Warsaw - Risen from the ashes

The offer in the SAS Julekalendar 2008 for Warsaw was tempting, so we decided spontaneously to get tickets for "The city of Phoenix". Well, the Polish capital has well deserved this name for all the wars and tragedies in has gone throughout its history. Personally, I will not dare to talk more about the city's past apart from "rising from the ashes" is for me a more recent observation: In 2001, during my last visit to my motherland with friends I experienced the city as horrible-post-communistic-service-mentality-and-no-entertainment-desert! But once again the city has risen from the ashes and Warszawa has shown us its beautiful sides during a great (though too short) weekend.

We arrived on a late Friday afternoon in Warsaw Fréderic Chopin Airport. As our chosen hotel was located in the city center there was no need to take a cab but just hopped on the bus 175 that brought us all the way to Krakowskie Przedmieście. There it was a short walk to our hotel Castle Inn that is located just next to the Royal Castle. Just after check-in we knew it had been the right choice: We got a cute and clean room with a view directly on the castle square. The chosen hotel is among the first designer hotels in Warsaw and all rooms are decorated by a different artist. A suggestion for other travellers could be to be more persistent on getting on of the more special rooms. Nevertheless, we were happy with our 1920s movie style decorated room. After check-in we immediately got ready for our walk to our dinner place for the first evening: Restaurant Belvedere. Located at the South end of the beautiful Łazienki Park, it is usually a nice 4km walk from the old town to get there. However, with a hungry stomach, an even more hungry girlfriend and a closed park it can be quite an effort. Better catch a cab as the place is also not so easy to find. Nevertheless, we got compensated for all the struggle: Belvedere offers an unique location, a great Polish menu and probably the most attentive service in the Polish capital! Our recommendation:

Starters
- Traditional polish “Pierogi” served two ways: delicate veal or sauerkraut and mushrooms stuffing (a classic!)

- Plate of traditional Polish starters / Talerz tradycyjnych polskich przekąsek (if you can not decide)

Main dishes
- Roasted sturgeon served on a bed of spinach with red caviar sauce / Pieczony jesiotr podany na szpinaku z sosem z czerwonego kawioru (if you feel like traditional Polish fresh water fish)

- Beef tenderloin with boletus according to a recipe by Tremo the Head Chef of King Stanislas Augustus / Polędwica z duszonymi borowikami według receptury Kuchmistrza Stanisława Augusta – Jegomościa Tremo (a meat feast!)

Desserts


both great :-)

After that great dinner we were really in need for a good drink in pleasant surroundings. Unfortunately I had no clue where to go apart from a classic: The panorama bar of the Marriot hotel. So if there any good suggestions for cool bars / lounges in Warsaw, let me know!

We started the next day with a light brunch at the Batida café before exploring the city further. We decided to visit the sights around the old town by following the walking route suggested by the lonely planet. I think you can skip the last bit of it and just walk down Krakowskie Przedmieście and Nowy Swiat until you find a place for a Polish snack. We can highly recommend some pierogarnia where you can get the delicious Polish pierogi, for example check out Zapiecek (really cheesy but lovely food). The rest of the afternoon we spent shopping and strolling in downtown Warsaw, just around the PKiN.

As most larger Eastern European cities Warsaw has amazing theaters and opera houses. Therefore, we got tickets for a classic "Carmen" opera on Saturday night. The opera had an impressive set-up and it was interesting to attend the opera in the Warsaw opera house which was rebuild after WWII.

The last couple of hours in Warsaw we spent by having breakfast at Café A. Blikle (a Warsaw must!), getting relaxing massages in Terra Spa (check out the couple's massage) and another lovely Polish lunch.

We left the Polish capital with a smile, a lot of good memories and 2kg frozen pierogi. Warszawa, we will definitely be back soon.

Back to the roots

After a 1,5 years commercial blogging for NZZ Campus about my graduate / expat life and a little break, now it is time go back to the roots! I started this blog to write about my experiences while being on the road and this is what I would like to continue to do! Although my business trips bring me around in Europe I do not travel as often privately any more and that is a shame :-)

However, I want to share my travel experiences with you in this blog. See it as some sort of travel diary / guide / trip planner accompanied by a photo diary. Enjoy, get inspired or just ignore it ;-) Please give me feedback and add suggestions so I can improve the blog for the ones that care.

Best regards, Thomas

Announcement: New Blog about the Life of a Graduate

Dear all,

Some time ago I decided to transfer my blog from my private website to the student portal of Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Three days ago was the kick-off for my new blog about the life of a graduate… content-wise there is no change, I still try hard to make it as exciting and from now on also as informative as possible!

The major change is that as of today I will write in German… my apologies to all my friends who are not able to understand this beautiful language but this is actually almost the only constraint of my work (besides not writing about some controversial political topics, offending people etc.). All my German speaking friends, I would like to ask you to help me improving my endeavours to write about the excitements and downsides of a graduate’s life. I appreciate all your comments!

Please find the blog here: http://thomas.nzzcampus.ch/ ; the main portal is: http://www.nzzcampus.ch/

Thank you all!

Best wishes,
Thomas (inofficial graduation date June 11, 2007, hehe)

P.S. I will not continue with updating me previous blog but of course keep posting my pictures on flickr

It is time for a new relationship...

I spent a brief but very cozy weekend in Zurich. After working very productively on my thesis on Saturday I dropped in to Jens' place for a bbq... great as usual! I love bbq and I do not have a terrasse or even a balcony in St. Gallen so I take every opportunity to bbq in friends' places ;-) after dinner we decided to check out the "Medifäscht" a student party organized by and for medical students. It was great fun and it got late... a reason why my mom vainly had to wait for her breakfast :-) however, we could make her happy by preparing the dinner with my bro! It was the first proper cooking session with my little bro and we had great fun... the result was delicious... for main course ravioli stuffed with parma ham, buffalo mozarella, loads of basil and dried tomatoes... served with olive oil and basil (the first time I tried a receipt out of a Jamie Oliver book)... it was yummie but still has room for improvement. My brother rounded off the dinner by doing a cake with strawberry cream filling... his first real attempt to cook/bake something and the result was impressive! I am looking forward to more cooking sessions with him...

After dinner I took the decision to engage in a new relationship... I did finally order my new camera: Nikon D40x! Soon you will be able to see the results on my page... the first photography mission will be at the end of May in Palma de Mallorca where I go for a career workshop.

Reactions II

the issue, still:


my reaction on his first action: "well, disrespecting as you called it is a little too strong... i might have been ironic... but YES as u can see in my photostream i must be a hardcore terrorist... showing the people the beauty of the world from different cultures and countries"

the reaction on my reaction (a note left at the following pic in my photostream, it shows a piece of the Berlin wall that was a gift to Latvia and is located in Riga):

"Ok first of all. my apologies to you. I shouldn't have been so ignorant and stupid when i commented you last. But i do love my country and tend to get all defensive. So I'm sorry. And second. you said "as you can see from my photo-stream i must be a terrorist" or something along those lines." well, clearly you forgot about this picture. And this is exactly why i chose this picture to comment on. third. your not a terrorist as far as i know. And forth, and finally, Don't be a terrorist and if you are, don't hurt my country of America..."

I am speechless... ok, I respect patriotism but I can not accept stupidity due to ignorance...

Reactions

The issue:


my comment: "that can only be in the US, rite!?" (it was taken during a bike trip through NYC)

the reaction: "You better Be dam right that is in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! God Bless. Homeland Security and Police are around to protect its people from Terrorists like you. Im only being so harsh with you now because from what i read, it seemed like you were disrespect the US, like "why do you even need them, you hard core killers." so just to clear things up with you, America protects its people and when terrorists have big guns, we get better guns to take them out that much quicker. So why don't you stop hating on us just because we are in war. The UNITED STATES is working its best on protecting its people. but i must say. with liberal extremists taking our country over, it will not be safe forever."

I appreciate open mindness and a certain sense of humour...

(you might give him credit and show him that Europeans still have not joined the axis of evil: newstyleskater's)

Venit, vidit...

... vicit. After coming back from a trip in South-East Asia my father had an appointment for a heart check last week. What should have been a kind of normal check turned out to may have been a life saving test. During the procedure the doctors found out that one of the blood vessels in his heart was completely blocked. Immediately the balloon thing was done to extend the blood vessel and they put a little net to keep it open. Well, this event was shocking: my father, 56 years young, doing most stuff right for his health was close to have a heart attack… makes me reflect on my life, my attitude to health, particularly to my own health… and on the other hand that I should enjoy life more actively, just enjoy the moments more consciously. As I talked the first time to my dad as he left the hospital he told me: “Thomas, life is full of surprises, enjoy the moments, all that can be over so suddenly.” I am honest, in general I have this attitude that I do not listen well to everything my parents say but this time it was different, I think. However, I am happy he is fine and I do really wish he will be able to teach his grand children one day Polish.

… non vicit. In the week after the amazing dolce vita weekend in Milan I had an interview day scheduled with one of my favourite future employer. 8 hours travel for 3 hours interview… all about behavioural interviewing: “Please tell me a time you had to take a decision… a difficult decision… a decision and then the circumstances changed… a decision with positive/negative result…” and some cases in between: “Please estimate the total number of shampoo bottles in hotel rooms that are globally sold every year…”. Very dynamic people, nice offices, very international atmosphere and the opportunity to learn from the best… all this points made me consider this company as one of my dream employers. One week after my little dream was over… “We regret that we have decided not to pursue your candidacy.” I still love the company but I am not that happy with the recruitment procedure… though the decision was taken immediately after the interviews it took one week and another request from my side to send me an automatically generated e-mail with the following ending: “Replies to this message are undeliverable. Please do not reply.“ Well, I try to get feedback on my interviews but you can imagine that is not too easy :-). Anyway, now I am back on the application carousel and do preparation for several interviews next weekend.

That were the two most touching and most disappointing events of the past 2 weeks. Well I was also extremely happy to hear that for the first time one of my pictures made it into a magazine: GRUS (check out page 18)… thank you Nora, I do really appreciate that and you know how much it means to me… Besides that I was writing on my thesis, did some interviews with sourcing consultants, reflected on the critical elements of supplier development, went to the career days fair to see and be seen, got cheered up by my ex girlfriend and had a great night out with my Italian (& Russian) friends when Amedeo visited Zurich.

P.S. I had the opportunity to shoot with my brother's latest weapon: Nikon D200... see the results: "after the storm I", "after the storm II" and "garlic is getting wild" and I can't wait till I get a new camera...