Florence: Day 2

I mentioned something in my first post on Florence that I need to expand upon a little to begin.  The SD card that stores the pictures on my camera died this weekend.  Getting the photos off after Florence: Day 1 was a little scary, so I made sure I had everything and then formatted the drive.  I took a couple practice shots and thought everything was good.  Not so.  I'm afraid at present, all my photos from the second day in and around Florence are gone.  I also don't have many phone shots for this time, since I had anticipated no WiFi access throughout and thus it made more sense to get the better photos on the actual camera. What I now lack in photos, I will make up for in links and descriptions.  Apologies...

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Florence: Day 1

What a day in Florence! First of all, my Facebook contest fizzled.  I've been outsmarted by the location tracking system on Facebook. So, my first clue was also followed by "in Florence, Tuscany", which made the geography game a bit of a wash.  The delay in posting has been due to difficulties with my internet connection and lack of free time, however. The hotel I stayed at, Il Bargellino, blurs the line between hotel and hostel.  I had no toilet, but I did have a shower and sink.  The toilet was upstairs, and there wasn't been any problem with getting access to it.  I also had no air conditioning, and Florence is fairly warm, but I'm honestly pretty used to it after spending so much time in Krakow.  Still, some...

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Festivals!

Some of you may have noticed that it's been awhile since you've heard from me on this blog.  Simply put, Laurel has been living a much more exciting life than I have been the past few weeks.  While I've been mostly working, Laurel had been trying her best to become Krakow's most over-qualified tour guide by learning every fact at every museum in Krakow.  Now that she's back stateside, I'll have to start living a more exciting life and posting more. This weekend has two simultaneous festivals going on in Krakow: the pierogi festival and the lazy summer festival. The pierogi festival is just amazing.  It's not overly-large, with about 15 vendors of pierogi.  However, there is a tremendous amount of variety in that pierogi....

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Re-Re-Entry: Hitting the Ground Running

I haven't posted for the last couple of days because the craziness of my internship offers and beginning work has consumed most of my time.  If you don't know the story, the short version is I had three offers to choose from by the night before I left Poland, and I had to interview, choose, and start orientation all within 36 hours of getting home.  I really couldn't ask for better, though.  I am actually thankful that I've had some structure in these past two days and something to get up for in the mornings.  Otherwise, I think I would have gone crazy in the house by myself and with trying to figure out what I needed to do next. It feels different coming back this time than last time.  Maybe it makes a difference being out of the country twice as long.  Here's...

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Return to Zakopane

v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} What a last weekend I had!  So much fun, but so much energy required! Our friends from the UK, Quartny and Sagar, arrived in Kraków on Friday, and I showed them around town.  Andy joined us when he was done with work.  I'm glad they really enjoyed seeing Wawel castle and some other parts of the Old Town (perhaps a little too much, as they really took to Polish vodka). After exploring a little more of the city on Saturday, we left for Zakopane by bus late Saturday afternoon.  Andy's experience from making this trip last year helped the entire process go smoothly.  We have...

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Chocolate Chip Cookies

As promised, I have an update from last weekend.  Although it was very hot, Andy and I had a fun couple of days.  Saturday we got to do two fun, touristy activities we had been waiting for an opportunity to do.  One of them was a riverboat cruise on the Vistula. The other was the Hi-Flyer Balloon.  At a maximum height of 180 m, it gave great views of the city.  I thought it was even better than the views from Kościuszko Mound, because it was right in the center of the city instead of far out to one side. Sunday's main goal was to make the chocolate chip cookies Andy had been planning since we arrived in Poland!  We finally had gathered all the ingredients, and it was time to use the vanilla extract...

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