Jenikya's Blog

The Rynek Underground Museum is located in Krakow, Poland underneath the central market square. During some paving and escavation works, the ruins of the old square and market building were discovered beneath the existing structures and consuming 4,000 square metres. This was the former mdieval town of Krakow, and we can see the remains of merchant stalls, items discovered, and buildings. There are various multimedia displays and items to see at the museum.

Visitors can see the cobbled stones and walk onto glass walkways above the ruins of the old 13th and 14th century market stalls and see the remains of workshops. Throughout the trail in the museum, I was able to discover many different artefacts that were discovered - toys, decorative figurines, worked metal, gold, coins, jewelry, pottery, tools, weights, and much more.

One of the areas showed workshops belonging to blacksmiths.

Above as some rattles.

Keys and religious symbols.

Weights

Toy horses

Rings and other jewelry

The foundations of the old market building

Cobbled floor

I also saw some burials. There was a section about the vampire burials. These unfortunate people were suspected and decapitatd with the head removed from the body so the body would not come back to life.

I really enjoyed visiting this museum and learning about the medieval history of Krakow.

Chocholow Spa is located near to Zakopane and about an hour and a half's drive from Krakow. I visited the spa at the start of April on a cold day as the region had had snow. The spas are popular with families, and there are different areas, such as adult-only areas and different pools, hot tubs, and exterior pools. There was also a swim-up bar in the adult section. I visited as part of a wider tour to Zakopane, and the general admission covers two hours. We had about an hour and a half, which was due to some rude Italian family who were late to get back to the bus at the previous stop and who also kept the bus waiting for them after having spent half an hour longer at the spa while everyone else was on the bus. 

The spa was busy, and there were many pools to enjoy both indoors and outdoors.

I really liked the outdoor pool, which was heated. 

The spa was a little too busy for my liking as it is popular with tourists as well. The spa was created due to natural healing properties in the water and has been a place to relax and enjoy the water and fresh air for a long time.

Toward the end of last year, I visited New York City. I am still going through my photographs from my trip so that I can post them. Life is getting in the way these days, and work has been busy as wll. I am not finding the time to update this as much as I would like to do.

I visited before the holidays, but I did not get to see the Rockefeller tree lit up.

I stayed at Lotte Towers and had a view overlooking St. Patrick's Cathedral.

I loved finding these little vending machines that gave you a little printed artwork. I found them at various places in Nw York City.

I attended Radio City's famous Rockette Christmas show.

I also saw "Wicked!" I had seen it when it first came out in London. This was my first visit to the theatre in New York City.

I also saw other attractions, such as Plaza Hotel.

The financial district was nice to explore, and I found some nice streets to walk down.

And saw Wall Street.

 

The famous Raging Bull sculpture is here too.

Ground Zero museum was there to visit, but I did not visit it.

Because space is limited in New York City, parking cars happens in a multiple-storey elevator.

I saw the firehouse building where "Ghostbusters" was filmed.

Chinatown is huge in New York City, contrasting to just the couple of smaller streets London has. This area went on for miles.

I also explored Essex Market.

And Times Square.

And Grand Central Train Station.

More of Times Square

I found som nice markets too, so I explored those.

Of course, I had to visit Macy's and Bloomingdales.

When I'd been to New York City years ago, I didn't like it. I thought it was okay this time, and I already have plans for the next visit, whenever it will be.

I visited New York City at the end of last year, and I am a little bit behind on posting my photographs. In this post, I wanted to cover some of the food I had, notably things that are not that good for the waistline - cookies and doughnuts! I have a weakness for cookies, actually, and I wanted to try different ones in New York City. Fun fact: my favourite cookie is the snickerdoodle, which is a cinnamon and sugar. This is followed by an iced or frosted sugar cookie and the traditional chocolate chip (or chocolate chip with walnuts, which is good).

First up is the best meal that I had in New York City. This was in Hell's Kitchen - Mamasita Bar and Grill. This restaurant serves Mexican food and glasses of frozen margaritas in different sizes. The food and drink was very good!

I had the chicken fajitas, and there was so much food!

Next up was Jeremy's Ale House in the Financial District. I visited with my cousin on this picturesque little street. The bar was showing several football games on different screens. The most notable item is the atmosphere here with the bar covered in bras. This tradition has been happening since the 1970s. In addition to the bras are pictures and writing on the ceiling and walls.

Next up is Dagg, a Thai restaurant located not too far from Central Station. The food and cocktails were nice, but the portions were very large again. It feels awful to waste food as staying in a hotel means that I couldn't take it back and heat it up the following day.

Seven Grams Cafe - They have a large selection of cookies, and they will warm them up for you. I had the chocolate chip. I didn't care much for it warmed up, but it was delicious a few hours later and my favourite.

Chip City - This bakery are located underground at the Rockerfeller Centre and serve different flavours. I tried the chocolate chip and a special apple cookie. The chocolate chip was delicious. It was also one of my favourites.

Crumbl - This bakery went viral last year with its cookies. They sell snack sizes and full sizes, and I regret not getting more of the snack sizes as they did have my favourite type - Snickerdoodle. I tried the iced sugar cookie. I did not think too much of it as it was a little too sweet for me.

There are quite a few little bakeries around New York City.

Buttercup BakeShop has a large selection of cookies, cupcakes, and other treats. I had a cookie, but I was not impressed. I wish I had tried a cupcake as they do look nice.

Jacques Torres Chocolate - The shop is known for its chocolates, but it does sell cookies. The cookie was alright, but it was not my favourite. I did get some chocolate too, but one of the chocolates had a staple inside it, which really put me off. I did go and complain. I don't know how a staple found its way into the chocolate.

One of the ice cream chains is Van Leeuwen, and I tried their ice cream in a couple of places. I really wanted to try the peppermint one advertised, but it wasn't yet in store.

Max Brenner is a restaurant known for its chocolate. It sells hot chocolate that is served thick and in mugs. I decided to give it a try, but a sip was more than enough for me. This was much too sweet for my taste.

The various markets sell doughnuts, cookies, and other snacks.

Doughnut Plant was another place I visited, and it is all about different flavours of doughnut here. I got the pumpkin one, which was delicious. It is located in Grand Central station.

I also enjoyed some cocktails.

I also went to Magnolia Bakery for the famous cupcakes.

I look forward to return to New York City to try more sweet treats.

I took a tour from Krakow in Poland to Zakopane. On the way to Zakopane, the tour bus drove through the wooden village of Chocholow. We were told that we would normally stop here and then look inside the church, but we did not get to stop as the day was the Saturday before Easter, and this is actually a special day in Poland where people go into the churches to have their food for Easter blessed. Luckily, I was at the front of the bus, so I was able to get some drive-by photographs. 

We were told about the history of the village, which is unique in that it is filled with log cabins or wooden houses. Each wooden house is scrubbed clean at least once a year, and we were told that the women did this to find suitors back in the older days. A clean house was a mark of pride and of a good woman.

We drove by the church but did not stop, but we saw many people entering it with small baskets of food and chocolates.

It is a pity that we did not get to stop to have a wander around.

After the village, we stopped off at a little shepherd hut where we had some nice views of mountains and snow.

The hut is a small tourist stop, and they sell different food items, such as the smoked sheep's cheese - oscypek. This is served with cranberry sauce, and I enjoyed it. It seems to be a common food staple here and was also popular at the Easter market.

We also tried two different types of flavourd liqueur. One was apricot, and the other on was a cherry.

Keep coming back to read more about my time in Poland and the stop down the road to the thermal spa here at Chocholow. You can also see my post on Zakopane here: http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2026/05/an-afternoon-at-zakopane-polan.html

Easter this year fell at the start of April, and I visited Krakow in Poland to see the Easter Market. Krakow's Easter Market is located in the main square with a smaller one behind St. Mary's Cathedral. The one in the main square is larger, but both markets offer similar items - crafts, street food, drinks, and gifts. I explored the Easter Market over several days since I was in Krakow for a week, and I enjoyed the market at different times and in different weather. Easter Sunday was particularly glorious with very warm temperatures, full sun, and many of the street food and gift stalls were still open.

There is an egg sculpture in the market that shows different seasonal scenes. I saw these painted egg sculptures in other towns in Poland as well.

The Easter bunny was also around...

Some of the items for sale included wooden eggs. I did not see any real egg shells that had been painted.

The tornado potato crisps are a big street food.

I had a delicious hot chocolate, and as the weather was still cool, mulled wine and other options were available.

The sausage and meat is an important food in Poland; it was not one that I would try as I don't eat beef nor pork. There were vegetarian options as well -- soup!

Cheese with cranberry sauce is another staple food. I don't know if the cheese is vegetarian, but I did try it, and it did taste nice with the cranberry.

Cookies and biscuits and gingerbread were popular gift choices.

Easter decorations were also common.

The decorations in the square included birds and flowers.

Easter is a pleasant time to enjoy Krakow, and I enjoyed the atmosphere in the city. The weather is starting to get warmer; Easter was a little on the early side this year. I enjoyed exploring the Easter market.

Pieskowa Skała Castle dates from the 14th century and was built by King Casimir III, and it is one of the best examples of Renaissance architecture in Poland. The castle is located northwest of Krakow, and it functions as defenses and residences surrounded by courtyards on top of a rocky hill. I visited the castle in early April. The rooms to visit in the castle are spread over three floors that function as museums (art gallery and European fashion display), and visitors can explore the crypt and St. Michael's chapel inside the castle.

I was able to read some signs in English about the castle. The oldest buildings of the castle did not survive a fire in the 19th century, so the innr courtyard itself is the oldest part of the castle. The castle was also siezed by the Swedish army in 1655, but it was later restored. 

A traditional garden is located at the castle, but this was not open to wander around on my visit.

Part of the castle appears to have been constructed within the rock that the castle is built on.

There were a few rooms to see in the castle that function as museums with displays of art, sculpture, furniture, fashion, porcelain, and more.

The castle had nice views across the valley.

I thought that St. Michael's chapel inside the castle was the most impressive room with a beautiful dome and marble walls. (I assume it is marble and not marbl-effect.)

I enjoyed looking at the different paintings and appreciating the grand rooms.

The crypt is another room to see, and it contains 17th century tin sarcopagi from the Sieniawski family (a man and his three sons), and this is a Polish traditional custom of "coffin portraits" in which the dead hav their life-like portraits on the coffin.

The Italian-style multi-storey arches line the courtyard and give access to the other rooms.  

After coming out of one exhibit on the ground floor, I saw two mating frogs.There are ponds below the castle hill with these frogs, but I do not know how or why these two climbed all the way up to the castle and into the inner courtyard to mate. 

Another couple of rooms were open in the lower level area. One of them had the families that lived in the castle and some history.

The other was the kitchen.

After I finished exploring inside the castle, I wandered around the exterior.

I took some nice views.

I then went for a wander to "Hercules' Rock", a large rock that points horizontally upward and is a defining feature of the castle and had a nice walk back to the bottom of the hill that the castle is on.

There are ponds below the castle with the breeding frogs, and there were so many of them. This is also a good place to see birds.

I enjoyed the visit to this castle, the museums, history, and the little walk.

Earlier this month, I headed to Parlour at Kensal Green to watch TasteFilm's feature "The Goonies". TasteFilm projects a film onto a screen and has a menu that is set to the different scenes in the film. Food and drinks are brought out during that part of the film. This was my second visit to TasteFilm at Parlour, and I like "The Goonies" film and the food and drink on the menu, so I decided to go along. 

I had a couple of gin and tonics while I waited.

I had the optional cocktail to start, which contained truffle and chocolate. I had never had a cocktail taste of truffle, but it was good. This is a throwback to Chunk's character doing the "truffle shuffle" in the scene where we are introduced to him. Everyone got a savoury popcorn to have while waiting for the film. 

We also had various quizzes to fill out, and I for 8 correct after stupidly failing to get one of the answers but knew the bonus question and missed out on one of the two prizes.

The first food brought was a slice of pepperoni pizza and a small cup of strawberry milkshake.

The next was a little fun and coincided with a trip to the attic. We received a little box of ingredients to make the cocktail.

The third was the Sicilian Cellar Feast with chicken and vegetables (for the Sicilian villains in the movie).

The next item coincided with Chunk being captured by the bad guys after finding ice cream. It was a Pepsi float with ice cream and a cherry. 

The next was a tomato soup, which I had with a glass of wine. Some people could get a pairing wine order with the items.

One of the most memorable lines in the movie relates to the candy bar "Baby Ruth" and Rocky Road ice cream. This chocolate bar is a home made version of the nut-marshmallow-and-chocolate combination.

The last item was a sponge with rum, honey, and pineapple. (I think some gold coins or gems would have been good here too to mimic the treature, but this was on the pirate theme).

This was another good movie and food pairing, and I would definitely go again if I like what is on the menu. I previously saw "Bridget Jones' Diary": http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2026/01/taste-film-bridget-jones.html

During my visit to Krakow in Poland at the beginning of April, I had a day trip tour to the town of Zakopane. Zakopane is an entrance to the Tatra national park and landscape, known for its mountains and outdoor activities, such as skiing and snowboarding. I was lucky to have seen the snow on the mountain and in the town during my visit as it had snowed after a spell of nice weather in the weeks before. The town is a tourist destination with thermal spas nearby, a shopping street with wooden buildings (and a large tourist area) and a funicular railway to the top of the mountain for views and more shops.

I started by first getting the cable car to the top of the mountain. 

There are bars and restaurants here as well as little shops / kiosks behind. It was very busy at the top. The views over the mountains were lovely.

I had a mulled wine.

The spiral potatoes (tornado potatoes) were also for sale up here, and I tried one. You can get different seasoning on them, and they were good and tasted like crisps/potato chips. They are deep fried.

The cable cars were packed.

Afterwards, I spent some time in the bottom of the town of Zakopane (at the bottom of the hill). As it was the Saturday before Easter, the churches were busy with people doing their traditional customs of having their food blessed.

The town itself is an attractive one, although it is extremely touristy. There is a little river or stream that runs through it with bridges and shops up to the sides.

There are a lot of horse carriages as well, offering rides to tourists.

There are all sorts of items for sale, and the prices were reasonable. Below, the fried cheese was for sale as well as sausage.

The snow was only at this area in Poland, so there wasn't any on the way back to Krakow.

I enjoyed the town but wish that I had had more time at Zakopane.

Harrods currently offers a Prada Cafe, which is set to close at the end of June. I went to check it out after my visit to Chelsea in Bloom this week. The cafe is located inside the department store with an exterior door and the entrance in a mint green shade. The staff also wear the same colour of green, and the cafe itself is primarily this same colour. The cafe was not packed, but it did get busier by the time I left.

The little treats look stunning with their different designs, and there were chocolates and plenty of hot drinks.

I had the hot chocolate, which was delicious. This is a perfect Italian hot chocolate - rich and delicious. There's very few cafes that match this style of dcadence, so the hot chocolate was a win for me.

The pistachio dessert was also a good quality.

I wanted to try the gelato too. This is where I was let down. I ordered vanilla, strawberry, and pistachio. The quality was not there, and I've had better ice cream and wouldn't recommend this for the price.

The cafe is set to close at the end of June, and I recommend the hot chocolate.