Susan's Stories

 I took a long time in the breakfast room,  chatting with some of our group who hadn't departed yet as well as with Agneshka before her train ride to Warsaw to meet her 15 year old son for a few days motber- son time. This was a good time.   After Kate and I requested a 4 am taxi to the airport tomorrow I checked out and placed my  luggage in storage until I could have access for my room for the night.   I headed for the large park in the city center. Walking and sitting I enjoyed the share and quiet. Yes, there were people walking by, bicyclists, e-scooters, and yet there was no noise. Only emergency vehicles on nearby streets and tram sounds broke the quiet of the park. People walked as if they had a destination, a few strolled. A variety of people and ages walked the park. Large trees provided shade and absorbed conversations.   Then it began to rain; it was predicted.  Thunder and lightening e ganced the rain to make it a storm. Chris arrived from ...

 As the temperature was predicted to be in the low 90s we began the day a bit earlier than originally planned. Pioter met us with the bus at location of the precision dump two days ago, namely at the post office.  Tomasz joined Agneshka to introduce us to Nowa Huta (New Steel Works), "an enormous planned workers' town 5 miles east of Central Krakow, for a glimpse into the stark, grand scale anesthetics of the communists." Around 97 thousand farmers and villagers were brought here to live and work in this town.    What we learned and saw on our walking tour in the city where he was raised is no churches, square high-rise apartment buildings arranged in small districts with a park and school and laundry lines. The name given one district is "cute". We did see a church,built over a period of ten years, with strict instructions that it be built by hand, without machines. It looks like an ark. Nowa Huta is part of Krakow and growing and a desirable suburb.   With ins...

 Tomas met us to lead us on a walking tour through Krakow. We walked through Planty Park to Wawel castle and church. As thr temperature was climbing he kept us mostly in the shade. The park replaced the city wall, therefore its shape is mainly circular. Benches line the walkways. And trees and bushes provide quiet, in contrast to the streets around the park. Car and tram sounds are faint in the park.   Wawel castle was home to Polish kings and the  national   cathedral on the castle grounds the site of coronations which events lasted a week. Perched on a sandstone hill the rulers lived and ruled from herebecause Krakow was the capital city until 1596. The cathedral holds the Tom's of many rulers, one of whom was a woman who was called a king. Views from the grounds show spires of over 100 churches and green circle of Wawel Park. The architecture of the cathedral covers 800 years of architectural stylea: Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque, and Renaissance. The cathedral...

 We departed earlier than usual with our own picnic lunches purchased or to be purchased at the first rest stop. Enroute to the Jasna Bora monastery and the painting of the black Madonna in the town of Czestochova. This is a pilgrimage site for Polish Roman Catholics. Martin, our local guide, took us through the chapel,basilica, and treasury. Each location was heavily decorated with statues, and gold ornamentation as well as items of thanksgiving for healing. Crutches, rosaries, jewelry, hand made vestments, and much more were over the top for my eyes and brain.   On our bus ride  throughout the day Agneshka gave us the history of the monastery, founded by Hungarian monks in the Pauline order.she also talked about current events in the government.  The parliament recently became majority liberal, ending the right wing majority of eight years. Paid maternity leave is one year, and paternity leave is nine weeks. There are three acceptable reasons for an abortion. This ...

 Pioter brought us by bus to the Jewish history museum by way of the several stops in the Warsaw ghetto with Kasha, our guide. With a map and photos we walked through the large and small sections of the ghetto. At one time Hitler ordered nearly 500,000 persons to move there, and the non-Jewish residents of the soon to be ghetto moved into the vacated dwellings. They were not allowed out and only 300 calories a day. It's one thing to read and watch documentaries about the Jewish citizens of Warsaw on the 1930s and 40s and another thing to walk the area where they were imprisoned  - much like walking around Manzanar to get a sense of what life here was like to live there.   We then visited the Museum which focuses on one thousand years of Polish Jewish history. Kasha guided us through interactive presentations telling the story of being welcomed by local leaders to being slaughtered in my generation. I feel uncomfortable knowing these horrendous acts occurred during my life...

 A fabulous buffet breakfast in the level below ground level and in the patio was a super start to a sunny and very warm walking tour of city center and Old Town with Jola (Yola). Buildings Jola and Agneshka are large and heavy-appearing and many have spires. We visited the church where Chopin's heart is preserved, we walked by one of the universities, by the conservatory of music where a couple students were outside playing for contributions. Public university tuition is free in Poland. We walked along the Royal Way, a long pedestrian boulevard on weekends, past the presidential residence and any outdoor cafes.   After receiving weekend transportation tickets and city maps and answers to questions regarding directions back to the hotel as well as to nearby near-by places to visit four of us decided to have some food at one of the many outdoor cafes in Market Square. I ordered cold Lithuanian soip with egg and dill having never tasted it before. It was the color of beets with ...

 We reversed our precision dump of yesterday and brought our luggage a few blocks away after a large buffet breakfast which included green salad and vinegrette dressing. We drove to an outdoor living historical museum called a Skansen. A lively woman led us through woods and to homes wth thatching,  growing crops being grown, bee hives, chickens, a goat, a horse- drawn carriage, fields of rye, willow trees, fruit trees, vegetable gardens, flower gardens - all for the goal of being self-sustaining. It wa a warm day with a lovely breeze, and it was perfect that we had lunch outside too. Local staff served us bread with seasoned lard and a pickle on top, tomato soup, garden salad, and roasted kielbasa. It was a great meal in a perfect setting.   Before boarding the bus to travel on we had a group photo and group name game. To celebrate its completion we were given a shot of Goldwasser, vodka with pieces of real gold, and Na zdrowiel,pronounced nah zdroh-vyeh. You can also sa...

The entire day was cloudy and sunny and cool, around 68 degrees Fahrenheit.  We met Pioter (Peter) or bus driver and a very friendly one and drove about an hour from the city into the country, along the major river, the Vistula; it divides the country, East from West. We spent almost  two hours walking around the red brick Malbork Castle, honoring the virgin Mary. Built by warrior monks in the Middle Ages it is the largest bric in the world. Founded as a training site for Crusaders it became a site for tectonic knights to gather and exert power over neighboring lands. Agnesh loves bricks and pointed out original and post-war replaced bricks as well as bricks used to complete the buildings. She calls us brick expe  We lunched nearby, within walking distance,  at a local cafe: pork schnitzel  preceeded by grated carrots, and beets, and cabbage, and followed by a half 🍐 pears, gelatinized over a cottage cheese- like and coconut base. Curios and good.   During...

Breakfast was substantial  - lots of fresh fruit, a baked vegetable tart ( lo,e a fritata), and kielbasa  YAY! Kate and I enjoyed very leisurely.  The day was cloudy and sprinkles and cool, low 50s. We walked along the Motlawa River to a very new and striking piece of architecture, the World War II museum. Today the entrance was free, and we arrived before crowds and children's groups arrived. Located in the basement the area consists of around 15 areas, each covering a topic from the early 1900s up to current events. Each area displayed exhibits, showed short videos, offered experiences of life here, such as a totally bombed street in spaces which were rooms, or hallways, or darkened tunnel- like spaces, all in varying shapes and sizes. With geographic audio devices we were well educated about this horrible period in Polish history.  Like other Central European countries, Poland rid itself of the German Nazis only to be placed under Soviet and Stalin's control. We c...

 It is Monday evening. The confusing crowd at LAX, the out of order self serve check-in computer, the baggage counter person who states she is off duty, the traveler who said "just read the instructions" and the kind person who printed a second luggage receipt are all just memories. The poor-tasting tortellini with vegetables and breakfast pancakes and a very tall male center seatmate, an difficulty sleeping in a sitting position gor over nine hours are also just memories which will fade. I missed my girls. I had no one to talk with. New experiences such as a lunch at Amsterdam airport (AMS) of green couscous, broccoli,  and green pea salad plus two bottles of water from the flight, and  meeting fellow  Rick Steves Europe (RSE) tour member Kate  at AMS and traveling on the same flight to Gdansk, and waiting with me nervously hoping my suitcase would arrive, which it did, and sharing a taxi to the hotel are also positively memorable beginnings to my time in Gdans...