Bathing Optional

Poland and the Former Czechoslovakia : Sept 2003

Continents

Continents

Previous Button

Slovakia! In Bratislava with one of our gracious hosts, Tomas!
Our second host, Katarina! We met Tomas and Katarina on Tioman Island in Malaysia months back and now were meeting them in Bratislava. Its a small world.
Comfortable in their apartment -- a welcome change from sleeping in city parks!
Using an ancient Russian projector to show Tomas and Katarina some of our slides.
Our slideshow.
View across old Bratislava to the city castle up on the hill.
Old structures in the heart of Bratislava.
Dolls for sale in one of Bratislavas main town squares.
Baroque everywhere you look in Bratislava.
One of Bratislavas grand public buildings.
Lots of hidden alleyways and nooks in Bratislavas old town.
Ashe with un-named statue in Bratislava.
Somewhere in the old town.
Interesting design.
Beautiful but falling apart.
Old university buildings in Bratislava.
Church tower.
View up to Trencin Castle high above the tiny town of Trencin.
View down to Trencin from inside the Castle walls.
Passing through the tiny town of Pohradie on our way to Spis Pohradie, Slovakias premier castle.
More of Pohradie.
Spis Pohradie, Slovakias #1 castle. Very remote, crumbling, and very medieval.
Approaching the castle.
Within the immense castle walls, this small chapel looks more like a dog house than a large church building.
Prisoners used to be kept in this cage in front of Levocas city hall.
Enjoying some hiking in Slovakia just hours before being gassed and robbed while sleeping in our tent.
We crossed that wonderful stretch of the Carpathian Mountains known as the Tatry Range on our way from Slovakia to the Motherland Poland!
Wonderful views from one of Polands highest spots, Kasprowy Wierch! The path basically lies right on the Polish-Slovak border.
More incredible scenes at the wonderful alpine lake: Morskie Oko. (sorry for the postcard -- still recovering from the robbery in Slovakia...)
View over Polands marque tourist city: Krakow.
Krakows Rynek, main square, is an incredible place.
Krakows Wawel Castle.
Krakows main church is a fantastic, asymmetric structure the result of one tower builder trying to out-do the other.
A black and white scene in Krakow.
Ashe on a rainy day in Krakow.
Marlon, an old friend, and a very gracious host while we were in Krakow and southern Poland.
Hiroko, thanks for letting us crash in your apartment while in Krakow!
Krakows Wawel Castle.
More of the Castle.
Wawel Castle grounds.
Castle grounds.
More of the castle.
Flowers at the Castle.
Maciej and Ashe at Wawel Castle.
View over Krakow from Wawel Castle.
Image of the Madonna.
Polands national symbol.
A chandelier like a crown -- cool.
Maciej trying to deafen himself.
Nice!
Taming the fire breathing dragon.
Wielicka Salt Mines -- 900 year old salt mines whose chambers and shafts are filled with amazing bridges, walkways, machines and, most notably, fabulous carvings and statues made entirely of salt
Made entirely of salt crystal.
Another salt block carving.
Czestochowa Monastery, Polands most important pilgrimage spot.
The famous Black Madonna image, the most important treasure at the Czestochowa Monastery.
Auschwitz, one of the worlds more emotionally and psychologically-charged places.
Auschwitzs gate reads: work will set you free.
Birkenau, another Nazi death camp -- rail lines lead right into the camp so as to allow efficient delivery of human cargo.
Greetings from Lancut! Here, we spent a very relaxing couple days with Marlon.
What better way to arrive in Polands historic capital Warsaw than to go for a skate with a good, old friend, Jacek.
Jacek and Maciej skating.
Maciej and Ashe showing off...
...and falling.
Forboding, as all Communist monuments should be!
View over Warsaw from the Palace.
Entering Warsaws fabulous Old Town.
Ashe in Warsaws Old Town.
Warsaws Imperial Palace.
Horse and carriage in Warsaws Old Town.
Warsaws spectacular Old Town Square -- a labor of love and pride, it was rebuilt brick by brick following annihilation by the Germans.
Another look at the Old Towns buildings.
More Old Town.
Old Town Square blocks with mermaid statue.
Odd image to be etched into a building facade in Warsaw...
Entering Warsaw through one of its fortified medieval gates.
One of many WWII memorials in Warsaw.
Loved worldwide.
Old Town scene.
Medieval church tower, Warsaw.
Inside one of Warsaws simple baroque churches.
Another WWII memorial.
An old Gestapo Prison.
Fine architecture at one of Warsaws palaces.
Warsaws Wilanow Palace.
All geared up and leaving Warsaw. On our way north to visit Maciejs grandparents.
Whether Poles like it or not, the Palace of Technology and Culture is a symbol of Warsaw and a striking part of Warsaws otherwise flat skyline.
After something like 20 years, reunited with my grandparents.
My grandmother, looking great in her 90s.
Maciej with his grandpa.
Maciej with his grandma.
Maciej, Joanna, Aunt Ninka, and Cousin Adam in front of Copernicus statue in Frombork.
The walls of Fromborks fortress, one of many Teutonic castles in Polands north.
Ashe at the drawbridge into into the fortress.
Inside Fromborks castle walls.
Ashe and Maciej inside one of the regions oldest trees.
Maciej with odd hedgehog thingy.
Another grand Teutonic fortress at Kwidyzn.
The Kwidyzn fortress.
Enjoying the day with Adam and his soon-to-be wife, Joanna.
Locked up in the dungeon.
Another day trip from my grandparents place in Elblag. Malbork is home to one of Polands great castles.
Malbork Castle.
Tower at Malbork Castle.
On the drawbridge.
On the drawbridge.
Looking down on the grounds from the Castle tower.
Back in Elblag and my grandparents drive us out to their small garden plot outside the city.
Ashe with my grandparents at their garden.
Maciej with his grandparents at their garden.
Ashe with my grandparents at their garden.
All of us at the garden.
Maciej with his grandma.
Hes a great driver!
Gdansk, northern Polands Baltic Sea port town, is an incredible place.
Ashe, Ninka, and Maciej in Gdansk.
View down one of Gdansks streets.
Gdanks outstanding (and incredibly tall) town hall.
Gdansks famous Neptune statue alluding to its seafaring history.
View over Gdansk, its fantastically uniform blocks, and immense main cathedral.
Neptune statue.
Dead-end street.
Beautiful facades.
Gdansk scene.
Tower.
Street.
The main cathedral tower looms over Gdanks blocks.
Classic Gdansk.
More color.
Memorial to the Gdansk Workers Union Strike. Led by Lec Walesa, this strike was the beginning of the Solidarity movement which sparked the collapse of Communism in Poland and Eastern Europe.
Solidarnosc remembered.
Central Polands tiny town Torun, is famous as the birthplace of one of astronomys greats: Copernicus.
A fantastic building in Torun.
Copernicus old home.
Moving west across Poland and entering Poznan.
Relics of a Communist past, identical blocks grace one of Poznans main avenues.
Great sculpture sits in Poznans Old Town Square.
Streets of Poznan.
Blocks like these line the Old Town Square.
Interesting female statue in Poznans Old Town Square.
And where theres a woman, a man must be close by...
Another statue.
More Poznan.
One of the two palaces we visited on a day trip from Poznan.
Turret on palace #1.
Palace windows.
Great wallpaper inside.
The owner had a love of all things Moorish.
The second of our day trip palaces from Poznan. This one had more of an estate feeling and visiting it, we felt very far from the city we had left behind.
Walking the palace grounds with no one else in sight.
The palace, looking good.
Palace backyard.
Ashe, looking good too!
Way down in southwestern Poland is the beautiful city of Wroclaw and here is its main church tower.
View over old Wroclaw from the church tower.
Ashe looking down on Wroclaw.
Great timing! I managed to grab my camera in time to get this color co-ordinated photo of the Solidarnosc trolley passing a building of the same colors (Polands national colors!).
Wroclaws old university.
River view in Wroclaw.
Modern stained glass by one of Polands greats.
Wroclaws main square is really a sight to behold.
Buildings like these form a seemingly endless wall surrounding Wroclaws main square.
More great facades along the town square.
More fantastic buildings!
Wroclaws fantastic town hall.
Old reflected in new.
Comfy chair.
Statues.
Another great bronze in Wroclaw.
The worlds first large-scale all-concrete structure of its kind -- a real marvel of civil engineering!
Ksiaz Castle, perched high on a rock in the remote southern hills and forests of Poland was one of scenic highlights of our tour of Poland.
The hedge maze within the castle grounds.
The castle wall and turrets.
Castle wall with brilliant fall colors.
Castle wall.
Maciej and Ashe at Ksiaz Castle.
Leaving the Motherland Poland after 3 fantastic weeks.
Now entering the Czech Republic and Kutna Hora, a tiny town near Prague known for its incredible ossuary.
Coat of arms made entirely of human bones in Kutna Horas famous ossuary.
A chandelier made of every single bone in the human body.
Prague. The City of a Thousand Spires certainly is one of Europes most picturesque and romantic cities.
View across Prague from its surrounding hills.
View across Pragues old rooftops to the fortress-like walls of Prague Castle.
Another aerial view over Prague.
View through Pragues Old Town to the famous Charles Bridge and beyond.
One of many baroque structures in Prague.
Church.
Statues and spires.
Angel with church spire, Prague.
Courtyard preceding the entry gates to Prague Castle.
Fancy streetlamps.
Musicians at the gates to Prague Castle.
Prague Castles main gate.
Rooftops.
Looking through the castle gate tunnel and into the Castle grounds with its immese gothic cathedral.
The cathedral at Prague Castle.
View over Prague from the Castle.
View over Prague and Charles Bridge from the Castle.
Another view over Prague.
And even more Prague from up high.
Looking through the cathedral towers.
Another look down on Pragues red rooftops.
Brilliant stained glass.
More colorful stained glass.
A new day dawning in Prague -- sunrise.
Sunrise.
Sunrise.
Ashe with Irena, our Czech friend.
Maciej, Ashe, Irena, and Jacek -- an early morning in Prague.
Early morning light over Pragues Old Town and Prague Castle.
Same scene, afternoon light.
Ashe on Charles Bridge.
Musicians on Charles Bridge.
More musicians on Charles Bridge.
Charles Bridge tower.
Bridge tower and statue.
Charles Bridge is lined with dozens of religious statues. This is one of them.
Another statue along the Bridge.
Sunset colors over Charles Bridge statue and Prague Castle.
Sunset skies over Prague.
Elaborate church doors.
Endless cloister corridor.
City scene, Prague.
One of Pragues largest churches.
A famously modern structure along Pragues riverfront.
A beautiful row of buildings lines Pragues riverfront.
More grand estates and apartments.
Jacek and Maciej. Not sure what were up to here.
Jacek, Ashe and Maciej in sunset yellows and oranges.
Interesting street corner carving.
Maciej with carriage.
Pragues most famous church, the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn.
Another look at Our Lady Before Tyn.
Charles Bridge at sunrise.
One of two castle visits near Prague -- Konopiste Castle.
Jacek and Maciej fooling around in the fall leaves.
The second of our castle visits -- the famous Karlstein Castle.
Brilliant fall colors.
Castle walls.
Valley views from Karlstein Castle.
View over the very picturesque town of Ceske Krumlov in southern Czech Republic.
Perfect reflection - Ceske Krumlov.
Ashe in Ceske Krumlov.
Ceske Krumlov from above.
Relaxing in Ceske Krumlovs sprawling hilltop park.
Relaxing in the park.
Very much in love.
Love is great.

View all picture thumbnails...

Move your mouse over a pin on the map and you will see some information here!