My European holiday - by Gavin Ferguson
I recently went on holiday with my wife to Poland, Hungary, Slovenia and Switzerland.
Krakow, Poland
Prior to my trip to Poland, my Polish students had given me a long list of Polish dishes that I needed to try. Perhaps it was because of this fantastic local advice that my mind was so utterly blown by the brilliance of Polish cuisine.
Of all of the wonderful recommendations I received, my favourite came from a very young student of mine who lives in Lublin, Poland. When I asked him what I should eat in his native country, his top recommendation was a hotdog from a mini-supermarket chain called Zapka (‘Frog’ in English), which he assured me has stores everywhere in Poland. On our second night in Krakow, I took my wife for a romantic evening meal to one of these Zapka mini-supermarkets. I walked up to the counter and saw one lonesome sausage gently sweating and slowly rotating in a heated glass cabinet – ‘this one please with ketchup’ I said. The spotty teenage shop assistant, standing proudly in his frog-green Zapka uniform, picked up what looked like a regular hotdog bun, but which in a dramatic twist in the story, turned out to be a hotdog bun with a special sausage-shaped hole in the top. Gracefully, he squirted the ketchup into this hole and then expertly dropped the sausage inside – it was a feat of Polish engineering genius with an exquisite taste to match.
In Krakow, we did a guided tour of the Jewish Quarter. Our very friendly guide, Magda, who seemed a bit nervous but in a very charming way, showed us around and told the harrowing stories of the Holocaust. I was very interested in what she was saying and so I constantly harangued and pestered her with questions. At the end of the tour, my wife and I had a pleasant conversation with Magda and we discussed the fact that we shared the same job.
Budapest, Hungary
We took a train from Krakow to Budapest, which meandered through the Czech Republic and Slovakia. While we were passing through the Czech Republic, a ticket inspector appeared at the far end of our carriage. She looked like she was in her mid-forties, with short fair hair and a uniform a couple of sizes too small. She was proceeding relatively smoothly down the carriage until she got to me and my wife. I was a bit confused because the train company had emailed me multiple different pdf documents and I didn’t know which one she wanted to see. I selected one at random and showed it to her. She was absolutely bloody furious - ‘ziz iz seat reservation, not ticket’ she barked at me, as if I had personally made this mistake with her 1000 times before. I opened another pdf. ‘No! Ziz iz seat reservation, not ticket’, she screamed louder, sighing angrily and rolling her eyes in a way that suggested that every problem we have in the world today somehow could be traced back to my inability to distinguish between a seat reservation and a ticket. Thankfully, in the end I was able to find the right pdf and avoided any form of physical assault. Later on in this 7 hour train journey, I remember gazing out of the window into a Slovakian cabbage field, wondering what it must be like to be the husband of this stocky Czech ticket inspector.
Rolling through large stretches of unchanging Slovakian farmland, we would occasionally see groups of labourers in hi-vis jackets pottering around beside the track, seemingly without any machinery or building materials. I was having great difficulty working out what they were trying to achieve - a problem I suspect I shared with the Slovakian labourers themselves.
We did another guided walking tour in Budapest, but I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the one in Krakow. Our tour guide, Zoly, seemed like he had delivered the tour so many times that it appeared he was just reading from a script, forgetting to change his intonation even when he was making jokes.
A Budapest tram
We also bought an all-day transport pass and spent the afternoon getting on and off random trams. This was a great way to see this beautiful city.
We visited a thermal spa in Budapest. In the thermal spa we sat in steam rooms, saunas and pools of water with varying temperatures. At the end, my wife treated herself to a massage.
Ljubljana and Bled, Slovenia
Lake Bled, Slovenia
In Slovenia, we first visited the capital Ljubljana, and then went to Lake Bled.
One of the mushrooms that caused friction between my wife and I
Lake Bled is beautiful, surrounded by mountains and perfect for swimming. We arrived at the lake in the afternoon and decided to walk around its 6km perimeter. My wife was like a kid in a toy shop, photographing mushrooms, stroking mosses, peering at red squirrels. From time to time, I grumpily nagged her that, at this rate, we wouldn’t make it home before dark.
My view of the Lake Bled sunset
As we finished our 6km walk, I saw out of the corner of my eye a pub which was showing the Man City vs Arsenal match and I felt a force dragging me inside. In this pub, my wife and I sat holding hands – she was watching the sunset over the lake with her back to the tv screen, I was watching the tv screen with my back to the sunset. It was so romantic.
Zurich, Switzerland
Perhaps the highlight of my holiday was the train journey we took to arrive in Zurich. For 8 hours we weaved through different valleys, sometimes with our train running parallel to rivers that flowed with milky blue water. Maybe I’m a bit weird but I bloody love trains.
In Zurich we met one of my students, Liudmila, in a café. My wife is very interested in psychology and so she really hit it off with Liudmila, who is a psychologist by profession. Liudmila explained to my wife how she uses EMDR therapy to help her patients to overcome traumatic life events, and I was relieved to be sitting next to such an expert when I suffered the trauma of reading the bill for my coffee. Switzerland isn’t the cheapest country in the world, that’s why my wife and I had pot noodle for lunch in the hotel lobby.
With Liudmila in the cafe
One of the paintings Liudmila showed us
Liudmila was also kind enough to take us to a brilliant local art gallery which contained the collection of a highly controversial Swiss family. My wife was delighted by the art and I was fascinated by the history of this family. It was lovely to have Liudmila as our local guide!
Lenin’s house in Zurich - my wife was so excited
This is a list of key vocabulary and expressions from the article in order of how useful they are. The student must choose 6 items from the list to study in the lesson.
To get on/ off (a train, bus etc.)
To treat ((someone) to something)
The train company had emailed me
To see (something/ someone) out of the corner of your eye
To stroke (something/ someone)
To peer (at something/ someone)
15 conversation-provoking questions related to the article.
1. What did I do in Poland?
2. What did I do in Hungary?
3. What did I do in Slovenia?
4. What did I do in Switzerland?
5. Which of the places would you most like to visit?
6. Which activity appeals to you the most?
7. Which activity appeals to you the least?
8. Which of the places have you been to?
9. Would this type of holiday itinerary suit you?
10. Have you ever had difficulty on public transport when abroad?
11. What is your country’s equivalent of a Zapka hotdog?
12. When were you surprised by how expensive/ cheap a place was?
13. Have you ever had a holiday on a tight budget?
14. Do you sometimes treat yourself to a massage?
15. Have you ever been to a thermal spa, or something similar?