Bumbag Motel

Glory heat continued, and on the final day we got on one of the trolley tours about the city. Had another very pleasant and easy going polish guy take the tour and stop off to get the tasty local snacks like those above – complete with ‘vampire’ sauce, to add to the heat of the day.

This twirly ice cream was sensational, chocolate and vanilla and the ice cream was an ice cream crossed with an ice block texture = perfect breakfast.

‘Planty’ was a ring of park around the centre of the city, and offered essential shelter from the sun. Above Cam is demonstrating the convenience of the sock water bottle holder too.

The walk from the airport ‘train station’ (aka a two carriage tram that floats about the countryside) – and down to the airport, via some lovely barbed wire fencing. Got to the airport early, flight delayed by two hours and AC down at the airport as too much pressure on power (the lights actually went out in the terminal at one stage). Goody. Oh and Cam also left his wallet there.

With temperatures in the mid to late 30’s we were in need of establishments with AC. Bars offered a reprieve from the encompassing heat, such as this one on the river. Realised we could still look out from the bar and see sights, such as this street art over the way – looking similar to one in Berlin that is also by the water.

This is how uncomfortable outside was.

Great bar that we dropped Cam and Scott into to cool down while we perused some boutique shops. This place had so much great old furniture and quirks all through it.

After a compulsory visit to ‘the house of beers’, the evening finished up in an underground bar where the polish band ‘psychotic violence’ was playing. heavy.

Scott and Sarah at dinn dinns after a long and quite harrowing day, first half spent at Auschwitz and feeling very sick at the horrendousness that happened there, the massive scale of it was terrifying. Second half of the day was less so, as we explored the salt mines – aka fantasy book underground city dreams coming true. Crazy levels of hot weather continuing and exploring the city streets.

Early morning flight to Krakow, which was an exceptionally great city to visit: old baroque and gothic buildings, great beer everywhere, bars and cafes, cheap and without the tourist fatigue = great times. Above is Cam by the main square.

Enjoying the sunset light contrast across this church – was very hot too, which was glorious and quite sweaty.

Hot air balloons floating over the jewish quarter.

I have been able to help out at some of the new Brixton People’s Kitchen sites so get to cook and meet a lot of new people. Above is the food that was collected for the event at Max Roach centre, and below are the wonderful ladies that cooked it up into a feast!

Great evening in Camden to see the Wytches and Japandroid. Cam and I feasted on vegan goodies at In Spiral, then met James and Tim for a pre-concert beverage.

Just caught a few songs from the Wytches, a young and heavy band from Brighton, great sounds and energy going on.

Further bounds of enthusiasm and an excellent performance by the Japandroids at Dingwalls.

Another scorching hot weekend, on the Saturday I was involved in an Al Jazeera documentary to talk about the people’s kitchen which was a great experience, and then we sat in Hyde park to listen to the Rolling Stones pump it out again. Then Sunday, Cam and I explored Battersea park (above and below). So many great grassy knolls, ponds, fountains and layers of greenery. Such an oasis!

donna, latham and chis enjoying some snacks between cricket hits at the nets. clapham common came up tops this day, as we found some excellent table tennis tables here too!

The long walk home with the cricket gear, though getting to walk through wandsworth common makes it pretty pleasant – especially with so much sun!

So great to be able to meet up with Latham and Donna in a park, have a catch up and some beers and a Friday dinn dinns. happy days!