After many talks about where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see, we decided that John, I and the kids would meet them in Wroclaw, Poland and travel together to Budapest and Vienna. I have separated the next few blogs into each of the cities individually.
Not many people think about going to Poland for Holiday. It is not on my long list, but Wroclaw is such a lovely, small city. You only need a couple days to experience the charm of the city. The main attraction is the Market Square. John says it is one of the coolest Town Squares you can see. Compared to most of the city, the colors of the buildings are vibrant and full of character. Everyone is excited to be out and people are eating all over.
Market Square started being built in 1200's
Wroclaw Town Hall started at end of 13th Century and built over 250 years.
I have heard that the USA was very excited for the World Cup, but I do think there is something special to be in Europe during this time. Everywhere you turned TV's were on and people were glued. On Saturday, they built a soccer field in the Market Square and had a soccer tournament for everyone to watch.
We stayed at a wonderful clean hotel Radisson Blu. It was about a 5 minute walk to the Market Square. The rooms were American style with nice beds and large bathrooms. The breakfast was awesome. I can not stress enough to get the breakfast included into your stay when traveling with kids. Eastern Europe is very big into glass water bottles that won't brake your bank. Every time we ordered water they would bring glass bottles. Loved it!
The hotel backs up to one of the Art Universities
Ava was so excited to see my parents. I don't think she quite understood it until we got our luggage and she saw my parents waiting. She was laughing with the biggest smile on her face. The airport in Wroclaw is modern and clean.
John Luke's favorite new thing to do is give Kisses!! They are great too because they aren't too wet!
Since Wroclaw is a smaller town it was nice to just really relax. We got to spend time with Bob and Gayla. I was really happy to see them.
Glasgow is not a place you can find good sushi/Japanese food. I haven't had any Japanese food since we moved here:( One of our first lunches we ate was Sushi and it was wonderful.
In every culture you can ask for a great place to eat and they will say to go eat at this Italian place, and that is what we did! In an Italian restaurant you can always get a Greek Salad, I know funny, but really in all 3 cities we went the Greek Salads were incredible. The Feta cheese was nice and creamy. The dressing was just enough.
Ava got to go on a carriage ride. My Dad named the horse Pedro. The next day, she got to go on another one and my Dad named him Pancho. You can imagine what she talked about for the whole trip!
We had to shop. Now that the Pound to the Dollar is at a 7-year high, I feel like when we go to other countries we are getting a deal! Your money really goes far in Poland.
This restaurant claims to be the oldest one in Europe from 1273. Piwnica Swidnicka
If you look on Trip Advisor one of the top attractions are these Dwarfs. They are all over the city. Ava and John Luke loved them:) I think John did too!
Below is a picture of the church Dietrich Bonhoeffer grew up in. He is very popular in the Christian world writing The Cost of Discipleship. He was an activist against the Nazi Regime. He was killed in one the Concentration Camps two weeks before the Allied forces liberated the camp and just three weeks after Hitler's suicide. Poland was mostly Lutheran, but after the communist fell it is now 98% Catholic.
On Sunday, we went to the church and saw the high school students from our church in Arizona. 52 students went! They all had such a great time and great attitudes after being away for 2 weeks.
My nephew Tanner was a part of the high school students and Ava was overjoyed to see him. He left with us to go to Budapest. By the end of our trip John Luke and him were best buds.
We decided to take an overnight train from Wroclaw to Budapest. John and I did it years ago and vowed that we would never do one again, but there wasn't an easy way to get from Wroclaw to Budapest. We could drive but I couldn't figure out how to rent a car in one country and drop it off in another. I am so thankful to the Pastor of the church in Wroclaw because he knew someone at the hotel and we got to check out really late which allowed the kids to nap. And did the good Lord know we needed that:)
The Polish train company was extremely helpful with all my questions via email and getting me the tickets.
No comments:
Post a Comment