Free Tea! Free Coffee!

May 26, 2014May 26, 2014 | Mairead

25 05a

(Art on the old city wall)

Before we got here I was researching Krakow (with help, thank you Magda!) and one of the things I found was a free cafe, called Cafe Fińska. Well, almost free… in return for a cup of coffee or tea you add some art work to the paper tablecloth. I was very interested. Imagine having a place where people could get together, share a tea or coffee and do some art…. it’s probably not surprising I was interested. So I searched for more information about this place and as it wasn’t too far from our apartment, I thought it might be nice to go visit.

2505xx

(The old (city gate)… and the new (McDonald’s arches)…)

I wasn’t sure what to expect and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to communicate with only one word of Polish. But nothing ventured… so on Friday with a map and google directions (really miss data) scribbled on top we started walking in the direction of the (former) Jewish Ghetto. It took nearly an hour and the weather was very warm so we were a little flushed when we arrived. Denis made sure I went in first…

2505c

(A sign…)

The cafe is on the ground floor of a triangular-shaped building at the junction of two streets and it is tiny inside. The walls are covered in art, as is the (paper) table-cloth. There are mugs and a tea-making area in one corner (do you call it a corner if it’s a triangle?) There’s a six seater table down one side and a two person sofa on the other. When we walked in there were two men playing chess at a small table in the middle and one man on his iPad on the sofa.

2505d

(Low flying helicopter)

Not knowing the etiquette for this situation I decided to go ahead and announce myself. I spoke as slowly as my nervousness would allow, hi I’m from Ireland and I heard about your cafe, would you be able to tell me something about it, please? Silence. Oh, do you speak English? The older of the men at the chess board pointed to the two others and they laughed sheepishly and said yes. In the end the older man explained the history of the cafe while the younger one translated. The third man made our tea.

2505e

(See the bugle peeping out the top window of St Mary’s Church? Every hour on the hour, 24 hours a day (yes someone gets up in the middle of the night to do this) the bugle sounds over Krakow. To commemorate the bugler who was shot with an arrow to the throat as he warned the town of invaders)

It started last year when there was an art festival in Krakow. A guy called Michał Mioduszewski, an artist all the way from Warsaw created it as an art installation in the Grolsch ArtBoom Festival, June 2013. His working title: Revolutions happen in cafes. It was a great success and then the art festival was over and it was time to close everything down. But it didn’t close. The locals loved the cafe so much that they decided they wanted to keep it. They have been paying the rent ever since. They are also donating their time, their tea, their coffee and sometimes their baked goods. It opens six days a week from 4.30pm and sometimes they have concerts and classes. Everything is run on a voluntary basis with donations going towards the rent. No one makes any money out of this venture, except maybe the landlord!

2505f

(The foot bridge over the river covered in locks declaring love)

We left after our tea and I thanked the men (in Polish – thank you, Kinga!) All the way back to town I wondered…. is this only possible in Krakow or in Poland?

2505g

(Tram tracks through the park)

Maybe… maybe not… Mairead.

P.S. A link to more information about Cafe Fińska.

The train to Krakow.

May 21, 2014May 21, 2014 | Mairead

21 05a

(The first train – we had a two-seater version of this arrangement. Can you see the coat hooks? The power sockets? The adjustable seat lever? The folding table, concealing a little rubbish receptacle?)

We have arrived in Krakow! Our train journey from Prague was brilliant. There were three trains journeys to be precise. The first one was like going by plane, the old-fashioned kind of going-by-plane. With free bottles of water and free newspapers. Yep. And the conductors wore nice uniforms and rolled little overnight cases behind them when they got off the train. There were hooks to hang your coat, adjustable seats, power sockets and free wi-fi. The tea-trolly had Starbucks coffee and green tea.

21 05b

(That was a different train, going to Budapest – and that’s the dining car. See the cute globe lights? I don’t think we had a dining car.)

We settled down for the three-hour journey coding, crocheting and reading. The names of the places were a little confusing as was our ticket but the journey progressed and we began to understand more. Like the booklet provided on each seat as we arrived onboard. It was completely in Czech but eventually it became clear that it was a timetable for the train and any connections we might need to make. At one point there was an announcement in English and Czech but all we could hear was …delays due to technical problems on the line… We did wonder what delays? as the train was travelling at 160km per hour (did I mention the signs proclaiming station names and speed?) is it possible the train could go faster? Anyway, the specified time to disembark arrived and the train stopped at a station with a name very, very like the one mentioned on our ticket, so we gathered our things and got off.

21 05c

(Told you we had Starbucks!)

Then we saw our conductor, I was about to give him a friendly thank-you-wave but he was looking very worried and moving very fast in our direction… and we were back on the train faster than you could say, the wrong station! Back on the train now we wondered if we might miss our connection to the second train, as there was only a ten minute difference between arrival of this one and departure of that one. As we descended, at the right station (Ostrava Hl. N.) our conductor was helping a lady down from the train but he stopped long enough to look me in the eye and enunciate very clearly, go up, platform 1. while nodding towards the stairs. Long story shortened, we made it, that train was delayed too.

2105e

(Our compartment on the second train)

This second train was more old-fashioned, there was free water and even juice but no wi-fi or Starbucks. It travelled slower than the first one, but, as there were no displays I can’t be specific about the actual speed. Also, we realised there might still be a chance we would miss our next connection so we were a little less relaxed than we might have been but it was a very comfortable train. We were lucky to have our little six-seater compartment to ourselves so we could spread out our bags and food supplies (apples, seeds, nuts, biscuits, free water) all the way to Katowice.

21 05f

(That’s the conductor on the phone, she had a little compartment to herself where people bought their tickets. And past her there’s the driver’s window and the tracks beyond)

Our next train, the one that would deliver us to Krakow was the most relaxing, not because it was new (it wasn’t) or because it was fast (it wasn’t) or because it had wi-fi (it hadn’t) or because it had more free water (it didn’t.) I think I was relaxed because it was familiar. It reminded me of the Dart. An older version of the Dart that was red and had a conductor and travelled as far as Cork. It had the same seats, the ones you’re not supposed to put your feet on? But you feel drawn again and again to putting your feet on them? We resisted. I have identified my two favourite things about this train: 1. the windows – they slide down to open so that you have half a window full of air coming in – it was very warm. And 2. the train driver kept his door open the whole time so you could see the tracks. I like knowing where I’m going. That’s probably my third favourite thing, I definitely knew where we were going this time.

21 05g

(We probably wouldn’t be needing the Hammer of Safety because the windows were already open and big enough to climb through, but I like that we had one. It feels like a metaphor for something bigger. Already, I like Poland)

Krakow is waiting, Mairead.

The Love of My Life in the Grand Cafe Orient

May 18, 2014May 18, 2014 | Mairead

18 05d

(Wenceslas Square from the National Museum)

Yesterday we went to the shopping center, it’s near the old walls of Prague and they have been able to incorporate bits of wall into the decor of a cafe. We didn’t go to see the wall. While planning this holiday I calculated the potential increase in temperature in the area as a direct ratio to its distance from Ireland, I was wrong, there was no increase in temperature… (and thank you for all the beautiful weather reports from Ireland!) I am embarrassed to say that due to this mistake I have been sporting my entire clothing repertoire for the past five (5) days. People are beginning to move away from me in the metro. So it was time to go shopping.

18 05a

(Entrance to Grand Orient Cafe)

During our free tour of Prague on Wednesday, Adam pointed to the modern shopping center near the Powder Gate, I didn’t think we’d be visiting. Needs must and we found ourselves in Dundrum (shopping center in Dublin.) There’s Starbucks and Costa (ok no Costa in Dundrum) and Marks and Spencer’s. So I got some things that will keep me warm. And then I realised there was something extra special in the basement…. a wool shop! Not just wool, cotton too and needles and tapestry and buttons!

18 05b

(The menu)

You might remember my plan to crochet on the train to Krakow? Well now I won’t be in danger of using all my yarn and having to rip my creation and start again (difficult situations often require difficult solutions) I bought Czech cotton and buttons. I’m going to make Denis a scarf! I created the design while we were dodging the rain in the Grand Cafe Orient. Everything in this cafe reflects cubist art, the building, the furniture, the wallpaper, the cups. It was built in 1910 ish but closed ten years later and remained closed for 80 years. It reopened in 2001 looking exactly the same as it did in the twenties.

18 05c

(The tea-cup)

So you’re probably thinking the scarf will be cubist inspired? Triangles and mixed up patterns? Not exactly. We’d been there more than an hour, sipping beer and tea. Me the tea, Denis the beer. I was writing in my new notebook (thank you, Cathy) when I lifted my head and noticed a man walk in. He looked like a drenched cat but he had a lovely scarf. So I’m going to make a scarf like his. I didn’t take a picture of the man and his scarf but funnily enough I won’t need a picture as his scarf looks exactly like the crochet pattern I’m working on at the moment.

18 05e

(My Czech cotton and buttons)

Isn’t it amazing that surrounded by all those beautiful shapes and patterns I was able to pick out something familiar, something I loved? Like a new mother identifying the particular cry of her baby, I spotted the particular pattern of my beloved crochet… sigh.

The love of your life is everywhere, look! Mairead.

We’re here!

May 14, 2014May 14, 2014 | Mairead

14 05a

(Blue skies as we wait for bus in Greystones)

We have arrived safely in Prague, our plane only returned once to the boarding gate… As we were coming in to land I was very surprised by how green it is around the airport. Very like home. Then I remembered why it’s so green in Ireland and I guessed that they get a lot of rain here in Prague, too. So far my guess is correct. It’s a little odd that we have arrived at our destination so soon, it usually takes at least a day or three, the plane is faster than the bike I suppose. So it might take us a little longer to acclimatise, probably just as well the weather is very familiar then.

14 05b

(The overhead locker opposite our seats wouldn’t close.. so we had to return to the boarding gate and…

14 05c

(…the engineer fixed it)

I had prepared for our arrival very well during last week and Denis was quite impressed that I knew where we could buy bus tickets and what bus we would need to take and what stop we would need to get off to get the metro. I also knew the metro stop we needed to get off to be near our accommodation. He was easily able to ignore my error when we got on the right bus going in the wrong direction (still in the airport and just a short run to the right bus going in the right direction.) He did do the raised eyebrows thing, though, when I didn’t have any idea how to get from the metro to our apartment… Fortunately, the nice lady in the bus ticket shop had given us a map, we knew the address and there’s a compass app on the phone, sorted…

14 05d

(Nice staircase, although as we are on the third floor we prefer the lift)

We are staying in Prague 2 in an apartment we found on airbnb, there are plenty of restaurants nearby, including a vegetarian and a vegan. This morning we even found a pastry and coffee shop. (Of course I was having porridge but Denis needs his coffee.) But before it was time for morning routines we were awoken by gentle (but persistent) tapping. A woodpecker? No. Men in blue jumpsuits are laying a pretty stone footpath outside our building. And they start early, too early, it was 6.30am! They work with wooden frames to make patterns with small square bricks, using sand to keep them in place with plenty of tapping. The good news is they are nearly finished the section outside our building.

14 05f

(the bricks…)

14 05e

(… and the work in progress from our window)

We are going for a walk in the afternoon and more pictures, see you then, Mairead.

The Green Venice

September 30, 2013September 30, 2013 | Mairead

30 09a

(The embarcadère in Coulon)

When we picked this area in France for our September Retreat, I had noticed something on the map – the Marais Poitevin and in particular The Venise Vert (the Green Venice.) You might remember how much I loved the real Venice, so I thought I might also love this French and green version.

30 09i

(Wrong way, paddle backwards…)

The pictures showed tunnels of trees (and you know I love tunnels of trees) over narrow canals with flat-bottomed boats. But it turned out to be a bit of an elusive spot, ok, not the whole area. To be precise I had a very particular picture of what it would look like (mainly the tunnels, sigh) but each time we drove to La Rochelle and through the Marais Poitevin area we would pass canals at the edge of the road with flat green farmland on the far side. Something wrong with that picture. No trees, no tunnels, not even one flat-bottomed boat.

30 09b

(Heading for my river bank… shriek, shriek, paddle, paddle…)

And so with only a week to go (I know, I know, 4 days isn’t a week) it was now or never! I set to work on Saturday evening attempting to pin down the exact location I had seen in the pictures (oh and disaster, I couldn’t find the pictures any more…) It was not an easy job, but I did locate a town possibly very close to but not exactly the right place. It would have to do. So on Sunday afternoon we put the name in the sat nav and set off to… Coulon.

30 09c

(Sigh…)

On the way we got a bit side-tracked when we found another of the places the French people go on a Sunday afternoon – car-boot sale or an empty-your-attic sale, there were no signs and I don’t know the difference. Suffice to say there was lots of very good bargains to be had. Can you guess what I got for €1 each? More tea towels. And they’re linen. And they have sweet little loops for hanging up. Did I mention that I love fabric? (Tea towels are fabric!) Especially in bundles. The very nice French lady who was selling the tea towels had ironed and folded each one and tied a little ribbon around a bundle of six. (Yes, I did buy six more tea towels. No, I’m not going to use them for drying dishes.)

30 09h

(Sign)

Now, even if we didn’t find Green Venice, all was well in my world. But we did! We arrived in Coulon and my investigations had indicated that we needed to find the area of embarcadère (I think it means where you get on the boats.) Long story short: we parked, we had lunch, we checked out the flat-bottomed boats.

30 09f

(Sigh…)

Finally, we found the perfect boat and got in holding a paddle each. First, it’s very funny. One person rows a bit and then the other person rows a bit and both people laugh a lot. But if one person is stronger or more competitive the boat soon starts heading towards the other person’s bank of the river. Huge shrieks of laughter from me and a smidgen of panic. Instructions from Denis. Paddles in the water again, huge smiles.

30 09g

(Sigh…)

Eventually, we started to match each other’s strength and competitive force and we stopped working so hard and the river took us along. And it was so cool and, really, really peaceful. And because each of us had our hands full and our feet firmly balanced it was almost impossible to think of doing anything else, except being there. We stopped wanting to take pictures. So we took very little. Instead, we had the experience, of floating, on the water, in the canals, built by 13th century monks. Sigh…

Sigh, Sigh, Sigh… Mairead.

Happy Friday – The Art of Coffee

September 27, 2013September 27, 2013 | Mairead

As well as experimenting with art and Just Pudding (formerly know as Bread and Butter Pudding) I am now experimenting with coffee. As I’m on holidays I have been indulging in my coffee joy. That is, one coffee per day on holidays. It’s easy enough to keep off coffee at home because although I always like the smell I don’t always love the taste. But France (and Italy) have amazing coffee that both smells and tastes great. So, on holidays I get coffee every day at a café or bar.

But, if you’ve been following along, you’ll know we are in the middle of the countryside – no café. So our kitchen has had to become the café. Denis was prepared for this… I was not. He brought along a coffee grinder (I kid you not) and a coffee-for-one plunger type thingy called an aeropress. He willingly made me coffee with this for the first two days and then he taught me how to use it myself… but it was such a palaver I was doing his washing up duties just to get him to continue making it for me.

Then I was reading a book called Homeland and the character was talking about cold brew coffee. He made it sound very interesting and I thought I’d give it a go. My resident internet investigator looked up the How to… while I gathered the tools. We were missing some tools so a few days passed before we could begin. But now I can tell you the experiment is well on its way and we are discovering how to make the best cold brew coffee in all of France (because I bet no one else in France is bothering.) I helpfully took pictures so you can experiment along with me if you like.

Here we go….. (Oh by the way, if you start to think that cold brew is also a bit of a palaver… you might be right, but sure I’m having fun!)

1. Buy ground coffee (so much cheaper here)

2. Get a big jug (there was a 2 pint one in our china press)

Coffee 1

3. Fill the jug up to a quarter with the coffee (yes, it’s a lot of coffee – remember I said how cheap the coffee was here?)

Coffee 2

4. Pour water – cold water – into the jug, filling up to top

5. Stir, carefully.

Coffee 3

6. Cover jug with cling film and leave for at least 12 hours in a quiet corner (don’t know if the quiet corner is important but it’s been working for me)

Coffee 4

7. Photography some flowers, do some crafts and go to sleep

8. Come back when more than 12 hours have passed

Coffee 5

9. Take one large bottle (we used one from a jus de pomme (apple not potato) drink)

10. Take one coffee filter holder (we could hardly contain our excitement when we saw one of these in the Hyper U – up until then we were draping the coffee filter over the rim of the bottle)

11. Put one coffee filter (we used size 4 – more excitement when we realised the coffee filter holder was size 4 also) into the coffee filter holder (as you would)

12. Put coffee filter holder on top of bottle (we would have been ecstatic if the coffee filter holder had fit neatly into the bottle, but we made it work….)

Coffee 6

13. Take a roll of masking tape (yes I brought masking tape to France) and tape the coffee filter holder to the bottle

Coffee 9

14. Using a sieve (if you have one bigger than ours, that’s nice for you) pour the jug of coffee and water mixture into the coffee filter (which is in the coffee filter holder on top of the bottle) slowly taking care not to disturb the coffee grinds too much

15. When the sieve gets clogged up, stop to empty it, then continue pouring until there is only coffee grinds in the jug

16. Is there anyone still reading?

Coffee 10

17. Wait until all the water has dripped into your bottle and then put the cap on and put it in the fridge.

18. Clean up.

Coffee 12

19. Have a lovely cup of coffee – by pouring a quarter (or one-third) cup of the liquid from the bottle and adding boiling water – yum. Or you could heat a cup full (strong) in the microwave. Or you could have it on ice, if you like iced coffee (yuck, yuck, splutter, splutter.) If I was on my own here (just saying) the bottle would probably last a week but now Denis has stopped making his plunger stuff and we’re sharing mine.

There you go… hmmm… just nineteen short steps to a lovely cup of coffee… Mairead.