love to the Potato)

The District is Ours! - Few Remarks About Visiting Poland

'The District is Ours!' informed a text somebody geneorously wrote on a road sign somewhere between Kraków (Cracov) and Rzeszów - my home city.

And the district was trully ours...ours because I wasn't traveling home alone that time. Poland has always surprised me - even though I am living there for 24 years now - all my life really - it can make you completely shocked and amazed. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but one can always be surprised here. And this is, what I think, make this country so worth comming back (visiting for the first time) all over again.


This is how it was this time, when I visited my country in October. One, accidentally met lady in an economic class of one of the cheap airlines, amazingly happened to tell me most of her private life, only for me to make a company to her in that brutal procedure of getting off and landing. It is amazing, I need to admit, how in moments of anxiety, and uncertainity Poles can really come together and help each other. I dare to say that we are in this even better than proud Americans or brave English.

Trully we can also make a new mates faster than anyone in this world! - after only 1 hour of waiting for my flight, during it and ater I met 4 fantastic people - all of them different from one another, every single one great and kind personality.

As a cup of coffee really tastes better while drinking in a company, I was being invited to have one with a young, skinny and tall gentleman, who happened to be in a British Army (curently, though, visiting his sister in Spain). This guy amazed me by his charisma and braveness. He really enjoyed thinking of war in Afganistan and his soon mission in this country! True respect to you, my friend.
But, since fear is just one of the human's items, he admited to me in a moment of openess, that he is a little scared to go there. 'Be brave! You're going to be fine' - I told him waving goodbye.

You heared about the lady in the plane I met - one lovely, but scared lady from Tarnobrzeg in the South-East of Poland. Through her, I met another two people - brother and sister who invited all of us to take a trip to our cities together....

And here is where the story about the district comes back - as we drove to Rzeszów, Tarnobrzeg and Biłgoraj, we made ourselves friends and realised that Poland trully is a nice and small place if we happened to have some of the same friends and even worked in the same place!

Poland once again has amazed me and you know what? - there really is no place like home!

Enjoy viiting my country :)
photo by: M. Sulka from photo.net