A little bit more Gdansk & a Warsaw Weekend

The Gdansk shipyards

Me looking like a red marshmallow in my Antarctica jacket - oh, in front of the Gdansk skyline

On Wednesday after school this week, one of the teachers, with her husband, took me to a few places of historical interest around Gdansk. First was to a fortress or something that you could see across the river, then to a hill up behind the train station in Gdansk. There are some old bunkers in (on??) the hill, well as a sculpture of a wavy red cross erected in 2000 to bless Gdansk throughout the new millennium. 

My favourite part of the Gdansk skyline are the cranes you can see in the shipyards. To me, they're synonymous with Gdansk, and when I see them, they not only embody all that Gdansk is, with it's economic growth, it's ties to the sea, and it's function as Poland's trade gateway to the world, but it also symbolises a bit of Gdansk's past.

Auchwitz & Krakow Weekend

After taking about an eight hour overnight bus ride (commitment) down to Krakow on Thursday, three of my friends and I got up nice and early on Friday to go on a tour to the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps. It truly was an eye-opening and sickening experience.

 We started in Auschwitz we we got systematically shown through the major parts of the museum. It took a little while for it to hit me, the gravity of what had happened here, and it took even longer for me to comprehend that this had happened to actual, once living, human beings. I still struggle to comprehend that it was caused by human beings. It was a little bit harder to go into each building as the tour progressed, knowing that some other horrible reality was inside. But at the same time, I felt obliged to. If I can pay respect to the countless victims of this terrible event by hearing their stories told and seeing the remains of what happened to them, then, in this small way, I will do it. 

Last Day in London - Lunch with Cousins, Tate Britain & St Paul

This morning it was back to St Paul's for one last try & I finally got under the High Dome to see the wonderful masterpieces painted there and the beautiful mosaics on other ceilings. Overlooking the Quire where smaller domes, each contributing to the story of the Creation of the Universe, depicting birds, fish and trees in a frenzy of sparkling squares.

Clockwise from left - Orange Polenta Cake, Banoffee Pie & Lah Di Dah Cake

Royal & Wonderful - Day Five

'A gift from New Zealand' in the foreground

Sunlight streaming across Buck House

Tuesday morning I set off for Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. There were waay more people then than I had expected, I don't know, for some reason I thought there wouldn't be many people there at all. The procession into the front courtyard of the Palace consisted of guards on foot (with those iconic fluffy hats) playing brass music, as well as Royal Horse Guards with funny fountain hats and red coats, some marching, some on horseback.

Convent Garden, Galleries & Sights by Night - Day Four London

The morning was spent browsing the cool & quirky shops of convent garden, and gazing in all the bakery's shop windows along the way. There were people playing music & singing opera while we were there, which gave the place an added sense of culture & refinement. We went into this exquisite candy store which had an (as yet) unbelievable range of truffles & chocolates. I took all my willpower not to buy about a dozen (filled chocolates are me weakness) , but Laurie and I just settled on a little chocolate penguin each, which happened to be filled with praline anyway :)