Late last night we had parked by the large Jordana park on the edge of the city so that this morning we were all set for a Sunday morning stroll.
Armed with masses of treats I wanted to try some off lead recall training as there are so few places where they are allowed to run free. The gang met a beautiful 10 month old Belgian Malinois, and Ernest was well matched and enjoyed a bounce, chase and scramble. Its the one time I’ve seen him lose interest in food, and at the end he was shattered. Apologies no photos, I was too busy watching them play, and distracting grumbleweed Mabel from charging in.
Mark and I then fancied breakfast out but realised a running event was taking place – how frustrating for them to be running past the van and me not taking part!
Still we chanced a table at Zaczyn and while Mark went down the bun route, I had the most scrumptious sesame seed spread, pumpkin puree and red currant on toast creation…foodie heaven 😋
This afternoon I have been journaling, goal setting and planning while sat out in the sun. As reward for working we fancied a Good Lood ice cream but the stall next to us had a 50+ person queue so we decided to walk the 1hr round trip to go to the less busy one…that must have burnt off at least half the calories of my delectable pear and cinnamon vegan ice cream 🤣
This evening I’ve made an ‘All your greens’ healthy pasta dish and we will be revisiting the pinball machine museum…I just love that it exists and it will be a great end to the week.
Today we got the news we had been waiting for. Mabels autopsy results came back negative and her lumps are benign. This called for an extra long walk, excess cuddles and a smelly pig trotter as celebration (yep I’m vegan and still feed my pups the most disgusting treats because they go crazy for them).
With this being our third time in Krakow, and our longest stay, we have walked the streets for miles. Our flag map of visited destinations is nicely spread out but we are still finding new areas to explore. Today I took us further east to Park Strzelecki, to see a striking sculpture called Pomnik Ignacego Paderewskiego and then on to Wesoła Cafe for the best brunch and coffee we have had in months. My veg plate of bread and homemade spreads was so tasty and filling, if left to me I’d be back for more tomorrow 🤣
We continued our walk/waddle to see an usual Mozaika Wyspiański which decorated an underpass and passed a huge palm tree in a greenhouse at the Botanical University – it looked like it had been built just for that single tree. Poor Mark thought we were then heading back to the centre but I’d found another board game cafe so sneakily took him there.
Hex is the most amazing ridiculously hidden little gem. We passed the black door three times, and the only clue was the word Hex scribbled on a flat door buzzer next to all the other flat names. I’m so glad we found it though as it’s got a great bar and hundreds of board games, including some English copies. It was a lovely rest stop – the dogs had water, Mark had a beer, I had my first iced tonic expresso and we played the weird but wonderful Bears vs Babies.
Emerging from the darkness of the cafe, it was a warm bright afternoon so we took the pups back to the van for a sleep (via a water fountain so Ernest could play). Then Mark and I ventured out again with the aim of sitting and reading outside a cafe. We tried Cafe Kiosk but we both fancied iced lattes and she was out of ice, but she did give me a brilliant recommendation for a local tattoo artist. Instead we found Metaforma Cafe which was nice enough, and had lots of outdoor seating. We ended up chatting through a Tim Ferriss Dreamlines exercise we had completed and have each chosen a couple of different aspirations to focus on.
We then pottered over to Black Mood Tattoo Studio to talk to Jakob (insta @pilgrim77tattoo) about a design based on a Karl Newson painting that I’ve been contemplating for ages (cookies, space, astronaut and space dog Mabel…what’s not to love?!). As this would be my first, he instantly put me at ease and made such a great first impression. Unfortunately he is off to Edinburgh tonight and not back until the 21st so I’d have to make a forth trip to Krakow if I wanted him to do it 🤣 There are also a few scale issues with my design unless I want a massive tattoo- which I don’t. I think I’m going to ask him to design something and make a special trip back, if not this year then definitely next.
After yet more walking to find GoodLood ice cream (it’s the best!), we nipped back to the van, took the pups for another walk and then opted for dinner at the polish vegan burger chain Krowarzywa. Although it took a while to be served, it was delicious and much nicer with far more choice than the one we had previously at Free Farma, though its definitely more of a fast food diner.
This evening we are snuggled up with the pups reading and writing. We are so lucky to be living this life, and I really can’t ask for more ❤
While it looks like we will be in Krakow until Tuesday waiting for Mabels biopsy results, we continue to explore Krakow and on our third attempt managed to eat out at Zaczyn vegan bakery.
Its tiny, only does a couple of freshly made options (a bun or bread with spread), but what it does it delicious. We both had the plum brioche bun but I was lusting over the bread and spread when I saw it…we might have to go back. I also liked that they advised Mark against putting milk in his coffee as it would ruin the coffee. A quality brew is best served black.
Happily fueled we continued our walk to the Kościuszko Mound which is made up of soil from different areas of Poland. Come on manx friends tell me this doesn’t remind you of Tynwald Hill!
By the time we got back to the van we had been out for three hours and the pups were knackered…well two of them were. Our Duracell puppy has unlimited energy 🤣
I’m in full soup making mode at the moment – a huge perk of the colder weather. With bellies full of spicy tomato soup Mark and I ventured to the poster museum, which is really more of a shop but did have some nice designs.
Playing on my mind all day was my final meeting call with my nutrition/fitness coach this evening. Since completing my marathon I’ve slipped further and further off the bandwagon and last night I had contacted him in tears that yet again I’d entered self sabotage mode and undone all the hard work of previous weeks. You can probably tell from the blogs I’ve been eating all the cake and skipping workouts 🙈
This led Mark and I to have a long discussion about why I have such low confidence and self worth when it comes to how I look. Its been something I have always struggled with and usually I can just avoid thinking about it. However today is the end of my program and instead of feeling happy with myself I felt disappointed. Having reached my goals early in 9 weeks rather than 12 I have spent the last three weeks unravelling my new positive eating habits by binge eating (even while doing a mindful eating course!). Its so hard for Mark to understand as he doesn’t see me in the way that I see myself. He is much more positive, and self assured.
Ultimately my coach thinks I may have been suffering a little impostor syndrome, where I don’t feel worthy of the success I’d had. This being despite me choosing my goals, implementing new habits and achieving so much as a result.
It also seems that once I’d done the marathon (the marathon was a 12month goal and I surprised everyone, myself included), my goals no longer lined up so I wasn’t working towards anything concrete. Its also easier to reach for cake and comfort eat than tackle the route causes of my poor self image.
But I have to thank both Dean and Mark, they have picked me up again. Mark always supports me in everything I do (both sensible and mad), and will help me any way he can. Dean has helped me develop new goals, motivated me to continue the habits I enjoy and recommended a great book about self image (Psyco-Cybernetics). Until I’m earning again I will have to go it alone, but I hope to work with him again in the future and highly recommend (Dean Myers – Primal Tribe).
This rollercoaster of emotions is just part and parcel of the journey. Each day I work at bettering myself both inside and out ❤
As the pups were all asleep on the sofa, I snuck back into the main bed with Mark and was dead to the world in seconds…not noticing Ernest and Mabel sneaking in to join us a short while later. So while I woke up 8 hours later all cheery, Mark is yawning…think we will be relegated to the sofa again 🤣
The garage Elcamp was meant to be closed today, but bless them they were working on our van for 4 hours fixing the brake disks, pads and cylinder – we are now safe to drive again! While they were working we did another 2 hour walk with the pups and found a new cafe called Coffee Walk which had freshly baked cookies and pastries, then sat in reception reading our books. We are so thankful; they have done an amazing job squeezing us into a full diary and even gifted us a free bottle of toilet blue. We highly recommend.
With one job done, we had a celebration late lunch at Las Veges – a lovely little vegetarian restaurant on the outskirts of Krakow. We had the set meal of homemade lemonade, cauliflower soup followed by veggie goulash and mashed potato. Mark was so excited to have mashed potato as it’s our first time since leaving England almost 5 months ago 🤣 It worked out at £5 each, I really can’t get over how affordable eating out is.
That left the evil task of sorting my dead phone out. We tried three phone repair shops before conceding that it was truly dead. Mark had suspected as much last night and started researching new phones. Phone shopping is my idea of hell as I’m a complete luddite and really don’t care how fancy it looks. I just want a good camera, battery life and a place for my apps to live, I’ve no idea why phone have tobe so expensive. I let Mark lead the conversation with the salesman, they suggested a Samsung A70 and I said yes in blue please. I then spent more money protecting the poor thing as I’m prone to dropping my phone, so it’s got extra screen protection and a spigens ultimate case…if I brake this I will cry. But woohoo I’m reconnected with the world 😄
This called for more celebration in the form of a Good Lood cherry and banana ice cream and then an after dinner cherry/chocolate polish doughnut! I really must get back on my fitness and healthy eating soon. Krakow is such a tasty bad influence.
I spent the evening getting to grips with my phone and playing virtual rapidough with my niece – basically charades over WhatsApp where I tried to be a fountain pen, vase, baseball cap and other random objects with hilarious results.
At some point we need to leave Krakow and head to warmer climes (now considering Portugal or Morocco for winter as Greece is supposedly cold and wet). Thinking the pile of laundry will keep us here an extra day, then south to the Tatra Mountains. Any route suggestions warmly welcomed.
I’m going to do a short summary as I’m typing on an old laptop faster than the snail pace internet can cope with and its driving me crazy 😂
Up stupidly early, waited for mechanic to call and say van could be fixed, had nice coffee, long dog walk – some of which spent on grass with muddy knees as Ernest pulled me over. Van delivered to garage, two hours walking in the rain in the outskirts of krakow, found nice cake, van worse than feared, locked into garage compound overnight so they can fix more tomorrow, day 3 of running streak compleated along busy road in dark – good incentive to run faster, Ernests blood results came back good from the vets, still waiting on Mabels lump results, my mobile phone has broken and I feel like I’ve lost my right arm – all my beloved apps (10% happier mediation, audible, trainerize, myfitnesspal) – ahhh however did I survive without them?! Thank god I had created this blog otherewsie I would have lost all my photos to. Stuck in van from 4:30pm, dogs already snoring, I’m attacking food and thinking hot chocolate and boardgames. To be fair I’ve had worse days, at least all the expenses have happened in Poland and not Switzerland or somewhere else more expensive. The polish are so friendly and helpful to, I’m very happy to stay here longer 😊
Sometimes it takes a while for your brain to switch off one thing, declutter and come back refreshed and charged with new ideas. This last couple of days mine has been in full flow mode and I’ve thought of a business idea, travellers scheme and environmental project. With so many options it’s now deciding which to follow up first.
I’ve put feelers out for all three and got positive responses, but for my traveller idea I was blown away with over 200 positive comments. So todays task has largely been developing it. Who knows in a week or two it may be live! Hoping I can reveal more in a few days 😃
Obviously when working creatively you need to be fueled with great coffee and scrummy food, so my first brainstorm was done with the pups and Mark at Massolit Books and Cafe (the dogs behaved this time!). I had my first vegan croissant, which was delicious, though I wish I’d asked for jam.
After a much healthier homemade vegetable soup for lunch, Mark and I went to a new part of town and worked in Karma cafe. It’s crazy how many people seem to work from cafes, almost every table had a laptop open with someone beavering away behind it. Can’t say I blame them though, it certainly worked for us and the vegan scone with cherry jam was devine 😋 (nutritionist if you are reading this, I’m sorry 😂).
We are wrapped up warm as the weather is decidedly chilly but it’s only really the early morning that it’s really bad… leaving my duvet is hard! Still we had a nice long walk with the pups to see Wojtek the soldier bear statue in Jordana Park. They also have a whole series of busts of famous polish people so you can read about them as wandering around.
I had a little unfinished business with the local pierogi (dumplings) having only tried the free one I was gifted, so this evening we went to Przystanek Pierogarnia – Rynek Debnicki and had a proper plate full of their vegan red lentil and cabbage flavour. For two very filling meals is was less than £5 – I’d call that a tasty bargain!
I’m now stuffed, so will wait a while before doing day 2 of my running streak (minimum 1 mile every day for as many days as possible). I’ve also got a Tim Ferriss dream plan exercise to complete and about 6 other things on my to do list…I certainly keep myself busy 🙈
The 5am alarm went off and I found myself snuggled between two doggy water bottles, but still felt cold. The temperature has dropped to 1 degree Celsius and although it’s meant to get warmer again it was a shock to the system.
We have also found out that our plan to chase the sun to Greece for the winter, may actually be chasing rain clouds. The vanlife forums all suggest Portugal, Spain or Morroco rather than Greece…and so now we are in a quandary which way do we go, South or South West? 🤔☔☀️
That aside, the focus of our day was Auschwitz. I was at the gate at 7am only to be told it opened at 7:30. Spotting a family who had done the same, I struck up conversation and they ended up coming back to the van for a cup of tea to keep warm. Bless them, they rolled with it, ignored the mess, their kids fussed the dogs and they were happy to try tea the British way (they were coffee drinking Americans). Also good to know we have 7 cups, so these impromptu things are never a problem 😊
I’m really glad we went to Auschwitz, it’s emotionally hard, but a must do. You really have to be there to experience it and even then it just seems surreal that part of it are now offices. People go to work there everyday.
If you do go, definitely go as early as possible and go self guided. Even at 7:30am there were tour guide groups and it got very busy on their routes, but there is a lot they miss out. It’s a lot nicer going at your own pace, reading everything you want to read and going into all the blocks. The Hungarian block had a really good exhibition in it, as did the polish. The more time I spend and more I learn about Poland the more I love it. There are many horrendous details but the part that made me stop in my tracks and fearful to step closer was the room of human hair. They had shaved the hair of the dead women and sold it to make fabric…there was mountains of it. I think that will stay with me for a long time. If you can’t get to Auschwitz, one of my favourite books is called Omega Minor by Paul Verhaeghen – it taught me more than I learnt at school and is a great read.
In the afternoon we drove back to Krakow to see the vet. Touch wood all are well at the moment, but Ernest needed his bloods redone post his vitamin supplements and I wanted to get a couple of Mabel’s lumps checked. I’ve been keeping an eye on them, but for peace of mind I’d just rather know she is safe. The brake disks also need changing on the van, so it looks like we will be in Krakow for a little while longer. Best dig out the thermals and wooley socks 😂
So under some strange logic, despite struggling to wake at 6:30am and get organised, I’ve read articles that say to be most productive you should wake at 5am as you get the quietest part of the day to yourself, and with less distractions it’s easier to focus and get things done. So that’s what I did and to be honest it was so much easier than 6:30, plus I’d done my morning routine before Mark was up – happy days!
This freed us up to get on the road earlier than usual, and we had a quick potter about the pretty town of Mikulov on our way to Brno in the Czech Republic.
Brno is Czechs second largest city but the main attractions are along one central strip so it’s easy to navigate. As usual there are the quirkier ones – a young nude Mozart sculpture with a single wing, the Brno dragon (that’s actually a crocodile) , a funky astronomical clock that looks a bit like a giant salt mill (N.B. at 11am it drops a marble for any lucky passerby to catch), a very long legged horse – Equestrian Statue of Margrave Jobst of Luxembourg, and a double headed child pulling a moonie on the side of St James Church.
Our favourite bit was an exhibition by Voda Water and CivilIzace Civilization about different impacts on the environment both on Czech and beyond. The display boards were really interesting and lots of people stopped to read them. We also had a lovely coffee at Cafe Atlas, which has the best random animal wallpaper.
Next it was decision time, as it’s illegal to wild camp in Czech we decided to push on back to Poland. Ernest has been on vitamins for two weeks so we want to get his bloods redone to make sure he is fighting fit again.
With better planning we arrived at Auschwitz in the late evening and I plan to be amongst the first in at 7am to hopefully beat the crowds and really take in the atmosphere and information.
I’ve lured Mabel and Ernest onto the sofa bed with me, but for the first time ever Jasper is currently sleeping on Marks bed – compared to Ernest he is bigger but less wriggly, poor Mark 😂
Very occasionally I get caught out by a bout of complete inertia. This morning was one of those times. I couldn’t motivate myself to do anything other than eat and cuddle the dogs. This led to a strange realisation, as my mindful eating course hit home and I was conscious I was enjoying the taste but not the excess. I guess it’s a lesson my brain has to learn as part of this journey to a healthier relationship with food.
Despite a was long list of things I should or could be doing it was after lunch before I was lured out of bed and finally started my day.
I was thankful I snapped out of it as we went back to Mak – Museum of Applied Arts and I found the exhibitions both fascinating and disturbing. There is one on artificial intelligence. It’s complete infiltration into our life, and how it can so easily be manipulated by government and businesses is unsettling. Yes it has the potential to bring social positives, but at what cost? With so much of societies focus being driven by money or power; it seems those who can afford AI aren’t driven by altruism.
I have been researching a business idea and found to my disdain that my Facebook feeds are now full of adverts from every tom, dick and Harry promising to make me super rich with their magic formula. Go into a bookshop and the business section is the same…multimillionaire, success, money, power. Podcasts…you can guess the titles. Just walking down the street you can spot people posing for Instagram shots selling ‘their brand’. It’s draining. Where are the books on making a social difference? Creating services or products that solve problems? When did it all become so self centered?
I’ve taken FB off my phone, and am asking for recommendations from friends who have actually succeeded in what they do and love what they do. With money and ego not central to their success.
The downstairs exhibition was equally thought provoking but more positive. Designers coming up with innovative ideas and solutions, or tackling predjudices. I found this really inspiring, thus cementing my conviction that it is important that we give back to our community and strive to make a difference however small. My brain cogs are in motion, and while I’m less good at the admin/research side, once I’ve got an idea I run with persistence and focus.
And so today’s blog has mainly been me venting my thoughts on society and less about cake consumption (we did, it was yummy, then we followed it with scrumptuous vegan pizza at Bros Pizza).
Tonight we test a new bedtime set up – sofabed for me and dogs, and Mark has full proper bed. Hope is that over time the dogs will learn to sleep on sofa bed and I can sneak back to main bed…we can but hope. Currently Ernest is asleep on Marks bed so we are already losing 😂
So it’s a strange thing…we both felt like we had unfinished business with Vienna. We had left thinking it was pretty but lacking charm, but in retrospect we treated it like everywhere else and didn’t embrace the wealth of architecture, music and museums. And so we are back to give it a second try.
We were up and organised, walked the pups in Bratislava, then drove over to Vienna. While trying to find parking options, Mark had read that the Viennese are raised from birth to sniff out parking spots…so if you find an empty one it’s likely not legal. For motorhomes it’s even harder as most parking is in garages, and so we went back to the campsite and got the train in.
Our first port of call – Swing Kitchen again for an epic burger. We had the Vienna burger this time but both preferred our first choices which had been Swing and Chilli.
Full of food, we waddled to the National Library. As a book worm I’d been keen to see the main hall which is reckoned to be one of the most impressive in the world. Mark couldn’t justify the €8 for a single room so waited outside…until I WhatsApped him some photos and said it was breathtaking…and then he came and joined me. I’d never seen floor to ceiling bookshelves and art like it, it was such a wonderful space to gaze around in. As Mark had lent me his proper Canon digital camera I also became increasingly aware of how crap my phone camera is. This poor blog is filled with my terrible photos and his good ones are on the laptop unseen by anyone…makes no sense…I think I should snaffle his camera and get click happy learning how to use it.
We also bought a multi ticket for the papyrus museum which is fine for a brief visit, and the globe museum which we both really enjoyed. Such a huge range of styles, sizes, ages, depictions and even globes of other planets which I’d never seen before.
Before heading home we found a flea market with games, which I wasn’t allowed (I only have 17 in the van lol), and had a subpar coffee at Coffee Couture.
On our first visit I’d been really keen to take my dad to the opera as it would have been a first for both of us. Sadly despite being on standby we couldn’t get tickets (I think a part of my dad was relieved 😂). Knowing Mark wouldn’t want to go, I checked if there were any single tickets left for tonight and struck lucky. Thus my evening was spent soaking up the sensory overload that is Richard Strauss Solome.
At first I hadn’t the foggiest idea what was going on as it’s not in English and I’d not read up on the storyline. However over time I managed to juggle the music, reading the subtitles over the shoulder of those in front, and watching the stage. I’d definitely recommend getting the best seats you can afford as craning your neck to see is an extra hindrance you don’t need. As a quick summary of the plot. Princess Solome falls in love with a prophet who only has eyes for God, so feeling snubbed she decides to dance for her stepdad the king and flash her body in return for the prophets head on a silver tray…which she then kisses much to the horror of mum and stepdad. Ah yes just your typical evening of nudity and necrophilia 😂 Mark was happy he missed it, but I’d definitely go to another.
Tomorrow I have more museums planned. Perhaps Vienna will be a slow burner, it’ll certainly always be special for introducing me to opera…any suggestions for another one?
SofaWolves 