Krakow, Poland

Famous for grand royal castles, hideous German WWII concentration camps, Oscar Schindler's factory, yummy dumplings, and many other quirky historical facts, Krakow was a good spot to enjoy the first May bank holiday.

Wawel Castle

Sitting on a hill overlooking the city and the river the Wawel castle is the central tourist attraction in Krakow. We made a couple of trips but were without luck in getting tickets to the big draw card rooms on the interior so we had to make do with strolling the grounds and enjoying the view.

Main Market Square, Krakow

We managed to make friends with a couple of Pole's from Gdansk who helped us sneak in to the main bell tower overlooking the square just in time to see the trumpet being blown out the window to mark the passing of another hour. It was a stroke of luck to catch this century old tradition, enjoy the views from the top and to get inside this fantastic building.

Auschwitz

After our tour of the Auschwitz concentration camps, Gabrielle and I sat back down in the bus and realised that we had not spoken for 3 hours. There wasn't a lot of talking on the bus in general, and I'm sure that hollow feeling was throughout every other tourist bus there - strange that hundreds of people would want to spend half a day of their holiday touring through such a place. I guess, like us, those people needed to see for themselves the size of the camps, the reality of the cells, the harrowing photo's and the vastness of the remaining personal belongings to realise that such unbelievable stories are actually true.

A better way to spend Monday

On Monday, we grabbed some big steel bikes and pedalled along the river out of Krakow to a monastery that dates back 1,000 years (the site has always been a monastery but the building itself has been re-hashed many times). We returned with sore bums and some slight sunburn - nice to see the start of summer.

NZ v MCC XI

Our day trip to Arundel was a bit of a let down due to some dodgy Spring weather. Definitely better weather for playing 20 questions than for watching cricket.

We amused ourselves for several rain breaks before the greatest of cricketing cop-outs (bad light stops play) sent us on the next train back to London.

But sometimes, just sometimes, in between roast dinners, Percy Pigs, impromptu rugby and cricket games of our own, the New Zealand cricket team played (and played quite well) and we remembered what we were there for. Better times ahead for the first test at Lords in 3 weeks...

Could it really be...a sunny spring evening?

A nice night in London tonight so with the benefit of daylight savings and an early finish at work the 40D and I shunned the normal commute through Green Park and Victoria in favour of the longer route to Waterloo to capture the evening. First stop, Piccadilly Circus:

Trafalgar Square.

The eye in the night sky with Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament in the background.

Congrats to Dean and Helen...

...on completing the 202km Grape Ride around the top of the South Island on a tandem in a mighty 7.5 hours of pedalling - shuper effort that!!

When the cat's away...

...the lads will play.

And play we did: with a trip to White Hart Lane to see Tottenham Hotspur draw 1-1 with Middlesborough with Geeks. That makes the 7th premiership venue I have ticked off, after Charlton, Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, Craven Cottage, Arsenal, and Upton Park.

On Sunday Kelley, Fraser and I braved the rain and shot down to Windsor for a 10k race. Fraser blitzed it in 35:05 while I was 1:40 away from my goal of 40 minutes so will have to hit the pavements again for a few more weeks and try and trim some time and kilo's before the next race in May.

And on Tuesday the lads turned out for pre-season training at none other than the home of cricket: Lords. So a fine weekend all in all!

I love these photo's of the run: Fraser looks cool and calm as he laps that poor girl who is ready to keel over, while I enjoyed some boisterous support in the last few metres of the race.

Some photo's of Eton and Windsor Castle - it was a bloody long walk.

Gdansk, Poland

Marta's birthday in Gdansk:

April 6: Snow in London town!

We thought we were coming back to enjoy summer, but a couple of inches of snow overnight has knocked that idea for 6.

Gabrielle peering out of our bedroom window.


A close up of the spring buds trying to break through.

And of course some snowmen ... attempt 1:

Attempt 2!