Making plans for more travels

 

I've been home in Norway long now, haven't I? No Italy, nor any other countries since June! My red suitcase is bored, my piles of travel books are lining up....where to go next?

For a long time Terje and I have wanted to visit Athens (we've never been to Greece) and a few weeks ago I started to look for plane tickets and dates for a few days off work for both of us. It turned out to be harder than expected, it turned out to be difficut and in the end it turned out to be impossible!

"Well, we don't really need to visit a new place, do we? We can aways go to the cabin just the two of us for a few days. Romantic, candles at night, good food......."

Of course we can! But we can also check other possibilities.............and so I did. For a couple of days I checked back and forth on Norwegian's webpage, and suddenly I sat there with tickets for Krakow (Poland), leaving Trondheim the 30th September.

 

We've never been to Poland, hardy heard of Krakow, so the following days it was time to gather information. Chaim Potok, I remembered. I have read a few of his books years and years ago. Searching through my shelves I realised that I had given away my Chaim Potok books to Torgeir, now I needed them back again, at least for a while. And I needed some new ones from amazon.

 

I also remembered that for a short time, 30 years ago, I had a penpal from Warsaw, and for Christmas one year she gave me a Polish cookbook; "Old Polish Traditions in the Kitchen and at the table". A search, and the book was found down in the basement. I am reading it right now and it is absolutely perfect. Not only a rich content of recipes, but also Polish history written with food as the perspectcive.

Then I mentioned on Twitter that plane tickets to Krakow were bought, and suddenly a message came from Poland Culinary Vacations, then from Soultravellerswho could recommend a wonderful restaurant. The web is an amazing place! (By the way, take a look at Soultraveller's blog, they are a small family travelling the world, writing the most colourful posts about it)

 

We are reading maps now. And dreaming. Wednesday till Sunday in Krakow.....a few weeks ahead. There are so many things we want to see, want to do........and I am tempted to take a one day cooking class with the Culinary Institute. "It is too expensive for my budget" I wrote them back on twitter. "No problem" was the reply, "we always give discount to writers......."

 

I am reading Chaim Potok and I have books by other Polish writers waiting.........but before that I am reading Frederico Garcia Lorca, I am reading about The Alhambra and about Andalusia. In two weeks I am going to Spain with my colleagues!