Hotel Palac Staniszow Jelenia Gora

The day before we landed in Poland, there was a massive storm. So big, it washed out a good chuck of it's national railway. This lead to a bit of a dilemma. How to get to Kamienna Góra. After a hour of frantic phone calls, Anita's relatives decided that it was best to catch the train, then it'd bypass the damaged parts by bus, then we'd be back on our journey. Ahhh, all sweet.

Once again, we were late to rise, and it made for a hectic hour ...

Jelenia Góra ('deer mountain') is about couple of hours south from Wroclaw (trains or buses). It is close to the Karkonosze mountain range running along the Polish-Czech border. Only 10-15 km of the town there are few ski resorts such as Karpacz, Szklarska Poreba.
Nice, colorful Market Square, Cyprian Kamil Norwid Theatre, Saint Cross Church, the Old Town are just few places worth of seeing.
Jelenia Gora, Western Poland, Poland ulka

... br>Its obviously a bit poorer in these former eastern block countries so you do get to see Europe from a completely different perspective, there was lots of heavy industry mixed in with the countryside, but generally it seems like a country trying to improve the best way it can. Its always a bit nervy crossing into a new country seeing if you are safe enough to free camp, but we did find a spot next to a lake on the first night and felt pretty safe.

As ...

al the former eastern bloc countries make for good travel,, but the one that i return to is the czech republic,, mainly to the north [north bohemia],liberec,harrochov,cesky raj, but a trip or two to moravia is also worth taking,,. during the communist times it was an eye opener, now also as the people wish for the return of those times,they knew where their bread was coming from, and the upgrades fron old skoda to super fast motorcars,, ah they stilll are crazy on the roads

Tento vikend sme s kamosmi v Liberci na severe Ciech. Prisli sme sem rovno zo San Diega, tak je to trochu teplotny sok. Ked sme s Dzozim odchadzali zo San Diega bolo krasnych 26 stupnov, ale ked sme prisli do Liberca bolo len okolo desat stupnov a poriadny vietor. Ale ako sa hovori, poriadne planovanie robi ...

In a remote corner of northeastern Czech Republic lies an incredible collection of sandstone spires. So we changed gears and spent the day exploring the nooks of crannies of Teplice and Ardspach Skaly. I'm not sure if several hours of hiking counts as a "rest day", but it was absolutely worthwhile and we are so glad that we made the effort to come check this area out. Now, we DID have an actual rest day a couple days ago with our ...

... together, that I think it is a miracle we did not kill each other. We had enough of each other from time to time, but I reckon it`s pretty normal when you`re spending with someone 24 hours a day. None of us has an easy going personality. Marcin is this kind of a person that takes one step forward, e.g. he`d tell me sth personal, then he takes two steps back - for instance he`d be teasing me all day long. Considering ...

... only mosses on the highest peaks. The highest of these, Mt Sniezka (1602m), was to be our primary destination for the short weekend trip. We spent a night in Opole before heading off around 9am back up the A4, leaving it at Wroclaw soon after 10am. With some heavy Saturday morning traffic of the single laned road, we decided to stop off in Swidnica for a morning coffee. Ania actually suggested we stop in a "****** town" and Swidnica seemed to fit that description quite aptly. The skies ...

... sure how this happened, obviously I haven't been looking after him properly, which is one of his favourite catch phases. So 4 loads of washing, one dryer, charged by the hour, and its 14 degrees so not the best weather for drying. Washing really has become a obsession of mine, it's a war, you have to focus and be ruthless with all your competitors, this is not about making friends people, this is about survival of the fittest). Victory at last for ...

... choice. My grandparents live about 15 minutes up from town centre, along leafy roads particularly lush due to this week's sudden rains. I spent yesterday reading, unpacking my backpack (look, a whole week without a backpack!), listening to Eurosport at triple volume (grandad's hearing) and gaining weight (grandma's cooking). And playing with unidentified members of the 13-odd cat family that has ...