Świnoujście - 29.6.2008

        

Day trip to Świnoujście 

Świnoujście is one of Poland's famous seaside resort towns.  The city has a beautiful sandy beach on the Baltic Sea and a wide boulevard running along the beach.  

We took off from Szczecin in the morning on a 1.5 hour drive to Świnoujście. It turned out we couldn't get to the centre of town which is separated by a river. We left the car on this side of the shore and got on a ferry by foot.  On arrival we found it's only a short walk from the ferry across the town to the beach.

We headed straight to the beach.  The beach was quite similar to many beaches in Australia but it had a free water slide, jumping castle and fake palm trees! The sea water is not as warm as the Queensland!  The water is quit cold because it is the northern hemisphere and summers don't get that warm and cannot warm the waters as much as in Australia!

After left the beach we walked around the town and went to local eateries and cafe's, checked the souvenir stalls, relaxed while strolling along the boulevard with many more tempting cafe's and shops. We tried local specialties like freshly smoked fish and variety of meats off the grill.  

We took a taxi back to the ferry. The taxi driver was very kind and took us around the town on a quick tour. He was born here and spend all his life here, he clearly loves the place.

The town bring a lot of memories to my family as this used to be my mum's and dad's regular childhood summer vacation destination.

Szczecin - 28.6.2008

Przelewice (near Szczecin) - Ogród Dendrologiczny

Today is a very nice sunny day and my parents' friends thought it would be nice to take us to a country estate where specially cultivated plants and trees are on display. The place is just a few kilometers out of Szczecin. Since we have a rental car,  we drove there, two cars, us and friends. 

I took a lot of  interesting photos of unusual trees, plants and insects. A couple of examples are shown here!

Szczecin - 27.6.2008

A wet day at friends house.

Szczecin - 26.6.2008

Arrived in Szczecin, Poland in the early morning. We checked into our hotel which is opposite my dad's childhood home and just opposite the Szczecin Cathedral! Despite the long trip, we were not very tired.

We decided to walk across and visit my mum's childhood friend, who actually lives in Denmark but traveled to meet us and to visit her mum.

Szczecin is a fairly large town, with a population of about half a million people. During W.W.2, 80% of he Town was completely destroyed, including the Cathedral. The town was under German occupation at the time and the Russian were fighting against the Germans. That is why most of the town was completely destroyed.

The Cathedral has just installe new church organs so we are going to a concert played by some of Poland's best organists.

The Cathedral was not being rebuilt until 30 years ago, when they started. The latest addition was the new tower, because it was knocked off by a bomb, and the new organs worth about 5 million Australian dollars!

Singapore - 25.6.2008

We had a day full of shopping and eating out - a lot of gadgets, fashion and great food! I even tried out a F1 car simulator for the Singapore F1 night race!

This is the last day in Singapore. Now we will be heading to the airport to catch the Singapore to Frankfurt plane. After a short stop over in Frankfurt, we will be traveling to Berlin to be picked up by friends for a short drive to our destination, Szczecin.

Singapore - 24.6.2008

We arrived in Singapore in early morning after an 8 hour flight from Melbourne where we left at midnight. We were very lucky to be able check into our hotel in the morning. After a brief rest we decided to relax on the beach. Sentosa Island seemed to be a perfect choice. 

Sentosa is a small island you can travel to in a cable car over a narrow strait. The cable car ride offers a spectacular view of Singapore and the surrounding islands!