More Poland Travelogue

Poland Tour Day 2: April 1
Breakfast the next morning in the hotel was wonderful. It was in a beautiful room, all light colored marble, chandeliers and mirrors. They were cooking omelets to order. We were taking the 8:50 train to Malbork Castle. We decide to walk to the station, as it was close by, and not raining. Unfortunately most of the escalators were out of order so we humped our bags up & down stairs to get to the right platform. We got the train, found the right car, and got into our first-class compartment. Settled in for the 3+ hour ride. The countryside was a bit bleak, soggy with rain and scrubby with brown winter grass. We saw some snow still in the trees. We piled out of the station at Malbork, having a bit of trouble getting our bags down the steep steps off the train. But our driver Andrew met us, he pointed in the right direction and we got into the Mercedes Mini-bus. Very spacious, lots of tall windows. It was a quick ride to the castle. We disembarked, and marveled at the sheer size of the brick castle. It is very medieval looking, with dry moats, turrets and wooden bridges connecting upper walkways, and defensive walls all around.

Malbork Castle, from across the river


Malbork close up


Malbork Porticullis



After taking a few pictures, we followed the driver to the restaurant inside the castle for lunch. Had a great lunch of soups and sausages. Then, on to the tour. An English-speaking guide came to the restaurant to get us. She took us back around to the front of the castle, explaining that it had been the home of the Teutonic Knights, called back from the Holy Land in the 1300s, to spread Christianity to the pagans in the area. As we learned more we decided that we quite disliked this ferocious group of men who tortured and murdered people, forbid any women in their presence or castles and terrorized the neighborhood in general. The castle, however, is magnificent. Working drawbridge and portcullis, many interior rooms, of gothic construction so with very high, many-arched ceilings. There was a rather modern central heating system, several large furnaces burned wood and the ducts carried the heat to the castles. Malbork is actually 3 separate castle buildings - the High castle, middle and low.

Here we first heard about the battle of Grünwald - in 1410 the Poles rose up against the Knights and won. In 1457 the King of Poland bought control of Malbork from Bohemian mercenary troops residing there - they hadn't been paid by the Teutonic Knights. By 1466 the order had primarily disbanded.

The castle was restored starting in the early 1900s, only to be severely damaged in fighting between German and Russian troops in WWII. It is restored again and a great sight to see if you can get to the area. The Church of Our Lady is still being restored; we were able to see it in progress. Looks like it will take a long time before that part is complete.

After the tour we met up with our driver again and set off for Gdansk, viewing more early-spring countryside. We arrived at our hotel there at about 5:00. Waiting for us was our next event; someone that Ewa knows was there to show us her amber jewelry. That area of Poland used to be covered by ocean, and amber is found in many places. (They mine for it.) The jeweler brought a big tote box full of necklaces, rings, bracelets and other pieces. We spent a happy hour browsing through her wares, and everyone but Ewa ended up making a purchase. The prices were great.

Oh yeah, Poland has not converted to the Euro, they use the Zloty. It's about 4 to 1 Euro. Prices for food, clothes and other items were quite good.

After we finished our buying, we gathered and walked into the old town of Gdansk. Our hotel, the Królewski, has started its life as a granary, on the granary island. The windows were numerous and small, and the walls were very thick.

Barbara in front of our hotel


We walked past the docks - mainly empty; saw the Gdansk Crane, icon of the city – it was used to lift the grain onto &off the ships. We across the bridge into town.

Granary crane at right


Boats in the wharf in Gdansk


The old part of the granary island


Old town Gdansk is several pedestrian streets, lined with old-style buildings. We wandered a bit and then ended up at The Red Door for dinner. It is a very pretty, cozy place, situated in a 17th century Burgher house. The food was only OK - but the wine here was good.

Poland Tour Day 3: April 2
The next morning, we were due to meet our tour guide at 10:00. Our guide Donna was prompt and we started off again, learning that there had been over 300 granaries on Granary Island in the heyday. Transportation was by water; and Gdansk had been a wealthy town.

By 1308 Gdansk had became a flourishing trading city with some 10,000 inhabitants, but in the Gdansk Massacre of November 13, 1308, it was occupied and demolished by the Teutonic Knights. Bastards.

Most of the buildings we saw in old town were reconstructed after the war. Gdansk (Or Danzig, in German) was purportedly a favorite town of Hitler, so the Russians reduced it to rubble towards the end of the war. Donna told us that in the beginning of the reconstruction, people were awarded houses in the old town and that now; some people could not afford to maintain them. We saw beautiful houses next to ones that were crumbling.

Main square in Old Gdansk


St Mary's Church is the largest brick church in the world, it can accomodate 24000 people, we were told. From inside, it looked like the only way that would happen is if they were stacked vertically, but maybe people don’t take up as much space as we think. It is huge inside. We walked around the outside, and took a quick trip inside as Mass was ending.

We walked back through the pedestrian area, past the Neptune fountain. You can see 3 Neptune statues from one spot; he's the symbol of Gdansk.

Closer pic of Neptune


Cool door in Gdansk


We stopped at the Millennium Gallery for the obligatory demonstration of how amber is polished, and a lesson in how to tell if it’s real (it floats). They had an interesting assortment of upscale designs and many of the ladies indulged.

Side street with lots of shops & restaurnts in Old Gdansk



We ended our tour back at the main gate; saw the government buildings that still contain an office for Lech Walensa - the spearhead of the Solidarity movement, which overthrew the communist regime in Poland in the 1980s. Walked down the side of the canal, to find a restaurant for lunch. We ended up at the cafe Goldwasser, sitting outside in the sun, which felt wonderful. Ewa called our driver to come get us earlier than planned. We had been going to leave at 6:30, but felt we had seen all we wanted to see so we left at 4:00. Our driver was amenable to a bit of a side trip on the way out, so we ended up at the Baltic coast. We walked along the beach for a bit - although it was sunny it was still very cold. We stopped in 2 beach spots. Ewa says in the summer you can hardly walk for all the people on the beach.

We got to Torun, our next stop, at about 7:00. It took a little time to find the hotel, and as we were driving in the town we noticed many people all walking in the same direction, towards a church that we saw up the block. We remembered that this evening was the anniversary of the Pope's death, and figured that everyone was going to a memorial service.

We checked into the Hotel Heban, a 17th century tenement house which front façade was covered with black plaster – a good example of late Renaissance work. Inside was decorated with 17th and 18th century polychrome paintings. It was small and very pretty, although there was no lift, the bell guy wrangled all our bags up to our rooms; we did a quick wash-up and set out to explore the town. By now it was 7:30 or so, and people were still heading in one direction. We followed the crowd and came to a square around a large church. We stopped there and watched the procession come down from the other church, headed by robed acolytes bearing torches. The priests were miked, so we could hear the Stations of the Cross being said. The procession wound around the other side of the church from us, and stopped, and people started filling in the square. 20 minutes later, the procession, with everyone carrying a lit votive candle, was still streaming into the square. The head of the procession started to move again, so we got in front of it and walked the other way back into town. We explored a few streets, and then some of us wanted a bit of dinner. At this point, Debbie peeled off and went back to the memorial. The rest of us ended up in a pizzeria. Shared a huge pizza that cost less than 3 euros! Janice got a very generous Greek salad that she shared too. We all puzzled over what the dishes of ketchup and mayo were for so Ewa asked the waitress. They were indeed for our pizza!

Beginning of Polish trip report

Well it's a cold, rainy miserable day here in Munich. And, a long weekend to boot. How does the weather know to be bad, when people have a holiday? I'm going to post some of the Polish trip report, then catch the train to go grocery shopping. I also hope to buy some shoes - my walking shoes are suede. They were OK in the fall when it was cold, but now in the rain they just get too wet.

Poland Tour Day 1: March 31
Friday march 31 was the start of the tour with Picturesque Poland, the tour company that my friend Ewa has just launched. 5 of us were to take the inaugural tour: me, Barbara, Chris, Debbie and Janice. Ewa was going to meet us in Warsaw, our first destination, and tour with us to check that everything she’d arranged was to our liking.

I got to the airport a bit early. Breezed through check in (love Lufthansa), Lot Polish Airlines checks in through the Lufthansa Star Alliance. Got to the gate around 8:00 am, and there was no one else there. Hmm, maybe I am way too early. Debbie and Janice arrive in 15 minutes. We chatted until the gate agent called everyone for Warsaw. We all piled on to the bus, which took us out onto the tarmac to the plane. So of course we're then outside, climbing onto the plane in the Munich rain. Cold rain. Janice got on the empty plane first; she said she'd never walked onto an empty plane before. No sign of Chris & Barbara yet.

We waited a bit; they announced that more passengers were coming. Another bus pulled up and from that crowd Chris & Barbara joined us. The group was now complete.

An uneventful and fast flight got us into Warsaw by 10:30. We waited outside and Ewa showed up in about 5 minutes. She got us 2 cabs and we zoomed off to the hotel. Warsaw was overcast, looked a little grey. There are still quite a few old Soviet-style buildings: flat, ugly, and concrete. The most interesting was the Palace of Culture & Science (nicknamed Stalin’s penis) that was right across the street from our hotel. We’re told it was a “gift” from Russia to Warsaw, and the locals really dislike it. Our hotel, the Polonia Palace, was lovely though, Ewa says it’s a leading and most prestigious Grand Hotel in Warsaw, been operating since 1913. It underwent a recent renovation. The hotel as Poles say has Polish Soul, it’s a very rare find in Warsaw, a city of chain hotels. We dumped our luggage off, checked in and piled back into a couple cabs to get to old town.

The cabs let us off just outside old town. We walked across the square, with its plinth topped by King Sigismund, and set off up one of the side streets to find lunch.


Heading out across the square



We ended up at Grandmother's Place. Everyone but Carole ordered pierogi; she had bigos. It was a good lunch with lots of flavors to try. Some of the flavors were a bit unusual though, and they would remain so for most of the trip. It seems that the Poles are not yet wine connoisseurs, and not even real familiar with how to pick and store wine. Barbara and Chris are wine connoisseurs and they valiantly tried glass after glass of yecchy, too- sweet or too-long-open wine throughout our week. Sometimes just one sip and the glass was set down at the edge of the table with a shake of the head. "It's not dry at all." Or "It's gone off." and back the wine went.

After lunch, we headed back to the square to go to the castle. We toured it on our own, looking at many of the rooms that had been the king's apartment. It's good to be king. Debbie liked the floors best - beautiful parquet work, while the entire room of Canalettos impressed Janice. The castle was built relatively recently, and redone only 20 years ago - it had been destroyed just after WWII ended. We stopped for coffee in the small café inside the castle. Some of us found out later it was a bad idea to have coffee at 3:30 in the afternoon - Ewa and Carole didn't sleep very well that night!

Barbara, Debbie and Chris outside the Palace


Chris, Debbie and Ewa outside the Palace


We met up with our first guide of the trip, Anna, back in the square outside the castle. Of course by now it's started to rain. Umbrellas up, and Anna started acquainting us with Warsaw. She told us that the castle had been destroyed after the war, in a fight between the Germans and the Russians. We walked up a main street, Past the presidents’ residence, the statue to a famous poet who never lived in Warsaw; saw some of the street palaces built by the nobles who wanted to be close to the king.

Street Palace


At one point, we saw the royal guard parading up the street on patrol. Debbie got a good picture of them against the swirl of everyday life on the street.

We went in to Holy Cross church, famous for containing a relic of Chopin - his heart is interred in a pillar in the church!

We walked to the big modern "square" - not actually square but a vast open space. Workmen were constructing bleachers and a backdrop - the memorial to Pope Jan Pawal II was going to take place on Sunday evening, a year after he died, April 2nd 2005 at 9:37pm. Across the square, we saw the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Anna told us that they had chosen between 3 soldiers to inter there; from WWII.

The square, setting up the bleachers for the memorial service of Pop Jan Pawal II


Tomb of the Unknown Soldier


We walked back through another section of the old town. Past St John's Cathedral, went inside. This church was destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising. On the outside wall, there is a tank tread embedded as a memorial. Nearby underneath and archway in the street is a symbol for the Warsaw uprising. I can’t imagine tanks rolling through my city, and the havoc and destruction and terror or war.

We continued on the Royal Way and came to a very pretty square with old houses ringing the cobblestones. The mermaid fountain in the middle of the square is the symbol of Warsaw.


We walked out the other side, past old city walls. Apparently Poland was not a very war-like country. It took some persuading to get the city walls created, and at one point in history, it just so happened that the Polish army was elsewhere when the Swedes invaded. So the Polish army ended up fighting for Warsaw, against their own walls!

We then saw the monuments to the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. Just as WWII was grinding to a stop, the citizens and soldiers of Warsaw rose up against the occupying Germans. The Russian army was just across the Vistula River, and the Warsawians assumed they'd come to help. They didn't. The uprising raged for more than 3 months, and the city emptied as people fled into the countryside. As the Germans were leaving the city, they destroyed it block by block so that there was nothing for people to come home to.

This statue depicts the soldiers leaving the city through the sewers


This ended the formal tour. We went back into the old town, stopped at a café for some warm drinks (Polish Glühwein). Barbara and Chris had another "wine surprise", bummer! We walked up the way in about an hour, and went to a new restaurant called Secrets for dinner. It was elegant, the food was wonderful and the wine was good. We got back to the square by the castle, caught 2 cabs back to the hotel. We piled back into our rooms - we all shared, 2 to a room.

Melancholy baby

Even though spring is happening, I am having a bit of a down day. Gayle sent this:

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did.

You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute you'll never get back.

Missing all my friend in far-off lands. Especially missing Mona gone the farthest of all. For Mona: I've been doing lots of things for the first time, and thinking of you when I do. I had a Turkish massage - in Turkey! I Touched Zygmunt's bell for luck- in Castle Wawel in Krakow. I rode my bike to a friends house in Munich. Hope to have more to report soon. I won't be riding in a fighter jet or racing a corvette, but in my way I'm stretching out of my comfort zone.

I Am Supergirl

Found this "Which Superhero re You?" on The Ultimate Job Hunting Blog - thanks, JC!

Some about my recent travels soon. Poland was great, so was Turkey. But it's sunny and warm in Munich right now and I need to carpe this diem.

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You are Supergirl

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