Team Sullivan's Adventures in Warsaw

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Fun with Friends

We were fortunate to follow one visit from friends with another...Lauren and Alphonse, great friends from college, came to visit us for a whole week! We were so blessed to have them. We decided to spend part of their week visiting Amsterdam. Both Lauren and Alphonse have always wanted to see the city and we were more than happy to join them! We had a great time exploring the city and taking it all in. We went on a canal cruise through the city, took them to the Van Gogh museum, and made trips to our favorite thai and indonesian restaurants.

After our weekend in Amsterdam we headed back to Warsaw to show them around. We, of course, introduced them to the different varieties of Polish vodka and made sure they got to see all of the historic sites too. The funnies part of our trip was watching the Poles react to meeting Alphonse. First, there is not a lot of cultural diversity in Poland so people are not used to seeing anything other than white people. And, secondly, the name Alphonse is Polish translates to mean "pimp". So, Alphonse definitely got some interesting reactions when he introduced himself. It made for some funny moments!

Thanks for making the trip Lauren and Alphonse!

Lauren and Alphonse

Eseential Fuel during our trip

A walk up fast food vending machine restuarant

Bikes, bikes and more bikes!

Gorgeous canals

The famous Grasshopper

The women's bathroom was out of order so they had both men and women using the same bathroom. Made it interesting and had to capture it on film! Alphonse was not going to use the bathroom, but every single women in there told him to Go ahead!

Crooked houses

Off on our canal cruise

I am(sterdam) statue

Thursday, April 5, 2012

A Great Visit and the Royal Castle...

My friend Catherine and her mom visited us in Warsaw a week or so again. We were thrilled to have them for a few days and to show them around the city. It was a whirlwind trip filled with a lot of sightseeing. I had the pleasure of visiting Warsaw's Royal Castle with them. I had not been there yet so it was great fun to experience the castle and see the amazing restorations to bring it back to its original look. Catherine, Janice and I were so busy running around that I got pcitures inside the castle, but not of the three of us. : ( I'll have to get some from Catheirne.

Many thanks Catherine and Janice for making the trip and including Warsaw in your travels. We loved seeing you!

The King's throne

Gorgeous floors

Murals on the ceilings

The Royal Castle

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Awesome Thing About Living in Europe #21

Awesome Thing About Living in Europe #21: 1%

It is tax time in Poland right now just like in the states. And, since we are residents living in Poland we are lucky enough to pay Polish taxes. ; ) For those that are concerned, don't worry. There is an agreement in place where we do not have to pay 100% of our taxes in both countries. But, the US government is also making sure they get their fare share.

While filing our taxes we learned about the "1% Program" here in Poland. This is a program that allows you to donate 1% of your taxes (money that the government is already taking) to any non-profit organization in the country. A pretty cool concept if you ask me! Once we learned of this we spent some time going through the list of organization and trying to choose just one...there were a ton of worthwhile causes. We decided to go with Bread of Life. An organization that we are familiar with that supports women and children in need throughout Poland. We also know that Bread of Life has minor administrative costs and almost all of your donation goes to actually help someone.

Think about the difference the US could make it they adopted a similar 1% Program. If you've gotta pay taxes it makes a bit easier knowing some of the money is helping out this country!

As a side note, its visitor season here in Warsaw. Our first set of guests just left and we pick up our next ones tomorrow. So if blog posts are few and far between please understand that we are out enjoying the sights with friends and family!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Engelberg, Switzerland

We were off again this past weekend to beautiful Engelberg, Switzerland. Engelberg is an adorable ski village on the edge of the Titlis Mountain, about an hour outside of Zurich. We were fortunate to go on this adventure with our neghbors here in Warsaw. We had a great weekend with them and are going to be sad to see them go back to the states this summer. Having never been to Switzerland before I wasn't sure what exactly to expect. But, Engelberg was postcard perfect! Every view was literally breathtaking. We stayed in an adorable apartment up over the town therefore had views of the village and the mountain from every angle. We were also blessed with beautiful weather. It was 60 degrees out during the day but there was still plenty of snow for skiing.

We spent our first day riding the lifts all the way to the top of the mountain for some incredible views and of course, we had to indulge in a drink at "Europe's Highest Bar" while up there. On our way back down the mountain we stopped for some snow tubing. It was a total blast! We were largely outnumbered by little kids, but we didn't really care. We finished our day with a traditional Swiss dinner in an old chalet in the village.

Sunday was our big skiiing day so we were up and off to the slopes! Now this was only my second time EVER skiiing so I was a bit nervous to "get my groove back" (i.e. remember an ounce of anything I learned in my first ski lesson). And, Engelberg is a much larger ski resort than the one that we had gone to in Austria. We headed off to the blue (beginner) slopes and hoped for the best! These slopes looked a bit more advanced to me, but I guess this is what you get when you are skiing in the Alps! I surprised myself and did pretty well. We had a great time spending the day skiing. Tom did really well and has a new found love for the sport. I see many more ski vacations in our future. : ) After a long day of skiing we were ready to head back to the apartment and relax. So, we decided to spend the night in and cook a traditional swiss dinner...fondue! Fondue is one of my favorite things so I was super excited. And, when we went to buy the groceries the ladies at the store were very eager to explain the proper process to us to ensure that we had the tastiest fondue. Did you know that you are supposed to put a small amount of cornstartch into your cheese fondue to prevent it from sticking and browning?

Monday we checked out of our loveley apartment in the morning and were off to do some sightseeing. Unfortunately, the beautiful snow up in the mountain meant lots of nonstop rain below the mountain. But, we were determined to see the sights. So, we headed over to the city of Lucerne and walked around the charming city for awhile stopping into a cafe to dry off and stay warm. After Lucerne we checked out Zurich for a bit before heading to the airport.

Switzerland is a gorgeous place and we hope to head back sometime in our travels! Another wonderful trip and even better that we got to share it with great friends!