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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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While I’m doing Iceland’s spectacular blue water, I’m also going to do Iceland’s orange majesty - the time I hiked out to Meradalir to see the second Reykjanes eruption back in 2022. It’s still one of my favourite things I’ve ever done. Seeing a real life volcano is incredible - I think the highly intelligent thing I said on my first glimpse was “it’s so red and hot!” and I’d love to see another but it hasn’t worked out since (and if it never does, at least I saw this one!) ♨️ Which is the best geothermal lagoon / pool / tourist-oriented experience in Iceland? As a student I visited Chateau de Chillon and somehow managed to believe that Lord Byron wrote a famous poem about his time as a prisoner - well, he was “mad, bad and dangerous to know”. Of course he’d spent time in a Swiss dungeon. But of course, he hadn’t. He’d visited a castle while on holiday, written a poem about an actual prisoner and turned the place into one of Switzerland’s biggest tourist attractions. And I do mean big - there are 48 rooms detailing its history from Savoy to today via Bern and Lausanne, as a defensive structure, a luxury lakeside residence and yes, a tourist attraction. I was at the station in Lausanne, thinking about the old days when I lived here with my “triplets” 20 years ago and then five minutes later, one of them messaged me. This selfie, by the way, is one I took to send to her down by the lake, hence the awkward wave. Because it’s 2026, I’m calling this Switzerland in analogue instead of on film. This is the result of taking my film camera with me and actually getting through a full roll (last year, I managed 24 photos between May and December and carried that thing around far more often than I actually used it). It’s a mixed bag in which you only get to see the better ones. The blog from Thursday also features the film photos, plus a few of the nearly-terrible ones, in case there aren’t enough brown grainy pictures right here. #analogue #analog #35mmfilm This one was on the blog almost before I got back to Switzerland but it’s time it went on Instagram too. I went snowshoeing! It was in the dark, following a trail of lanterns through a snowstorm and finished up in a mountain restaurant with traditional fondue or rösti before taking the cogwheel train back down to the lake. I love cathedrals and I especially love Gothic cathedrals, so Lausanne’s was the first thing to do when I arrived. I went there as a student and didn’t appreciate it. I thought the couple of photos I took then were a bit dark but it turns out Lausanne’s 13th century cathedral really is a bit dark. It’s very beautiful and has some amazing stained glass (including some hiding right up high in the crossing!) and my only complaint is that it’s far too hot. Cathedrals tend to be cool, cold places, especially when there's a snowstorm raging outside but this one has big heating vents keeping the place at approximately sauna temperature. It took a while to decide where in Switzerland I was going to go but it was really the Hotel Swiss Chocolate in Lausanne that swayed me to Lac Leman. 🍫 This was on the blog yesterday but it gets an Instagram post too - I went to a Swiss chocolate factory and did a chocolate workshop! The actual chocolate work was very easy but I really enjoyed the little lesson on tempering chocolate while our creations set enough to take them home.

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.

Blog at WordPress.com.
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