Author: manuscrypts

  • Budapest

    We had heard many good things about Budapest from friends who had been there, and it didn’t disappoint at all. We flew from Warsaw to Budapest, the flight time was like going from Bangalore to Kerala!

    Where to stay in Budapest

    Buda side for a laid-back ambience, and Pest side for more vibrance. We preferred the former, and thus back in the arms of the Radisson Group in Park Plaza. A bit of checkin time snootiness and a membership flex later, we were in our Danube-facing room.

    Park Plaza Budapest

    …which we chose over the Castle View on the other side of the hotel

    Buda Castle
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  • Warsaw

    Warsaw happened only because the second reason to visit Poland was most easily accessible from here. Well, Gdansk more so, but we didn’t fancy a seaside town in winter and the logistics were easier. Wroclaw to Warsaw is a 4 hr + journey by train.

    Where to stay in Warsaw

    For a change, we stayed at an Accor hotel. The best thing about the Mercure Warszawa Centrum is that it is located very near to the central railway station, and a mall, which turned out to be very useful, because the sole of D’s winter shoe departed!

    Mercure Warszawa Centrum Warsaw
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  • Wroclaw

    Krakow to Wroclaw is just over three hours by train. You must absolutely book your tickets in advance. You get about 5 minutes to find your wagon on the platform, but barring that little adventure, the ride was smooth, passing by white landscapes and small towns.

    Where to stay in Wroclaw

    The stay was at Radisson Blu again. This one was older than the one in Krakow, and the staff were a little less helpful. It is a 10 minute walk from the Main Square.

    Radisson Blu, Wroclaw
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  • Krakow

    Poland is what is called ‘Bloodlands’, the part of Europe caught between Hitler and Stalin. History. That, and it had been a while since we had a proper wintery Christmas, and seen Christmas markets.

    Our first stop was Krakow because a day trip from there was reason #1 for our visit to this part of the world. But before that, I finally found out the reason for my Eastern Europe fixation, thanks to Anna Funder’s Stasiland.  She calls it horror-romance.

    The romance comes from the dream of a better world the German Communists wanted to build out of the ashes of their Nazi past: from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs. The horror comes from what they did in its name.

    Except for a two-hour delay in our return flight, which we spent parked in a Munich runway as snow fell around us, it all worked out very well!

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  • #Bibliofiles : 2025 favourites

    Bibliofiles 2025

    Compared to the last couple of years, I read fewer books in 2025, but I think the variety was higher. That probably explains the highest number of fiction books in a long time.

    And so, once again, like 2019,  2020,  2021,  2022, 2023 , and 2024, presenting #Bibliofiles 2025’s list of ten (plus the long list). From the 58 books I read this year…

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