Out of the four weeks in Europe I pretty much spend one week in each country, starting with Portugal. Actually, when speaking of Portugal, I really mean the city of Lisbon. Totally relaxed, I explored the city and surroundings inclunding the magnificent beaches during the day (all by foot!). Each day I brunched into the later afternoon with extraordinatry seafood delicatesses complemented with the right wine from Porto. In the evenings there was plenty "action"
areas to choose from, with my personal favorites being Docas (Docklands) and Bairro Alto (old suburb). People in Lisbon are extremely friendly and relaxed, and even if you're "Portugues"
is close to non-existent you will still find a way to communicate with them. All in all a great place to visit and maybe even live in?
Illustration 1: LIsbon City Centre
Illustration 2: LIsbon City Centre
Illustration 3: LIsbon City Centre from the Top
Illustration 4: LIsbon City Centre from the Top
Illustration 5: LIsbon City Centre from the Top
Illustration 6: LIsbon City Centre from the Top
Illustration 7: Lisbon is very hilly and full of little streets
Illustration 8: World War I Memorial
Illustration 9: Lisbon City Centre
Illustration 10: Nice Fountain, huh?
Illustration 11: Jesus Christ, what is this?
Illustration 12: Oh, it's Jesus - surprise!
Illustration 13: Slight resemblance to a bridge in San Francisco?
Illustration 14: Fantastic beaches around Lisbon
Illustration 15: Great day to be on the beach!
Illustration 16: You can see, that i've just visited the Christ Statue, can't you?
Illustration 17: The city centre is full of little parks with beautiful beer gardens
Illustration 18: Beautiful Sunset's are guaranteed during summer in Lisboa
Illustration 19: What a great park at night to visit
Illustration 20: Lunch time = Beer o'clock
Illustration 21: View on the Marques de Pombal
The next item on the travel itinerary brought me the homeland of my parents and grandparents - Poland. My dad picked me up from the Warsaw airport and we went straight to the restaurant, meeting up with some good friends of mine. I picked the Mexican, a place with round tables and cactusses in the middle of them, serving as beer dispensers. On the LCD screens next to the table you could see how much beer you've poured comparing you against the other tables in the restaurant - what a great idea *lol*.
Illustration 22: Joasia and I at the Mexican
Illustration 23: Kasia & Pawel also at the Mexian
Illustration 24 Every men's Dream: a beer tap
in the middle of the dining table (Rafal and my dad are also on the picture)
Illustration 25: Marcin and his girlfriend
Illustration 26: Jurek and Michal
Illustration 27: and here is how it works - put your glass
under the tap and enjoy the beerr flow - Marcin is demonstrating
The next morning it was high time to see my grandparents in Katowice - a moment i've been looking for since last September, when we saw each other last.
Illustration 28: visiting friends - Zbyszek, my dad and myself
Illustration 29: my granddad and I
Illustration 30: Barbeque at Ewa's: Ewa and my Grandma
Illustration 31: Andrzej Jr. and Ewa
Illustration 32: Andrzej Sr., my dad (the one yaning) and myself
(after a few traditional shots of Polish Vodka)
Illustration 33: Ew and my Grandma a few beers later ;)
Illustration 34: Magda and myself after dinner
Illustration 35: Family Dinner with my Grandma and my dad in Katowice - my shout ;)
Cracow, personally my favorite city in Europe was next on the plan, meeting up and partying with some of my dearest friends, whom I've met during my bachelor studies in Poland. Cracow is really booming at the moment, and you can definitely feel that the Poles that have left Poland and gone to England must have made an impression and told the Poms where to go out in Poland. There was heaps of English men on the streets of Cracow - quite a different city as I remembered it from my studies. We started the traditional Polish way of "warming up" at a friends house (thanks Agnieszka for hosting) before going out in the city's great restaurants and even cooler bars/ clubs.
Illustration 36: Warming-up at Agnieszka's: Gosia, Agnieszka and I
Illustration 37: Bratek, Agnieszka and I
Illustration 38: Olo "Szefolo", Bratek, Agnieszka and Gosia
Illustration 39: Gosia, Agnieszka, Gosia's Boyfriend, and I
Illustration 40: Gosia, Olek and I
Illustration 41: uh sexy! lol
Illustration 42: Luk the Nycz, Agnieszka and I partying out
Illustration 43: The Pack is partying hard
After a week in Poland I've made it to Germany, where I organised a small barbeque party for some of my oldest and best friends, while visiting my mother. We had perfect weather and I really enjoyed spending some quality time with my mum.
Illustration 44: my mum, Liliana, Sigi and I having a BBQ
Illustration 45: my best friends from Germany: Konsi
held up in the air by Christian and myself
Illustration 46: that's my oldest friend Christian and I - we known each
other for decades
Illustration 47: Konstantin and I - he always smiles!
Illustration 48: Pure dedication - Martin drove for over 2 hours to
visit the Wednesday night BBQ - we've known each
other ever since he did an internship at SAP Australia
Illustration 49: my mum and Sigi
Illustration 50: Christian and my mum (Walter in the Background!)
Illustration 51: the entire BBQ pack - Martin, Christian, Konsi, Johannis,
Valerian, Sigi, Jero, my mum, Liliana and myself
Illustration 52: my Mum and Walter at the Tegernsee near Munich
Illustration 53: Lovely view over the Tegernsee
Last but not least my travels took me to London, and believe it or not, I had fantastic weather! LOL. I caught up with my brother, friends from Uni and some special people even took the plane from Germany to fly up and party with all of us - that is pure dedication (thanks Veri!). While i'm in thanking mode: Thank you Karolina, for letting me stay over - much appreciated. The entire "long weekend" was a great party experience. London is quite different when you actually have some money to spend - the last time I was staying in London, I barely had enough cash to buy canned baked beans from Tesco for 29p and I was staying with 10 other people in a 2 bedroom gipsy flat. It's probably no wonder, I liked London a lot better this time around ;).
Illustration 54: My brother, Sascha, and I partying in London
Illustration 55: Mateusz, Sascha and I
Illustration 57: Ania, Mate, Sascha and I
Illustration 58: Sascha, Mate, myself, Marcin, and lovely Veri
Illustration 59: no, it wasn't only party in London: I actually
managed to see the daylight and have a walk around the Thames -
beautiful day considering the average London weather! :p
Illustration 60: And off we go across the River
Illustration 61: That's me in daylight! ;)
Illustration 62: Ania - haven't seen her ever since she visited Australia in 2006
Illustration 63: nice chair! If i had a bigger Living room i would have kept it!
Illustration 64: Veri and Sylvia
Illustration 65: One more of Ania and I
Illustration 66: Yep - back in Australia - and this is in the middle of Winter! :P
That is it for the 10th Newsletter since i've left Europe. I hope you've enjoyed reading it. I hope you're all good and have a reason to smile every single day! Keep in touch and stay safe.
Live your
dreams,
Victor
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