The peaceful city of Krakow, Poland

I am loving being in Krakow.  It is such a lovely, peaceful, interesting place.  It's very soothing after my less so experience of Prague.

Snowdon has organized two great apartments for us.  We move into the second one tomorrow, and will be there for five days - oh yes, five days in the same place!  Whilst here in Krakow I'm in charge of food (which I'll happily do), and Snowdon is in charge of the planning (which thankfully he'll happily do).

At the moment we are staying in the old town very close to the gorgeous 'Main Market Square'.  So far we've had some nice chill out time in our apartment, wondered around the local area and visited the surrounds of Wawel Castel.

We've also found a concert in St. Peter and St. Paul's Church (see pic below) to attend tonight where we will experience the music of The Crakow Chamber Orchestra of St. Maurice.  They are playing 'Vivaldi, Pachelbel, Bach, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Albinoni, Dvorak, Mozart, Torelli and Brahams'.  Very cultured of us.  Snowdon has 'music' in his bones, but I think it'll be quite educational for me - I'm really looking forward to it.

Insert:  Well we didn't make that concert (due to a miscommunication) but decided to go for an evening stroll instead.  Incidentally we happened upon another concert, this time in the very famous 'Barbakan' (Barbican) - a fortified outpost of, and gateway leading into Cracow's old town (wikipedia), and apparently a masterpiece of medieval architecture.  Well it was wonderful attending a concert there.  The pianist 'Bartlomiej Kominek' was very very skilled man, his hands moved in all kinds of ways over that grand piano and stirred up all kinds of emotions for me.  The concert was 'Chopin inspired' (said Sho-pan apparently, I was just corrected) and I noticed when he played Chopin (who I tonight learned was Polish) he played with even more emotion!  Snowdon also found the concert wonderful, so much that he is inspired to ask Harold to teach him several of the pieces that he played (that Harold can play - wow Harold impressive - I look forward to witnessing that!)  It was lovely when a bird emerged from out of its nest in the Barbican wall and flew around the round inside wall a few times, as if to acknowledge and enjoy the music, then retreated again.

      

    

Snowdon and I have been reflecting upon why it is so nice and so peaceful in this city.  Some examples are:

• When the locals approach us to give us a pamphlet or ask us if we'd like a tour and we say 'no thanks', they thank us, bid us a good day with a friendly smile, and happily retreat.  eg. tonight "You want to drink beer?" "No thanks" "Oh ok thanks, enjoy your night (big smile)".
• Musicians are really valued here.  Today we got invited to three classical concerts and I saw signs for several more.  Live classical music is prevalent and readily accessible.  
• On the way home tonight we happened upon some busking breakdancers.  Well in my experience breakdancers can choose some heavy tunes - these ones were good and they were dancing to, wait for it, "the rhythm is going to get you...."  How lovely!  

Some of our theories so far are:

• They have such incomprehendable brutality in their recent history (murder of 3 000 000 Jews from Poland) and after experiencing such a devastation are now able to bounce further to the peaceful end of the spectrum.
• They respect musicians and thus can experience this beautiful artistic joy, with such a range of emotions, 'live' often and this contributes to their peacefulness.
• Tourism hasn't hit in full force yet (I'm hoping this one is incorrect and that they can retain their beautiful ambience).

I'm sure we'll continue to ponder that one during our time here, meanwhile its just lovely to soak up the atmosphere.

It is very hot here - my new favourite thing is fizzy water (water with gas), and I've been drinking litres of it. Oh yum it's so refreshing, just the thing for these scorching days.  I like it even more now that I buy it from the supermarket (as opposed to restaurants).  Food is much more affordable here, which, after five and a half months of travelling, I'm appreciating!

Today whilst perusing some art books in a bookshop I found another artist to admire.  Tamara de Lempicka, a Polish Art Deco painter, was the first woman artist to be a glamour star (wikipedia).



She had a pretty interesting life, which includes pinpointing and 'going after' her husband (which I did too - hah), then freeing him from the Bolsheviks (which I don't think I'll have to do), and some other very controversial things for the time period (umm prob not either).  There is even a stage play named 'Tamara' after her which is the longest running stage play in LA (11 years)  wow!  In the book it said something along the lines of, 'I endeavour to find the elegance within my subjects'.  Well I think she certainly did that!

This is my favourite of her work.

Girl in Green with Gloves aka Jeune fille en Vert (Tamara de Lempicka), 1929

Although this is her most well-known piece:

Self portrait - Tamara in the Green Bugatti, 1925

As per Snowdon's 'Krakow' plan:

• Tomorrow morning (Saturday) we move into the other apartment then explore the Jewish District, Kazimierz.  This is apparently very interesting so I'm looking forward to it.  After seeing the movie Schindler's list in Rome we're also busting to visit Schindler's 'actual' Factory (which is also in the area). I mean how exciting to see the legendary place where that amazingly inspiring and generous  (previously drunken, womanizing, solely money orientated) man saved 1000 people!  And lastly we have The Ghetto + heroes of the ghetto square which I don't know much about YET, but know that involves a lot of big chairs.
• Sunday we go to the extermination camp, Auschwitz, which I don't think needs much explaining.
• Monday - we hire bikes for three days (yahoo some exercise additional to walking) and will be heading East to 'Aqua Park' where we will run around and act like kids on the varous slides, all day!
• Tuesday we cycle West to Wolski Forest and the 'Mounds'.
• Wednesday we bike to The Fortress.
• Thursday we fly to Brussels, then train to Brugge.

Ahh so well planned - the joy of being married to a good planner who enjoys planning!

PS:  I've made myself a new rule, in order to heighten my productivity (which took a dive recently - note the lack of blog entries).  I have stuff to do!  I'm now only allowing myself to check Facebook twice a day maximum.  The results today have been startling.  In addition to our site-seeing today, I had time to confirm a job interview in Singapore and send my CV and cover letter away, organize treats for Snowdon whilst he was planning our next journey to Belgium, finish my book - Creative Visualization (+ began to review it in order to begin the exercises in it), and completed this blog!

I am inspired and productive again.  Keep your eyes open for more blogs, there's quite a backlog, so I have plenty of material to work with!  Good night!

Reading Log 2010 - June

Taking Charge of your Fertility by Toni Weschler

Absolutely incredibly wonderful and I wish I had this information about my monthly cycle when I was growing up (and grown up).  It would have saved me many confused/quizzical and suppressed moments!  I’m now plotting my temperatures every day and learning about the intricacies of how my body works. It was a joy to read this book and I feel very empowered knowing this ‘family planning’ (pregnancy prevention) and ‘fertility awareness’ (pregnancy achieving) information.  I’ve been sharing a lot of it with Snowdon and to my delight he read a particular chapter.  I’ll be recommending this book to people (just as Rach recommended it to me) and I believe that the information in it should be made readily/obligatorily available to doctors, parents, hopeful couples, and teenagers, both male and female, in schools.  Particularly, every woman, should have the opportunity to know what’s going on with her own body throughout each month!

Proprioceptive Writing by Linda Trichter Metcalf and Simon Tobin

 

Incredible.  The book is actually not incredible, but the concept, message and practice of Proprioceptive Writing, is.  Since reading this book I’ve performed many ‘writes’, and am finding it a wonderful tool to bring order and clarity to my thoughts (something that I’ve been looking for, for quite a while, so I’m very happy to have found it)!

Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

This book didn't take me long - I had trouble putting it down!  I found it captivating.  It is a beautiful story of a mans' spiritual journey and it made a lot of sense to me.

I particularly liked the following statements that were mentioned, and I think represent the book quite well.

The important thing is this:  To be ready at any moment, to sacrifice who you are, for what you could become.  Charles Dubois

Unexpressed emotion is stored in the muscles of the body.  Wilhelm Reich

(Note this blog was posted in July)

Ted and Cyrils' Cheese Farm, Laugraulet, Southern France

Oh yeah....ahhhhhhhh we find ourselves back in the country-side, this time with the fresh air and the splendor of Southern France!

Day Three on the farm

My first impressions of Ted and Cyrils’ farm were; the beautiful 300 year old barn with long drop toilet (pictured left), the cold tiled floor and huge fire-place of the kitchen dining area, the simple dinner of soup, hard home-made bread and cheese (both hard and soft goats cheese – yum), and the apparently sparse, cold, dusty dark caravan that would be our living quarters for the next 10 nights, surrounded by sheep and their poo!  Geez I thought, for the first time on our journey we’ve arrived at a place where we’re going to be roughing it for a while......

Two days later things appear very different - my first impressions were well off.  Actually I feel quite silly for ever thinking that - we’re not roughing it at all.  The weather is gorgeous, the countryside is stunning, our caravan is incredibly cozy, and the work on the farm is varied and interesting (4.5 hours per day – very reasonable in exchange for great food and board).  We wake up with the sun (and the sound of the milking machine) each morning, work for a bit, have a lovely breakfast of bread with various home-made jams, cheese and coffee, work a bit more, have a fantastic lazy long three course lunch (including dessert), read all afternoon in the caravan, have a walk in the stunning countryside, a lovely hot shower, a yummy usually salad dinner, more reading and then a cozy nights sleep in our very comfy double bed with the curtains and window open, a light summer country breeze tickling our skin..  We then wake up to the soothing morning sun (or lovely cool breeze) to do that all over again.

Ted cooks up amazing meals from whatever she has from the garden, the cheese room, the market or the neighbours at the time.  I have been busily scribbling down ideas and ingredients to try out myself one day.  Cyril also cooks at times and has a host of other ideas.

I am inspired.  I’ve been dreaming about my future box system garden business…  I have a lot to learn but I keep being inspired by the idea and it’s great to be trying on some of the jobs/activities that it would entail.

Today we visited a local market – we bought ½ kg of the biggest sweetest cherries I’ve ever tasted for 2 Euros (+ dried fruit and almonds).  We also folded on the ‘full style’ farm living and got a stash of choccie bikkies from the supermarket for our afternoon reading sessions (I was a bit torn about this one as it was lovely to eat such healthy natural food after travelling and being in the city – but there’s just something about a choccie bikkie in a caravan when you’re having an afternoon reading session that sealed that deal).  I also found my pad of white paper to begin my life as a Proprioceptive Writer (see Reading Log 2010 June blog for further info on this one) – very exciting (I hugged it on my way out of the shop)! Cyril shouted us a coffee in town as we all hung out with their Thursday market day mates (and dogs).

So far we’ve cleaned out the stables, cleaned and turned the hard cheeses, hung CD’s in the cherry tree to ward off the birds, cleaned up branches and stacked firewood, added grass mulch to the vege garden (my favourite job so far), weeded the potatoes, relocated roofing tiles, and trimmed the hedges.

I love the ingenuity that Ted and Cyril use every day to use the space and resources they’ve got to the best use possible, and I have been picking their brains for cooking and gardening ideas left, right and centre! They also great company, and we’re all getting along just nicely.

Day Eight

I just milked two goats, successfully!  The effort Dad put in with me as a youngster teaching me how to milk our house cow served me well (thanks Dad).  I picked up milking a goat very quickly and only got a few squirts on my socks.  It was much easier this time, which I assert has something to do with the size ratio of my adult hands to the udder (vs my child size hands before). What a wonderful experience.  I know that in many countries goats are valued as prize possessions.  After my own experiences with our childhood goat Fritz eating everything it came near, and my own cute little ‘calf club’ goat growing into a mean and dangerous bum butter, I now have a broader understanding of why these animal are so prized and valued around the world – a lot of milk came out of those goats and they get milked twice a day!  And these goats so far have been very gentle with us.

 Well one day left (tomorrow) at Ted and Cyrils farm.  It has been wonderful here.  Since the last time I wrote I have: picked and de-podded all the gardens’ broad beans and pulled up the plants; scribbled down many new recipes thanks to Ted’s incredible imagination; we’ve pruned the area surrounding the farms electric fence; staked the tomatoes; swept up several wheelbarrow loads of goat manure; wiped and turned many hard goats cheeses; disconnected an old fence using pliers to prepare it for demolition; and had an educational tour of the garden.  Cyril has picked me some lemon herbs to dry (currently hanging from the caravan awning) and take with us to enjoy natures’ tea in Rome!

We’ve enjoyed meeting Ted and Cyril’s son Paul.  He pops in for lunch most days (who wouldn’t if given the chance!) and very generously took us to the swimming pool for the afternoon in a small town near Condom, which is across the road from his work. We walked to nearby 'Condom' a pretty wee place - check out my arty pics of our nice afternoon stroll.

Paul has also very openly shared with us the impacts of a serious rugby injury he had nearly 7 years ago, which although he is still dealing with, he has overcome many hurdles.

Snowdon spends a lot of his spare time playing with Jeanne the younger of the two dogs.  She is a very talented (and very persistent) fetcher and catcher of tennis balls, sticks and pinecones!  And I have also enjoyed humoring Jeannes’ fettish!

My most memorable moment so far has been sitting shelling beans in the afternoon sun and thinking, ‘this just feels right’.  In order to make a difference in the world all I really need to do is live a life that I believe in, and for me a life that I believe in, includes living from the land, being right there with nature every day….  I’ve had many more thoughts of this future farm.  Snowdon often seems like such a contradicition: one minute counting down the days to get back to the buzz of the city, one minute loving being in nature and feeling completely content.  Currently he says that he’d like us to have a small garden that we can live off, and some chickens. And I’m very happy that he wants that!  Re: the contradiction, when I reflect I’m still bouncing ideas around too, and am busy formulating my own side of that dream life.  At the moment my dream oscillates between just the same (garden for home use only + chickens) with outside jobs for a decent income, vs all reserves in on the farm with a bigger ‘selling’ garden, maybe several goats for milk and cheese or even setting up a mini-commune (which Rach and I have been mulling over and dreaming about for a few years now….).  Along with the dreams all the possible stops, hurdles and fears are coming up to.  So I’m ‘observing’ them as well!

I did learn how to make this yummy cheese (just got to wait till I live in a house to try it out)!

 

 Ted and Cyril, I have found you very generous, kind and peaceful and during our time here and I thank you for the many opportunities you have given us that allow us to mull upon our future lifestyle.  Thanks also for all the meal ideas - I hope to replicate them some day in the future with my own home-grown goods!

Picturesque, Peaceful Switzerland: Third stop Verbier

Our third and last stop in Switzerland was with Sonya and Mike in Le Chable, which is situated just below a well known ski resort called Verbier.  Sonya is a surf lifesaving friend (much to Mike's delight) who I worked with for a season in Meribel, where we had very many good and crazy times.  It was great to spin a whole lot of stories about old Meribel times with Sonya again.

We had a lovely time in Verbier.  Yet again the place was stunningly beautiful, and yet again our hosts exceeded any expectations of hostliness we would have dreamed having!  Sonya rents out the top half of her house, and it is incredible - wooden and very cosy.  Luckily we came at the right time of year and it was empty, yahoo a house to ourselves for a few days (complete with it's original stone wall, see bedroom shot) - thank you Sonya!

We had two days to enjoy this place (we tried to change our train for more but to no avail).  The first day Snowdon had an inside 'cave day' whilst I enjoyed a refreshing walk, and wondered around the pretty village with Sonya and helped her in her community garden (I tied up the neighbours beans and planted some flowers along the fence) - fun!

On the way I fell in love with the wild-flowers.

Again we also had lots of time to relax and Snowdon and I had some good laughs watching 'Flight of the Conchords', one morning with a romantic brekki..

The second day Sonya took us on a walk up to Verbier.  I felt like Heidi...  And then a gorgeous bike ride down.  See Snowdon's blog for the video (http://snowpuravida.blogspot.com/)!

One of the last places left with fresh natural springs?

During our time we had several nice dinners with friends of Sonya and Mike's, and then one flash lunch up the mountain (Snowdon pictured with his yummy dish of snails).

All Sonya's friends seem to have skill in renovating houses.  We we're impressed and gathered up a few ideas for the future.

It was lovely to see you again Sonya, and to meet you Mike.  Thank you for your incredible hospitality. We hope to see you again soon!

Picturesque, Peaceful Switzerland: First stop Thalwil

Our first stop in Switzerland was Thalwil, which is not far from Zurich.  Well before we left NZ Natascha (an AFS student from our Opotiki College days) and I had got in touch randomly via a facebook chat and she had very generously invited us to come and stay.  Snowdon and I hadn't planned to go to Switzerland, but after my chat with Natascha, then finding out my friend Sonya is currently living in southern Switzerland AND then finally Snowdon finding a very intriguing Mystic Tantra course being run there - all the signs were directing us to Switzerland!  So we added it as one of our five Eurail pass countries and dropped off Greece.

Boy are we glad that we included Switzerland.  It is BEAUTIFUL.  We loved our time there, and we're pampered silly by our wonderful hosts, Natascha and Gabriel in Thalwil, and Sonya and Mike in Le Chable, Verbier.  It was lovely to spend some time with Natascha and Sonya again, and meet their men!

Natascha welcomed us into our lovely room, in her home in Thalwil, complete with slippers and delicious L'occitane bathing products (that Gabriel brings home from the plane).  Our first taste of the lovely pampering we were to experience in Switzerland.  We felt jazzy in our new slippers.  And they were very fitting as we spent some nice time chilling on the couch and in our mini home theatre bedroom, in Thalwil...

I was delighted when Natascha suggested we start our first day with a sightseeing run by the nearby lake (I was due for some exercise).

Snowdon was delighted to meet Natascha's adopted cat Luna, who was great company (Natascha is a vet).

We had some lovely breakfasts.  I loved trying all the new food.  We thought the colour of these pre-boiled eggs was a bit bizarre though!

On our last night in Thalwil, Natascha made us a traditional Swiss cheese fondue (which I've always wanted to try). Yum! Very rich!

Snowdon and I spent a rainy afternoon in Zurich, enjoying the peaceful feel as we wondered around the city.  Natascha, her sister and Gabriel had thoughtfully had a clothing clean out (it was uncharacteristically cold and they knew that we'd be feeling it).  I scored a cool Espirit jacket and another nice cosy black hoody. Very happy about that.  I'd been freezing in London and Paris.  It was nice to be warm!

We had to check out Luzern, where my pocket nice was made.  Natascha took us over in the car.  We saw the hugest block of Toblerone.  I had to pick it up and marvel at it.  Yes it was very heavy, and very expensive...  We went for the free taste test option (see second pic - yum).

Luzern is a lovely peaceful little town to wonder around.

Luzern has a several gorgeous and very old bridges.  We spent a bit of time on them with our local tour guide filling us in along the way (a lot of it, unfortunately had been burnt in recent years).

Cars are discouraged from entering the city..

We had a wonderful time in Thalwil - thank you Natascha and Gabriel.  They also sent us off with their two man tent, for our next adventure!