On June 24th, that day was our last day to stay in Poland. I wanted to stay longer,but we had to go back…

@ the Krakow station

The train we took was an old style. There was a cabinet with 8 sheets. It took to get to Warsaw from Krakow for 2.5 hours again. As usual, we slept in the car

After we arrived in Warsaw, I requested to Andeas that visiting to Old Town again. Yes, he agreed with my idea!

some of my favorite pics

It was on Sunday, I saw more local people at the Square.

Old town square again,hihihi

peace

Here is a disgusting beer

—–> Look at his face

We just had some beer at the terrace, but Andreas ordered some strange beer. It had some cinnamon and the beer was warm It was my first time that he did not finish his beer, hahaha.

Then, we went to the market to buy a lot of Polish foods, especially Pierogi!!And Andreas bought 24cans of beers. And that beer was 300ml. OMG, could not believe it he was carrying with those beers and heavy stuff with swollen ankle and legs But somehow we made it

On June 23rd, we were still in Krakow. But our legs and feet were hurting so much from a lot of walking So that, this day was very easy day, hehehe. Today’s our destination is to go to The Wawel(Pronounce : Vavel)

Ready for today’s walking

On the Wawel, there is a Royal Castle, Cathedral, and some exhibitions. It was limited with the visitors for a day, so it is better to go to in the morning In the Royal Castle, Royal Apartments, State Rooms, and Crown Treasury and Armoury places were limited. We wanted to go to this three museums, but the visiting time was already given by ticket office. Yeah, we waited for a while to get in

@the entrance

My favorite garden court

By that time,we visited to the Cathedral. There were Royal tombs and saw many Polish kings’ ghosts Also we went up in the church and saw a large bell. It was made in 1520, and weighs almost 11 tons, wow!

a huge bell

view from the top of this church

Then we went back to the castle. I really liked the Castle courtyard. It was very beautiful and nice Renaissance style

Here is my video part1

The Royal Treasury and Armoury museum was a rich collection of arms and armour. Everything was in good conditions

The State Apartment, one of the room was so scaring which was the Deputies’ Hall. The reason is that on the ceiling there were 30 heads sculptured in wood Only 30 out of 194 original pieces have been preserved, but even with 30 heads I was so scared…Imagine 194 heads on the ceiling….

The Royal Private room was with guided tour. The guide was giving by a Polish lady and her guide was well done.

Since I could not take a photo inside, I bought some books about this castle. I will not forget about this beautiful castle.

Andreas wanted to see a show at Barbican, so we went back to there and saw a show “Queen Bona’s Masquerade” It was very cute and fun!

Masquerade’s video

After the show, I encountered with Medieval Krakow’s handcrafts men. There were so many collections of WAX SEAL from each regions of old age´s Poland. You could buy them with 5 PLN!! Of course I bought one for my souvenir:) Here is my master’s video!

The last activity was my shopping. There was a big shopping mall in front of our hostel. I was so lucky that every shops were on sale, yay Also we bought some foods at the supermarket.

Krakow’s shopping mall

Fortunately, during our visiting the forecast said that it would be raining, but it wasn’t at all.

We really had a great time. Okay, let’s go to the next diary now!

In early morning, on June 22nd, we took a train to go to Krakow. It was 2,5 hours and nice PKP train. The train was nicer and safer than what I expected

Palace of culture and science, this building was still sleeping hihihi
From the first day, I felt that Poland was much cleaner, nicer and safer than what I thought. People were very kind and friendly. They understand English so if you need some help, just ask some young people at least in Warsaw and Krakow. In fact, one young lady helped us at the train station when we were trying to buy the ticket. And during the activities, when I was almost lost, people always helped us where we should go next, and something like that I don’t think people give some help for tourists everywhere. For example, in France, they never spoke to us in English even they understand. Hehehe, this is just my thought and impression.

Well, both of us took some nap at the train as usual. I can sleep anywhere, even it is noisy place, hahah. This is one of my specialities One time, I falled asleep at the night club in Berlin. Andreas made fun of me a lot!!

Our hostel was called Greg-Tom hostel and located on the front of the station. It was also good location and clean. I was happy about that.

Everything was from Ikea. I could realized,hehehe. We have the same sofa.

First activity was to walk around the city. Barbican was our first stop. It is one of the remaining from Krakow’s medieval stuff. This Barbican was built in 1498-9 to defend the city. We went inside and walked inside of the walls. That was cool

outside

inside

Then, getting to Mail Market Square! This Square was larger than the square in Prague. According to my guide book, it is one of the largest in Europe. There were several interesting building at this square. Cloth Hall, City Hall Tower, Dominican Church, Church of St Mary, and etc… In the Cloth hall, you can find souvenir shops on the first floor and it is quite good deals. We bought a hand made wooden box and card. Oh, Andreas bought a beer glasses with Krakow logo. It was cute

—>

We went to the Church of St.Mary. It was built from 1355 to the mid-15th century. I liked the top of tower that had pointed shape and crown. Inside was very colorful and gothic style

Church of St Mary

City Hall Tower

—> Cloth Hall

I was there

Yes, next was our lunch time. Since there were some event at the Square which I still don’t know, we bought some fast food from a stand. I chose one sausage and french fries, and Andreas chose one sausage and black pudding. The taste of black pudding was funny.

We reserved a bus tour to go to Wieliczka from 3pm, so we had to go to the meeting point.

Wieliczka is famous for its ancient salt mine, which was opened 700 years ago. Only 2km of underground and a couple of chambers are opened for public. And that is only 3 percent of the whole salt mine. The tour was 2 hours and our guide took us to underground chambers, saline lakes, and underground buildings. Everything was amazing, but my most favorite was Chapel of St. Kinga!! I never imagine that there is a underground chamber like that!! It was worth visiting this salt mine I sent a postcard using the underground postbox,hihihi. If you want to visit, get ready with so many steps and walking underground. This tour was quite tough, but old man was our guide. He said that he has to do guide three times a day. Tough oji-chan

Let’s go inside

Princess from the Polish Legend

king

Hopefully ,my mail will not get lost !

After this tour, we went back to the Old Town Square to see the event. There were so many people and everyone was taller than me…You know what, I COULD not see anything , because they blocked out. I just heard the sound I wish I was taller a little bit more…

Another Beer time, Kanpai

Anyway, that was my first day in Krakow. Now let’s go to the second day of my diary

On June 21st, we left in Helsinki to travel to Warsaw. It just took one and half hours by plane.The airport was very small and it was easy to find public transportation. We took bus #175 which was going to city center. It costs only 2.40PLN (Polish New Zlotych, 0.6 EUR)

You need to get stamp from that yellow box

Our hostel was called Oki Doki Hostel. Yeah, it was funny name The hostel was quite convienient to go to everywhere.

Our first stop was “University of Warsaw”. This University grew from a summer palace. In the first half of the 17th century, the place belonged to the Vasa Dynasty. (Remember, I visited to Vasa museum in Stockholm. That ship and this Polish university is from the same dynasty. Swedish conquered Poland, wow) We entered inside and took a short walk there. It was very pretty I would not mind studying at this University. Then we continued walking along the Krakowskie Przedmiescie street. This street was impressive. I really liked this street a lot

beginning of the Krakowskie Przedmiescie street

@Church of Holy Cross

University of Warsaw

Where can I go next?!

Residence of the president

Also, this street links to Old Town Square, Presidential place, Royal castle, etc.

Then, it was our lunch time Yay yay

The lady from our hostel recommended to us to go to Pierogarnia!! One of the Polish traditional dishes was called “Pierogi” , and our main target that day,hihihi. I love to eat the foods!!!

Pierogi is like dumplings, but they are usually boiled and you can choose the stuff inside. I chose pork meat with some veggies, and Andreas chose potatoes with cheese. I think his choice was better than mine…Our dishes was included with soups and salads, and it was a big volume and made me so full After finishing our lunch, we went to the bar to try a Polish beer. OMG, it was so tasty and soft

**Na zdrowie!!** (Cheers in Polish)

In front of the restautant

It was really tasty.

My favorite brand of beers

Continued our trip. Royal palace(Zamek Krolewski) was our next stop. This castle was also completely destroyed by German forces in 1944 and rebuilt between 1971 and 1984. So it was still quite new building. The building was used with Baroque style by Italian architects. I was amazed with how people managed to rebuilt such a nice way There were several different type of collections, like paintings, furniture, a lot of historical coins, and interiors. I enjoyed with this castle a lot!

Royal castle

After the war.There is nothing around.

inside!

collections of coins

Next stop was my most interest in Warsaw, Old Town Square (Rynek Starego Miasta). It is the oldest historical district there. Well, these buildings were also destroyed during the war. Many of the original bricks were reused to rebuild. The rubble was shifted for reusable decorative elements, which were reinserted into their original places. This one was also amazing that it is almost same as before

@Old Town Square

At the corner of Old Town, there was a museum of Warsaw. That was our favorite museum. You can’t imagine how big is this museum from the entrance. I would like to visit to this museum again. I really love it, because they showed the Polish history and rich exhibitions.

We took a rest at this square and see the view. There were so many terraces. According to my guide book, the local people also like to come to this square. Yes, I saw many local people and school kids.

Keep walking and walking. Our next stop was Barbican and City Walls. This wall was a gate and defense the northern part of the city. The wall was still under construction.

Happy smile with Polish beers

Then we saw several monument and went back to the hostel.

Cathedral of St John

Monument to the 1944 Warsaw Uprising

Too much walking was killing our legs. Next day was trip to go to old capital, Krakow!

Now I am traveling to Poland from June 21st to 24th.

My plan is like this:
June 21st :Staying at Warsaw. Visiting@ Old town, Royal castle.
22nd:Going to Craciw by train. Exploring in the city, Cracow.
23rd: Trip to Wieliczka where is ancient salt mine and opened 700 years ago.
24th: Going back to Warsaw and go sightseeing.Then back to Helsinki at night.

Right after I came back from Boston and Mexico trip, I went to travel to Stockholm in Sweden Andreas was on business trip to Morne in Mauritius.　He was waiting for me alone and feeling so sad….so his sad feeling came up with giving me this tip. I would be fun, instead of staying by myself. Well, my body was telling me that ” I wanna take a rest and get some sleep”, but I decided to go to Stockholm my poor body, hahaha.

Actually, this trip was my second time, but my first time was in winter and very short time to see the city I think my last trip by myself was three years ago from Ohio to Chicago by Amtrak in US. Andreas does not let me travel by myself at all…I don’t know it is good or bad

Anyway, I arrived in Sweden early morning, so I had a full of day on May 16th.

SO many islands

My first stop was Vasa museum. Everyone who went to Stockholm told me that this museum was great! Without any doubt, I followed with their comments. Yes, it was REALLY true I was so happy to visit this museum. There was a very huge Swedish war ship called “Vasa” from the early 1600s that was supposed to be built for the war Sweden. BUT it sank in the harbor of Stockholm in 15 minutes after it set sail for the first time, WOW That was one of the historical disaster! It was eventually forgotten about till the 1950s. In 1961 they successfully brought the ship up from the harbor floor to the surface.Now that ship was rebuilt and it is in own museum. In the Vasa Museum, the entire real ship is there. It is quite incredible!! I bought a book about Vasa and pretty note with Vasa ship

I wish I was in this age and fighting with my sword, like Elizebeth from “Pirates of the Caribbean”!

Outside of Vasa museum, looks like a ship.

Vasa collections, I am sorry that the pics are not good quality…

Next stop was Historical museum. This museum is shown the Swedish culture and history from the Stoned age. Also there is some treasures in gold from the Bronze Age, and beautiful sculptures from the 12th century. It was nothing special.

Then, I was supposed to go to Medieval museum, but I could not find it as usual. I was bad with reading a map,hehehe. Then I walked to Gamla Stan (Old town) and City hall, since those were close to my hotel. At that time, all shops were around 6pm. That was same as in Finland which I dislike. At least, the customer service and shop stuff were more friendly and smiling Especially, the stuff from convenient store(like seven eleven).

Rondom pics

Antique shop and some street name

Old Town Street

@Seaport

The city was very cute and safe
I loved the city from my first day

**Shopping tips**
There are many shops with TaxFree and you are able to claim from 200 SEK.(Appr. 20 euro,3500 JPY, 28USD) If you travel from non-EU, it is better to buy stuff here than in Finland, in my opinion. In Finland, you can claim from 40 euro. More details are from HERE.

On May 9th, we went back to Boston from Canada without any problems All of us got a lot of energy from Niagara Falls to survive for the rest of year! The flight was only 1 hour, was very short

At the same day, we visited to Museum of Fine Arts. After 4 or 5pm on Wednesday, the admission fee is free for everyone. Yay, we saved 17 bucks for each I had been visiting there many times, but the collections are very interesting. I did not mind visiting that museum more. Especially, the Egyptian are good. And they have many Japanese collections, and even the Japanese garden outside of the museum Visiting at the museum was our art class,hehehe

in front of MFA

inside

There were a couple of the paintings from El Greco which I saw many of his in Toledo, Spain:) Those paintings were reminded me about my honeymoon memory

El Greco

Claude Monet

Then, the last day of staying in Boston, on May 10th, we enjoyed with our time as much as we could in Boston. Boston Common (park) was our first stop and a place with beautiful scenery. Many flowers were opened. My mom likes flowers very much, so she loved this place. My sister likes playing with animals. There were many squirrels and ducks. She loved this place, too. Boston has four seasons so you can enjoy with seasonal scenery each season

Next, we did a little bit walking along with Freedom Trail. If you follow with the red line, this line guide with the historical place. But it has 4 km(2,5miles)…We went inside of some museums

Then, it was shopping time Oh no, I could not going shopping…because I was suffering with excitement of shopping for a long time ,even with window shopping… But I filled up with satisfaction from this trip. Now I was ready to suffer one more time

Really really last day…it was the time to leave Boston, and say good-bye to my family. Their flight was at noon, and mine was around 6pm. But I went to the airport with them, and waited for a long time there alone Well, that was my Boston trip diary.

->->->Byebye

But…when I arrived to Helsinki, my husband was sleeping and did not pick me up According to him, he set up the alarm, but he did not wake up and continued sleeping…hahaha. **Yeah, that is my husband

On May 8th, we crossed a Rainbow Bridge from Canada to American side. Passing through immigration process was easy. Just showing our passports and answered a couple of questions. The bridge length is approximately 160m. The view was excellent.

map of American side

Beginning of the Rainbow bridge

@the bridge

First stop was the Observation Tower.OMG, it was so scaring standing up at the the deck My sister was enjoying the nice view, but not me, hehehe.

From the deck

Then we entered in the Niagara Falls State Park. This park is the oldest state park in US. We had a lot of fun with walking around the park It was very beautiful.

After enjoying with natural beauty, it was time to go to”Cave of the Winds” which was our taxi driver’s recommendation. That was a guided tour.

First, of course you have to buy the ticket, but be careful. The ladies will not sell the ticket during their lunch time. The ticket office will be closed as well.

**I was unlucky at that time. When my turn came, one young lady said that ” I am not going to sell the ticket any more becuse of my lunch time. So you have to wait until I come back!” I was so unlucky…kuso kuso**

Anyway, we could buy the ticket after she came back. The trip started with taking an elevator to go down. My first impression was like ”so many birds were around us…” My stupid mind was reminding me about my poor memory *I have a nasty experience with birds’ poop on my head

Well, the scenery was great! We could see and feel the American falls just in front of us. There is no cave by the way. The cave collapsed and is now unsafe and closed but the rest more than makes up for it .

@ State Park

The good thing was that it was not so crowded with tourists during our tour.

Cave of the Winds

But the most populart attraction called “Maid of the mist“was opening from the next day which was our departure day…that was very bad luck. So we have an excuse to go to Niagara Falls again!!

“Maid of the mist”

This day we also enjoyed with Falls at night. From 9pm, the Falls lighted up in a rainbow of colours That was so cute!!

After watching the colorful falls, we enjoyed night time there The city center was looks like amusement park. Burger king had King kong on the top,hihihi

My mom was having fun at night as well.

This Ferris Wheel was just in front of our hotel

On May 7-9th, My sis, mom, and I went to travel to Canada to see Niagara Falls. I was a tour guide for my family,hihihi And this trip was more easy going and to see natureThe first day, we decided to see the Niagara Falls from Canada, and the second day was from the American side Everyone told us that ” You should see the Falls from both sides”, even our taxi driver.

We used the Buffalo international airport, instead of Toronto international airport, because that one was closer to the Niagara Falls. The public transportation was quite inconvenient, therefore, we used the airport taxi(Airport Express). The driver was on time and very friendly. It was a good service

**Oh, for this trip, I found very good deal with Expedia. 2 nights hotel + airplane ticket, it costed 150 usd for each I was so happy to find this prices

Right after we arrived at the hotel, QualityInn, it was time to see and walk around the falls. It was nice day so we did not mind walking a lot

Quality Inn.

This is a map around the Falls

Our sightseeing course was like this:Table rock House-> Journey behind the Falls-> Taking Incline railway->Grand casino->Looked at Skylon Tower->shopping!

At Table Rock, we had a lunch . It was convenient that you can pay with both USD and CND. Then, we bought the tickets for a Journey behind the Falls. This attraction was really cool. You can see the falls just in front of you, and realize how strong the falls is From the entrance, you go down 28 m by elevators and walk through the tunnels. There were two points to observe the falls. Wow, that was so amazing. Since I grew up in the city, I did not have enough experience with nature,but not now

You have to wear the raincoat

Here is my video:) I edited a little bit.

Then we went up to the hill by taking an incline railway. Yay The places we visited on the hill were Casino and some shopping area The guard man was quite dumped. He was supposed to check my age, but he could not calculate correctly,Boke-nasu

going up by an incline railway

*pic from the hill *

Well, that was our first day in Canada.

This week, Andreas has been so tired, because it is very hot at night. He does not rest at all So I baked a cheesecake for him It was very easy ! Only difficulty was to find the materials. I used a lot of imaginations to read Finnish.

My first experience!