Day 16 - Tuesday 24/09/2013 Heading for Berlin,

It's raining today, appropriate for our sad goodbye to Ciocia. She has been wonderful, accommodating us, feeding us, and providing for all our needs during our stay. She is a remarkable woman, and we will miss her greatly. After breakfast, we record her message to her sister in Australia, pack our bags, say a tearful goodbye, and hit the road.

Goodbye Ciocia

We have had a wonderful stay in Poland, and met MOH's extended family. They have all been very generous and accommodating. It has been a privilege to meet and know them all. We will miss them, but always stay in touch. As Wanda said - GET SKYPE! Thankfully, now I actually know the people that we send Christmas cards to. Goodbye everyone, and hope to see you all soon - maybe in Australia??

STS owes this KFC 30c for using the toilet - we didn't have any euro then - oops

It's a long drive to Berlin, and it rained almost all the way. MOH says he knows the way, but we get to Berlin, and he announces that he is lost. After some random turns, u-turns and driving around, STS finds our location on the map, and we are able to find our way to the car rental terminal.

The car is dropped off, and we drag our suitcases around Berlin, looking for our hotel. We are wet through, tired, and I am in urgent need of a toilet visit, so I am very grateful to finally arrive at the hotel. We drag our cases up 3 flights of stairs, only to find out that there is a lift at the rear of the building. I just want to hurry up, and get to our room! Very cranky at this stage!

Sculpture in Berlin

We organise ourselves and decide to go on a reconnaissance of the area, and look for something to eat for dinner. My grumpy mood soon passes when we discover some interesting knick-knack shops along the main street. We bought drinks at the local Netto, and had dinner in McDonald's. Old fashioned sized burgers, and good value.

Cathedral bombed during the war, amongst other buildings

Lots of tourist attractions and shopping opportunities for tomorrow.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Day 15 - Monday 23/09/2013 Saying Goodbye

Today we catch up with all the local cousins, and say our sad goodbyes. We visit Ela in Henrykow, then go to the bank to try to get some money from our traveller's card. We have euro on our card, but the ATM's have zloty. Unfortunately the answer from the bank is no. You definitely need zloty if you travel to Poland, or you might be caught short. Luckily we still ave some Australian dollars to exchange at the 'Kantor'.

Darek, gorgeous Olga, and MOH

Then back to Ciocia's for lunch, kiabasa sausages and mashed potatoes with sauce.

This afternoon we are visited by Kamila, Darek and little Olga, and a bit later by Damien and Agnieska. Later we are called on the phone by Wanda, who wants to know where we are. She is waiting for us, because she has food. Damien kindly gives us a lift to Wanda's on their way home.

We have recorded messages to MOH's mother, their Ciocia, from everyone on the iPad, so she will have a lot of heartwarming footage to watch when we get home.

We get home late, and hit the sack because we have a long day tomorrow.

 

Sights of Szprotawa

Stork nest on top of power pole

 

View from car - Szprotawa

 

Posted with Blogsy

Day 14 - Sunday 22/09/2013 Driving back to Ciocia's

We leave early to drive back to Ciocia's, in Szprotawa for a few nights. The Autostrada is a great road, but lots of tolls to pay along the way. The radio keeps us company, with a mix of English and Polish songs. It's not to MOH's liking, but it keeps him awake. I've grown attached to 'La La La' by naughtyboy which seems to be on every time we change stations. So the volume goes up, much to MOH's annoyance.

Sights along the way

The autostrada, speed limit 120km/hr (some cars are travelling at 150km/hr)

We arrive in the late afternoon, and Ciocia has food ready for us already. This time it's a delicious cauliflower and vegetable soup. We show her all our photos and bring her up to speed with what we have been doing.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Day 13 - Saturday 21/09/2013 Auschwitz and Wawel Castle

We left early in the morning to drive to Oswiecim, 68km away. We visited Auschwitz 1, which is a real eyeopener. It is a must see for everyone, and an experience I will never forget. It is interesting to walk around the site, looking at the buildings and displays, but the pictures of some of the victims really made the gravity of the events hit home. All the faces were expressionless and wide-eyed.

Entrance to the gas chamber

For me, the tears started to flow when I saw the pictures of the children, and read their stories. One in particular caught my attention because she died on the same date as MOH's birthday. She was a pretty young girl, but the look on her face and the tear welling in her eye showed her fear and dread. She died after 2 years at the camp.

Auschwitz

A Killing Wall

It is heart breaking to think that people were subjected to such conditions and treatment. We went quickly through the gas chambers, and I could not continue. Luckily we did not go on an organised tour because it would have been too much. There are large displays of their belongings including shoes, luggage, clothes, pots and pans, combs and other accessories like glasses and even prosthetic limbs and hair. I could not look at this display. We decided not to go to the other site, Birkenau. No pictures of actual people out of respect. Enough said.

The striped pyjamas

I am still paying for our trip to the Salt Mine yesterday - aching legs and feet, I've used muscles I didn't know I had! We came back to the apartment to decompress and have lunch.

MOH couldn't resist

Later, we took a walk to the other side of the Centrum, to Wawel Castle. We passed the Cloth Hall again, and there was a lot of police officers decked out with shields. We wondered what was going on, and soon realised that the soccer fans had congregated in the square when they started chanting. We took pictures and moved on, not wanting to be involved in any kerfuffle.

Krakow football fans

Police presence - just in case

The State rooms of Wawel castle contain loads of furniture and huge tapestries from around the 16th century. No pictures allowed inside unfortunately. The cathedral dates back 900 years. Not sure how old the rest of the buildings are.

Entrance to Wawel Castle

Inside courtyard

I am physically and emotionally exhausted by the end of the day so we head home for dinner and rest.

Statue of Smok - the resident dragon

MOH's favourite church in Krakow

 

Posted with Blogsy

Day 12 - Friday 20/09/2013 Wieliczka Salt Mine

After a 10km drive from central Krakow, we arrived at the Wieliczka Salt Mine. It is 700 years old and has 2,400 chambers and tunnels over 245km long. It would take about 4 months to see everything - thankfully, it's only a 3 hour tour. We descended 371 steps down into the mine (90 metres) before the tour started.

Going down the steps into the mine

Almost everything is salt - the floor, walls and ceilings. There are salt chandelliers and sculptures. The horses used to live their whole lives in the mine because it's too difficult and dangerous to raise and lower them safely. There are huge caverns in the mine where they hold events like weddings. Mass is celebrate every Sunday in the main cathedral. By the end of the tour we had descended to 164 metres. The camera coped better in the dark areas, so more photos later.

A salt statue

MOH and STS with salt statue

Definitely worth a visit if you're ever in Krakow.

Examples of salt

We left our car at the apartment, and walked to the Stare Miasta, the old town centre, to see the Cloth Hall. It was originally a trading market building, and is the oldest existing market building in Europe. These days it is full of souvenir stalls - lots of amber, jewellery, small trinkets like keyrings and figurines. Outside are more stalls with antiques and collectables, handmade crafts and bits and bobs.

Cloth Hall

Inside Cloth Hall

It is surrounded buildings and sculptures. In the evening there are lots of horse drawn carriages for the tourists to go on a short tour.

Carriages at Krakow

On our way to and from the Cloth Hall, we passed the Barbacan and the old towns fortification.

Inside the town walls

We walk home after a big day, for some rest.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Day 11 - Thursday 19/09/2013 Drive to Krakow

After breakfast and a walk around the local streets and shops, we hit the road again.

The Palace of Culture, Warsaw - built by the Russians

View of our hotel - our room is behind Franklin Templeton's right eye

This time a four and a half trip to Krakow. We stopped at McDonald's for lunch and realised we had WiFi access - an opportunity to publish another post. I'll post the rest of the entries tonight at our apartment. Some men were hanging around our car so we didn't stop for long, and rushed out before our toilet break.

Sights along the way - an hotel

Sights along the way

The drivers are crazy here, and take dangerous risks. The speed limits seem to be optional. If we have an overtaker in oncoming traffic, we are obliged to move over to the emergency lane. Motorbikes in particular, and some cars, seem to just swerve in and out of traffic at will, and some highways have arrows on the road showing where you can overtake. Risky business!

It's raining today! but not cold.

We had difficulty finding our apartment, even though we were in the right street. We ended up phoning the contact person who saw us outside. She came in the car with us, to show us the way because there are several one way streets locally.

Poster for DJ's - isn't that Dame Edna?

We had to pay up front and thought we could use our Traveller's card, which has euro on it. We were quoted in euro when we made the booking, however, they only accept zloty. (At least I'll have more spending money in Berlin!) Now we'll have fees on our credit card, which we wanted to avoid. Also, withdrawing euro at the ATM is not working here. Instead of giving the option of euros, it only pays in zloty, and converts from Australian dollars - more fees! Luckily there are a lot of money exchange places, and we have been able to exchange Australian dollars for zloty.

I am happy that we have a washing machine here, because some of our clothes can almost stand up by themselves! (Slight exaggeration!)

We went to get food items from the supermarket at a shopping complex nearby, and prepared hotdogs for dinner. We have a big day tomorrow, so need a good sleep tonight.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Day 10 - Wednesday 18/09/2013 Staying with cousin Janek

Janek and his family (son Piotr, his wife, Sylvia, and daughter Julcia) have made us very welcome. We have lots more food to eat, and friendly conversation. MOH takes every opportunity to tell people how hard it is to have to translate everything because STS and I don't speak Polish. He says it's hard on us too, but we wanted to come here. He is definitely enjoying being the centre of attention. On the other hand we have been nodding and smiling for nearly two weeks now. It would probably be better for all concerned if STS and I left them to catch up without us, but we don't want to be rude. I have decided to not be so proactive in wanting to join in the conversations to ease the burden on MOH.

Janek's home

Picking raspberries

Today we will be picking our own raspberries.

Raspberries - yummm!

We have an early lunch because we need to leave with enough time to get to Warzsawa (Warsaw). Janek allows me to get copies of some old photographs, and after a teary farewell, we began our drive to Warszawa.

Piotr must have known that we would get lost in Warsaw, so he arranged for his brother, Krystof, to meet us and guide us to our hotel. Krystof and his son, Kuba, kindly waited for us to check in and then drove us around the city, showing us the sights. We saw the Frederic Chopin statue, Parliament and embassy buildings. We saw buildings that survived the war, and the Football stadium where they played the 2012 Eurpoean championships. He took us to the Old Town, Stare Miasta, which was very interesting with a special energy and atmosphere at night time. The statue at the barbican represents all the children who suffered during the war.

The Chopin statue

Warsaw soccer stadium

Stare Miasta, Warsaw

Stare Miasta, Warsaw

Then we went to his apartment for a drink and you guessed it, more food! We were greeted warmly by his mother, Stasia.

Looking down onto the tram system, Warsaw

After several beers, we needed to get a taxi to take us back to the hotel. Krystof came with us to make sure we were OK, and insisted on paying for the fare. He is a very generous man. I suspect we might see him in Australia one day, and I hope we will have the opportunity to return the favour.

 

Posted with Blogsy