Travel Photos- Bonn, Germany

My second part of the trip included the area around Bonn, Germany.  Here is the photo version of the trip:

I took the train from Frankfurt to Bonn.  Although it is winter, the trip wasn’t as pretty as it could be, but I can imagine how beautiful it is here during the summer.  Along the way, there are small towns on the Rhine River:

I really didn’t get much of a chance to walk around Bonn; but I did get to explore a bit.  Just steps away from the Bonn Hauptbahnhof (Bonn Central Station), is the Münsterplatz.  It’s a large plaza, filled with a lot of shopping (H&M, department stores, chocolate stores, etc).  It also has:

the Beethoven Monument!  This bronze statue of Ludwig van Beethoven was unveiled in 1845 in honor of the composer’s 75th birthday anniversary.  Bonn was his birthplace.

On the other side of the plaza is:

is the Bonn Minster, one of the oldest churches in Germany.

I couldn’t leave Germany without having a delicious pretzel!  There are so many bakeries, almost on every corner, which sell fresh bread, pretzels and sweets.

At the hotel I stayed in, I had some delicious meals:

This was a chicken and egg sandwich.  The chicken was breaded and fried, with an egg on top.  Another dish I had was:

a salad with a schnitzel (a boneless, breaded, fried piece of meat) and another fried egg!  There is something to be said about egg yolk on top of of some fried meat and salad- I think we should try this for dinner sometime.

I did stop in a grocery story, got an extra large Ritter chocolate (hazelnut and milk chocolate), and some strawberry-rhubarb jelly (my favorite!).  I almost never see this in the US, so I had buy some to bring home.

And that is how my Europe trip ended!  I wish I had some more time to explore (and a partner in crime!) but we’ll save that for another time!

Travel Photos- Warsaw, Poland

I know, I’ve been back for almost a week and I’m only putting these up now!  Slightly delayed, but I haven’t forgotten.

Some factoids to start off the post: Warsaw (in Polish, it’s Warszawa) is the capital of Poland and the largest city in the country.  During World War II, Warsaw was destroyed and had to be rebuilt, so many of the architecture is much younger than other cities in Poland (ex: Krakow).  Some of the historical buildings have been reconstructed, however, many structures are from the Cold War era.

This was the view from my hotel room, but here’s a better picture of the tallest building in the city:

This is the Palace of Culture and Science, the Soviet Union built this building in the mid-1950’s.  Currently, it’s a convention center, and holds offices, cinemas, theaters and museums.

This is Warsaw’s Old Town, which has been reconstructed after WWII.  The orange building is the Royal Castle and the tower to the left is the Sigismund’s Column.

This is the Market Square, which looks very bare without the Christmas Market- when I was here about a year ago!  The current buildings were reconstructed during the late 40’s and early 50’s, as they looked in the 17th century.

I also took a longer (and much colder) walk to the Royal Baths Park (Łazienki Park).

Walked past the Chopin Monument to Łazienki Palace.

It was wonderful, although very cold!  While I was there, it was -8ºC!  Brrr!  In the summer, this park will have wonderful green colors- perfect for a nice run.  Next time?

To end my trip to Warsaw, I stopped by the Warsaw Uprising Museum.  It’s a historical museum (opened in 2004) dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.  In the fall of 1944 the Polish Resistance Army was fighting to liberate Warsaw from German occupation.  If any of you ever get a chance to stop by, please do.  Although the topic is not particularly happy, it does show a part of history which many of us don’t hear about.

I did get a chance to see a 3D movie which is shown there, illustrating Warsaw after the uprising, and bombing, of the city.  Check out this video.

This is a food blog, so if you’d like to know what kind of food I had it Warsaw, check out this post.

Travel & food- Warsaw

I’m currently on a work trip, and still have a couple more days to go until I can sleep in my own bed.  Until then, I’m living off restaurant dinners, airport snacks and cafes.  Just thought I’d show you guys what I’ve been up to ’till now!

During my layover in Munich, I had this great sandwich from Dallmayr Cafe.  It’s a family-owned company which began as a small grocery store.  The bread was delicious- very fresh, and I loved the flax and sunflower seeds.

It was simple sandwich, but very tasty.

Of course after a long flight, a cappuccino was needed!

I’ve spent the last couple of days in Warsaw.  Remember when I was here in December 2010?  Well, I’m visiting this city again.  Between some work appointments, I did get out to try some places in the city:

Some espresso is definitely needed for the jet lag!

I stopped at a cafe for some tea and tiramisu.  It was great to enjoy some time while warming myself up- today it was -8ºC!  Brrrrr!

Although this beef tartar wasn’t as cute looking as the one we got in Vienna, it was just as delicious!  It came with onions, pickles and pickled mushrooms.  My favorite was the alfalfa with the tartar, a great addition.

Lastly, I had this fantastic, and gorgeous, soup at La Bodega.  It was a creamy potato and vegetable soup, with a piece of fresh salmon (the pinkish little blob in the middle).  The soup was hot, and cooked the raw salmon.  It’s also a wine bar, with some tasty Spanish wines, so if you pass it- stop in.

I wish I could have taken more pictures of the food that I have eaten.  But when you meet new co-workers, especially on the other side of the world, I’m not sure if they’d feel the same about the photo-taking!  =)

More to follow in a couple of days…

European Food Adventures- Kraków

Hello everyone, we’re back!  We were in Europe for 12 days and we went to Kraków, Poland; Vienna, Austria and Munich, Germany.  Each city got about 3 days, and we really enjoyed each of them.

Since we are foodies, we would love to tell you about some of the delicious food we had eaten.

Kraków, Poland
We arrived in Kraków around noon and after dropping off our bags at the hotel, we decided to walk around the city.  The Main Square (Rynek Główny) is located in the center of town and dates back to the 13th century.

Fun Fact #1: It’s the largest medieval square in Europe.

In Poland, as in many European countries, breakfasts consist of cold cuts, cheeses, bread and some vegetables.  All of this is usually accompanied by juice or water, and coffee.  This is mainly what we ate throughout our trip, whether it was in our hotels (breakfasts included!) or in cafes.

This first breakfast definitely represents the standard around Europe.  It was also accompanied by twarozek.  Twarozek (English: quark cheese) usually has chopped green onions and radishes mixed with it, and eaten on its own or on a slice of bread.

In the next couple of days we had a lot of traditional Polish food.  One of the meals was at Polskie Jadło:

This is kiełbasa and kapusta kiszona (Polish sausage and sauerkraut).  There are many different varieties of sausage and can be served cold, cooked, smoked or grilled.  The sauerkraut usually has mushrooms, carrots and onions cooked with it.

These are kopytka.  The word “kopytka” means “little hoof”- it refers to how the dumplings look- like little hooves.  They look similar to gnocchi, but are made with grated potatoes and flour.  They can be served with meats, being a substitute for potatoes.

These are pierogi’s.  Almost everyone has had one, or something very similar to it (many cultures have these).  They are boiled, baked or fried dumplings with a variety of fillings.  In Poland, the  most popular are: meat, cabbage, mushroom or cheese.  The one’s shown above are with the twarozek I described earlier, they can be boiled or fried with butter, or another fat.  There are also pierogi’s which have fruit in them, most often strawberries and blueberries.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

Up next: Vienna!

Travel

Yesterday we officially bought our tickets for our fall trip to Europe. We’re very excited and we’ve even started a little countdown. Unfortunately, it’s still more than a 100 days away, but that gives us a chance to plan away.

Our itinerary will begin in Kraków (Poland), then we’ll go to Vienna (Austria), and our last stop will be in Munich (Germany).  The end of the trip will let us have some fun at Oktoberfest!  So if anyone has any good tips, we’d love to hear them!

With that, I came across an article about why people choose to travel, which I found interesting.

Why We Travel

Happy Travels, wherever you might go!