Coffee time with George who arrived last night, waking up to Wawsaw!

First stop the Bakery (local) to pocket our sandwiches for our morning trip to the “outlet mall” – we didn’t buy cakes and the boys were really excited about the shopping expedition….

The entrance to the mall after another very reasonable Bolt(Uber) ride!

So to spare my readers the agony – shoes, shorts and T-shirt’s …. done and dusted in a couple of hours, sandwiches eaten and back home for a small rest before the afternoon excursion.

Resting en route to old town before the hill climb, and checking out the cricket score! Half way up the hill, it was victory for the black caps in the World Cup semi final.

Poland’s got talent was happening at the top of the hill with lots of music and auditions underway!

A glimpse inside the church housing the hearts of renowned Polish people

And behind this plaque herein lies the heart of Frederick Chopin.

Now we turn our attention to the street entertainment happening in the old city evening.

Two girls singing and playing harp like instruments. The polish language sounding very lyrical.

The tradies hard at work laying a new paved road..one to lift, one to lay and one to hammer into place.

Flowers flourishing in the cooler polish summer, and rain.

A couple of girls in costume – century unknown.

This young man Playing his tiny piano and really enjoying his life…I think!

A couple of tourists using their imagination….A father/son moment!

And a husband/wife moment in the middle of Old Town.

And the tall monument dwarfing George – not much dwarfs George – in old European towns thing are just high.

Finished the evening off with a meal at an, off the beaten track, well rated restaurant….

Zwierzyniec Beer, halibut, pork and peas, risotto! The ratings on the food were correct, delicious food. And just so we will write a good review on TripAdvisor, our waiter Simon bought out complementary flavoured vodka shots! Whilst we were eating our dinner a couple of accordion playing street vendors came past and George shared our bread with them.

Russ really enjoyed them!

After a big walking day yesterday a more gentle wander was planned for this morning.

So when one is exploring the neighbourhood, one goes the opposite way from the day before, however this was uphill…but sometimes that is the option.

A wall of street art, in fact there does appear to be a lot of street art, and graffiti on the accessible walls…this however brightened up a dull morning (puffer jackets on again in our wawsaw summer break).

Halfway up the hill we stumbled on (actually had a rest break at) Chopins Museum. Not opening until 11am, which seems to be the theme here with many attractions and shops.

A left and a right (I felt I wanted to wander that way) found us on a very long stretch of shops and cafés…A woman’s intuition is not always wrong!

Coffee time as not yet 11am (retail therapy time)

Spotted this big guy on the street…had to see what he was up to and there were hundreds more of these guys inside (although not all so large) A Teddy Bears Treasure Trove.

Shoes, clothes, cafes and eating places took us to the banking roundabout…a large main busy intersection flanked by bank buildings.

A left…leaving behind our food choices and starting to feel a little hungry…approaching a gate where we had to go down and under this major tram/car/train road…our gentle stroll (no one about) was interrupted by an out of control electric scooter, approaching from rear (sues rear to be exact) going about 20-30 Ks, wobbling and careering all over the footpath, narrowly missing Sue, scooter crashing sideways (in front of two stunned kiwis) and rider rolling, sliding very quickly towards road, stopping himself in gutter.

Russ says “Geeze are you Ok” – young man looking at his grazed hands, now broken headphones on – looks back as though we are stupid (second time in two days) picks up now resting scooter, and cranks it back into action and roars off at full speed again! Ok, so he missed me!

But no inclination to join the trend of electric scooter riding!

Moving right along – under transport road, cars parked way down there.

And looking back at the wall and gate, we had been heading to (before the scooter action), which we found out was the entrance to a rather large park …. walking and riding tracks all through.

There are lots of parks and green areas in Wawsaw, and if feels that one passes from urban to rural in a matter of minutes in any one wander.

Having done the full loop and a couple of hours on foot, we were back in our neighbourhood searching for food, the options abounded, burgers, hotdogs or very fattening breads and pastries!

Inside a small cafe with all the locals on lunch breaks munching on a burger, the rain came down and has shared the rest of the afternoon with us, not that we noticed…it was nap time!

Flying from Zurich to Wawsaw, Poland, a mere two hour flight was a little more than the kiwi travellers had bargained for…..the short story, 8pm plane delayed (at least not cancelled like a third of the other flights on a Sunday evening), waiting for our Bolt (Uber) taxi in the wrong place, losing the first one and having to book another, and arriving at our air BnB at a half past midnight to a very patient host! A list of instructions, and finally into bed at 1.30 am. (No idea where we were apart from “Wawsaw”)

Awoke to our view from the tiniest deck I’ve ever seen, it’s about 10 inches wide and as long as the door! Still a deck and a luxury in Northern Europe.

A little slow to get going, but needed to shop for a few supplies.

We are living very close to many food supply stores!

Buying bread and a treat! The good places, we worked out very quickly, have queues!

We took a walk around our neighbourhood to the Vistula river, the longest river in Poland, that runs through Wawsaw.

I think we are going to need some bikes to explore this area. A bit overcast and quite chilly, reaching 20 degrees Celsius today, puffer jackets needed this morning.

The gardens in our gated complex of apartments. Supplies in hand, we returned around 11am, for Russ to have a rest and Sue to catch up on some work.

By 2pm, the sun was streaming in and the afternoon looking warm…time for another walk to Old Town Wawsaw, which appeared quite close on the map…things are not always as they seem and we realised later we had definitely taken the scenic route!

First discovery..

The university gardens. Roof and wall greenery, quite the eco system…we did see people on the roof, but thought we would save that for another day.

Still heading to Old Town, we decided to give the uphill a miss and skirted around the outside of this church on the hill…

There was no avoiding the uphill, however, and we did have to take a side path to get up into the old town, we should have realised all old European towns are either on a hill or on a lake.

Wandering around the streets, narrow cobbled, and colourful plaster.

The Royal Palace, on the square, free tours on Wednesday’s (a shorter version – perfect for Russ, we’ll lock that one in).

Checking out the next ride..and still thinking electric bikes may be a better option. (I could never put my toes on the ground if I needed to stop suddenly)

Old town Wawsaw was practically demolished at the end of World War II, by the Nazis, and has been slowly rebuilt in the exact replica of the original design.

The walls and gate into the city, and surrounding the city are a great example of the rebuild.

We found an off the beaten track cafe, that was away from the tourist throngs, and enjoyed a latte before heading towards home for the evening.

This was, however, tempting – a Pilsner truck/bar in a backyard courtyard!

And no city is complete without an Irish bar!!! Moving right along….

To the Church of the Carmelites dating back to 1780.

The Presidents Palace, and current residence, based on the chains and security guards holding the fort.

No adventure is complete without rubbing shoulders with the locals.

Russ got picked up by a homeless person, who was very interested in our part of the world it seemed. However, it took a while, but yes he asked for money! Russ told him he had none, his wife had all the money. Russ was telling the truth, but his new friend thought he was lying and along with some other strong words, told Russ he was stupid (not very nice really).

A street of churches, and a pensive statute, a cardinal Steffan, a very highly regarded member of the Pole society during last century.

And the 18th century Holy Cross church containing urns of the hearts of notable Polish people, one being the heart of Chopin.

Wishing I had brought the puffer jacket, as the sun had gone and wind was up again, it was time to head for home for the evening, and an early night after a busy day and not much sleep in the last 48 hours.

Wawsaw is promising to be a wonderful adventure!

Well our humans, 22 year friendship, and we still catch up from the other side of the world – the Kiwi/Swiss connection

Verena, Benjamin and Sue – first night Dinner date!

The boys, Florian and Benjamin in the forest!

Florian, Russ and Verena at Zurich street party…

A view from a bridge, the three again sporting the wet weather gear in Lucerne

And again, sheltering from the storm…(Lucerne flash thunderstorm)….not looking too perturbed, so long as Beer in hand!

Three and a half days of busy, Swiss fun with great people, we highly recommend this restaurant (of Verena) , and coffee making skills….and after a quieter more relaxed day, packed again, the kiwis fly out this evening.

We begin today with a round up of last night and our big night out! Certainly big for two old kiwis!

Zurich Party, where all of downtown Zurich is “Eingang” (entry by foot) only….practicing my German. A tram and a train to get as close as we could get…before footing it.

The early evening twilight portrait, with Zurich lake behind….

While all around us, half of Switzerlands population enjoyed the sights and sounds (a slight exaggeration – but huge crowds)

Fairground rides for about 5 kilometres around the lakefront.

Freefalling, one way to escape the crowds!

Airshow over the lake, the Swiss Army, performed amazing manoeuvres overhead!

Florian having a small snack on the 6km walk to our prebooked table on the other lake front in the swimming beach grounds!

Did I say it was very hot! So the walk, noise, crowds and heat were all a little overwhelming..we were now six, with Florian and Verenas’ Finnish friends joining us for their first time Zurich party too.

As the sun set, we arrived at our prime (lakefront) position (organised by our wonderful hosts) in readiness for an evening of sights and sounds!

The kiwi, Austrian, Swiss and Finnish team (with a couple of Americans sharing our table) relaxing, beer in hand, fireworks about to start!

Rock music accompaniment and a perfect position under a speaker, performed with precision timing and display….

And to share a taste of the amazingness – an iPhone 8 amateur video…Ground control to Major Tom, a David Bowie classic…

But wait there was more, after a breathtaking 30 minutes, we had the first time, 150 drone light show to come

Again with Swiss precision, this was an entertaining and very clever work of art across the lake!

Around 12.30 pm, it was time to head for home…opting to avoid the crowds and another 6km walk to the train, Verena took us straight up a couple of blocks, hailed a taxi, and had us tucked up in bed by 1.30am!!! What a fantastic experience.

So that was last night, another fun day planned for today, with a trip to Lucerne, just a bit over an hour away…clouds deciding that probably best to explore the city rather than venture into the mountains..

First glimpse of Lake Vierwaldstättersee, on which the city of Lucerne sits on.

Florian was hungry and I needed a loo…

Very clear instructions for my 1 franc toilet stop!

And a coffee and snack stop at “Bachmann” a food stop for every taste..

A wall of dripping chocolate above a vast selection of specialty chocolates! Also coffee and sandwiches.

Upon “Ausgang” (exiting by foot) A slight raindrop saw us Don our free ponchos (handed to us last night and not needed)

As we explored the streets of this beautiful old city.

Picture perfect architecture and fountains graced our walk…then I spied an antique market, the flea type, along the lake edge.

Not a boys thing, but fun for a Kiwi op-shop fan.

It was back across another bridge, destination craft beer pub! The calm before the storm (literally) and an eerie light on the water.

Of course no European city (or story) is complete without a picture of a Kirche (church – deep into learning my new language now)

This one sporting a colourful Big Ben on its spire.

Managing to secure a waterfront position (At pub) with a view of the famous Chapel Bridge built in the 1400’s

Beer and snacks and coffee (again) happily relaxing, the darkness was rolling down the mountains in the distance! And within about 2 minutes it hit, torrential rain and gale force winds, punters diving for inside shelter and staff grabbing flying chairs, plates cups and glasses before they all ended up in the lake!

This lasted for about 30 minutes, and changed the landscape and ambience very rapidly, in other places in the city, it downed trees and blew over lines of parked bikes…was kind of fun (not for the poor staff trying to secure their outside dining possessions and getting drenched in the process)

Ponchos still earning their keep, after about half an hour it was safe to head outside and back to the car for the journey home…

Another great adventure and day in the wandering kiwis life.

No I haven’t spelt Sea wrong, “See” is the word for Lake!

A quiet start to a Friday morning, catching up on work before the weekend!

Benjamin out the door at 8am and taking himself off to kindy (at five)..they teach them independence early here and live in a safe city! He walks home again at midday!

The adults took a walk to the shops.

Through another park with a swimming pool complex (puts Waiwera hot pools to shame) gardens, pools and fountains..

To the bank, to withdraw some of the local currency, Swiss francs, supermarket to replace Florian’s beer and buy transport pass ready to hit the Zurich Party tonight!

Home for a Russ rest, lunch and wait for Benjamin before the afternoon excursion to the “See” (lake).

Through another forest, around the edge of the lake to the swimming hole.

The parking lot – bikes galore! Popular summer mode of transport!

To our patch in the shade at the lakes edge.

Florian, Verena, Benjamin and Russ jumped in!

Sue amused herself watching the confident ducks(?) make themselves at home on our blanket. These guys have the biggest feet I have ever seen on a bird, it looks like they are wearing flippers.

They kinda look like short, fat “Pukekos” our kiwi swamp bird.

“The Jetty” reminds me of a Sam Hunt competition winning poem, Jaxon and Dan!

And the Swiss all relaxing at the beach! And a Kiwi in the middle, sitting in the shade….

Benjamin and big people needed enjoyed the swims, icecream, coffee and a nap!

Time to leave, as the after work people were heading in…a 30 degree day (celcius) warrants a swim wherever you are in the world.

Time to wake up and get ready for the biggest party in Zurich, which happens once every three years!

Goodbye Vienna, but a taste of your world and hospitality! One (actually two) last coffees at our new favourite coffee bar!

Bolt is the new Uber, and our taxi to the airport arrived in one minute!

Everyone in Vienna is so helpful and checking in was a breeze, and we were off on to our next destination!

Austrian airlines you rock, wine, coffee snack and leg room to die for (in economy) – all on a one hour, ten minute flight!

Before we knew it we were touching down in the banking capital of the world….Zurich!

And with our friends Florian and Verena and young Benjamin (who I’m sure thinks Russ and I are strange, as we don’t under stand a word he says and just grin and look stupid)

Dinner booked a short (30 minute) walk from the city to the county!

Benjamin riding and Florian on the scooter trying to keep up (with a 5 year old) Russ and I coming up the rear and Verena keeping us company

Through a forest – and

Farmland to a very popular farm restaurant for dinner.

The boys and their wheat beer and..

The girls and Benjamin enjoying a nice warm Swiss evening and delicious pork snitzel!

Then it was back home along the river…and the five year old keeping us on our toes.

Sues turn to try and keep up on the scooter!

And we got there in the end – still in one peace – a 58 year old on a scooter is no match for a five year old on a bike!

Feeling a few side effects from the cycling day, the wandering kiwis chose to catch a train straight to Schönborn Palace, number one on the must sees in Vienna. The train ride became a train 🚞 walking 🚶‍♀️ bus 🚌 walking 🚶‍♂️ train 🚞 ride, due to remodelling of the train line on our chosen route. Upon arrival, finally, at the Palace, it appeared that every other visitor to Vienna today had this must see on their must do list!

We joined the procession into the main gates.

The garden front of the Palace was fenced off and sporting a huge stage, tents, seating and stands…summer evening music concerts at the Palace are happening evidently.

A little closer to the front entrance podium.

The organised Kiwis had purchased a sandwich and packed some water, and decided to look for a more peaceful place and a park bench…hunger and thirst sated, and wandering deeper into the gardens, we soon realised there were acres of Park to hide in (500 acres to be exact)

We chanced upon the “Palm House” a structure built in 1883 at which time, it was the largest greenhouse in Europe, housing exotic plants (1500 species of orchids to name a few) and hundreds of butterfly species.

Having strolled around for an hour or more, choosing not to enter the zoo (which is also in this park), we arrived at the back side of the castle…

Looking back at the Palace and in the other direction to the “Neptune Fountain” and the second building on the hill (one we didn’t climb)

The reverse side of the in full panorama, picking the moment when humans were scarce.

One of the many statues, a man and his dog, unconditional love!

And a collage of Russ in the guardhouse and in front of one of the many garden gazebos and Sue in front of the fountain.

An opulent Baroque building and parklands in the middle of the city of Vienna and well worth the visit. (It is after all – number one attraction)

It was then back to train-bus-train for the journey home, hopping off the bus at “Naschmarkt” a streetmarket with mainly food, cafes and more food and dresses from what appeared mainly Turkish origin (at a guess).

Lots of stuffed things and dried things and fruit and cakes, with a distinctive aroma of herbs and curry!

Another 2km walk before getting back on the train to town and closer to home. In desperate need of a bathroom, which it seems are few and far between when needed, Russ just had to buy an ice cream, at a cafe, to relieve my stress!

Getting a bit weary we headed towards our room…and en route happened on this gothic style church.

Door open, so took a peep inside.

Beautiful leadlights and gold at the front…

And an enormous organ raised above the back entrance doors. Carvings and sculptures quite gothic and scary.

Out the back door and down a flight of steps and we were back. Visiting the supermarket on the way, dinner sorted, repacking to do and checking out of Vienna in the morning heading to Zurich!

I’m in love….with electric bikes. (Denise and Amber – you’ll be proud of us, five hours in the saddle)

After a tiring hot arrival in Vienna yesterday, cooled down by overnight thunderstorms and rain, and an early night, we awoke to a cool fresh morning.

Set up my work station in my tiny space and worked for a few hours, then off to find coffee.

Russ enjoying a large hot cup, but we spied the afternoon activities while there. Even in German this makes sense!

Happy hour pints for €2.90 from 4pm….but we had to earn this. Around the corner we rented E bikes (the ones with the electric motor – that help old people up hills)…and off we went towards the Danube river.

Our first glimpse having cruised up this circular on-ramp to the bridge with ease(and assistance of the high setting motor on our bikes)

Across this bridge (Russ in the lead) and one more to the other side….saving the the island in the middle (donauinsel island) for our return.

Vienna’s Sky tower…

And a view from the bridge. We cycled around residential streets and decided that we would return to the island for more country cycling.

Houseboats and big boats moored at the waters edge – average speed (fairly unaided) 20kms! The clouds were lifting and heading back to our side….

This glass tower reflecting in the Danube, as a riverboat debarked on it’s next leg…next stop for the free wheeling kiwis…lunch.

A very delicious and cheap kebab, I won’t need dinner.

Mine came first and Russ waiting patiently on the park bench, backdropped with a mass of white hydrangeas. We were heading towards and almost to the Hundertwasser museum and village, (J9 this next lot of pictures I especially want to share with you)

Just enjoying the moment! (While resting the legs). The Museum cafe for a coffee break and toilet stop.

Not a patch on the Kawakawa ones that he build when he settled, in his later years, in New Zealand.

However his other architecture was spectacular!

And a collage of the cafe and Museum, his trademark the uneven tiled floors and his reason for this…

For humans to experience, touch and feel and senses. Then to the village (J9 are you holding your breath)

Tiling and shapes and colour in every nook and cranny! So unique in the large ornate, cream gothic style of a lot of Vienna.

And one more….

The street view of the village (actually there are more but I still have some ground to cycle before happy hour) ok one more inside the shopping mall…

Moving along, having avoided the one rain shower of the day with Mr Hundertwasser…clouds gone and afternoon warming up considerably, it was off to the Belvedere palace and gardens…home now to a massive art gallery. We were now in city traffic, and cycling became a little more stressful avoiding trams, one way streets, tour buses and lots of people! But we made it, locked up bikes at gate and entered!

In the distance…

And inside, beautiful gardens, lake and palace (do not walk on the grass)

Mushrooms growing after the heat and thunderstorms – no picking as we could not walk on the grass!

And behind, even bigger gardens and statues – female lions, angels dragons or something of that combination, en guard!

Getting near to happy hour time, and a few bits getting saddle sore, it was navigate the city and drop bikes off.

Past Mozart’s museum by pure chance!

Easier said than done…one of the many stops, and many circles around the city, Russ resetting the google tracking. We got told by a policeman not to ride on footpaths, so risked our lives and bikes with the trams, horses, buses and cobblestones. At one point we decided to follow a local who appeared to be going our way, only to have to backtrack and start again. An extra hour on the wheels, getting rather warm now….but finally here we are….

Happy hour and happy after a great day of exploring on our E Bikes!

5.30am sunrise in Malta farewelled the two Kiwis for the next six weeks. 7am madness at the airport, it seemed half the island population was on the move.

Whizz Air flight to Vienna, cattle class, there was no moving to the emergency exit seats, all of which were free, anyone who attempted this was promptly told to return to their seat or pay up! Not much empathy, even for the very pregnant woman behind me with a screaming two year old on her knee, kicking my seat for the full two hours! I almost offered to pay the extra for her to move…but no, they remained empty for the entire flight. We definitely had the seat police on, and that is all they did, no smiles, no cup of tea….trained to be cold and nasty!

Two bags, an already weary Russ, the easy option , of a taxi to accommodation, was the only one (after a bit of shopping around and securing a set price)

Checked in, dropped bags, donned shorts and set of to explore the neighbourhood until we could have our room at 3pm.

So we left a heatwave in Malta and dived into an inferno in Vienna 36 degrees celcius in the shade at 3-4pm!

We headed towards a church or two, this one is St Peters, purported to be the oldest church ( or what it is rebuilt on) in Vienna.

Jumping into any bit of shade, it was time to seek out a cold beer and lunch – silly me all menus were in German! So I finally downloaded the google translator app. Still didn’t make a lot of sense, so I nipped inside and pointed to a couple of sandwiches!

Watered and fed and having filled in a bit of the afternoon we oohed and aahed and sweated our way around historic Vienna city.

St Stephens Cathedral, the seat of the archbishop of Vienna, very gothic and remarkable with its multi tiled roof.

Getting hot and bothered, temperatures rose, we wandered past statues..

Through anywhere air conditioned – this was a jewellery and Art auction arcade.

Flower and plant shops, heading for a supermarket to buy Russell’s breakfast supplies (so the routine is not broken).

Then a beeline (Russ driving the google maps) back to the unit, which by now we could get in. Googles great until it tells you to turn right into a street that actually runs under the bridge you are walking over.

Crisis averted however as 50 meters up the road we found an internal flight of stairs delivering us to the correct street and right at a cafe and our entry! 2nd cold beer for the afternoon, and finally footsore and on fire we were able to take ownership of our room.

Entrance to air conditioning, which was the first thing we turned on. Russ crashed on the bed and I went back to the supermarket to buy milk and coffee! My needs met.

Time for a nap – until the sun goes down and we can venture out…