Elizabeth Takes Poland

Hello, all! Once again, apologies for the more sporadic posts. School has really picked up as we near exams, and it's nice to spend free time with Eli, I suppose. This weekend we got to spend a lot of free time/all the time together, because we went to Romania! We flew to Bucharest on Friday and flew back to Warsaw today, Monday. On Saturday, we made the trek to Bran Castle aka Vlad the Impaler's Castle aka Dracula's Castle. We had to take a 2.75 hour train to Brasov, a medium sized town that includes a mall with some cheap eats. From Brasov, we made our way by bus to Bran, which was another 45-60 minutes due to some road work along the way. Although this meant that our total travel time was ~7 hours, I think Eli and I would both argue that it was completely worth it (despite the hour on a bus that shook so much I thought my brain would turn to mush). We got to experience the beautiful Transylvanian countryside both on our way their and once we arrived in Bran. One ...

So, Eli has been here for one week. You may be asking yourself, so what have you done? Anything exciting? New? Culturally significant? Well, if you know us, you would already know the answer to that. We have been napping, studying, and eating. The true trifecta. Unfortunately, the first two are not truly picture worthy, so I shall share the times we have eaten. We began our extensive test of Polish cuisine at a traditional Milk Bar (Bar Mleczny). A remnant of the Soviet occupation, Milk Bars are known for inexpensive, traditional Polish food. Of course, these places are not known for a high level of service or a wide variety of offerings. We were not disappointed and got to have the full Polish Milk Bar experience. Alas, they did not have bigos, flaki, or barszcz that day, so Eli settled on a big slab of meat with mashed potatoes and "salad" aka a sort of sauerkraut and meat pierogi (meat pierogi traditionally are half pork and half beef). I had spinach pierogi and...

Hello all! I apologize for going off the grid for two weeks, but I'm back! Macy arrived in Warsaw on April 27 for a fun weekend visit. We had a good time seeing all of the main tourist-y sites and enjoying the greenery in the city. She left on April 30, and then I left for Vilnius, Lithuania on May 2. This was my first true solo trip of the semester (and perhaps the only one), and I really enjoyed the freedom to make my own decisions and not feel pressured to do anything from eating out for every meal to going to sites I don't care about. Also, Riga and Vilnius are fairly small (as compared to Paris or London), so I was really able to see the main sites in one day and then just enjoy the city the second. I also took a day trip to Sigulda, Latvia, which was beautiful! Taking the train from Riga to Sigulda is the easiest way to be able to enter Gauja National Park. I took a cable car across the river valley to the opposite mountain. Then got to walk down a billion woo...