chosenfugue

Cheers, again

(as always, pictures look better if you read on blog site not email). We began this round of travel December 1, 2025. It was a patchwork that included Malta, Southern England (Lewes, Ditchling), London, Sarajevo, Montenegro, The Baltics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and Poland (reports all found on this website). But we always start and endContinue reading “Cheers, again”

Dziękuję, Polska

Dziękuje, pronounced Jen Koo Ya is thank you. As suggested by the mismatch of spelling and speaking for us English speakers, Polish was as difficult to attempt as the Cyrillic and Hebrew we attempted in the past. We always try to learn the basics- “good morning”, “hello”, “thank you”, “excuse me”. A lot of times,Continue reading “Dziękuję, Polska”

G’day Gdańsk

Early in our 2026 travels in Sarajevo, we stood at the corner in Sarajevo where Gavrilo Princip assassinated Franz Ferdinand beginning WWI https://chosenfugue.xyz/2026/03/27/history-repeats-itself/ Fittingly, we wrapped up this round of travel where WWII began with Germany’s Polish invasion in Gdańsk September 1939. (Pics will look better viewed on the blog not the email). Gdańsk wasContinue reading “G’day Gdańsk”

5 Days, 3 Cities, 2 Confused

Although the temperature has not gotten past 15 C (59 F), spring is coming, tourists invading (including us), accommodations getting limited. Time to stop the spontaneity and cram three cities into a 5 day work week. Kind of like the 1969 movie “If it’s Tuesday, it must be Belgium”. As a result Wroclaw, Łódź andContinue reading “5 Days, 3 Cities, 2 Confused”

Beauty and the Beast

We stumbled into Krakow and walked into a fairy tale illustration. We arrived on a national 3 day Holiday Weekend, “Majowka”. May 1st is May Day aka Labor Day, May 2nd is Flag Day and May 3rd is Constitution Day. The city was in a festive mood; Planty Park, the greenbelt encircling the city wasContinue reading “Beauty and the Beast”

Time Warp in Warsaw

We’ve been reading a book series called On the Calculation of Volume by Danish writer Solvey Balle. Four of the 6 books are available in English (7 books planned). It’s a variation on the Groundhog’s Day theme of a repeated day. In her case, the day is November 18th. It began while she was onContinue reading “Time Warp in Warsaw”

Baltic Balagon

After our emotional visit to Vilnius we elected to have a spa day. Not that we have ever had a spa day. Regardless, we headed to Druskininkai a well known spa resort on the Nemunas River in southern Lithuania renown for its mineral waters. (pictures show up better on the blog, click on the linkContinue reading “Baltic Balagon”

A Serious Vilnius

Vilnius, Lithuania; Wilno to Poles who called it home until after WW2, Vilna in Yiddish. Dubbed the Jerusalem of North by Napoleon. Nicknamed Babylon in the 16th-18th due to its multi-ethnic demographic. It was not until independence in 1990, that for the first time in modern history Lithuanians became a majority at 63%. of theContinue reading “A Serious Vilnius”

Viva La Riga

Riga was a surprising delight mainly because of the streets upon streets of Art Nouveau buildings and Riga’s propensity to go big. Towards the end of the 1800’s, Riga was Russia’s third largest city (Russia captured Riga in 1721). From 1897-1914, Riga’s population increased by over 80%. With this influx of people and money theContinue reading “Viva La Riga”

Fallinn for Tallinn

(pictures better viewed on the blog not the email) Travel, obviously, takes you somewhere you haven’t been. It forces you to figure out how to get somewhere, where to stay, how to shop and how to work those weird tumbler washing machines with instructions in another language. New experiences, doing routines differently. Much of theContinue reading “Fallinn for Tallinn”