#BEDM - Travel dreams

64

{Visiting Paris and Krakow}

The tough part about writing this list is that there aren't many places that I don't want to go.  I haven't really travelled that much, the lists of countries I've been too are mostly in Europe (France, Belgium, Poland) so its hard to really know where to start with a list of dreams because really I want to see and photograph it all. There are a few places that I would really love to visit though.

1. The Grand Canyon - Partly for the photos but mostly just to see it - can you imagine something so vast and beautiful? I can't, not really, I want to go and soak it all in.

2. Cornwall/Devon/Dorset, England - It's funny how one of the top places that I want to go is in the same country that I live in but I've actually never been to that part of England before - I've been around most other places in England and I've been to Scotland, Wales and Ireland but never to the South West of England - I'm hoping that when I finally learn to drive we'll road trip it down there and explore for a while.

3. Tokyo, Japan - Mainly for the Studio Ghibli Museum, but Tokyo has been on my list for a while now.

4. Italy - anywhere in Italy to be honest, I couldn't decide one place, I'd almost want to take a month off and go see everything (or at least as much as I could in that month) and mostly I want to go to eat the food, seriously, fresh gnocchi... I'm there.

5. Finland/Sweden/Norway - I've bunched these together because really, I just want to see the aurora - the northern lights.

6. Easter Island, South Pacific - With everything that's been going on lately - part of me wants to get to as remote a place as I can. I've always been fascinated with this area of the world too and the statues look pretty amazing - Imagine the photos of those.

Remembrance Day

Last year I shared In Flanders Field by John McCrae in Remembrance, however this year I have dug out my photos from ten years ago(!) from a visit to Ypres in Belgium with my High School when I was 15.

I'm sure I've mentioned somewhere (perhaps here) that I always used to use 35mm film until I went to university - and here are some of the photos from my Dad's old Canon 35mm camera that I borrowed just for the trip. I remember I used one film a day which goes to show things haven't really changed that much in 10 years...

At 15, I didn't really understand the scale of lives that were sacrificed during the World Wars, both soldiers and civilians, and I remember being completely overwhelmed with sorrow at each cemetory and museum we visited.

Having visited Auschwitz this year - I am still overwhlemed with sorrow yet I was also reminded that it is so important to learn from history and to remember.

Krakow - The Apartment...

With so many photos to share with you, I didn't really know where to start with blogging about Krakow, but I decided to start where we started - the apartment!

Finding this apartment was the best thing that happened to us for this holiday - it was cheap, massive and so central to Krakow - situated bang in the middle of the Old Town and Kazimierz - the Jewish area of the city. It was the perfect mixture of old character with modern features and despite the 6 flights of stairs to get to our floor, it was the perfect base to start and return to every day.

Our street and building - the only pink building on the road.

The living room...

Kitchen...

Bathroom...

Our bedroom...

The apartment was full of lovely features like vintage suitcases and amazing chandeliers which completely enhanced our stay there!

My favouite part though was the guest book that all the previous guests had written in with suggestions for restaurants, bars, days out, which buses to catch etc... a wonderful read for when you have no idea where to start!

If anyone is interested in staying in Krakow and looking into this apartment (its not ours, we rented it, I can send you the link) then drop me an email!