Cologne and Warsaw

What a busy couple of weeks it has been.  Last Tuesday was our 2 year anniversary, so we went to Cologne for the night and stayed in the 5* Excelsior hotel.  This is how close it was to Cologne cathedral!  Practically on our doorstep.  The hotel was very grand.  We went to Claudius Therme Spa for the day, which is where I went for a hen party recently.  We had such a relaxing day, that I thought it would be perfect for our anniversary.  Matt had organised a private room for us, for a couple's massage and a double bubble bath, and champagne.  It was wonderful!  We went for dinner in Cologne centre, to a fabulous Italian restaurant which we discovered when we first came to Germany for our interviews, 2 and a half years ago!

We had one night at home before getting up very early (4am) to go to the airport for our holiday to Warsaw, Poland's capital city.  The city was a random choice; we simply put Dusseldorf to wherever into Skyscanner and Warsaw came up.  The city is magnificent.  It's really cheap, because it's not the Euro, it's the Zloty, and the exchange rate is really good.  It meant that once again we were in a 5* hotel.

In a trip to the Warsaw Uprising Museum, we learnt that the city was completely destroyed during WW2, as a punishment for the uprising, which was completely unsuccessful.  The old town was rebuilt (the castle, by volunteers) in exactly the same style as the originals.  The result is a lovely 'old town' feel to a perfectly charming city.  The town is full of bars, restaurants, little touristy shops, and street entertainment.

Below is the Warsaw Uprising Museum... 

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier...

Inside the castle (the tall red building behind us) is very ornate, and decorated just as it would have been originally.

We went into some botanical gardens on our last day, that were lovely.  The park also had free Chopin (a composer from Warsaw) piano concert that we could hear while wandering around the gardens.  There was also a palace on a lake that we went inside. 

Below is the local delicacy, pierogi - it's like ravioli - delicious.

Lots of Mojitos and beer were consumed, and of course some Polish vodka!

Warsaw really is a beautiful city, and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone wanting to do a city break!

We got back from Poland on Sunday night, and went straight into another busy week.  On Tuesday I took the official photos for a friend's wedding.  Those photos are to come soon...