Liverpool - Day 1

We wanted to take two summer holidays, but didn't get around to planning the second one. We still wanted a short break, so we decided on a weekend in Liverpool. We both had wanted to visit, and it was a pretty easy train ride away, so we went for it.

We took a morning train, and the travel went smoothly. The kids entertained themselves with tablets, books, and snacks.

We arrived in Liverpool around noon. The hotel was a short walk from the station, but we took a taxi since it was raining steadily. The driver's accent was so thick that I had a hard time understanding him (the Scouse accent is much different than the Yorkshire one I'm accustomed to). It ended up taking much longer in a car, but at least we were dry.

We weren't able to check in at the hotel until 4, but we were able to leave our bags. We did this and headed out for lunch. It was still raining steadily.

We ate at Yard & Coop, a chicken joint with unhealthy but fantastic food. We got to sit in a coop booth, and the kids loved that.

Matt and I ordered cocktails. Matt had an iced coffee drink, which was delicious, but my first order was too bitter for my taste. It did look pretty though. Lily dipped her finger into Matt's drink and proudly proclaimed, "I love alcohol!" We're going to have to keep an eye on her...

I couldn't drink mine, so I asked the server about gin cocktails. She brought me a rhubarb custard concoction, and I loved it.

Now for the food. Everything looked good, so it was hard to choose. Matt went for a Sunday roast inspired meal, with mashed potatoes, gravy, and Yorkshire puddings. He also tried the smothered tater tots.

I ordered a chicken sandwich topped with fried onions, bacon, and mac and cheese. The portions were huge, but the food was amazing. (I promise, we eat much healthier food at home!)

I know you're drooling

One of the kids meals

On the way in, we passed through a small arcade area, which we visited on the way out. There was a bathtub full of balls, and all three of the kids pretended to play Dance Dance Revolution.

As we left, the girls wanted to hug the giant chicken outside.

We still had over two hours before check in, and it was still raining steadily. We stayed within the Liverpool One area, which is basically blocks and blocks of shops and eateries. But it is no indoor mall, so we were soaked through pretty quickly.

Being used to English weather, we started out fine. We spotted a tree with eyes, and that kept the kids on the lookout for other cool things.

We ducked inside a small shopping center, hoping to wait there for a bit. However, the kids decided that this was the time to go absolutely feral. They ran away from us, up and down the escalators, squealing. As soon as we'd rounded up one or two, another would dart off. We finally caught them all and sat them on the ground to calm down before going back outside. At least they had more opportunity there to run and be loud.

The calm before the storm

We walked around some more, and found a tree with lips!

By this time, the kids were over playing outside, and Matt and I were exasperated by their behavior. My notes here say, "Lots of rain and poor choices." We took refuge under an awning at Urban Outfitters for a bit.

We then wandered in a new direction, and the kids found the most fun set of giant green stairs. This helped improve their moods slightly.

Climbing

At the tippy top

And back down

Finally it was time to check in at the hotel. We stayed at BridgeStreet at Liverpool One, which is a collection of serviced apartments. I liked having the space of an apartment (with two bedrooms), and the convenience of a 24 hour front desk. I know that sounds like an ad, but I didn't get anything for it.

We took our bags up, put the kids into dry jammies, and let them play. Matt ran out for fish and chips while I took photos of our view. We were on the 8th floor, so we could see quite a bit.

Behind the box on the building on the right, there's a rooftop bar

This trip, I remembered the long lens for my camera, so I tried that out as well.

And here's a closeup of that rooftop bar

What an ominous sky

Before long, Matt had come back with dinner. The kids were behaving much better, and things were looking up. The fish and chips was so-so, but not terrible, and we were all just tired.

After dinner, it was time to put the kids to bed. We made the mistake of trying to put all three down in the same bed at the same time. After much talking and giggling, we brought Clara into our room. Eventually they all fell asleep, and Matt and I watched television until we were ready for bed.  Not the most fun travel day, but I was positive that it would get better.

Poland - Day 7, Gdansk

I'm finally finishing up this trip- just before sending the kids back to school in September.

Our flights back to the UK were on this day, so we had nothing specific planned.  We started with breakfast at the hotel, which was much more crowded than the previous day.

When we had finished, we went upstairs to pack everything up and check out.

We were able to leave our luggage at the hotel until it was time to leave, so we headed outside and just started walking.

Since we had nothing on our agenda, we just let the kids run and play wherever there was room to do so. We came across a tour group looking at a cool metal tree sculpture. It's called the millenium tree, and was crafted in 1997 to mark the 1000th (!) anniversary of Gdansk.

I had one last paczki, and the kids had pre-lunch ice cream.

filled with rose jam

The city in ruins after WWII

The kids saw a street performer dressed as a statue, and they all put coins in his bucket. Clara drew the line at shaking his hand though.

Walking back toward the hotel, we stopped for lunch at a pierogi restaurant. We ate outdoors next to St Mary's Church, and the food was fantastic. Matt tried borscht, which was bright red, and tasty. Lily and Clara actually ate most of it!

our view of the church

baked pierogi

Inside the restaurant, there was a window in the floor where you could watch the workers making pierogi. The kids all had a chance to watch, and I was glad I hadn't worn a dress.

Silly boy

Walking back to the hotel, we went down a pretty little street lined with vendors. I later found out that this is Mariacka Street, and according to gdanskguide.eu it is a good place to buy real amber.

We had seen taxis around town advertising a certain app, so Matt had downloaded it and ordered a taxi the night before. Once we had gathered our bags, we stood outside the hotel to wait. Five minutes before the driver was due to arrive, Matt checked the app, and our taxi had just cancelled! Now the app was saying that it would be 30 minutes until another driver could arrive, but we didn't have that long. We went inside the hotel and told the woman at the front desk, asking if she knew of a taxi company we could call. She said that the app we used is terrible about cancelling, and made a call for us. Within 10 minutes, a taxi was there to collect us. We were extremely grateful for the help, and I left a nice review for the hotel and the woman.

waiting

We made it to the airport in plenty of time, and had an uneventful flight back.

As usual, we asked the kids about their favorite parts of the trip.

Miles' favorite part of Warsaw: getting Reuben (his Minecraft pig)
of Gdansk: seeing and running around the splash pad

Lily's favorite part of Warsaw: walking on the (old city) walls
of Gdansk: going on the pirate ship

Clara's favorite part of Warsaw: playing in the park
of Gdansk: the letters




Now get ready for a photo dump. I had mentioned in a previous post about the architecture, which looks very old and beautiful. Many of these buildings were destroyed during World War II, but were rebuilt afterward to look the same. Here are some of my favorite buildings and doorways from Warsaw.

A man told us that this was the only building standing after the war. I have not been able to verify this.

And here are several interesting buildings from Gdansk.

There were some exceptionally elaborate buildings in Long Market (above). More info on some of those can be found here.

The kids may have been trying at times, but I did really enjoy our trip. I'd love to go back and see other areas of the country, but we'll see where we're off to next...