I got a new toy!

When I was sorting out photos the other day, and realising that I didn't even know what some of the images were, I got to thinking. I wondered if a second camera might help, perhaps if I were able to take my own photos, maybe I'd find it easier to recall what was going on at the time?

Then I remembered one of the ladies on the tour had a tablet, she took notes, after each photo.

Here's my new toy.

Just in time to play about a bit, before we fly off to Gozo for a week.

A Samsung Galaxy note 8.

Cool huh? It's about the same size as a kindle, so sits nicely in my hand, and I've installed the kindle app, so only one gadget to take along! :-)

Speaking of my hand, after my fall and a week with a huge cast, it was a relief to get home on Tuesday and have the cast removed by the local A&E department, they gave me a much neater dressing.

YAY! I could crochet again.

Must dash, I'm off to fracture clinic to have it x-rayed and checked on.

The bruising and swelling have gone, but I still can't bend it.

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More holiday pics later today, or maybe tomorrow.

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Everything after this was sent from the Note last night.

Trying out my new toy. I'll tell you more Tomorrow!

Eastern Europe Part Three, Krakov

 We had pretty much the whole day on the coach again, as we travelled to Krakow, it was broken by a 2.5 hour stop at Auschwitz. As we had spent a whole day there last year, we didn't take our camera in.  

On our arrival in Krakow we saw a great citadel which we recalled from our last visit.

Other sights seemed familiar too. We were sat right at the front of the coach, just behind the driver, a great place for taking photos!

 After a good rest overnight, we set out on a walking tour with a local guide. I really can't remember the names of all the places she took us too, or all of the stories she told us.

I do remember that she took us to the citadel.

 We got to go inside and have a much closer look.

 We could even see the remains of much earlier buildings on the site and this bronze told the story.

 After lunch we got on our coach and headed to the Wieliczka salt mine.

We had to climb up some steps from the coach park.

That's where I fell and dislocated the very tip of my pinkie finger! Earlier in the day I had treated myself to a little scarf to keep my neck warm, I tucked my sore hand in that and went into the mine for the three hour tour!

 It was amazing down there.

These horses are not real, they stopped using horses down there in 1990s.

 Tony took dozens of photos. I won't bore you with all of them.

The great halls were amazing and stood within them any Lord of the Rings fan could easily imagine herself in the Mines of Moria. The halls were so vast.

 Everything is carved from the rock salt.  Even the chandeliers.

 Our guide Olga told us the story of the dragon.

 In places the salt steps were so steep or worn away, or just too precious to walk on, so great staircases had been built for the feet of the thousands of tourists.

 As well as grand halls there were many small chapels.

 We went down over 600 feet, our guide told us that the mine goes much  deeper than that.

She was amazed when at the end of the tour, while waiting for our turn in the lifts Tony spotted something on our drivers shirt.

Olga said that this was the only living thing other than humans she had ever seen in the mine.

 Tony managed to take it back to the surface where he let it go on some rose bushes.

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After a very long visit to Krakow University hospital, (4 Hours) where they put a huge cast on my arm, Tony and I got back to the hotel at nearly midnight! Our companions had been out for a Polish folk evening.

 At least there was some quilty inspiration at the hotel, look at the beautiful runner which lay over our bed.

Next stop, Budapest.

Eastern Europe part two. Warsaw.

 Our day in Warsaw started with a walking tour of the city. 

 We wandered through the Lazienki park with it's beautiful royal summer residences.

The link is worth a look, we were unable to see all of the structures due to renovation works.

 We visited the Jewish memorial.

 After a couple of hours we were let loose in the old city.

 We had a wonderful time exploring the old town, wandering in the narrow streets. We saw the old city wall.

We stopped for lunch in one of the old squares.

 We heard this amazing clock strike the quarter and half hours, but had to miss the hour as we had to meet the coach.

Many of the buildings were beautifully decorated. 

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Next stop, Krakow.

Isle of Man to Berlin

Ready to begin my journey?

It started on a very stormy Sunday. Our ferry sailing time was changed more than once, to try to get ahead of the storm, then again to leave after the storm!

The sea was still very rough and we were tossed about a bit. The worst part is always leaving Douglas harbour and getting round the head, after that it settles a little. We did have one almighty bump which terrified some little people, one poor little girl was to afraid to leave her seat and go to daddy, he had to move to her holding her big brother. They all three of them managed to fall asleep! They didn't wake until we were well into the Mersey estuary.

We had an overnight stop in Liverpool and a very early pick up. The coach arrived to collect us at 5 am.

It took a scenic route south through England and Wales before arriving in Dover at lunchtime.

I started my crochet on this leg, but couldn't accurately gauge how long the starting chain was, (Using a method new to me, with no foundation chain)  which explains how I managed to make it wider than intended. 

At the Dover ferry port we met up with 14 other coaches who had journeyed down the country from as far away as Scotland, some people having to be up even earlier than us.

We all got off our coaches while the drivers and porters ensured that the correct luggage was moved to the correct coaches, then we were asked to get on board the coach marked with our tour number and title. No77. Highlights of Eastern Europe for us. Other coaches were going to Italy, Spain, and many other European tours, one was even off to Russia!.

Once we settled onto our coach we boarded the ferry for Calais. 

We said goodbye to the white cliffs and had a much smoother crossing than the day before. I even had a snooze but didn't do any crochet, instead I sat and chatted with a lady who was cross stitching..

After disembarking the ferry we had a long drive into Antwerp, where we stayed overnight. We didn't get much of a look at the place and left very early the next morning. We had another long run ahead of us. We did have some interesting breaks along the way.

Firstly the Mohne Dam. 

It is set in some very beautiful countryside. We had quite a long stop here so that we could look about, stretch our legs and get something to eat.

The next stop was at Checkpoint Alpha, at the start of one of the cold war Berlin corridors.

We arrived in Berlin pretty tired people. Most of us ate dinner and went off to bed.

The next day the coach picked up a local guide for a tour of the city. As Tony and I had done this last year, we decided to do our own thing. Problem! It was lashing down. What to do? We had planned to spend our time in the zoo. Well attached to the zoo is an aquarium. We spent 3 hours in there instead.

 Not only were there lots of fishes.  Can you see the one hiding below?

 There was also an insect and reptile house.

Where do you think this guy lives?

Hmmm...

There was more than one!

Ugh! I did not sit on these seats to watch the butterflies!

They even had some Tuatara! Tony took great delight in telling some other English speaking tourists about how important they are.

Tony took dozens and dozens of pictures of nasty looking critters! Spiders and snakes and......shudder!

We were back on the coach early the next morning and off to Poland.

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I had a few rows of my crochet done by this time, the coach crew put DVDs on for us and of course there was often things to see out of the windows, but it was still nice to keep my fingers busy.

Home again.

 I must say, it's good to be home. We had a fantastic time during our tour of Eastern Europe but it was pretty full on! We were up and about every day, with only one later start. 09.15, so we got to lie in until 8am that day! LOL

Remember I had planned to take alomg a blue crochet project? Then changed my mind at the last moment and took something else. Well here it is.

 Pretty pretty colours. It's wider than I intended, so I'll have to find more yarn for it. The white isn't a problem, but the yellow and pink are leftovers and I'm not sure what or where from. Hmm. Never mind.

I got quite a bit done, before I did this.....

Look closely!
Here we're cruising on the Danube. We were welcomed aboard with a glass of fizzy wine. The food was wonderful and we sat with some newly made friends.
I'll bore you with more snaps of our wanderings in another post. His Lordship had the camera, he took 549 pictures! I'm sure I'll find something to share.
Three loads of washing are done, the weather is awful so most of it went into the bumble dryer. Now I just have the ironing to do.