Nice 2009/07

Another example of mixing holiday and racing – this time we off to Nice on the French Riviera (Côte d'Azur).

Nice turned out to be a lovely place with the small streets, old houses being nicely renovated, charming restaurants on the shores of the Meditorenian Sea.

The only disappointment for us was the long but narrow beach made of the polished pebbles. Along the beach was running dual carriageway called The Promenade des Anglais ("Promenade of the English").


The Place Garibaldi (below) is one of the nicest architectural squares and is home to the antic market. It is named after Giuseppe Garibaldi, hero of the Italian unification.

On Sunday was a big day, Ironman. As usual early wake up, Mike stressed at the start desperately trying to change the tire that just exploded. The race course turned up to be very difficult, more hilly than expected, but Mike finished in 10:27 finishing overall 250 (still in 1st top 10%).


Monaco, tax heaven, full of rich people, area of 2 km2 and 32k population - it's only 20 min on the train from Nice; it was lovely day out; on the our last visit there was F1 taking place so everything seemed different this time.

We've started our sightseeing from the Palace, the residency of the current royal family Grimaldi, who first captured the throne in 1297 - one of the longest reining families.

Monaco Aquarium fully deserves the name of the best aquarium in Europe - it has a wide collection of fishes and one of the most interesting commentaries we ever see e.g. stone fish is the most poisonous fish with 25% of all wounds inflicted by man being fatal. The water is pump from the Mediterranean Sea.


And you can't visit Monaco without visiting Monte Carlo Casino - that is where all the celebs spend their cash, but interestingly if you citizen of Monaco you are forbidden to enter the gaming rooms.

We’ve spotted some ceb outside the casino but unfortunately it wasn't from the sport world so we don't know the name but he arrived in very distinctive Bentley (so he definitely wanted the attention) and was greeted by the screaming tourists and everyone wanted to take the photo of him so we fallow the suit and taken the photo as well.

Cannes is a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival, founded in 1946; It's was only 30 min on the train from Nice

Overall very enjoyable and relaxing long weekend away; Nice is the very good base point with the airport only 20 min by bus and good connections with Monaco, Cannes and other attractions. Staying in the quiet hotel Oasis with the garden/bar definitely added to our pleasant stay in Nice.

Nicea 2009/07 (Polski)

Nasza pierwsza wizyta na francuska riwiere, do Nicei. Jak wiele poprzednich wyjazdow bylo to polaczenie zawodow i zwiedzania.

Nicea okazala sie uroczym miejscem z odremontowanymi kamienicami, malymi restauracyjkami nad morzem Srodziemnym. Rozczarowaniem byla jednak kamienista plaza wzdloz ktorej biegla dwupamowka.

W niedziele byl dzien zawodow, pobudka o 4, ostatni rzut oka na rower i start o 6:30; 29 stopni i gorzysta zapowiadaly dlugi dzie; Michal skonczy po 10:27godz, na 250 pozycji - niby daleko ale ciage w pierwszej 10% wszystkich startujacych.

W poniedzialek zaczelismy zwiedzanie, Monako - malutki kraj o powierzchni 2km2, zamieszkaly przez 32tys ludzi (glownie bogatych sportowcow, mieszkajacych w Monaco dla celow podatkowych - w Monako nie placi sie podatku); Zwiedzanie zaczelismy od palacu okupowanego przez obecna rodzine krolewska - Grimaldi (jedna z najdluzej panujacych rodow, bo az od 1297 roku)

Akwarium w Monako nalezy do najlepszych w jakim kiedykolwiek bylismy - opisy sa bardzo interesujace i prezentacja wspaniala; Podczas kazdej podrozy dowiadujemy sie czegos nowego n.p. szkaradnica (ryba przypominajaca kamien, po angielsku stonefish) jest najbardziej trujaca ryba gdzie 25% ran zadanych przez szkaradnice jest smiertelnych; woda do akwarium jest pompowana z morza srodziemnego; bardzo polecamy (na zdjeciu scorpion ryba)

Wizyta do Monako nie mogla by sie odbyc bez odwiedzenia kasyna Monte Carlo i hotelu de Paris. To tu bogaci zamozni trwonia pieniadze i mieszkaja w luksusie jaki ciezko sobie wyobrazic; hazard jest nie dozwolony dla rezydentow Monaka wiec nie maja oni wstepu do kasyna;

Cannes w ostatni dzien pojechalismy zobaczyc miasto, gdzie kazdego maja odbywa sie Festiwal Filmowy (juz od 1946 roku); ku naszemu zdziwieniu plaza w Cannes jest piaszczysta;

Nicea to doskonala baza by zwiedzac riwiere - pociag to Monaka jedzie tylko 15min a do Cannes 30 min, lotnisko jest 20min od centrum; ceny biletow sa bardzo dostepne w porownaniu do cen angielskich pociagow (np. 3 euro do Monako powrotny). Polecamy na aktywne wakacje, do smazenia sie na plazy sa ciekawsze miejsca.

Mallorca

Mallorca was our another attempt to combine the holiday and Mike training. This time it was easy as we went with the group of friends and everyone was happy - Mike could spend entire day cycling where I had a company to do a sightseeing.
Mallorca is the largest of the Balearic Islands belonging to Spain. In summer it's full of tourist but there is no surprise, the views are really spectacular. Below the view from the trip to Cap de Formentor lighthouse near Port de Pollensa.

The first day we started from visiting the market in Pollensa and stocking up on delicious spanish jamonThe main attraction of Pollensa are the cypress tree lined Calvari steps that lead to the Calvari church. It is famous for ancient wooden cross and the magnificent view on Puerto Pollensa Bay.

Palma is the biggest city in Mallorca, 1/2 of the population leaves here. It is surprisingly pleasant and full of character. The main attraction is Cathedral of Palma, an impressive Gothic style building that was built over a 300 hundred year period during the 14th to 17th Century

Monastery Lluc was founded in the 1200´s. It's built in a secluded place in the mountains and it is visited by many Christian pilgrims who come to see the dark Madonna. It's been built on the spot where the black Madonna appeared to the shepherd. We were extremely surprise to meet Mike there, he set off at the time as we in the car and managed to get there just after us.

The Dragon Caves are the biggest in Mallorca. The tour includes 15min classical music concert near the lake inside. 10 miles south from the caves there are a beautiful views from San Salvador Monastery, located on a hilltop in Felanitx. It's a Gothic masterpiece.

The area of Soller and Valldemossa are the most spectacular of the entire Mallorca. From Soller there is an old train to Port de Soller (photo below) or to Palma passing through the orange orchards.
Deia is a small village, located up in the mountain which is popular with the artists. Being at the top we managed to spot Mike passing on the descend to Valldemossa (he was too quick for a photo but there is no doubt that it was Mike).

Valldemossa is my favourite place, despite so many souvenir shops it still managed to keep the atmosphere. It become quite famous after the composer Frederic Chopin spent winter 1838-39 here with the author George Sand.

The last day we spent in Alcudia - picturesque town surrounded by the city walls. In Alcudia you can see the only roman theatre still preserved on the island.

We had a lovely time in Mallorca - Mike cycled 360 miles, we did 450 miles by car so not bad for 5 days. The extra attraction was Mallorca Challenge that was happening at the same time - 5 stage cycling tour around the Mallorca.

Majorka (Polski)

Majorka to najwieksza wyspa w archipelagu Baleralow (Majorka, Menorka, Ibiza, Formentera) na morzu Srodziemnym nalezaca do Hiszpani. Latem oblegana przez turystow, zwana tez jest potrojne S (sun - slonce, sand - piasek, sea - morze). No i nie ma sie co dziwic - widoki sa naprawde przepiekne tak jak przepiekna droga i widoki do Cap de Formentor kolo Port de Pollensa.


Na Majorce bylismy 4 dni razem z Mania i Kazikiem. Plan podrozy byl napiety - Michal staral sie przejechac tyle kilometrow na rowerze ile sie da a my staralismy sie zobaczyc ile sie da z samochodu (znacznie mniej meczace). Zwiedzanie zaczelismy od marketu w Pollensa, gdzie obkupilismy sie w jamon (hiszpanska szynke)


Pollensa jest uroczym malym miastecziem z waskimi uliczkami i gora kalwarska, na ktora prowadzi 365 schodow.

Najwiekszym miastem na Majorce jest Palma - mimo 325 tys mieszkancow jest bardzo przyjemnym miejscem porosnietym palmami, nad ktorym goruje wielka katedra z XV wieku.

W drodze powrotnej zachaczylismy o klasztor Lluc - w VII wieku lokalny paterz zbaczyl Matke Boska. Pare lat pozniej podobne objawienie pojawilo sie na skale. Na miejscu objawien zbudowano klasztor. Dojezdza sie tam kretymi serpentynkami dosc stromo pod gore, wiec bylismy wielce zaskoczeni jak zobaczylismy Michala na rowerze (dotarl tam wkrotce po nas a my bylismy samochodem!)

Drugi dzien zaczelismy od odwiedzenia jakini smoka (cuevos del drach) - najcieplejsza jaskinia w jakiej bylismy, temp 20 stopni.

Przepiekne widoki byly z wzgorza Salwadora kolo Felanitx - obecnie miesci sie tam sanktuarium.

Najpiekniejsza czesc Majorki to okolice Soller i Valdemosy - dojazd nie nalezy do najlatwiejszych, gdyz drogi sa krete a teren gorzysty, ale jest co podziwiac. Miateczka sa urocze, osadzone na wzgorzach i budowane z lokalnych kamieni. W centrum jest rynek z kosciolem (na zdjeciu plac Konstytucji w Soller). Z Soller mozna wybrac sie na przejazdzke do Port Soller albo do Palmy przez sady pomaranczowe

Deia jest jedna z najbardzie uroczych miejsc popularna wsrod pisarzy i artystow - osadzona na stromym zboczu z tarasami warzywnymi i winem. Bedac na szczycie kolo kosciola udalo nam sie wypatrzec Michala jadacego do Soller (jechal za szybko by zrobic zdjecie ale nie bylo watpliwosci ze byl to Michal) - na zdjeciu punk widokowy kolo Dei

Valldemossa jest jedna z najpopularniejszych turystycznych miasteczek - Szopen spedzil tam zime 1838-39 razem z George Sand w miejscowym klasztorze. Mimo mnostwa sklepikow turystycznych, miasteczko zachowalo atmosfere. Uliczki sa waskie, domy z kamienia. Ciekawe, ze wiekszosc instalacji elektrycznych jest na zewnatrz domow.

4 dni uplynely blyskawicznie. Ostatni dzien odwiedzilismy pobliska Alcudi, otoczona murami sredniowiecznymi. Zachowaly sie resztki ruin rzymskich i amfiteatr.

Majorka to urocze miejsce, bedac tam latwo mozna sobie wyobrazic dlaczego takie tlumy turystow tam ciagna. My bylismy przed sezonem - pogoda dopisala, humory tez, nasz wynajety apartment okazal sie ok, przejechalismy 700km (Kaziu byl naszym kierowca), zrobilismy 500 zdjec.

Dodatkowa trakcja (szczegolnie dla Michala) byl wyscig kolarski wokol Majorki, ktory udalo nam sie zobaczyc 2 razy. Jeszcze troche i Mania z Kaziem by zostali kibicami kolarstwa (ale niestety czasu nie starczylo).

Christmas in Poland

We greeted 2008 in New Zealand and ended it in Poland. Hard to believe that another year is gone, but everyone knows that time passes quickly.

This year we decided to drive 1000 miles do Poland, taking the eurotunnel then driving through France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. As expected there was lots of people travelling so we were not surprised to find out that the tunnel had delays and there was heavy traffic on the motorway. Overall the journey took us 31hrs door to door (yes I know, it takes only 24hrs to fly to Australia).

A few people asked us about eurotunnel – the process is quite smooth, on arrival insert your credit card in the slot and barrier lifts and lets you in. There is complex with the restaurants and shops where you can stop. To board the train, you need to drive to the train platform and from there into the train. Each carriage can hold 4 to 5 cars. The journey time is 35min. You stay the entire time with the car, it is possible to open the door and walk around but there is limited space and no sittings.








In Poland our time was spend visiting family and friends. It was especially nice to see the newest addition to our family - as the only baby in the family she will be so spoiled. At the moment she is very cheerfull, smily and trusty.


It was cold with the temperature around -3 but no snow for most of the time so it was convenient to travel around. It started snowing quite heavily on our last day, the driving condition very horrible with poor visibility, icy roads and the fact that we had a summer tires didn’t help – in places we couldn’t drive faster than 10m/hr.


The situation improved slightly in Germany once we got on the motorway but again, the snow was fallowing us and in places only 1 line was driveable while other 2 were covered in snow. We found the driving condition quite tiring and were forced to stop in the hotel near Berlin to recapture the energy.

In Netherland the condition improved significantly and we managed to travel at decent speed. We arrived in London on Sunday midnight. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we woke up on Mon morning and there is snow outside the house. Bad weather was following us all the way.


It was lovely to see the family and friends. We got really warm welcome and returned with lots of delicious food. The Xmas in Poland is more Xmasy than here so we are glad we went.

Irlandia (polski)

Czy deszczowa Irlandia pod koniec pazdziernika ma urok? Odpowiedz jest tak, szczegolnie jesli jest to prezent urodzinowy. To byly nasze pierwsze odwiedzilismy w Irlandii.

W Dublinie wyladowalismy wczesnym rakiem, wzielismy samochod i ruszylismy w droge do Limerick. Drogi jak w Polsce - dziurawe, waskie i mnostwo robot drogawych - 170km w 4 godz. Droga zajela nam znacznie dluzej niz planowalismy, nasz pierwszy postoj byl w Adare - urocza wioska z domami krytymi sloma i duzym polem golfowym. W centrum pola golfowego jest XVIII wieczny polacyk - obecnie luksusowy hotel z super restauracja i barem z zadziwiajaco normalnymi cenami.
Limerick byl rozczarowujacy - promowany jako weekendowa stolica Irlandii, nie mial nic do zaoferowania co by pozostalo nam na dlugo w pamieci (poza hotelem, ktory byl super).

Irlandia okazala sie zielona i bardzo polska - zielone laki, zabudowa podobna. Przy drogach mnostwo ruin i malych kamiennych kosciolow.

Ze wszystkich miast Kilkenny mialo najwiecej uroku - szkoda ze nie mielismy czasu by odwiedzic zamiek i katedre.

W nasz ostatni dzien wypogodzilo sie wiec pojechalismy okrezna droga do Dublina - przez gory Wicklow i zatrzymalismy sie w Glendalough - dolina z 2 jeziorami i ruinami klasztoru z XII wieku.
Dublin - nie rozczarowal, niska zabudowa, duzo zieleni, fajna atmosfera z mnostwem malych restauracyjek. Do Dublina przyjechalismy dzien przed dublinskim maratonem - wiec jak latwo zgadnac, zwiedzanie zaczelismy maratonskiej wystawy. Na wiecej juz nam czasu nie starczylo wiec bedziemy musieli jeszcze tam wrocic.

3 dni mienely szybko i przyjemnie. Pogoda jesienna ale bylismy pod koniec pazdziernika wiec nie ma co sie dziwic. Irlandia jest zielona, bardzo Polska i wcale nie az tak tania wiecna wakacje polecalibysmy miejsce bardziej rozniace sie od domu.

London

Why do we prefer to go on holiday far away and don't seem to appreciate what is under our nose? I don’t know the answers but it's not uncommon. We’ve been to Australia but never been to Ireland. We very rarely (never) visit London attractions unless we are showing around visiting friends/family. And after leaving in London for 13 years we are still discovering new interesting places and that was also the case during Mike’s dad visit.

Parliament (Westminster) – we’ve passed it so many times and took lots of photos in front of the Big Ben but this time went inside for the first time. And it was worth it – gothic style, the decorations are very tasteful, gold mixed with the wooden walls has pleasant and soft feel. The great fire in 1834 destroyed everything except the Westminster Hall (dated end of XI century) and currently used for lyings-in-state (The Queen Mather in 2002)
We visited House of Lords (red sits) and House of Commons (green sits) and learned that:
· three is 1,100 rooms, 100 staircases and 3 miles of corridors.
· speeches may not be read out during debate, although notes may be referred to
· the reading of newspapers is not allowed
· the food inside the parliament is not taxed – shot of whisky only £1.50

Greenwich - mainly known because of the observatory and the zero longitude but how many of you heard the fascinating story of John Harrison who spent his entire life trying to solve the biggest navigation problem of the 17th & 18th centuries: marine navigation, or the longitude problem for which government offered the £20,000 reward (after working for 50 years on the solution Harrison received the reward couple of years before his death at the age of almost 80). Harrison's answer to the problem was chronometer (accurate clock on ships at sea, keeping 'home time' to compare with 'local time' to give one's position east or west of the home port), on display in the museum.
Another ‘discovery’ for us were The Tulip Stairs in Queens Ann house (part of Marine National Museum), is were the picture of a ghost has been taken in 1966. For centuries this house was used as royal marine school were boys of age of 6 trained from early ages to become marines.

Warrick Castle – built by William the Conqueror in 1068, 2 hrs drive from London; The exhibitions have wax figures which make it easier to imagine the life there in previous century. You can spend time climbing the castle towers, walking through the gardens and watching special outdoor events (archery or falconry).

The Car Heritage Museum - home to the world's largest collection of historic British cars

Change of guards in front of the Buckingham palace draws huge crowds and seeing the change is almost impossible. The Clarence House is open to public in summer – this was the home of late The Queen Mother and the current residence of Prince Charles, William and Harry. This was disappointing –only 5 rooms opened, the house is small and doesn’t have a royal splendor, deco was not exceptional, garden tiny and traffic noise from the nearby The Mall. The tour guides will tell you a lot about the paintings on the wall but nothing about the day-to-day life – apparently everything because of security.

Transport Museum in Covent Garden – is just like moving back in time – it’s so easy to imagine London decades ago with the hop on red busses, old trains, horse pulled carriages

Charwell country house of Sir Winston Churchill – just off M25. Magnificent residence with very homely warm deco surrounded by massive garden (trees, lakes, hills)
The rooms and gardens remain much as they were when he lived here, with pictures, books, maps and personal mementoes strongly evoking the career and wide-ranging interests of Churchill.


Old Operating Theater Museum – near St Guy’s hospital – visiting it is like being in the horror movie, wooden operating tables, no anesthetic – how the patients survived is hard to imagine

Tower of London – the place were lots of executions have been performed – 2 wives of Henry VIII were executed here (Ann Boyden and Katherine Howard). The Queen's crown is kept here – apparently there was only 1 attempt to steal it made in XVIII century. The weirdest thing we were told, was that king's tantrum and red hair were associated with the excess of blood – after the king got over exited the physician would drain some blood from him – how weird it sounds now? The most badly botched execution was that of Duke of Monmouth, after missing 5 blows with the axe the executioner had to use his knife, butchering the Duke like a pig.

Tower Bridge - completed in 1894, Tower Bridge was instantly hailed as a London icon and one of the great engineering marvels of its age.


The original raising mechanism was powered by pressurised water stored in six hydraulic accumulators.


London is a great city with rich history - I wish we had more time to take advantage of it more often but with work and Mike's training it is not easy.