Dzien Dobry – 

Our wonderful trip to Poland is coming to an end, and this is our last update.

After our exhausting day yesterday, we decided to take it easy on Thursday.  We had initially talked about traveling to the famous castle in Lancut, but we decided instead to hang out with the family and relax.

For the past two days, we have been going back and forth with Irena & Zdislaw about our transportation back to Warsaw for our flight home on Friday.  They were insisting that they drive us to the airport in Warsaw – five hours away by car.  They told us that we could leave on Friday morning at 5:30a.  After much painful discussion, we finally convinced them that we really wanted to go back to Krakow, spend the night in a hotel, get a good nights’ sleep, and then take a train to Warsaw Friday morning before connecting to our flight. We told them that Friday would be a very long travel day for us, and driving five plus hours in the car prior to an eight hour flight would make it worse. Plus, it would be awful for them to drive ten hours roundtrip in one day.

This morning we enjoyed our last and final ‘shath’. These people must think we are crazy. We do not work in the farm and have not gotten ‘dirty’, yet continue to take baths every morning. We enjoyed a nice breakfast with Irena and Zdislaw, however, without Lukasz around, I was lost. Dad was able to speak with them, but I just sat, smiled, and kept repeating ‘smachni’.  We had kielbasa, cheese, rye bread, tomatoes, tea and their wonderful homemade cottage cheese (made straight from the milk from the cow in the barn).  After breakfast, we sat in their living room and looked at family photos.  Zdislaw’s parents joined us from the first floor.  They invited us downstairs to their part of the house, for a quick tour.

We walked through their home.  Throughout the kitchen were wooden boards where the Babci (grandmother) had made fresh noodles (hand rolled out and cut by hand with a knife).  She was drying the noodles for use throughout the winter.  The grandfather slept in one room and the grandmother slept in another.  One of the rooms was used by Irena’s son Slawek.  However, since we were using the two rooms of his brothers, he slept on the couch in the kitchen and his two brothers slept in his bed in this room.  The grandparents presented us with small gifts for our families (chocolate bars!).  That was very nice of them.

Irena was cooking in the kitchen while we sat in the living room.  At around 12:30p, she had to milk the cow, so I told her I wanted to go with her – I have never seen a cow being milked!  She changed into her ‘cow milking’ clothes, called for Norek the dog, and proceeded into the barn.  Irena picked up a metal pail, and the dog picked up a small tin can, and they both walked over to the cow.  She washed the cow and tied it’s tail to it’s leg (so it doesn’t hit her in the head while she is milking).  She started milking, then poured some milk into the dog’s tin can.  Norek drank up that milk in no time and was ready for more!  She filled one full bucket of milk.  She told us that they will use this milk, along with some potatoes, to feed the pigs.

By the way, this is the first time a cow has not crapped while I was around it!

Irena made us a wonderful dinner.  We enjoyed a great chicken soup with homemade noodles.  We then had chicken and mashed potatoes, some awesome cabbage salad, and pickled beets (all home made).   We asked them if they ever went to restaurants, and they told us never.  The only time they would go to a restaurant is if they had to be away from the house for the day and could not be back in time for a meal.  They cook all of their own meals, all of the time.

After dinner, we sat around and talked, prior to going over to Halina’s house.  When we arrived at Halina’s home, we were again greeted at the door by Anna and Josef (the grandparents).  

We sat around and talked, and Lukasz and Barbara showed me the computer games they play.  Lukasz also showed me an English language program he uses.  The computer is his prized possession – they spend a lot of time with it.

Well, since it had been a couple of hours since dinner, Halina prepared more food for us.  We enjoyed kielbasa and rye bread, and some tea.  Stanislaw took some time away from work to come home and see us again.  It was very nice. Come to find out, he had taken Tuesday off from work in order to drive us to the Skaansen and spend the day with us. On Wednesday, he worked from 8:00a to almost midnight, to catch up with the work which fell behind while he was with us.

Since we had to depart for Krakow in less than an hour, we said our goodbyes.  It was difficult to leave, as Anna and Josef were obviously upset we were departing.  We drove to Irena’s house, with Halina and her children joining us.  We finished packing our bags and said our goodbyes.  Halina was very obviously upset we were leaving, as she was in tears.  Everyone else was very nice, and came out to wave goodbye as we departed.  We had such a wonderful time with these people, and have such wonderful memories, that it was difficult to leave.

Our drive to Krakow took about two hours, and we took a beautiful route through the countryside.  Zdislaw drove, and Irena and Lukasz joined us.  \

We finally got to Krakow, and we found a parking spot on the street. We approached the Hotel Saski, where we had stayed a few days prior.  We should have called ahead – they were fully booked.  I left all of them in the foyer of the hotel and proceeded to run around town looking for a hotel.  I finally found a nice little hotel near the historic city walls and Florianski Gate.  I ran back to find them at the hotel.  I insisted that Dad take Zdislaw and Irena to the square to visit the market in the Sukiennice and to more importantly, hear the trumpeter play his song at the top of the hour.  Lukasz and I grabbed the bags and ran through the streets toward the hotel.  We were rushing, as I was hoping to get him to the square in time to hear the trumpeter.  

We threw the bags into the room and ran down to the square.  About half way there, I made him stop and listen as the trumpeter was playing.  Not sure if he was very impressed, but at least he had a chance to hear it.  My only regret is not dragging him into the corner McDonalds and buying him a crappy American fast-food meal!

We met everyone at the Sukiennice, where we shopped through the few stalls that were still open.  I took Lukasz to a t-shirt shop (the only t-shirt shop I have seen in Poland!), where I bought him a ‘Lord of the Rings’ t-shirt – his favorite book.  He was thrilled.

They told us they should leave soon.  We walked through the square and saw a bunch of rowdy Polish military recruits running through the square, singing and marching.  They stopped at a statue and did some push-ups.  I turned to Zdlislaw and said, “Bimber”.

We walked them to their car.  I told them to call his grandparents and tell them we all were fine, as she most certainly was convinced that the thieves in Krakow must have gotten us this time.  We said our heartfelt goodbyes on the sidewalk.  They insisted that we return to Poland to visit them again, and this time to bring more family members with us.  We waved as they drove down the street.

Dad and I walked back to our hotel, making a quick detour to the liquor store for a bottle of Polish beer (65 cents).  The Hotel Polski was very nice, and in a great location.  After dropping off Dad in the hotel room, I ran to the Krakow train station to buy our tickets to Warsaw for tomorrow morning.  I walked up to the ticket booth, Polish phrasebook in hand, and proceeded to order and pay for our train tickets – completely in Polish.  I was very proud of myself.

Breakfast at the hotel on Friday morning was very nice.  We were the only ones there at 7:00a, so we had the best choices available.  We checked out of the hotel, grabbed a taxi, and headed over to the train station.  Our train ride back to Warsaw was nice – the train was a bit nicer.  Our compartment had a businessman working on his laptop, and a young traveler with his backpack and railpass.

The restaurant car was much nicer, and had a few more items available for breakfast. However, like many places in Poland, it was full of people smoking. On the way back to our train compartment, I stopped and used the toilet. This was much nicer than our first train, and there was real, actual running water.

When we arrived into the main train station in Warsaw, we rushed to the nearest taxi and took a quick ride to an area with some nice shops for some last minute souvenir shopping.  We did not spend much time on this trip shopping (close to none), so we rushed around looking for souvenirs.   We made it to the airport in plenty of time.

Our trip to Poland was phenomenal.  We got to experience things very few people have the chance to see.  We met some wonderful, friendly people and had a fantastic ‘Polish’ experience.  While we had no idea what we were in for, we both agree that this trip was well beyond any possible expectations.  We had a wonderful trip and have some life-long memories.