I’ve been eager to visit Krakow since my freshman year of college, when I read a memoir by a Polish woman from Krakow who emigrated to the United States as a teenager. I am glad we finally made it happen and I’m even more glad that we decided to dedicate 16 days of our 14 months abroad to Poland, split between three cities (plus day trips) so we could really get a feel for the country. Michael and I agree that, as a country, Poland is near the top of our favorites list and we would both love to return.
Keegan LOVES to dance and is willing to dance anywhere, no matter who is around or watching. (If there is no music playing, he will do the singing–or sometimes rapping–himself.) His current song of choice is Wannabe, by the Spice Girls (I didn’t know the name of this song until just now…it’s the one that starts, “Tell me what you want, what you really, really want.). By the way, we don’t own or play this song for him (I was Spice Girls’d out in 1997…), and thankfully, he has unknowingly changed the lyrics to “If you want to be my number…” His current moves are inspired by a Tanzanian man who danced at one of our safari night dinners, Steve Urkel, and some of his own creation. It’s a fascinating mix.
below: Wawel Castle, a castle built in the 13th and 14th centuries, located in central Krakow
playing at a park in Krakow
Great pictures again! Glad that your dream finally came true. A few questions… why is the ice cream called “chimney cake”? Is it the shape or? I didn’t see any chimney. 🙂 Also, how easy/difficult to get around without knowing any Polish? Do people speak English there? How about German? What’s the number one foreign language spoken by Polish?
Thanks Ching-Ching! The chimney cakes are the desserts that are holding the ice cream. Findlay is holding two (one was mine)–the one that doesn’t have ice cream (in his right hand) is an actual chimney cake (shaped like a chimney). The ones holding ice cream are the same idea but shaped like cones (to hold the ice cream). After that first time getting chimney cakes, the general consensus was that getting them with ice cream was a bit too much. They were hard to eat because the chimney cake cones aren’t good at holding the ice cream so they got really messy! Since then, they’ve gotten them w/out ice cream. The chimney cakes themselves come in lots of varieties… with cinnamon-sugar (like mine in the picture–the one that Findlay is holding without ice cream), with milk or white chocolate on the inside of the chimney, with sprinkles, caramel, etc. The cakes themselves aren’t overly sweet but they can definitely get overly sweet as you start adding sugary things to them 🙂
Thank you! Now after you explained all of these, yes I can see that the one without the ice cream looks like a chimney! I think you can write another book about “sweets and desserts around the world”! 🙂
haha — yes, I think so!! 🙂
It was really easy getting around w/ not speaking Polish! People learn English in school starting at a young age so most people had at least a basic understanding of English (I think it is the most common language spoken by the Polish).
Phew… it’s good to know that English is sufficient because I forget my German! I remember when I lived in Germany for one summer, I met many Polish living and studying in Germany. I was told that German is a very popular and practical foreign language for them and being able to speak German the Polish will have more opportunities in getting jobs. That was under my impression that German seems to be another trendy language for them to learn and to speak!
In the dancing photo it looked like like Tate was not amused at all!!! (It looked like he hated it!!!)
(Could you look at it again)?
I think he is just studying your moves and learning from you…:-)