Christmas 2012 (19 images)

I decided this year to take a short trip around Christmas again.  But instead of heading to Edinburgh, I went to Germany. 

As an overall itinerary, I left on Friday the 21st from Poznan and took the train to Berlin and then on to Dresden.  I spent Friday evening and Saturday in Dresden wandering around and enjoying the oldest Christmas Market in Germany.  Sunday morning I headed to the city of Braunschweig, which I sort of picked at random to spend a day in before heading back to Poland on Monday, Christmas Eve.  I spent Christmas Day and Boxing Day in Poznan before returning to work on Thursday.

My co-worker Marva Kington travelled to Dresden with me, where she combined both the tourist thing with the Christmas thing; while I went off in a different direction and did a mix of the shopping thing, the tourist thing, and the Christmas Market thing.  :) 

This was the 578th Dresden Striezelmarkt, although this year there were actually 11 different markets of differing sizes spread throughout the city.  The Winterlichter market was being held on Pragerstrasse, just out outside the hotel we stayed in.  You can see the view from my hotel window below, taken Friday night, not long after we arrived in Dresden.

 

Poznań 7th International Ice Sculpture Festival (15 pictures)

Yesterday (Saturday the 15th) I went up to Stary Rynek (the old town square) because I had heard there were ice sculptures there (thank you Pawel for mentioning it in passing) and I wanted to see them before they melted.  It was first day over zero in a bit and it was raining, so I figured they might melt fast.

The picture below is of the winning sculpture, which won 1500 Euros.

 

More pictures after the break (if you are viewing this on the home page).

 

From Rain to Snow

I'm back in Poland after nearly 3 weeks back in the U.S. and I'm starting to wonder if I'm hauling bad weather around with me.

The five days before I left California included massive amounts of rain as three storms pounded northern California one after the other.  There was so much rain that one of the tree's in the neighbors yard behind my Mom's house fell and crashed through the fence, just barely hitting the edge of the roof (no damage I think).

As you can see, it made a bit of a mess.

However, while my Mom was lucky with this tree, there was another tree in the neighbors yard that was leaning at quite an angle and looked like it was going to come down too.  Unfortunately, while it wasn't aimed at her house, it was aimed directly at the utility pole that carried the power, phone, and cable lines.  Take a look at the picture below.

Thanksgiving Pictures

One of the things I have bought on my visit to the U.S. has been a new pocket camera to replace my old Panasonic.  I bought a new Canon G15 and took along when I went to my cousin Victoria's house for Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately, I forgot to fully charge up the battery after I took it out of the box, so I ran out of juice far quicker than I would have wanted.  Between that and trying to learn a new camera I didn't get a lot of pictures taken, but I did get about 20 that I think are worth sharing.

I will include a few below, and you can go to my picture site to see the full set.

Many thanks to my cousin Victoria, her husband Danny, and their kids Joshua, Zachary, and Aliana for making my visit home so nice.  Now on to a few of the pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

Have a wonderful day!  And if you go to my picture site, please rate any pictures you happen to view so that I get an idea of what people like.  Thanks!

 

Winter has arrived in Poznan.....

All right, it's not officially winter yet.  But when there is actual snow falling, that is winter as far as I'm concerned.

New Foods #7 - Filo Dough

It's sad to say that after over a year in Poland, this will be only the 7th "New Foods" posting I have done.  It's not that my diet has been quite that unimaginative, it's just that I've forgotten to take pictures, or I didn't think it would be terribly interesting.  After all, you've seen candy bars, beans, and fruit juice before, even if they are in different packaging.  And when I have gone out to eat, I almost always seem to forget my camera. 

I've gone to a restaurant called Manikin that serves naleshniki (sort of like a crepe) a bunch of times.  It's probably my favorite place for a good meal that is not too expensive.  But for some reason, I always forget to take my camera.  I really need to, because they make all sorts of options besides the standard naleshniki.  They also make versions that are similar to a burrito, to lasagne, to spaghetti, in addition to the standard crepe-like creation (which can have meat and vegetables, or sweeter fillings).

But I don't eat out much so the opportunities are limited (unless you want to see pictures of the Subway, salads, or Starbuck's I usually get for lunch).  I mostly cook at home, and for simplicities sake, I don't experiment too much.  One thing I have tried a few times recently though is filo dough (like this picture).

I wouldn't be surprised if you can get this stuff in the US, but I don't remember seeing it there.  From what I can tell, it's mostly used here for making torts and something that is quiche-like.  But being me, I had to experiment.

Pictures Galore.....

Long before I set this blog up, I had a picture site that I used to show pictures that I took during my hikes or of family get-together's.  It wasn't intended as a picture showcase, rather as a large-scale photo dump.  So the images weren't heavily edited and I didn't put too much effort into just selecting the best pictures, rather I just tried to get rid of the worst ones.  Unfortunately, the database got corrupted at one point and I lost all the pictures on the site, and I never got around to re-building it.

Well, not too long ago my Mom asked why I didn't put up all (or more) of the pictures from my trips that weren't showing up on this blog on that site.  So I reinstalled the original software from scratch, and uploaded a bunch of my trip pictures.  But after playing around with it, I decided I didn't like that software that much.  So I spent a good chunk of this weekend installing a different software package and uploading all of the photos I have taken since I arrived in Europe that I thought anyone might be interested in.  Like before, I just went through and tried to get rid of the bad pictures, or near duplicates.

If you want to see the full photo dump, you can go to this site: www.theartofdave.com


With the new software you can:

• See how many images are in each Album
• I can add keywords to the images, so that you can see virtual albums based on keyword (such as "Churches"). Click the "Tags" link in the left menu (not all images are tagged yet).
• Rate images (1-5 stars and you have to be viewing a single image) and see which images are the highest rated (if people rate them). Click the "Best Rated" link in the left menu.
• See just the recently added photos, even if they are added to an existing Album. Click the "Recent Photos" link on the left menu. (Warning, I added around 800 photo's today, so this won't be useful until later)
• See photos by the date I added them, or the date they were taken. Click the "Calendar" link in the left menu. Not all photos tagged with their creation date yet.
• Add comments to photos (they will be flagged for moderation and review by me, so they won't show up immediately).  You need to create an account and log in to add comments (to keep the spam-bots down).
• Search for photos by combinations of Tags, Creation Date, Post Date, and specific Albums. Click the "Search" link in the left menu.
• If you use RSS feeds, you can subscribe to an RSS feed of this site, choosing either just the photo's or any blog comments as well. Click the "Notifications" link in the left menu.
• Although there is an effect to show a larger version of a thumbnail when you move your mouse cursor over it, you can also change the size of the images displayed on the page (including thumbnails). When you are in an album there are several icons on the top-right, the icon that looks like a box with an arrow diagonally in it will let you change the size of the image on the screen. These icons show on the top-left when viewing a single image.
• If you don't want to click through the images in an Album, you can start a slideshow by clicking the movie camera icon.
• You can register with the site to create your own user ID and password.

 I even added a small album with some pictures from one of my hikes, and will add the others as I get a chance.  And I'll probably eventually add a "People" set of albums to show some of the pictures I have taken from various parties and get-togethers.

So anyway, I knew there were at least a few folks who might be interested in seeing all of the photos, since there are way more than it would be practical to show here.  So feel free to check out the site at the link above if you are interested.

Thanks!

Warning: Political Content (2012)

For every election my Mom asks for info on all of the California ballot Propositions, because she knows I actually sit down and read through the full text of the ballots.  And we usually talk about the different candidates for office too.  

Since I am not back in California, this post will contain my thoughts on the Propositions and Candidates for the November 2012 election.  So if you are not interested in my thoughts on this issue, please skip on by.  I promise you will only see stuff like this once an election.  :)

Content after the break.

The first year is done .....

It's hard to believe, but September 16th was the one-year anniversary of my arrival in Poland.  It doesn't seem like nearly that much time has gone by.  And with the passing of the first year has come the process of renewal.  I have recently (with the help of Move-One, our relocation service):

• Gotten my new Work Permit.  Apparently it was just as easy to apply for a 2-year extension as a 1-year extension, so for contingency purposes my work permit is good through the end of July 2014.
• Received my Polish Residents Card.  So I now have an official Polish ID.  This takes the place of the visa I originally had, and also means I don't have to carry my passport around with me.  Like the Work Permit, it is good through July 2014.
• Signed a lease extension with my landlord, ensuring I don't have to move and try and find a new apartment just as the hordes of college students decent on Poznań for the start of the new semester.
• The only paperwork left to ensure the continuing stay is to extend my official residence filing, which Move-One will be helping with in a week or two.

So, what are my thoughts on the first year?

• I have done a terrible job of trying to learn Polish.  It's just too easy for me to get by with English between my co-workers and most of the folks in the shops (who are generally younger) speaking English.  I am resolving to do better, but we'll see.
• Poznań is a pretty good place to live.  It has lots of young people, so lots of energy.  The only downside that consistently bugs me is the water, which is so full of minerals that it consistently dries out and causes minor irritation to my skin and leaves a residue behind on everything.  The dark grey / black sink in my kitchen is pale grey from the deposits in places.
• The Polish people are generally tremendously outgoing and nice.  I can only think of one time in my whole year here when I got even a bit of dirty look from someone for not speaking Polish.  Try going a day in the US without someone being nasty to you if you don't speak English.
• Accepting the offer to come to Poland has to be among the best choices I ever made.  It's given me opportunities I probably never would have had otherwise, even if I am not taking advantage of them to maximum possibility.  Strangely, I think that in many ways the biggest change has been in a work capacity where I have had a chance to work on things that were much more interesting that what I was doing in the US and kept me much more interested in my job.  The location stuff has just been a major benefit.
• Being able to work a schedule that generally runs from 11am or Noon to 7-8pm really has been as nice as I thought it would be.  
• Living in an apartment still sucks just as much as I remembered it did.  ;)

 
As for what I'm doing right now, I'm hoping to try and take one more trip in Europe before I head over to the U.S. for my visit and before winter sets in.  Hopefully in the next 3 weeks or so. 

Given that the NHL is in a lock-out and some San Jose Sharks players are playing in Europe right now, I'm thinking of trying to catch a hockey game somewhere.  Logan Couture is playing for Geneva in the Swiss League, and Joe Thornton is playing for Davos.  So if the lock-out is still going on towards the end of October I might try and catch the meet-up of those teams on October 27th.  Jason Demers of the Sharks is playing in Finland, but for a team in the far north.  That may be hard to reach on a 4-day weekend.  Maybe I'll luck and they'll go to Helsinki sometime soon.  Or Tomas Hertl, the Sharks top prospect, is playing the Czech league, so that offers another option.

Or if I can't find a hockey game to go to, I'll try and visit another city on my list.  Depending on the weather at the time I am looking at Helsinki, Copenhagen, Zurich, Dusseldorf and Cologne (just a short train ride apart), or possibly Amsterdam.  The situation in the Southern Europe has made me decide to stay away from there right now, even though there are places I would like to go.

So sorry for the lack of update for the last month.  Hopefully I'll have more interesting news soon.

Enjoy!

New Food #6 - Peaches (sorta.......)

OK, it's not really a new Polish food.  And it may not be a new food to any of you.  But I tried something sort of randomly tonight that turned out pretty well, and I thought I would share.

I picked up some thin (less than 1/2 inch) turkey cutlets to pan fry up for dinner tonight, and as part of dinner tomorrow night.  Besides the chili flavored olive oil, a bit of lemon juice, and a bit of soy sauce; at the last minute I decided to dice up a peach I had that a deep bruise on one side, but was a bit firmer than I usually buy them (I hadn't noticed the bruise when I bought it).

Because the turkey cutlets were thin, they cooked quickly.  And the peach had enough time to absorb some flavor from sauces and lemon juice, and get a bit softer, while not being anywhere near falling apart.  Adding a bit of peach on my fork with a bit of turkey turned out to be surprisingly good.  I'm sure it would work just as well with chicken, and probably pork and fish as well. 

So there it is, not a new food, but a new way for me to eat it.  I had never tried peaches in any state other than raw before, and it was good enough that I decided to share.  :)

Enjoy!

Transatlantyk Film and Music Festival 2012

For the last week Poznań has again been the host of the Transatlantyk Film and Music Festival, 2012 edition.  The founder of the festival is Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, a Polish composer who has composed the scores of over 50 movies, including Finding Neverland, for which he won an Academy Award.

I love film festivals, and this one was great.   I was able to attend eight different films over the week-long festival.  And at only 10 złoty per ticket, they were half the price of normal movie tickets in Poznań, so the festival was very affordable as well.  My only regret was that I couldn't see as many films as I would have liked.  

In this post I'll give a brief overview of each of the movies I saw, as well as a link to the trailer and IMBD page if I have them.  And I'll include at least one movie that I did not get to see got good reviews from co-workers that saw them.

But to start off, the festival has a neat little animation that I linked to below.  Check it out.  There is a high-def version available too.

Great Train Journey - Munich: Part 3 (14 pics)

I think the title of this post should be "The Cathedrals of Munich", but I figured I would stick with the format I have been using all along.  There are several churches in the old town area of Munich, but the ones I made it to were the Frauenkirche, Michaelskirche, Theatinerkirche, and the Cathedral of St. Paul.

 

 This is a picture of the Frauenkirche.  Unfortunately, it's in a confined area and there was construction going on around it, which meant that this was the best image I managed to get of the exterior.

Great Train Journey - Munich: Part 2 (9 pics)

Like in nearly every other city I visited on this trip (Nuremberg was the only exception), I had to visit some parks while I was in Munich.  Munich doesn't seem to have the sheer proportion of park space that Dresden has, but it has a giant of a park in the English Gardens.  I only wandered around in the very southern part of the Gardens, but they go on for quite a ways north.  To give you an idea, let me borrow a few statistics from Wikipedia:

• They cover an area of 3.73 km squared.
• They contain over 100 bridges
• They contain 8.75 km of streams (length)
• The contain roughly 75 km of roads, footpaths, and bridlepaths

 
As you can see from this picture, they are also a favorite place for locals to bring their dogs.

Great Train Journey - Munich: Part 1 (9 pics)

The last city I visited on my trip was Munich, and I have to admit that did not explore nearly as much as I could have.  After having spent a week walking at least 8 hours a day (and some days closer to 12), my body was telling me it was time to lay off a bit.  So out of the three days I was there, I probably only explored for about two.  For the rest of the time, I actually did something I rarely do.  I hung out at Starbuck's and other cafe's reading books on my iPad and just relaxing.

One thing that was definitely true about Munich is that it was BUSY and full of people.  I did not take nearly as many pictures in Munich as I did in other cities like Dresden, so the posts on Munich will be short and sweet.  Today, just some introductory pictures around town.

 

This is the gate at Karlsplatz, that leads onto Neuhauser Strasse, the main pedestrian street in the center of old town area.

Great Train Journey - Nuremberg: Part 3 (8 pics)

This will be my last post on Nuremberg, and I'm just going to show some pictures of some of the interesting things I saw (that aren't churches, castles, or similar old buildings).  :)

The picture below is from The Way of Human Rights, which is an outdoor sculpture between different parts of the German National Museum.  There are 30 pillars in total, with each being inscribed with one article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in German and one other language.

 

Great Train Journey - Nuremberg: Part 2 (11 pics)

In this second post of the series on Nuremberg, I'm just going to show some pictures of the old city.  One of the interesting things about Nuremberg is that the Pegnitz River flows almost directly through the middle of the old city.  This means that there are a number of bridges that provide different views of parts of the old city.

This particular picture is near the western wall of the old city.  You can see another bridge, and the tower above is right new the western wall.

Great Train Journey - Nuremberg: Part 1 (10 pics)

After Dresden, the next city in my trip was Nürnberg (aka Nuremberg).  Unfortunately, Nuremberg was the city I ended up with the least amount of time in due to the length of the train trip there.  This was unfortunate because after Dresden, it was my second favorite city on the trip.  I only had about a day and half to wander around, so I focused on just visiting all of the old city (there are a few streets cars can use here and there, but nearly the entire old city is one giant pedestrian zone).

Nuremberg is another instance of Germany going to great lengths to rebuild and restore old buildings that were destroyed during World War II.  In January 1945, the old medieval city center was systematically bombed by the Allies with 90% of it being destroyed in roughly an hour.  Yet it's been exquisitely restored.  To give you an idea of just how much damage was done, you can check out this map on Wikipedia.  If you check the legend below, the red indicates a total loss.

Today, as you wander around the old town, it's a great place to visit.  Lots of rebuilt older buildings.  Lots of people wandering around.  Lots of restaurants, cafe's, and shops.  It's very cool.  Nuremberg also reminded me of Poznan in that as I was wandering around I noticed that a large percentage of the people I was seeing were young adults.  And after chatting with some locals, I was told that Nuremberg (like Poznan), is a big college city and that a large proportion of the population is college age.

It was an interesting city to visit, and one that I might try and go back to if the opportunity presents.  I know I only saw the old city, and that there were a number of places I had to skip over due to time constraints.

Anyway, on to the pictures.  :)

The Imperial Castle is located at the very Northern end of the old town on a promontory.  It's a bit of hike up a slope to see it and the picture above is looking up at one of the main buildings from the path up.  The Castle was one of the more important fortified palaces of the Holy Roman Empire, and was the home of kings up through at least the 30-years war.

Great Train Journey - Dresden: Part 5 (7 pics)

This will be the last of my posts on Dresden (for this trip).  So I just thought I'd throw a few more interesting photo's out for you to enjoy.

This is one of two statues that stand on either side of an entrance tunnel through the old castle wall.  This is right next to the Hofkirche and around the corner from the Zwinger Palace.

Great Train Journey - Dresden: Part 4 (9 pics)

Like all of the European cities I have visited so far, you seemingly can't walk more than a few blocks before you come across another church or cathedral.  So in this post I'll show a few pictures from 2 more churches in Dresden, the Kreuzkirche and the Hofkirche. 

The Kruezkirche (or Church of the Cross) was dedicated in 1388, and is currently part of the Evangelical Church in Germany.  Since 1491 it has burned down 5 times, and was re-opened in its current form in 1955.

Unfortunately, it is now surrounded by buildings that are pretty close on all sides.  So I was not able to get a good shot of the exterior.  The church is far larger than this exterior shot indicates, and hopefully the interior shots that follow will give a better idea of its size.

 

Great Train Journey - Dresden: Part 3 (14 pics)

Another of the really cool buildings I visited in Dresden was the Zwinger Palace.  This was the garden, exhibition gallery, and festival area of the Dresden Court of Augustus the Strong.  Like nearly everything else in the city, it was destroyed in the Allied fire-bombing of Dresden in 1945.  Unlike the Frauenkirche, the citizens of Dresden voted to rebuild the Zwinger after the war while still part of the GDR.

Unfortunately, nearly all of the Zwinger interior is now made up of museums, and I really wasn't in the mood to go to museums.  But there are a couple of very interesting parts of the exterior of the building.  So took pictures of those as I wandered around.

Great Train Journey - Dresden: Part 2 (14 pics)

While in Dresden I had the opportunity to visit the most spectacular building I've ever seen, the Dresden Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady).  Originally built in the 18th century, it's 96-meter high dome (the "Stone Bell") was an engineering feat similar to Michelangelo's dome for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.  The church survived for over 200 years as the Lutheran parish church for the city and was a central element of the cities distinctive skyline.  Unfortunately, the original church was destroyed in 1945 during the Allied fire-bombing of Dresden in which over 650,000 incendiary bombs were dropped on the city and the temperature at the church reportedly reach around 1000 degrees C, causing the sandstone pillars supporting the dome to explode and the dome to collapse.

During the Communist era, public sentiment kept the GDR government from taking away the rubble and making use of the site.  A large effort was undertaken to rebuild the church after reunification, using the original plans.  Reconstruction started in 1993 and was not completed until 2005.  The cost was around 180 million Euros, and included a new 4,873 pipe organ.

Quite simply, the results are stunning and if you ever get to Dresden, this should be the absolute first thing on your list of places to visit.

This is a picture of the Frauenkirche (link to the Saxony website on the church in English) looking across the Neuemarkt square.

Great Train Journey - Dresden: Part 1 (8 pics)

After my visit to Leipzig, I took the train to Dresden as my next stop.  I have to say that I absolutely loved Dresden, and it is my favorite city far in Germany of those I have visited (which is admittedly only 6).  It's close to the Polish and Czech borders, which means it's close enough that I am thinking of going back.  From the handy city guide I picked up, here are few interesting points about Dresden:

• It is the capital of the Free State of Saxony
• It is the 4th largest city in Germany
• 62% of the city area is green spaces or wooded areas
• There are more than 13,000 cultural monuments within the city borders (including 44 different museums)
• 30km of the River Elbe lay within the city borders
• Nearly 10 million people visit the city every year
• Vladimir Putin was stationed by the KGB in Dresden from 1985-1990

In my two days there, I barely scratched the surface of what the city has to offer.  And from the guide books and references I've seen, the surrounding area is fully of lots of interesting places and things to do as well.  So if you coming to Germany, try and fit a visit to Dresden in.

I happened to capture this image on my first evening in Dresden.  I had walked up to river Elbe and took this picture looking north toward the Cathedral and Semperoper (Opera House).

Great Train Journey - Leipzig: Part 4 (9 pics, 1 video, + last thoughts)

The picture above is part of the new main building being constructed (are you sensing a theme here when in comes to Leipzig and construction? <grin>) for the University of Leipzig.  The university was founded in 1409 and is the second-oldest university in Germany.  The university is apparently spread around the city, and this new building should centralize some things.  It's a striking design.

Great Train Journey - Liepzig: Part 3 (8 pics)

On my first full day in Leipzig, I headed out to go see the main site that made me want to visit Leipzig.  The Monument to the Battle of the Nations (or Völkerschlachtdenkmal in German).  This monument, built over 15 years from 1898 through 1913, is dedicated to the Battle of Leipzig (also known as the Battle of the Nations) in which the coalition of forces from Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Sweden defeated the forces of Napoleon and his allies in a massive battle between 16 and 19 October, 1813.  It was largest battle in Europe ever until the World War 1 came along.  As you can see the monument is being restored in time for the 200th anniversary of the battle in 2013.

I'm not much of history buff, or a military buff, but I had heard about this place from various people and web sites over the years and the people I talked to all said something along the lines "you have to see it for real to get the full impact" and things to that effect.  And they were right.  It's pretty jaw-dropping when you see it in person.  This is a monument this actually a bit taller (91 meters/299 feet) than the famous Flatiron building in New York which was built around the same time (1902) and which is 22 stories tall.

There is a memorial chamber inside that has a lower area surrounded by warrior statues, and which opens above into a larger chamber that fills most of the dome.  Inside that a four giant statues as well.  None of my pictures of the inside were that great, so I won't show them here.

Also, I have to say that none of my pictures even come close to doing this place justice and it's actually worth doing a Google Image search for it to see some of the other fantastic pictures out there.  Just a few of the ones I found that were really great are: this, this, this, this, and this.

Great Train Journey - Leipzig: Part 2 (10 pictures)

The old town area of Leipzig is not as preserved, or as old, as the other cities I visited.  Nonetheless, there are a lot of interesting places to visit.  One of those places is the Church below.  This is the Thomaskirch (St. Thomas' Church).  Founded in 1212, it was rebuilt several times, with the current church mostly being built around 1537, and then reconstructed in 1702.  It has been the home of a famous choir (the Thomerchor) since it's founding in 1212 and is famous as once having Johann Sebastian Bach as its cantor.  Bach's remains are actually currently buried at the church.

Unfortunately, none of my pictures of the inside of the church turned out very well.  But there are a few more shots of the outside, and some more of old Leipzig in the rest of this post.

Great Train Journey - Leipzig: Part 1 (7 pics)

From July 18th, 2012 through July 28, 2012, I took my first extended vacation in Europe since I arrived in Poland.  There were a number of places in the Eastern part of Germany that I wanted to see, and I had enjoyed my train trip to Berlin earlier this year, so I planned a trip that would let me travel from my home in Poznań, Poland to München (Munich), Germany.  The map below gives you a general idea of my route, but since Google Maps doesn't show train tracks, it's based on road travel.  :)

I left on July 18th from Poznań, took the train to Berlin where I changed trains and took the train to Leipzig, arriving in the early evening.

A Visit to Frankfurt - Part 9: U-Bahn artwork (7 pictures)

NOTE:  This is the last of the posts on my first trip to Frankfurt.  I hope you have enjoyed them.

As I mentioned in the Zeil post, some of the U-Bahn (subway, or downtown transit trains) stations are huge.  The picture below is from the U-Bahn station that is right off the main train station (if I remember right, it might be the one at Hauptwache), and even that does not give you a full indication of the full size of a few of stations.

The U-Bahn station near the Frankfurt Zoo is smaller.  But it had some pretty neat artwork (I thought) on the walls.  I took some pictures of some of the art and they are in the rest of this post.

Click the link to see the rest of the pictures.  And as always, you can click a picture to see a larger version.  Enjoy!

A Visit to Frankfurt - Part 8: Zeil (4 pictures)

The Zeil street pedestrian shopping section is one of the main shopping districts in Frankfurt.  The street is completely closed to vehicle traffic for the most part and is full of several large buildings containing multi-story shopping malls or large retailers like H&M, C&A, Adidas, and a whole lot more. 

My favorite places were the Galeria Kaufhof which is full of high-end goods, from chocolates to clothes, to just about anything else; and the My Zeil shopping mall which has a grocery store in the basement and the fabulous curved roof you see in the picture below.  This is the top floor (6th if I remember right) and it's mostly full of places to eat, plus an auction house and a Saturn electronics store.  At the far end in the picture is a whole glass wall that overlooks the Zeil, with a few of the windows open when the weather is nice (with protective nets).  If you have been wandering around for a while you can grab a seat and watch the crowds below or look out over the Frankfurt skyline.

The top floor of the My Zeil shopping center.

 More pictures after the break.  Don't forget to click on an image to see a larger version.

A Visit to Frankfurt - Part 7: Palmengarten 2 (7 pictures)

More pictures from the Palmengarten.  This time, just the flowers.  I have no idea what flowers or plants these are.  I just thought they were interesting enough to try and take a picture of.

And again, just pictures this time.  No accompanying comments.  Enjoy!

As always, you can click on an image to see a larger version.

A Visit to Frankfurt - Part 6: Palmengarten 1 (12 pictures)

Another place I visited in Frankfurt was the Palmengarten, which is a botanical garden.  This is one of the places that the Frankfurt City Card (purchasable at the tourist information desk in the Hauptbahnhof) gives you a 50% discount for access to.  Along with the Zoo and a number of museums.  It also gives you free access to U-Bahn system within the main zone for the day or two that it is valid.  If you visit Frankfurt, it's worth getting.

This is the first of two posts with pictures from the Palmengarten.  I am going to stick to mostly just pictures with a caption if appropriate.  I will throw all the flower pictures into the next one, and put the more interesting stuff in this one.  :)

The "tropical house"

As always, you can view a larger version of a picture by clicking on it.  Enjoy!

A Visit to Frankfurt - Part 5: Cemetery 2 (8 pictures)

This is the second of two posts that contains pictures from my visit to the Hauptfriedhof (main cemetery).  Again, this post will just have pictures with some captions possibly.  Enjoy!

Perhaps the coolest thing in the whole cemetery that I saw this mausoleum that looks like a castle.

As always, you can click on an image to see a larger version.

A Visit to Frankfurt - Part 4: Cemetery 1 (6 images)

Strangely enough, one of the most enjoyable places I visited in Frankfurt was the Hauptfriedhof (main cemetery I think).  I don't think it's still the main cemetery, but it's very old, is practically a forest inside, was nice and cool and quiet and a hot day, and contained a lot of beautiful art work.  It was a really interesting place and I probably spent 2 hours wandering around.

I know some people may think it's weird to enjoy visiting a cemetery, but I've never thought of them as bad places.  Generally, I see cemeteries as symbols of love and respect that just can't let go.  More for the living than for the remembrance of those passed.

This is the first of two posts with pictures from the cemetery.  If you go to Frankfurt, I actually recommend giving it a visit.  It's really a tremendous place and my pictures don't do it justice.  I'm going to stick with just pictures for this post as well.  Enjoy!

As always, you can click an image to see a larger version.

A Visit to Frankfurt - Part 3: Old Town (10 pictures)

While in Frankfurt I walked around the old town area where the main attraction is the Kaiserdom (the old "Emperor's Cathedral").  It's a pretty crowded area (for both other buildings and people), and there was a lot of construction going on in the area, so excuse some of the odd angles and such in the following pictures.  I'm just going to post some pictures with captions this time, hopefully you enjoy them.  :)

The main tower of the Kaiserdom

 As always, you can click on image to see a larger version.

A Visit to Frankfurt - Part 2: Skyline (10 pictures)

I was very lucky and was given a nice and large office to use while I was in Frankfurt.  It was on the 26th floor so I had some pretty nice views out the windows.

The office I was loaned.  VERY nice!  :)

The rest of this post will just give you some nice pictures of the Frankfurt skyline.  One thing you will definite notice is that there is a lot of construction going on.

As always, you can click on an image to see a larger size.

A Visit to Frankfurt - Part 1 (7 pictures)

I was lucky enough to get to travel to Frankfurt, Germany last week for work.  And even luckier when my department let me stay an extra day and half to sight-see (extra hotel days at my cost, just to be clear).  I flew in on Wednesday July 4th, and flew out on Sunday July 8th.

The company travel agency sent me a list of potential hotels all near our office, so I researched online and picked the Mercure City Center on Kaiserstrasse.  While researching the hotels I found out that both our office and the hotel were near the "red light" district in Frankfurt, but I hadn't realized just how close the hotel was. 

A lot of the hotels are clustered near the Hauptbahnhoff (main railway station) which is very convenient.  Unfortunately, that area is also the area where there is the red light district, a large number of bars and restaurants, and from appearances is also where some of the lower income housing is.  I don't think it's dangerous (I saw single young women tourists and locals walking around that area alone at all times of day), but there are definitely some less savory aspects of society on display.  Less from the nearby red light district, much more so in the large number of drunk people (both young and old) walking around with open containers, and the beggars (who don't usually beg, they just sit there with a cup).  But on at least one night while walking around I came across a couple of the poorer folks who just laid down on the sidewalk and went to sleep. 

Also, because the district contains what I would guess was lower-income housing, it's noisier at night.  The picture below is the view out of my hotel room window.

The view out my hotel window

Now, don't get me wrong and think I didn't like Frankfurt.  I actually loved it and I would love to go back or even live there (it's EXPENSIVE though).  Just take the tip that if you need a hotel in Frankfurt, stay that the Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof instead.  It's only 1-stop away from the Hauptbahnhoff on the U-bahn (subway) or even a walkable distance.  It's in a MUCH nicer neighborhood, is in a beautiful old building, and is actually located centrally between the Zeil (shopping area), the old town, the business district, and the bars and restaurants near where I was.

Also, my co-workers in the Frankfurt office were wonderful, and hotel staff at the Mercure were fantastic.  If not for the noise and the neighborhood, it would be a pretty good hotel to stay at.  However, if you are dealing with a wheel-chair, don't stay there (or any of the hotels in older buildings downtown) as the passages can have some steep ramps and stairs just as you move about.

Anyway, read on for more initial impressions and then come back for more if you are interested.  I expect to have about 6 or 7 posts with pictures from my visit.

Poznań Goes for the Record (9 pictures)

In addition to the Euro 2012 football (soccer) tournament that is partially taking place in Poznań, the city also decided to go for the world record in paper lantern launches tonight.  It rained pretty much all day and was massively overcast, so I forgot about it.  Luckily I glanced out my window at home tonight and saw the mass of lights in the sky and decided to grab my camera and try and take some pictures.

Fair warning, it was CROWDED and my camera is not exceptional in low light, especially hand-held, so please don't judge these too harshly.  (And yes, I did bring a tripod, there was no where to set it up, the crowds were just too thick).  :)

Don't forget that you can click on an image to see a larger version.  And don't forget to click the link below to see the rest of the pictures.

Enjoy!

These are the lanterns that were being launched.  There were red, white, green, and blue ones that I saw.

Franklin's 5th Anniversary in Poznań - A Double Rainbow of Fun (13 pictures)

Today was the annual summer party that the Franklin Poznań site holds for employee's and their families.  It was also the chance to celebrate the 5th Anniversary of Franklin in Poznań,  It was such a nice day, it was a double rainbow of fun.  :)

 The weather was mostly nice for the party.  We had 2 sets of rain clouds move through, and this picture was taken from the dock of Malta lake just as the 1st set of rain clouds was about half way over.

Time for Politics

Some people may just want to skip right over this, as it contains information of a political nature.  :)

And of course, the standard disclaimer.  These are my views and are not intended to represent the views of my employer, friends, family member, associated persons, professional organizations, or anyone else I happen to know or be involved with.  These are only my personal views.  Feel free to disagree and leave hateful comments if that's the sort of thing that makes you happy.

But there is nothing like spending a chunk of my Saturday researching political candidates and ballot initiatives.  But I have done my civic duty and will mail my ballot on Monday, hoping it arrives in time.  As usual, not a lot of candidates that appeal to me that much.  Other than David Alex Levitt for US Senate, most were basically the least offensive choice.

Here is the breakdown on my ballot, in case you don't feel like doing the research and trust that I have done so.  Of course, that assumes that you are also socially liberal and fiscally middle of the road.  Which means if you are a strong Republican supporter, you probably won't agree with these.  It still amazes me how I went from a Reagan Republican to a Independent who leans Democratic without changing my views much, but rather that parties themselves have changed.  The Republicans went WAY to right, and the Democrats moved to center or past it on the right, with only a few ideas left that could be called "liberal".

Anyway, my ballot choices are after the break if you care.  If you don't want to know, I'm trying to save your sensibilities by requiring you click the Read More link.  :)

Ladies and Gentlemen, Thor has left the building.....

So Spring has arrived in Poznań, and apparently Thor is a regular visitor.  In the last few weeks there have been regular rainstorms in some evenings that featured a fair amount of thunder and lightening.  But tonight, there was quite the expo.  As an evening storm moved through around 9pm or so; there was a large amount of wind, a large amount of LOUD thunder, and so much lightening that I don't think a single minute went buy without at least one flash.  And a whole lot of minutes when there was seemingly a bit of lightening once every few seconds or so.

It was so impressive that I even noticed a number of my neighbors in the building across the way stepping out on their balcony and giving the spectacle a look.  It was quite impressive.  Then, after about an hour and half, it had moved on through and things returned to calmness.

Living in Poznań in the Spring is starting to remind me of living in Denver in the summer.  Hot, humid, with frequent afternoon/evening storms that pass through like a freight train.  :)

Enjoy your weekend!

Summer has nearly arrived....

It's seems only a few weeks ago that we were still having temperatures around 0C here in Poznań and my how the times change.  In the middle of this week we moved up into the low 20's and today we got up to at least 28C.  That's in the very low 80's for those of you using the Fahrenheit scale.  Yes, I still largely think in Fahrenheit, feet, inches, and pounds; but I am trying to adapt to this strange thing called the metric system that seeming the rest of the world has adopted.  ;)

We are expecting several more days in the high-20's before we get a bit of rain, so I'm hoping to get the camera out and wander around tomorrow or Monday.  Plus, I might as well get out and enjoy myself while I can this month.  Next month the UEFA Euro 2012 Cup comes to Poland (including Poznań) so travel is likely to be an issue and it will be interesting to see if the hooligans shows up.

Have a great day!

New Food #5 - Dave's Polish Bachelor stew

My latest culinary creation is Dave's Polish Bachelor Stew


- 2 cans white beans
- 3 cans red kidney beans
- Kielbasa per preference (I used 4 hot dog sized)
- 1 bag frozen mixed vegetables (pref with Potatos)
- 1 can pineapple chunks
- 1 jar spagetti sauce
- chile con carne and other spices to taste

Combine all (including pineapple juice) in a large pot and cook slowly, stirring occasionally.  This was another random attempt to throw food together and it's actually pretty good I think.  You can leave out the meat if you want vegetarian.  I think it actually taste's pretty good.  You may disagree.  :)

Why Polish? Because red and white are the colors of Poland (and the beans are red and white).  And because Kielbasa is about as Polish as you can get (from an American's perspective).

Why bachelor?  Because I am one, and this turned out to be a really easy recipe to make, and I figure it would appeal to bachelors.  :)

Enjoy your weekend.

My Trip to Berlin - Part 5 (8 pics)

I'm going to close out this series of posts of my trip to Berlin with a few random images and things I found interesting.  I hope you enjoy them.

The site of the old Checkpoint Charlie.

As usual, don't forget to click the link below to see the rest of the images, and click an image to see a larger version of it.

My Trip to Berlin - Part 4 (9 pics)

[NOTE: I added links to the Wikipedia pages for many of the sites I visited so that you can find out more info if you want.]

Monday was a nice clear day, and not too cold. So I decided to head west, toward the Pariser Platz.  At the west end of Pariser Platz is the Brandenburg Gate, with the US Embassy on the south side, and The Kennedy's Museum and Starbucks (the other home of American's abroad) on the north side (among other things).

The Brandenburg Gate

Click the link below to see the rest of the images.  And click and image to see a larger version of it.

Enjoy!

My Trip to Berlin - Part 3 (9 pics)

[NOTE: I added links to the Wikipedia pages for many of the sites I visited so that you can find out more info if you want.]

Sunday dawned with mostly clear skies, if a bit cold.  So this was first real chance to try and do some "official" (in my mind) sight-seeing.  So I headed East from my hotel, starting with the Gendarmenmarkt, right across the street, which is the site of Der Französische Dom (The French Dome), Der Deutsche Dom, and the Konzerthaus Berlin.

See the rest of the pictures by clicking the link below, and don't forget to click on a picture if you want to see a bigger version.

Enjoy!

My Trip to Berlin - Part 2 (9 pics)

[NOTE: I added links to the Wikipedia pages for many of the sites I visited so that you can find out more info if you want.]

I arrived in Berlin late on Friday afternoon and it was overcast, rainy, and cold.  So after arriving at my hotel, I did a bit of wandering around in the immediate vicinity, looking for food and coffee (of course) and generally scouting the neighborhood around my hotel.  Saturday was also wet (as you can see from the picture below).  But since it was one of the days that shops were open, I did a lot of wandering into shopping complexes and such.

This is what the weather was like most of Friday and Saturday.

More pictures after the break, so click the link to see more and don't forget to click the actual picture if you want to see a bigger version.

Enjoy!

My Trip to Berlin - Part 1 (7 pics)

Having maxed out the amount of vacation I could accrue (again), I decided to take Good Friday and the Tuesday after Easter Monday off as vacation days and take a trip to Berlin for the first time.  And after a bit of research, I also decided to take my first train trip ever (at least that I could remember) and skip dealing with hassles of the airport.  There is a regularly scheduled train that runs from Warsaw to Berlin, through Poznań, that would deposit me at the Berlin Central Station (Hauptbahnhof) slightly more than 2.5 hours after I left.  Poznań Głowny (the main train station here) is about a 35 minute walk from my apartment, or if I catch the tram, less than a 10 minute ride.

Knowing that much of the city would be closed down 3 of the 4.5 days I was there (Good Friday, Easter, and Easter Monday are all holidays in Berlin), and that the weather forecast was for rain and cold, I decided to at least get a nice hotel in case the weather was so horrible that walking around didn't make much.  Thanks to Google Maps and some research, I settled on the Sofitel Berlin.  If you are going to Berlin, I have to recommend it.  It's in walking distance to many of the major attractions, has comfortable beds by American standards (not the hard and thin mattresses you get in most European hotels), and it's on a relatively quiet street (Charlottenstrasse) so it's not too noisy.

I ended up with over 350 pictures taken during this trip with my smaller travel camera (due to the weather predictions I left the Nikon behind) and will post a few of the decent ones here in case you are interested.  First up, pictures mostly taken from the train (so excuse the reflections and dirt from the window) on both the way there and back.

First up is this picture of the Hauptbahnhoff taken the day I left (which was nice).

Click the link below to see more pictures.  And don't forget to click on the pictures to the see the larger sized versions.

Enjoy!

The Parish Church of the City of Poznań - Part 3 (3 pics)

Here are the final few images from my first visit to  "The Sanctuary of the Mother of God of Perpetual Succour".  I definitely intend to go back and try to get more, and better, pictures.  I decided to leave this batch on a "darker" note, but I actually really like the feel of these images.


As always, make sure you click the link to see the rest of the pictures below.  And don't forget, click the pictures to see the larger-sized images.

Enjoy!

The Parish Church of the City of Poznań - Part 2 (5 pics)

Here are the second part of the pictures from my visit  "The Sanctuary of the Mother of God of Perpetual Succour".  These are mostly images of some of the artistic details.  Unfortunately, due to the dim light and the fact that I didn't want try and bring a tripod in, many of my other shots weren't usable.

As always, make sure you click the link to see the rest of the pictures below.  And don't forget, click the pictures to see the larger-sized images.

Enjoy!

The Parish Church of the City of Poznań - Part 1 (5 pics)

I took this Friday (today) off and since it was such a nice day I decided to grab my Nikon and pay a visit to the Parish Church of the City of Poznań.  Officially known as "The Sanctuary of the Mother of God of Perpetual Succour", it is a "post-Jesuit" (don't know what that means) church dedicated to St. Stanisław, and it was built from 1651-1705.

It really is a staggeringly beautiful place, and my pictures don't even remotely do it justice.  It is in continual use, and on days like today is not lit up inside, so my pictures could have been better.  But out of respect for the worshipers who are coming in an out all day I didn't want to try and use a tripod or flash.

I did have the incredible luck that as I was there a children's choir came in and sang several songs (hymn's?) in what sounded like Latin.  The acoustics are incredible (as you would expect) and they were very talented.  It was an almost surreal experience, but I feel very lucky to have been there at just the right time.  I saw them elsewhere later and they seemed to be part of student group that was visiting Poznań, not regulars.

Anyway, I think I'll spread the pictures out over 3 days or so.  So make sure you click the link to see the rest of the pictures below and then check back tomorrow and Sunday.

Don't forget, click the pictures to see the larger-sized images.

Enjoy!

Polish Lessons: #1

I decided that since I'm struggling to learn Polish, you might as well struggle with me.  :)

Actually, I thought I'd post some of the interesting words or other things that get my attention as I try to learn even a bit of this language while I'm here.  So here is the first.
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Something that sisters throughout the English-speaking world will find highly appropriate is the fact that the Polish word for "brother" is "Brat".  :)

Beware the Bunnies!!! (3 pics)

Apparently the Easter Bunnies here in Poland are a particularly militaristic bunch.  Look at how they like to line up into such regimented groups!

And given that they show a marked preference for purple and white, the colors of the local "futball" club, they may also be a particularly dangerous type of futball "hooligan".  With some of the Euro 2012 matches coming soon to Poznań, the authorities may need to look into this group with some care.  ;)

A few pictures from Saturday's wander.... (7 pictures)

So the weather this Saturday was fairly nice.  The high was around 9C (~48F), it was sunny, and like a lot of other people I saw around Poznań I decided to go for a long walk (and explore more the city in my case).  I knew there was supposed to be a gym and a large park to the south of my apartment, in the Wilda district, so I headed that direction.

For once I am actually going to list street names so that if you want to pull up a Google map, you can sort of follow along.  And here's a very high-level overview as well.

To see the pictures and more info, click the link.

Almost 6 months now....

Wow, has time flown by.  I only realized late last week that I have been in Poland for almost 6 months now (March 15 will be 6 months exactly).  And things have gone largely as I thought they might.  My goal for the first 6 months was mostly just to settle in, feel comfortable with daily life, try and learn some Polish, and generally feel confident enough in my new environment to branch out more and try even more new things.

I haven't learned as much Polish as I hoped.  I'm just now getting to point where a few phrases and words are coming naturally.  And my vocabulary is not even close to what I hoped.  But I'm at least starting to feel like I'm making a bit of progress and not just drowning in a sea of new sounds and concepts.

I've slowly explored more the city than just the area between work and where I live, and am looking forward to  Spring and Summer when I should be able to get on my bike and explore even more of Poznań.  And as the weather warms up, I hope to finally begin travelling more in Europe.  There is still a lot to try and experience in Poznań, but I feel like I have a better idea of things that will appeal to me and where things are.  And again, to not be so overwhelmed with the differences and total lack of knowledge.

In general, the Poles that I met have been very nice and welcoming.  My co-workers are great.  And the few other expats I've bumped into have been nice to chat to.  I'm doing a bit more socializing, but my normal working hours (usually 11am or Noon to 7-8pm) do mean that I really don't do much during the week.

Among the few downsides so far:

• My winter allergies seem significantly worse here than they are in California.
• The selection of fruits and vegetables is a lot less than what you get in California.  It does make you realize how spoiled we are there with nearly year-round access to almost any fruit or vegetable you like.
• I have not been able to find a chiropractor anywhere near me that speaks English, so I haven't been to a chiropractor since I left.  The only chiropractor I have located is about 45-60 minutes away (by a combo of tram and bus) and when I called, no one spoke English.
• Living in an apartment has all the downsides I expected and remembered.  :)
• I haven't found a decent massage therapist yet either.

But honestly, all of those are relatively minor taken in the greater scheme of things.  So I can't really complain.  I just hope the rest of my stay continues to get even better.  

Have a wonderful weekend!

Snow, snow, snow......

Well, it has warmed up (-1C today!!), some moisture arrived, and we have had snow for the last few days.  This afternoon we had a particularly heavy batch come through and I snapped this picture out my balcony door.

This was about 2pm, so it normally still be pretty bright out.  And that's not fog, that snow.  Lots and lots of big, flaky, soft snow.  If it persists tomorrow, I'm sure the kids will out with their sleds.

As always, you can click on the picture to see a larger version of it.  Have a great day!

A Nice Sunday Winter Walk (6 pictures)

So after last nights frustration over the neighbor's party (which did go to 2am), when I woke up this morning and realized that it had warmed up outside (it was only -7C, instead of the recent -17C, and it's amazing how big of a difference that really is), I decided it would be a great day to go for a walk.

I had heard about a large swimming pool complex that opened up back in October out near Malta lake and decided to go find that place and look into whether I would want to go swimming there sometime.  So I hopped onto jakdojade (http://poznan.jakdojade.pl/, it's a great web site) and figured out that if I hopped onto the #6 tram, I could ride it all the way out to the far end of the lake and then walk back home.

It was a nice walk and I grabbed a few pictures along the way.

Apparently, apartments can suck anywhere...

I had hoped that with more people (I'm guessing) living in apartments here in Poland, that maybe people would be a little more sensitive to issues such as noise and generally try to not be a major pain to the other people in their building.  But either was I completely wrong I just happened to be unlucky.

Ever since my new neighbors moved in just before Christmas (they own the apartment right across the hall from the one I am renting) I have had the unfortunate luck of having to listen to music blasting until after midnight on many weekends, and a party every other weekend or so where the music goes on until 2am usually.

It's basically everything I hated about apartments growing up.  Except that now I have no idea what the cultural norm is (for all I know, on Saturday's your expected to be able to be loud until 2am) and even if I was inclined to go complain, I don't speak enough Polish to communicate with either them or the folks at the security desk to see if their are rules about that sort of thing.

Maybe I should just buy a stereo system and every time I think they are getting too loud I could point the speakers at their wall can crank Metallica, Megadeath, W.A.S.P, and other heavy metal to hopefully get my point across.  It would certainly be different than the Adele and other pop and dance music I am otherwise bombarded with.

And yes, I know this whole rant makes me sound REAL old.  What can I say.  I'm turning into the crabby old man who lives next store to Beavis and Butthead.  =D

May your weekend be quieter, and more enjoyable, than mine.

Looking for my inner MacGyver

It's been a bit cold here in Poland (and Eastern Europe in general) lately, and I've been having an issue where my bedroom for some reason is much colder than the rest of my apartment.  So much so that I've had to start wearing socks to bed because even under my double-layer of blankets, my feet would freeze during the night.

So after a bit of investigation I came up with three possible factors.

First, there is an air vent in my bedroom closet that was letting a bunch of cold air in (no AC here, just natural ventilation via vents), so I shoved a plastic pillow-case bag up against it and used a box to hold it up.  I hoped that would block most of the cold air.  That helped a bit, but not nearly enough.

Second, the heating radiator in my bedroom is directly under the window (as I believe they should be).  Unfortunately, the window has a large stone lintel that runs completely under the window and sticks out several inches beyond the top of the radiator.  I noticed that the lintel was actually warm for the part above the radiator, but very cold just a few inches in, and guessed that the stone was absorbing a lot of the heat from the radiator.  So I went out to Praktiker (the hardware store) today on my day off looking for some reflective film my co-workers said I could find that people put against the wall behind their radiators to help reflect the heat back into the living space.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find that, and I couldn't find anyone who spoke English at the store.  So I dug out my inner MacGyver and came up with this:

If you can't tell, that is a car windscreen sun reflector that is wrapped around the stone lintel and down slightly behind the radiator.  And because I wasn't sure that would reflect the heat fully, or hold up to the heat of the radiator, I then added a long sheet of aluminum foil along the bottom of the lintel as well.

I have to hope it works, because the last option is that the radiator in my bedroom is not putting out as much heat as it should be which will mean calling my landlord to arrange to get a maintenance person out to see if it has air trapped in it (which reduces the hot water flow, which reduces the heat).  And if that doesn't work, the last option is to buy some painters tape and some clear plastic and just tape off the whole window, hoping to prevent any cold air from infiltrating.

But in the meantime, I also bought a small electric heater to help tide me over.  =)

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!