Next part of holidays adventures!

Wow! Last time I posted something was 10 days ago - lazy me! I'm going to show you next part of places I saw during my stay in Poznań. At the beginning I should mention that I was already in Poznań in 2010 so some places I saw this year I also saw during my first trip to Poznań. And again, I'm writing "we" because I was there with my friends.
However, I also visited places I haven't seen before. Ostrów Tumski is one of such places. It is an island located almost in the city centre on which the Cathedral is located. The Cathedral is a place where first rulers of Poland were buried. Moreover, it was probably a place where first ruler of Poland was christened and Poland became Christian country.

view on the Cathedral from the bridge:

there are a lot of padlocks on that bridge which are padlocked by
loving couples as a sign of love which will last forever:

 a view on the Cathedral:

 there is a colourful and eye-catching poster in front of the Cathedral
on which you can read about christening of Poland in 966:

 

What's more, there is a QR code (that is a very nice idea showing that
history is not only a boring visit in a museum) on every of those columns
which you can decode and learn something more about history of Poland:

Now we're moving to a part of Poznań I already saw in the past. Firstly, we bumped into Stary Marych - a monument of a radio play character who is a symbol of a local slang:

look how calm park alleys can be during blazing hot days:

We poped into that park for a while to check if my favourite fountain is working. Last time I was there, it wasn't lauched [you can check it here] so this time a man with umbrella has a meaning! :D

In Poznań, there is one of the oldest zoos in Poland. I like that zoo because of having ring-tailed lemurs which this time were hidden in their shelter. Anyway, we had a chance to meet this charming alpaca which really enjoyed a conversation with us:

 random streets and lovely tenement houses in Poznań
(some shots were taken while walking so they have...extraordinary perspective)

We've seen it! We've seen it! It may be considered almost as a historical bus! It's a brand of bus of my parents' youth. It was called "cucumber" because of sleek, round shape:

Cheerio,
Karolina x

Joyfulness straight from Singapore!

Today's post can be described as almost live report! :D Well, I've opened a postbox today and saw something special inside. At the beginning of December 2011, I found Singapore Philatelic Museum's action which I joined. To be honest, I was waiting for a reply till February, then with a shade of disappointment I forgot about that action...until today when I've found a reply in my postbox! :D By the way, it's my first postcard from Singapore and it's so unique! :)

Cheerio,
Karolina x

It's time for holidays!

As you may know, I was in Poznań for a few days last week. It was an amazing trip - the weather was pretty nice (not too hot, not too cold and it was raining only at nights), the food was delicious and also a companionship was friendly (I was there with my friends so I will be writing "we did something" not "I did something")

To start off with, I would like to show you some photos of a place I stayed at. It's a very artistic flat so the interior is very creative and sometimes funny:

It's kitchen's equipment: meet upside down giraffe, a dog's tail sticking out of the wall, a bear - coffee maker's guard, colourful shoes straight from Macedonia, a very dangerous shark - a bottle's warmer and of course, a red-black man - invitation's holder:

Here you can see equipment from the rest of the flat: a snake in a jungle of numbers, wooden statues of NYC's landmarks, a lego-pretending clock, a blue limo sliding down the ceiling's slant, French board on a bookcase and a green carpet which looks like football turf:

Two goring goats are Poznań's icon. It's because of very popular legend which I've already told in my old post about Poznań. Because as some of you may know, this time it was my second visit in that city.

While walking around the city, we bumped into charming Charlie Chaplin who was inviting people to a music club:

We visited a beautiful church in the city centre in which we were onlookers of the wedding taking place inside:

One of our main goals was to see Malta Festival in Poznań. It's an international theatrical festival on which there are a lot of performances in reasonable prices and sometimes in extraordinary places, meetings with authors and music concerts. Moreover, I should mention that Malta is a name of a lake in Poznań.
On Friday, we went on a gypsy music concert which was held at lakeside:

This year's events were connected with Asia. We went for 2 payable events. The first, Living Dance Studio's Memory was that one which was organised in out of the ordinary place - in Handicrafts Guild's head office. It was connected with Cultural Revolution in China and showed its impact on people. The second one - Dries Verhoeven's The Big Movement was very intriguing! At the beginning the audience was lined up in front of the town hall and escorted in silence to a big black box in the other part of the market. The box turned out to be a small cinema hall where we saw a film about humans' existence. To be accurate, the film was recorded a few minutes before the performance...we were watching real people passing through the market...and also we saw us while going in a line to the box...that was pretty compelling and so...different than other performances because we were a part of that event. 

We also poped in on a meeting with J. M. Cotzee, a Nobel Prize in literature winner:

photo taken my my friend's sister:

I found a video about festival's events which you can see here. The first and the last performances in that film are those on which I was (Memory & Gypsy music concert)
This post opens a 3-post report about my trip to Poznań!
Cheerio,
Karolina xx

Quelques cartes postales

I know! I know! I know! I told I would add 2 posts, I know! But I really had no time to prepare 2 posts...so I prepared just one! This one! Especially for you :) As you can deduce after reading the title...I'm going to show you some more postcards I have from France :)

Am I the only one person who knows Normandy from history lessons about World War II? But also it's a region located at English Channel with beautiful landscapes around.

Today we're going to find out that Ouistreham is a small port in Normandy.

Ok, it's time to move southwards to Reims. It was a large and important city during the Roman Empire. That's why it has a lot of ancient relics nowadays which are worth-seeing for sure.

  

The capital city of France is known as a city of lights, amazing tourist attractions and a very romantic atmosphere everywhere :D Of yes, and because of its landmark - Eiffel Tower :D

Still heading southwards, we can go to La Salette which is very popular tourist destination for religious people because of Mother of God's sanctuary.

We are going to finish our tour across France on southern coast at Mediterranean Sea. First of all, we're visiting Montpellier. I have no idea why but cities, towns in southern France seem to be pretty ambient to me!

And now it's time for Provence - my beloved French region. As you may know, Côte d'Azur is a part of Provence. It's a very, very popular tourist destination because of perfect weather for most of the time in the year.

Moreover, Cannes is very famous because of Film Festival which takes place over there every year.

I'm not proud of that post....it's short and written in hurry...shame on me!

Cheerio,
Karolina x

North Korea

Today I'm going to show you a very valuable item from my postcards collection. Especially that I got it by post - so I've got a genuine stamp and a postmark. You can ask me why it is so important. Sure, it is. It's from North Korea which, as you know, is not a very popular tourist destination.
I received it because of an event on Jean-Luc's blog. He's been to North Korea and has sent 197 postcards to his followers. That was a big surprise for me when I opened my postbox and saw that postcard :)

If anybody knows what the caption means, let me now - I'm curious!

So...I'm leaving tomorrow! But don't worry, I've prepared two posts which will appear on my blog automatically when I'm away! :D

Cheerio,
Karolina x

al-Maghrib*

*name of that country in Arabic

I think it's high time for another kind of geographical riddle today! :D
First of all, I'm presenting you postcards from a county which belongs to a group of positive countries, according to my weather classification. If it's sunny and warm country, it's a positive country...and That country surely is a hot&sunny place.

That postcard depicts sand dunes on Erg Chebbi which is placed in the neighbourhood of Merzouga - a small village.

Additionally, this is a postcard from the capital city of that country. It presents Kasbah of the Udayas - a fortress with a place for sovereign.

And yes, it's Morocco! :)

Guys, I'm so excited! On Friday I'm going with my friends to Poznań! It's my second visit in that city and I promise I will be more accurate photographer this time! :D I can't wait  to take amazing pictures and show them to you! :)

Cheerio,
Karolina x

Let's climb the mountains

I used to be quite zealous mountain climber when I was younger. I've been two years in row to Pieniny and Gorce - Polish mountain ranges. I enjoyed those trips so much. There is s a lot of walking in mountain, that's true but the satisfaction after reaching the peak is unbelievable. I stopped trekking over the mountains because of being out of shape, actually :D It's time to check other places now, not only mountains! :))

Gorce

Pieniny

 

the most unusual inscect I have ever seen! 

By the way, if you know its name, let me know - I'm very curious

Cheerio,
Karolina x

Endless heat

It seems to me that summer time has begun for good in Poland! :) However, not only is it that hot only in Poland but also in Italy! :D That's why I'm going to present you my Italian postcards today :)

I've got loads of postcards from province of Imperia in Liguria region because my grandparents used to spend a few times their holidays over there. They reminisced that place many times and really enjoyed their holidays there.

When it comes to Liguria, I can also show you a postcard from another city in that region. Alassio is a popular both in summer and winter holiday resort.

The following card is from Abruzzo region. Alba Adriatica is also very popular holiday resort which was high quality standard of beaches. Town got Blue Flag prize (a certification that beach meets strict quality standards) 4 times.

 The Floating City, located in Veneto region, is an extremely important tourist destination. Maybe because of carnival. Or perhaps because of canals which create romantic, lovely atmosphere. That place does not need introducing. Ladies and Gentlemen, Venice:

Ancona is located in Marche - a region I discovered lately. My love to Italy has started from Tuscany, then I read about Marche which only intensified my fascination.

The last Italian postcard is not so summery...Forgive me! :D I got it from my friend while she was on her winter holidays. Dolomities are simply pefrect for skiing in winter! :D

I adore everything which is connected with retro/vintage. I associate Italy with retro because of antique places, climate. Therefore, I would like to visit every region in Italy in my life to enjoy its cuisine, landscapes, atmosphere, people and lovely-sonorous language. :) <3

Cheerio,
Karolina x