Month: July 2012

Bargain – If you want to book a hotel (72 hour sale)

We must have had a very comfortable bed as we didn’t wake up until 8.30am! We showered and then went down to breakfast. We then went to Lou and Rhys’s and waited for Oscar to come home from nursery as today was his 4th Birthday.  One of his presents from us was a Moshi Monster house which Grandad helped him build, Josie helped too. I prepared a huge salad to go with the BBQ Rhys was going to cook. We were so lucky that we only had about 10 minutes rain but that never puts Rhys off. Next to arrive, Lou’s dad and Wendy and then the older boys came back from school. We had a lovely afternoon/evening with too much to eat and drink!

Later in the evening we all ended up playing charades.

It was lovely spending time with them all.

We returned to our BandB and low and behold our toilet seat had been replaced!!

Bargain for the Day – Beautiful Fressias to order

Mal and I ordered a taxi to get us in to Margate for 7.00am and we travelled by National Express to Cardiff, via London. It was a long journey!

We finally arrived at the Band B we had booked around 3.00pm. It was just around the corner from Lou and Rhys’s and so really handy. A lovely attic room in a private house with an en suite. Of course Mal had to mention the fact to Jem that there was no toilet seat! Which it seems had broken. Apart from that and Mal having to walk in the bedroom with his head on one side (height issue) it was a lovely B and B and Jem made us feel very welcome.

We unpacked and then went to Lou and Rhys’s . It was their wedding anniversary last week and so we babysat while they went out for a meal. They don’t have many offers for babysitting 6 children (or should I say they don’t have ANY offers!) I don’t know why as the kids were all as good as gold. We love looking after them!

 

Bargain – Up to 30% reductions at M&S

Mal and I walked up to Westwood in the morning. Homebase had a 15% off everything for the weekend. The sun was shining when we left. On the way back to the caravan, the heavens opened and it even hailed. This is July! It only lasted about 5 minutes and although we had pacamacs with us we were drenched when we arrived back. Then the sun came out!

We watched the Wimbledon final in the afternoon, a shame Murray lost. In the evening we rang the Cardiff boys. It seems the whole family had been watching the match.

We went to bed fairly early as we were off to Cardiff the following day.

Bargain – extra 10% off sale at Dorothy Perkins

Another day I managed to get all the washing dry outside. I have not had to use a tumble dryer since I arrived in May. I think this area of the country has faired far better than the rest of the UK.

I went to have my hair cut at Marcello’s in Ramsgate. I have been going to him for about the last 18 years! The last episode I heard from him, he had been on “Come Dine with Me”. Then he had the local council complaining about the advertising he had put on the side of the building for his salon (a huge photo of his very attractive Cuban wife “showing too much cleavage”!!)

As soon as I walked through the door he asked if I had seen the papers and then explained that his 4 year old daughter had been refused by the school to have her photo taken because of the “hair do” he had given her. Of course he showed me all the newspaper cuttings. I have to say Marcello does like to be noticed but he really is a lovely fellaand a very good hairdresser.

In the evening we went to Shirley and Steve’s for our dinner. A long story but Steve had fallen from an attic and was quite badly bruised and battered, poor thing. We ended up getting back to the caravan about 1.30 in the morning!

 

Thought for the Day – “ I don’t care how poor a man is; if he has family, he’s rich.”  ~ Dan Wilcox

Bargain – 25% off gardening event

Mal and I were up early, packed, had breakfast and our airport transfer arrived on time. I have to say that the hotel we chose was in a really good position and the staff were really nice and breakfast there, something to suit everyone.

Back to the UK in the rain. The queues at Stansted for Passport Control were horrendous. I dread to think what they will be like nearer to the Olympics!

We caught the train back to Margate. Having said it was raining when we landed, it was clear in Margate. In the afternoon we watched the Murray match and yes, after all these years we have a British person in the Wimbledon Final.

A day of sorting out and Mal still having small amounts of work outstanding, parcels that schools had failed to send on time! Hopefully he will be able to send back all the piles of parcels we still have, very soon.

 

Thought for the Day – “The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway.” ~ Henry Boye

We walked to the Square in the morning and into the Cloth Hall where trading has been going on for centuries. Nowadays it is full of stalls for tourists selling amber jewellery, glassware, wooden items and lots of other things.

We then decided to visit Rynek Underground which as the name suggests is below the market square. To start with Mal and I thought it was a little boring but the further we went the more interesting it became and that was how three house disappeared! Another three hour Polish history lesson! It was very interesting. It was also very cool down there on a hot day.

For our last evening we decided to give another authentic Polish Restaurant a try. We had a couple of lunches at the restaurants in the market square and really didn’t want to eat anything other than Polish Food.

So, we went to Polskie Smaki as this is where a lot of Polish people eat. It is so cheap there!! A fraction of the price you would pay in the square. You just go up to the counter and ask for what you want, help yourself to cutlery etc and go and find a table. When you have finished you take your plates to the hatch in the kitchen!! A serve yourself but really good food.

We walked back through the park stopping at an outside bar for a couple of beers!

Two interesting photos at the end with the girl balancing on her stick in the square!……..for money of course!

 

We had our day planned, firstly to go inside St Mary’s Basilica. In the square there was a tour guide leading walking tours of the city and so we decided to join her. We then found out it was free but you give donations at the end of the walk. This was well worth the three hours walking as during that time she told us that the famous altar in St Mary’s Bassilica is only opened up after midday, so we would have paid to go in and not seen it.

We had a very lengthy history lesson of the city walls, St Mary’s Basilica, with the bugler who you can hear in the square. There are 3 firemen who take it in turns as it is about 300+ steps to get up to the tower, so they obviously stay up there for their 8 hour shift. We discovered that Krakow has the largest and oldest of a lot of things! I guess if you are interested you can look in the tour guides as there is far too much to write here.

We saw the houses Pope John Paul II lived in, the church he prayed in, the theatre, the Poets statue in the square, the state University. She even explained the pictures over doorways, going back this was how they had their addresses eg “under the lion”, which is one of the photos but no one at that stage had ever seen a lion, so the stone mason made it a bit more dog like!  Then back to Wawel Castle where our guide actually explained which the free parts were and what paying parts were not worth going to. But the most stunning of all was the open altar at St Mary’s Basilica. You can find out more about the Veit Stoss Altar. The twelve pictures that make up the altar are all of Mary. This is a must if you visit Krakow.

By the end of the tour we were shattered and so went and had some cold Borscht, a drink or two and then back to the hotel. It was a hot day and still  humid, having had a storm the previous night but very little rain.

In the evening we decided to return to Chata as the food was good home cooked Polish food and the staff a delight. I had the Hunter’s Pork and then we had a few more beers (mine raspberry) followed by flavoured vodkas! Mal thought about having their speciality The Polish Pan but I think it would have fed four people, so he resisted!