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I Am A Polar Bear

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Tag: Poland

Eras Train Tour: Wrocław to Łódź | iamapolarbear.com

Eras Train Tour: Wroclaw to Lodz

September 16, 2024

It’s now Thursday and I’m about to move on to my penultimate city! I woke up in Wrocław to find the water was off in my apartment. I had a day and a half of plates and glasses to wash, which is no problem – ten minutes in the sink, except there’s no water! That’s … More Eras Train Tour: Wroclaw to Lodz

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Eras Train Tour: Wednesday in Wrocław | iamapolarbear.com

Eras Train Tour: Wednesday in Wroclaw

September 12, 2024

Wednesday was another day of staying put after two days on the move in a row – Berlin to Poznań on Monday and Poznań to Wrocław on Tuesday. It was also my birthday, which was the main reason for it – I didn’t fancy hauling my luggage around a city, onto a train and then … More Eras Train Tour: Wednesday in Wroclaw

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Eras Train Tour: Poznań to Wrocław | iamapolarbear.com

Eras Train Tour: Poznan to Wroclaw

September 9, 2024

I didn’t at all want to leave my nice light cool apartment with the incredible view but I’d only allocated one night in Poznań. On the other hand, my train to Wrocław, my next destination, was at 15:44 so I’d actually get a little over 24 hours in Poznań. Did I want to spend the … More Eras Train Tour: Poznan to Wroclaw

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Eras Train Tour: Berlin to Poznań | iamapolarbear.com

Eras Train Tour: Berlin to Poznan

September 5, 2024

On Monday, I went to Poland. This was a slightly harder journey than the one I’d originally planned and took four trains instead of one. I started planning this journey in about March, choosing my cities, calculating how many nights to spend in each so that I could get from London on one Friday to … More Eras Train Tour: Berlin to Poznan

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A pirate ship trip at Sopot | iamapolarbear.com

A pirate ship trip at Sopot

July 11, 2024

On Monday I talked about my trip to Gdańsk and I said I’d talk about Sopot today. Well, here we go. In short, I went straight to Sopot from the airport for a trip out on a pirate ship and then went to Gdańsk. Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia are three separate cities – or perhaps towns … More A pirate ship trip at Sopot

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First impressions of Gdańsk | iamapolarbear.com

First impressions of Gdańsk

July 8, 2024

This year, I’m going back and filling in gaps in my blog, either where I never wrote the thing in the first place, or where it needs to be deleted and rewritten. I’ve never been particularly happy with the content from Gdańsk in 2019 so that was an obvious candidate for rewriting – but also, … More First impressions of Gdańsk

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Gdansk and making videos: my first travel vlog! | iamapolarbear.com

Gdansk and making videos (I made a Gdansk vlog!)

February 27, 2020

I enjoyed my weekend in Gdansk in November but I’ve felt like I haven’t written enough about it, while simultaneously feeling like I don’t know what on Earth to say. One day I’ll write another blog or two on the subject. But does it even it out a little that this post is about Gdansk, … More Gdansk and making videos (I made a Gdansk vlog!)

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Who am I?
I'm Julie, a travel, adventure and wellness blogger. I love Iceland, I love jumping into hot water and I do love a bit of snow.

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I didn’t have the library on my to-do list for Birmingham but it turns out it has a great terrace for views over the square below, the research/academic library is pretty spectacular and while the normal-person fiction library downstairs is nothing very interesting to look at, it has comfortable seats in the dry and the warm and has wifi. #birmingham #libraries While my purpose in Birmingham was Rock Choir Live and my second purpose was the famous Frankfurt Christmas Market, I also had plenty of time to get to know Birmingham a bit. A particular highlight was the work of local boy Edward Burnes-Jones and William Morris in the spectacular windows of the cathedral, the Birmingham Bifröst which helped me find my way home in the evenings and a glimpse of one of the “more than Venice” canals that you don’t see in the area between New Street Station and the cathedral. #birmingham In yet another “you should be doing more with your weekend”, I spent the weekend in Birmingham two weeks ago. The main purpose was to see Rock Choir Live’s big Christmas party (featuring special guests Emili Sandé, Sam Ryder & Russell Watson, plus the legend Pat Sharp’s DJ set to get things started). The journey home from Spa was slowed down by engineering work, requiring a rail replacement bus to Pepinster where I had to wait for half an hour, a local train to Liège, long distance train ultimately to Ostende but to Brussels Midi for me, Eurostar to London and finally a South Western Railways train overdue some important maintenance back to Southampton. When in Belgium, eat waffles! Just in case there was any doubt about mineral waters in Spa… Thermes de Spa is lovely inside - although it’s much smaller, I think I prefer it to Therme Bucureşti - but the outside leaves a bit to be desired. The back is lovely, what with that huge glass wall overlooking the town. It’s just a shame about the barbed wire that keeps walkers out of the water. I know I’ve been to other pools with views and they haven’t had to resort to barbed wire. On the other hand, the front has something of a red brick 60s comprehensive about it rather than the welcoming facade of somewhere that’s about to transport you to a world of relaxation. Honestly, the difference between the outside and inside is astounding. Do go (when the funicular is running) but maybe don’t linger for selfies outside. #thermesdespa #belgium The spa at Spa is perched on top of a hill, accessed by foot via a funicular railway from the town centre, a 2-minute ride up 84m of ascent. Except when I was there, the funicular was broken and I started my lovely relaxing spa day with a very non-relaxing 1.3km hike up those 84m through the woods, which were unlit and very uneven under foot, although I only really realised that on the way back down. Because back in the summer I thought I wasn’t doing enough with my weekends, I thought I’d do a little train adventure to Spa in Belgium to try out the spa that named (or at least shares its name) with all spas. However, I built in so much time for late trains that it took about fourteen hours to get to Spa from Southampton Airport via delightfully Gothic St Pancras, genuinely chocolate-scented Brussels-Midi, a double-decker packed in with Cub Scouts to Verviers before finally arriving at Spa at 8.30pm. It was an adventure but as I realised by Sunday evening, it was the wrong proportion of travel to time in destination.

About Julie

I’m a blogger, adventurer, lover of hot water, amateur paddler and polar bear who wilts in hot weather.

Time (by day, I’m a researcher) and funds keep me within Europe and I make regular trips up to the north, especially to Iceland. I like the occasional adventure across Europe by train and I’m starting to make use of my weekends for 48-hour adventures.

This isn’t my only creative outlet – I’ve written two travelogues with a third and fourth being (not to much) written simultaneously right now.

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