We spent one day in Bergamo. Funicular: Charming, but nothing earth-shattering if you’ve been on other funiculars (tram/cable car that goes uphill, basically). Piazza Vecchia: We saw the Contarini fountain, saw the outside of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, saw the inside of the Cappella Colleoni, and sat in the square. There was actually another church not far from…
We spent two days in Kraków. Stained Glass Museum: The name is a bit misleading: this is actually a tour of a workshop where stained glass windows are produced. It’s a great look at the process of making them: from colored glass characteristics and cutting with diamond tools to lead joiners between glass pieces and paint layered atop glass. It…
We were in Warsaw for nine days. That might seem strange, once you read how little we saw, but we did a lot of sitting in cafes and people-watching: enough so that I feel confident saying one entire day passed that way. No regrets. Multimedialny Park: This was the first thing we really saw in Poland, and…
We spent one day in Gdansk. Amber Museum: In the words of B, ‘I would have been happy with just that first room, but this thing keeps going!’ In total, it was about 5 floors worth of exhibit, though each was just one room, with a few offshoots. Climbing from floor to floor was also…
We spent two and a half days in Łódź*. *pronounced Wuh-dge Rynek (Market) Górniak: This market is held inside and around a big metallic dome. It’s a bit of a flea market, mixed with a green market, with lots of random shops thrown in (‘Why hello Mr. Butcher, next door to bins of bargain basement…
We spent seven days in Stockholm. Vasa Museet: This is a museum designed around a ship called Vasa, built in Stockholm in the early 1600s. It was to be a crusading vessel that frightened its enemies with its glory – and its cannons. The king who commissioned her presided over the ceremony of her departure,…
We spent one day in Malmö. Folkets Park: This is a very cool park – at least, in the summertime. They have concerts and comedy and more as part of something they call ‘Super Duper Summer.’ (Which, by the way, is somewhat strange to see next to a legion of posters with no English on them…
Royal Library Gardens: It was very relaxing to sit in here. Surprisingly devoid of crowds, it had some pretty trees, a fountain, a statue of Kierkegaard, and a lot of benches. Worth it. The Dome: There was a temporary art installation set up near the water, which looked like a transparent biodome. It was intended to convey a both…
Glendalough: An old monastic site, this place has church ruins, tower ruins, a river-like thing, and a lake. It’s certainly pretty, but not sure that it merits being singled out as the thing to see. The best part is the elevated wooden walkway on which you can stroll around the lake. And the sheep grazing…
Kilmainham Gaol: This tour of an 1800s jail was our favorite activity by far. It was given by a charming archaeologist, and it was very well done. Especially good for people not into long drawn-out history recitations: gives a succinct summary of the attempts at Irish independence, full of the kind of personal stories that…