Because of the stressful secondary school enrolment period, our holiday this year had to be cut very short. But, so as not to spend time at home and wonder if the amount of points that our daughter earned are enough for her to go to her dream school, we went on a short trip. We managed to see a lot of diverse attractions. There was something for the body and something for the mind, some history, a little ecology, some physical effort, a lot of fun and time spent together. One of the most interesting stops was Hydropolis – the water museum in Wroclaw.

The museum is housed in a XIX century, antique container of fresh water for Wroclaw. The container fulfilled its role till 2011, and now it is the Center of Ecology Education - Hydropolis.

The name of the museum sounds boring. It brings to mind posters, dusty exhibits, felt slippers and a woman that stands in the corner of the room and makes sure that nobody is touching the exhibits. In Hydropolis you will be nicely surprised. There are no slippers, no dust and... you can touch everything. This place was created for tourists, so they can roll, touch, press, play and check how everything works. For me, as a mom of a curious 8-year-old boy, that was a relief. Finally, I didn't have to run behind my son and all the time say "don't touch".

The exhibition starts with a movie in an unusually round hall with a pond. Be careful not to drop your bag or backpack in it. The exhibition consists of nine areas where you can look at the water from another perspective. You can find there a lot of information about the oceans and the most mysterious and inaccessible depths where scary creatures live. You can see the bathyscaphe, visit the Titanic and find sunken wrecks.

We went to the The Dilettantes restaurant in the first week of the holidays, when our children were at sports camp. It was the first time in 13 years that we had been alone for a while. Despite the stress of it being the first time my son had been away on his own for such a long time, it was a special occasion. Above all, we were able to unwind mentally. We love our children, but a short time without "Mum!" every ten seconds was invaluable. The cinema, theatre, restaurants, walking and time together – this was something we had needed for a long time.

We found the Dilettantes thanks to Trip Advisor. Sometimes, when we don't have any idea where to go, we use their recommendations. A few times we have discovered some really nice places. The recommendations depend on your taste and individual feelings, which means you get mixed results. However, we assumed that on our first day of freedom it somehow had to work out. We didn't imagine, however, that we would find a restaurant which would win over our hearts and stomachs and which would make it to our list of favorite places.

We started the dinner with light vegetable starters. Carrots with peas could sound boring, but not when the dish is done by the Dilettantes. They were part of a colorful and excellent meal served with coriander dressing, ramson and linseed crisps. I was entranced with the beetroot terrine, which made the perfect dish with kumquat, walnuts, pickled ginger and a surprisingly refreshing horseradish sorbet. They were quite big dishes, even though they were just starters, and the composition on the plate pleased the eyes, tempted with the aroma and surprised with the flavors.

One of our favourite holiday destinations is Croatia. It enables endless opportunity to rest. Every tourist can find something for himself there. Those who like history can visit the Dioklecjan Palace in Split or the Castle in Dubrownik. Nature lovers can spend a wonderful time in National Park Plitvice Lakes or National Park Krka. Those who like water sports have favourable conditions for sailing, windsurfing or diving. Those who like spending their holiday on a lawn chair can find hotels with swimming pools in the touristic resorts and crystal azure water in the picturesque sea coves. An unmistakable asset of a holiday in Croatia is the weather. Hot summer and a clear sky tempt you to sunbathe and swim. We were also delighted by Croatian food. Fish and seafood are as fresh as you can imagine. Add some summer fruit and vegetables to this and you have a holiday menu which you will mention dreamily all year.

Today you can get to know the yummy Balkan flavour in Munja Restaurant on Grzybowska Street 43 in Warsaw. This nice restaurant is run by a family from Montenegro and their Polish friends, and it is only place in Warsaw where light and hot Adriatic Sea food is served.

The weather on the day we visited Munja Restaurant wasn't nice, so we decided to warm up and we ordered winter teas: one with raspberry liqueur and the second with citrus fruit and honey. Both of them were yummy, warmed us up brilliantly and we were able to peruse the not-too-long but varied menu. We love fish soup, so we chose this dish as a starter. Strong with mussels, octopus and fish, it was spicy and great on this wintry day. It was a wonderful beginning to the dinner and then it got even better.

English lessons at schools and in kindergartens are nowadays taken for granted. The quality, however, sometimes leaves a lot to be desired. Kids learn vocabulary and grammar and use it only to make sentences in their exercise books. Real conversation is less important. Many parents look for other ways to learn. Lessons with native speakers, English schools and English holidays are only a few of them. Last weekend we had the opportunity to attend the perfect initiative of one of Warsaw's English schools. The teachers of Early Stage prepared a theatrical performance called "Pig in a wig in space", which is a perfect way to make an English lesson more creative.

If one of you wants to encourage your kids to learn English or you simply want to spend time with them in a funny way, go to Culture House Kadr in Warsaw. "Pig in a wig in space" is a pleasant story about a small pig who wants to fly into space and for different reasons must therefore transform into a dog. This fabulous initiative is aimed at kids between 4 and 8 years old, but even really small children will be satisfied. The actors on the stage and among the small kids in the audience really do a lot to present a fully English story to the Polish kids in an understandable manner. There are amazing faces, gags, repetition of words, audio-visual support and other elements to help transfer the English ideas into the little Polish heads. We take part in an interactive play engaging all the senses. There is a Cosmic Cactus playing the guitar, a pig dreaming of cosmic trips a Cosmic Dog and a mysterious aunty who has recently disappeared during her travels.

Though the late autumn doesn't encourage us to go on long walks, I think it is worth finding the motivation to go outside and get some fresh air. An empty autumn park, nostalgic fog and rustling leaves underfoot can be quite nice, especially if you are accompanied by somebody pleasant. If the chill and bitter wind trouble you acutely, you can call in at Videlec – a new place on the culinary map of Warsaw. Here you may start your culinary adventure with strong, fragrant and warming winter tea, which is full of spices. Then you can calmly explore the secrets of the menu.

I recommend starting the feast with one of the small but very tasty starters. There is something for everybody: bruschetta with dried tomatoes, olives and Parmesan, light beetroot carpaccio with smoked cheese, steak tartare with mushrooms, capers and onion and even not so popular ox tongues. The offer is very attractive and I admit I had a problem settling on something. Choosing the soup was easier. There were two soups on the menu and we tried both of them. I especially recommend sunchoke cream soup, beautifully served with beetroot, pine nuts and truffle olive oil. The mushroom soup surprised us with its fixings: smoked trout, thyme and chanterelles. Among the many main courses we chose perfectly baked duck served with mango-pumpkin puree, blackcurrant and sandthorn and fragrant fettuccine with shrimps and cherry tomatoes.

We were in Videlec on Saturday afternoon so we were regaled with the dinner dishes. The chef also recommend a very interesting breakfast and from Monday to Friday a very tasty lunch, as advertised on Facebook.