What, a rainy day?

6472 This is my sandwich at the cafe in Poznan.

6474 The Poznan Cathedral

6480 To keep our minds off the rain Nic had a trivia contest on the bus.  60 general knowledge questions.  You could have up to 6 on a team.  We had 4, a couple from Australia and D and I.  We got 51 out of the 60 for the win.  Our prize was a large box of the chocolate sticks you see flanking the frame.  We passed them around the bus and still had some left over when they came back.  The postcard is Poznan on a better day and the large delicious thing in the center is a sweet perogi in Poland.  We call it a raspberry filled glazed doughnut. 

 

June 25 – Warsaw to Berlin, Germany.  Another travel day today.  It's been nice staying two nights at every place.  Gives you time to regroup and do some laundry that would not dry in just an overnight stop. 

 

I knew it was bound to happen and it finally has.  We have our first, cold, wet and windy day.  A good time for a travel day except for Paul, our driver.  He's got a tough job.  In addition to driving he has to load and unload the luggage from the bus when we change locations.  He has to clean the bus and wash the windows.  I'm sure he has more duties but I don't know what they are.

 

We are stopping for lunch in the town of Poznan, a historic place in Poland.  It's got a very pretty town square that was spared from damage during the wars because there are no strategic targets here and it's so small.  We'd have taken a short walking tour with Nic, our Tour Director if the weather was nicer but today we're getting the whole stop for lunch time.

 

Diana and I hit a small café on the city square that had a menu with soup and sandwiches.  She had Polish cabbage soup and I had a sandwich of Parma ham, buffalo mozzarella, tomato and lettuce.  The bread was dense and dark, almost pumpernickel but not quite.  It was delicious.  Diana's soup had lots more than cabbage in it, I might have called it a stew.  She reported that it was very good.

 

I went to the church on the square but it was locked up for the day.  Maybe it's always that way.  It's pretty from the outside.  The lower part looks very Venetian and the upper part Gothic fortress.  I'm pretty sure that this church also served at the city's line of last defense, keep if you like. 

 

When we reboarded the bus everyone was a little wet but no one seemed to be complaining.  I think we all know how fortunate we've been with the weather.

 

At our afternoon stop Nic brought a large bag back to the bus with him.  It was full of sweet raspberry pirogues, known as glazed jelly doughnuts in the USA.  We had to promise not to eat them until we got to the hotel because they'd make a mess on the bus.  We all happily agreed.

 

We drove a long day today and there's no evening program so it was definitely time to do some sink washing and rest up.  Tomorrow is going to be busy.

Poland, the Energizer Bunny of Eastern Europe

6369 This is the side of the monument memorializing the Ghetto Uprising in Warsaw.  Only three of the figures are armed,  The man in the center has a German grenade, the girl on the right has a rifle as does the second figure from the bottom on the left.  I can't tell if it's a man or a woman.  They have determined looks on their faces and are showing strength of character in their poses.  Proud people ready to go down fighting.  We certainly could use more people of that type in our county and the need will be getting greater as time passes.

6381 The Royal Castle at the Royal Plaza entrance to Old Town Warsaw.  A pretty austere Gothic building.

6395 Old Town Square, Warsaw.  See what I mean about antique postcard coloring.  The place is jam packed with cafes and has artist's booths down the center between them.

6424 Diana in front of Marie Curie's house.  The mural shows two genies spiraling out of the test tube in the child's hand.  White for Polonium and yellow for Radium, both first identified by Marie.

6470 This is Diana with Professor xxxx, our pianist at the Chopin recital in the music publishing house concert hall.  He just signed the CD of his music we bought.

 

June 23 –Warsaw, Poland.  Today we are heading out of town to see Wilanów Palace the residence of Polish King Jan Sobieski.  This place has survived all the changes in Polish fortunes from large kingdom to non-existence to revival and both WWI and WWII intact.  It is worth noting that at one time the Polish Kingdom stretched from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea and went from that status to not existing at all prior to WWI.  After WWI, in some great part due to the efforts of the US and its president, Woodrow Wilson, Poland was reconstituted.  This is quite a roller coaster ride for a nation to take.  This building saw it all and stands as a testament to Polish resilience.

 

Wilanów Palace was built in the last part of the 17th century.  Later owners enlarged it and added to the gardens.  It's characteristic of a baroque country residence in that it's built between an entrance area and a garden in the back.  It's distinctive in that it merges the European style seen in France and Austria with Polish style construction.  Both the exterior and interior include symbols and crests that recall the Sobieski name with an emphasis on his military victories.

 

King Jan helped design the building and was assisted by his librarian in the areas of the symbolism to be used to honor the royal family.  The motifs around the structure emphasize the king's support for the arts and sciences. 

 

The most important artists from Poland and abroad helped to decorate the interiors.  Painters, sculptors, stucco decorators and others were brought here to work.  One of the advisors was very interested in China, which accounts for the excellent collection of Chinese porcelain and other arts of the country. 

 

The palace inventories had works of the great contemporary and old masters, like Rembrandt, Pieter van Laer, called Bamboccio, Anthony van Dyck, Ferdinand van Kessel, Raphael and others.  The rooms had treasures of silver and gold that were looted during WWII and never recovered.

 

The palace gardens have been pretty well maintained and are still very attractive.

 

On our drive back into town we stopped at Lazienki Park to see a statue of Frédéric Chopin the famous Polish composer.  He was born and grew up here in Warsaw.  His piano compositions are some of my favorites.  Looking on from the side is a bust of Franz Liszt another composer and pianist.  It's appropriate that the Hungarian Liszt should be here.  He was wildly popular in his time and many of his concerts included Chopin's works. 

 

We drove by several embassies including the somewhat sterile glass box of the USA before arriving at the monument to the Warsaw Ghetto.  It's a two-sided memorial.  On the side facing the street the relief commemorates those from the ghetto who died in the death camps.  It's a sad sight, people with heads bowed, clutching belongings and children trudging toward their fate.  One man, in the center, carrying a Torah, has his head raised, looking upward and his arm outstretched as if asking, "Why?"  Like I said, it's a sad sight. 

 

The reverse side is no happier but it does give you a better feeling.  It's dedicated to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.  As the ghetto was emptied the last people inside it knew what awaited them and decided to go down fighting.  Poorly armed and mostly untrained they managed to repel German units, including those with armor, initially.  But, as they knew from the start, it was a futile effort.  I have to say that going down fighting is more acceptable than just letting them have their way unimpeded.  I'm pretty sure that if I were facing certain death there'd be some small, if final, satisfaction is taking a few of them with me.  In the end they all died anyway but I'm sure they were not just trudging along, heads down wondering why.  The relief on this side shows strong, proud men and women, poorly dressed, standing tall and looking straight ahead, willing to face their deaths with dignity and honor.  I'd seen a copy of this memorial at Vad Yashem in Jerusalem in 1982.  When I saw the original here I clearly remembered seeing the copy 31 years ago.

 

From the monument we drove to Old Town Warsaw for a walking tour of the old city.  It should be noted that much of Warsaw was destroyed during WWII.  Most of old town has been restored or reconstructed.  The Royal Castle is no exception.  Great pains have been taken to get it right when they rebuild and I have to say, it looks great.  It stands on Castle Square, one of the entrances to the Old Town.  It's made of brick in the Gothic style and is very plain, the only exceptions being the tower at the center for the front façade and the two at the corners.  The copper tops of these towers have a decidedly Russian onion dome appearance.  Not exactly, but close. 

 

In reconstructing Old Town they used original masonry and stone when possible.  You can tell which parts are original because most of them are damaged in some way, pock marked by bullets or shrapnel, scorched and chipped they add an air of authenticity to the look of the area.  For some reason many of my photographs of the area have a 1920s postcard look to them.  The colors of early printing were too uniform and pastel to be realistic.  Yet, totally untouched, that's exactly how they look in these pictures.  Odd.

 

One place of note in the area is the home of Marie Sklodowska Curie, the discoverer of Radium and Polonium.  Everyone knows the story of her boiling pitchblende to find radium and the toll that took on her health.  Before the discovery of radium she isolated Polonium and named it for her native land of Poland.  It was probably named like that because Poland did not exist as a nation when she did it.  It was during the period of dissolution I was talking about earlier.  Way to go Marie!  There's a fanciful mural on the front of the building that commemorates both events.

 

Our last visit of the afternoon was to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  It's set in a small portico, all that remains of the Saxon Palace.  The palace grounds are now a park and the tomb of the unknown is guarded by two soldiers who are formally changed every couple of hours with a full regalia change at Noon every day.

 

This evening we are going to a piano recital of works by Fredrick Chopin.  It will be in the intimate concert hall of a music publishing house.  The building it's in is one of those which has survived since Chopin's time in Warsaw.  Our pianist is a Professor of Music at the Warsaw Conservatory of Music.

More Pictures

6105 This is the main entry of Birkenau.  The large archway is for the trains the smaller for other road vehicles.

6109 The train yard inside Birkenau.  Most of the 1.3 million people who were sent here got of the train on these platforms.

6134 These are the fireplaces and chimneys that survived the fires set by the NAZIs as they deserted the camp.

6153 The Basilica tower at Jasna Gora Monastery and the main gate.

6163 The Basilica's nave, apse and altar.

A day for reflection and sadness.

5946 The main gate at Auschwitz I.  "Work makes you free".

5953 Barracks and electrified barbed wire, Auschwitz.

6011 This map shows you the relative size of Auschwitz I and Birkenau.  The four structures shown in red on the left side of Birkenau were the death chambers and crematoria.  At Auschwitz I there's just a small red dot to indicate the one there.

6039 To me, this was the saddest exhibit.  Obviously from the care taken in the lettering Eva Dohan, Raphalea Tausik, Hedwig Klement and Otto Schonhof expected to see these suitcases again.  It's just so sad. 

 

 

June 23 – Krakow to Warsaw, Poland via Auschwitz & Czestochowa.  Today is starting out on a somber note.  On our way to Warsaw we're stopping at Auschwitz, not the city, the death camp.  There were actually 4 camps in Auschwitz.  Since it was organized by Germans they were creatively named I, II, III & IV but we know them better as Auschwitz, Birkenau, Monowitz, and the only actual POW camp where the Allied soldiers were kept.  The camp you see old pictures of when they show Auschwitz is actually Birkenau.  The camp we're touring is Auschwitz because Birkenau was systematically destroyed by the NAZIs in an attempt to cover up their crimes.  Of course, the crimes were so large and terrible and they were such good record keepers that it was a futile effort.  Since camp I was so much smaller they concentrated their restoration efforts there and they've done a good job.

 

Appropriately we started out at the main gate to the complex.  Over the gate is the motto "Arbeit Macht Frei" – Work Makes You Free.  This might have been true at some of the other camps like Monowitz where the Germans had a factory but Auschwitz and Birkenau were purely death camps.  When the people were sorted at the arrival station, those deemed fit for work were sent to Monowitz, those who were not to Auschwitz or Birkenau. 

 

Auschwitz was the first camp but it was deemed inadequate because they had underestimated the size of the task.  The original killing rooms were built into existing ammunition bunkers.  These proved to be too small for the job at hand so they built Birkenau where the killing rooms and crematoria were 10 times larger and there were more of them.  Auschwitz had brick buildings that had been used by the Polish Army as barracks.  Auschwitz I was originally a Polish Army base.  This led to some restrictions and limitations on efficiency.  Birkenau was purpose built and therefore more suited to its use.  The living quarters were actually wooden stables in their original design.  These were altered to make them into what were called barracks and 20 barracks were called a Block and there were at least 7 Blocks at Birkenau.  That's housing for over 33,000 people in Birkenau alone. 

 

Our visit started at Auschwitz.  Conditions here were bad but because the buildings were converted from Polish Army use they were luxurious compared to Birkenau.  The brick buildings, neatly laid out, could have been mistaken for a college dormitory.  The three layer, electrified fence with guard towers and spotlights would have been one of the few differences.  Still, it's an eerie place probably because I know what happened here, not particularly because of how it looks. 

 

There are displays inside and outside the buildings that have photos of the camp in operation with explanatory notes in Polish, English and Hebrew.  Our guide, a young Polish woman, obviously felt strongly about the facts she was relating.  So much so that one of our group asked if she was Jewish.  She said she was a Catholic but was still emotional about the events of that time.  The Polish name for the city here is Oswiecim.  In an effort to keep their activities secret all the local Polish were relocated to concentration camps elsewhere in the country.  Another futile effort.

 

The Auschwitz complex was the largest concentration/death camp in the NAZI system.  All in all 1,300,000 people were processed here of which 1,100,000 were Jews.  The remainder was comprised of Poles, Gypsies, Soviet POWs and people of other ethnic groups.  Of the 1.3 million brought here, 1.1 million were killed.  In one of the buildings they had a memorial with a large glass urduitn on top.  The urn was filled with ashes from the crematoria here in Auschwitz I.  At Birkenau they were all blown up and the ashes scattered over the fields surrounding the complex.  In display cases around the memorial room they had photocopies of a sampling of NAZI records.  Lists of arrivals that indicated where each person was sent, individual cards on each arrival that recorded their name, where they were from, birthday and processing information.  Overwhelming to think that there were 1.3 million of these cards.

 

The Jews that came here were from many places, (in descending order from most to least) Hungary (430,000), Poland, France, The Netherlands, Greece, Bohemia/Moravia, Slovakia, Belgium, Austria/Germany, Yugoslavia, Italy and Norway (690). 

 

They had displays and models of how the camp was operated as well as artifacts of the process.  The most moving were the displays of the belongings of the people brought here, suitcases, shoes, prosthetic devices, kitchen utensils and the like.  For some reason these common, everyday articles are the hardest to look at.  Perhaps it's because they are so common but the story behind them is anything but common.  In order to make sure they didn't loose their belongings most of the suitcases had names, birthdays and country information written on them.

 

We visited the wall at Auschwitz I where some prisoners were shot.  These were those who were allowed to live to work but tried to escape or broke the black market laws.  We passed an old wooden gallows set in a small field facing the rows of barracks.  It's where the camp commandant was hung after being convicted of crimes against humanity in Nuremburg.  They put it there so he would have to face the scene of his crimes just before he died.

 

Next we viewed the converted ammo bunker death chambers.  They were small as ammo storage usually is to prevent one fire or explosion from destroying the whole inventory.

 

After touring Auschwitz I we drove to Birkenau (Auschwitz II).  The main gate has been preserved.  The large admin building that formed the center of the camp's front perimeter has a large gap in it that allowed the trains to enter the camp.  There were many sidings inside that had the ramps where the new arrivals were sorted, life or death at the officer's whim. 

 

They've reconstructed one row of the wooden converted stable buildings by moving existing stables here and changing the interiors to the prison design.  Each building held about 260 prisoners and there were 20 of them in a row and there are 9 rows.  There were three other areas that were not of uniform size but they were small by comparison.

 

All that's left of the non-reconstructed barracks are the brick stoves and chimneys that were in each building.  These brick sentinels stand in mute testament to the magnitude of the depravities committed here.  Row after row of speckled red columns that each presided over the lives of 260 individuals.  It's a sobering sight.  One well worth remembering. 

 

Political Note: Human rights are only secured by sacrifice and labor.  Governments have a natural desire to limit the rights of its citizens for their own purposes, some of which have a certain appeal which all good citizens will resist.  The ability to resist these efforts depends on the ability to resist the government's attempts or enforce their desires.  That resistance has to include the ability to forcibly resist the government.  It's hard to believe but Adolph Hitler was the duly elected leader of his government before he became Führer of the Third Reich.  It is not beyond the realm of possibility that any country in the world could do the same thing, ours included.  We're living in a fool's paradise if we don't understand that.  The will of the "people" is only secure if the people have the ability to force the government to follow it.

 

I was actually happy to leave the area.  I'm glad I saw it but I've read enough about it to say that it was about what I expected but it still had an emotional impact.

 

After leaving Auschwitz we drove to Częstochowa to visit the Jasna Gora (Luminous Mount) Monastery.  This was also our lunch stop.  We happened upon a café, the Claromontana, on our way into the monastery that wasn't crowded and listed hamburgers and hot dogs among the offerings.  Since we are in full tourist mode at the moment we didn't want to spend a lot of time eating we decided to eat first and ask questions later.

 

Diana had a hot dog and I had their hamburger.  We split an order of fries.  It's good we ordered the fries because they sure love ketchup here.  Both items came loaded with it.  Fortunately we had the fries to clean most of it off before we ate them.  That produced the second surprise; both of our sandwiches had coleslaw on them.  Not the sweet creamy kind the more tart pickled type.  I would not have predicted it, especially when accompanied by ketchup, but the taste was great!  We tackled our meals quickly and then headed to the monastery.

 

This is the holiest site in Poland and a pilgrimage church for hundreds of years.  It was founded by Pauline monks in the late 1300s.  In fact, it's the third largest Catholic pilgrimage site in the world. 

 

In the Basilica, the shrine dedicated to Mary has the iconic Black Madonna of Częstochowa.  An icon that has been revered for centuries but, since it's Sunday and services are being conducted, all we could see was a copy. 

 

Tradition states that the icon was painted by Saint Luke but no evidence exists to support that view.  Miraculous powers are attributed to the icon ever since the monastery was spared during the Swedish invasion in the 1600s.  It wasn't much of a military victory but the story roused the Poles to action and the Swedes were eventually repelled.  When the king, Jan Kazimirez, was restored to the throne he promised to protect the icon and proclaimed her the Patron and Queen of all his lands.  I guess he was grateful.  So in Polish Catholic circles, Mary is not only the Queen of Heaven but also the Queen of Poland.

 

The monastery's basilica is very impressive.  Its 350-foot square tower has 6 tiers, the lower three of stone the upper three of copper.  The last stone tier before the copper tiers is octagonal giving the tower an unusual look.  Inside it's a splendor of white and gold enhanced by the natural greys and greens of the marble used in the pillars and arches.  From above the altar the Holy Trinity looks down on Mary as she ascends to heaven accompanied by angels.  The altar below is flanked by the four Evangelists, again each recognizable because their traditional symbols have been included in the statues.  All the figures are pure white marble except the Holy Spirit who is shown as a silver dove.  A golden sunburst emanates from the dove and the Father and Son hold a golden crown between them.  Behind Jesus an angel holds a large golden cross.  The arched ceiling is carved white stucco around frescos illustrating Biblical stories.  It's a magnificent sight. 

 

The Shrine of Our Lady of Częstochowa is screened off from the rest of the basilica by a black and gold grillwork and as services were being conducted there and a large number of worshipers were inside, I didn't feel it was appropriate to enter to see the icon.  They have a copy of it outside that was easily viewed.

 

It was a nice visit then we were on our way to Warsaw.

A long day of meaningful experiences.

5670 The Shaft Head building of the Wieliczka Salt Mine.

5680 The Log Cabin style shoring in some of the tunnels.

5726 The 7 dwarves working the salt mine.

5744 The Cathedral Room in the salt mine.  The salt chandeliers are easy to spot.  You can also see the carvings on the walls.

5748 A salt chandelier.

5749 The Last Supper in salt.

5873 St. Mary's Gothic Altarpiece.

5887 The Fiat Roadster.

 

June 22 – Krakow, Poland.  I've often said I'm heading for the 'salt mines' but today it's true.  We are going to tour the Wieliczka Salt Mine just outside Krakow.  The mine was opened in the 1200s and continued producing salt until 2007.  Over the years the miners have carved statues and reliefs in various places along the mine's shafts.  Its passageways reach down to over 1,000 feet and are about 187 miles in total.  Needless to say we are not touring the whole mine.  The tour route covers about 2.2 miles.  It's been a 'tourist' attraction for a long time.  Nicolaus Copernicus, who died in 1543 came for a visit, as did Goethe, Chopin, Mendeleyev, Pope John Paul II and Bill Clinton.  The deepest point reached by the tour is 443 feet below the surface at the underground lake. 

 

To get down to the starting level you ride a miner's elevator.  It's a three-story elevator that holds 9 people per car.  The cars are stacked atop each other.  They load the top one first, then raise the stack to load the middle one and raise it again to load the lowest car.  Once they are all loaded the elevator starts down to the 210-foot level to start the tour.  It takes about 15 seconds to get there.  They unload in the reverse order, bottom car first.  So if you want to spend the minimum time that close to 8 other people, get into the bottom car.  It takes much longer to load or unload than the very quick trip down. 

 

At the 210-foot lever you are in the Upper Ursula Chamber that was mined between 1649 and 1685.  Because some parts of the mine are unstable they had to use wooden shoring, just like the coal and tin mines I've toured, except here they used the log cabin technique to support the room.  By that I mean that the timbers are used round and not cut into boards or beams.

 

On the tour we visited chambers, chapels and even a cathedral.  They do weddings down here including the catered reception in a large hall.  It's pretty amazing.  Much of the raw salt is grey and looks almost like granite.  They had dioramas set up in some of the chambers.  They didn't use mules to pull the salt cars to the windlass elevators, they used horses.  Two of the dioramas were about this activity.  One shows a horse pulling a cart of salt to the bottom of the windlass elevator.  Another was set up like a stable.  It was too difficult to get the horses into and out of the mine so once they were down there they stayed down.  I'm sure it was a pretty tough existence for them. 

 

In one chamber they had the figures of the seven dwarves working the salt.  Nice to know that the miners had a sense of humor.  They carved all these extra figures on their own time.  Several of the caverns were turned into chapels.  The largest of these is called the Cathedral and it's a huge room.  The bright chandeliers are made entirely of salt.  It has a copy of di Vinci's Last Supper carved from salt.  Various scenes show the Nativity, Herod giving the order to kill all the male children under 2, the Holy Family fleeing to Egypt and Jesus appearing to his disciples after His resurrection.  There's a hollow statue of Mary lighted from the inside that glows.  It's a marvelous place.  Even the floor is etched with groves that make it look like a tile floor. 

 

We boarded the elevators for the trip to the surface, this time from the 433 foot level so the ride will take 30 seconds.  Ears were popping on the way up.  This was an unusual and wonderful place.  I'm sad that my words and pictures can't adequately covey the experience.

 

This afternoon we're heading out on a city tour of Krakow.  Our first stop was at Zegody Square in the Jewish Ghetto where Jews who were denied residence in the ghetto and did not have a work card proving they had a job at a German factory were taken to begin their trip to the death camps.  They had to stand in the square, they could not sit or lay down but stand packed into the square waiting for hours.  Horse drawn wagons were brought to take them to the train station.  None of these people would survive.  An artist has placed large metal chairs in the square to commemorate this event.  There's a small building at the end of the square, now vacant.  It was the gestapo's offices.  Here they recorded who was sent and where.  There are large pictures displayed around the building of people who have visited this place.  Marshal Tito, Gerald Ford and many others photos are there.  It's a sad little place.

 

From the square we went to a place that's a little more uplifting, the enamelware factory of Oskar Schindler.  Schindler's efforts and protection of his Jewish workers is credited with saving over 1,200 people from certain death.  He spent his entire fortune on bribes and acquiring black-market goods to keep is workers safe and fed.  He died, living on government assistance and the support of some Jewish groups.  His last apartment is in Frankfurt am Main in Germany.  We were there in 2010 and visited the house.  There's a small plaque on the wall with his name.  He died while living with friends in Hildesheim.  He died penniless.  His final hospital bill was paid by the city.  He is buried in a Catholic cemetery on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem and has the title "Righteous Among the Nations" a name given to non-Jews who assisted Jews during NAZI persecution.  A sad ending to a somewhat contradictory but ultimately heroic life.

 

Ultimately we ended up in Old Town Krakow at the castle Wawel.  It's actually a fortress that holds both the castle and the cathedral, the Basilica of St Stanisław and St Wacław, atop the hill were the city was founded.  The cathedral is from the 1000s but has been revised and added to over the centuries. 

 

Down in Old Town Square there's Saint Mary's Basilica, a brick Gothic church that is absolutely wonderful in side.  The Gothic altarpiece is in triptych form but is huge and not meant to travel as most, more compact, triptych altars were.  In fact it's the largest Gothic altarpiece in the world.  It's 42 feet high and 36 feet wide when fully opened.  The figures in the main section are over 12 feet tall and show Mary's death surrounded by the 12 disciples.  The NAZIs took it during WWII but it was recovered in the basement of Nuremburg Castle and returned.  The stained glass windows are beautiful.  Each window is made up of many individual panes each one showing a different scene.  One window appeared to be dedicated to the deaths of the apostles and early martyrs of the church. 

 

Every half hour a trumpeter plays from the bell tower of St. Mary's commemorating the trumpeter that was killed by an arrow when sounding the alarm to warn of a Mongol attack on the city.

 

Out in the plaza they were having an antique Fiat show.  There were old Fiats of all kinds and colors.  My favorite was a bright green roadster of a type I've never seen before.  Too bad they are so mechanically unsound.  These people must love them to keep them running.

 

This evening we went out for a traditional Polish meal and some folk dancing.  The food was good, mushroom soup served in a flower pot shaped bowl of bread with a mushroom cap bread top.  Both the soup and the bread were delicious.  The main course was a marinated beef roast served in thick slices.  Very tender and tasty.  Desert was strawberry mousse.  Between each course the musicians and two couples in traditional costume danced various Polish dances, including of course the polka.

 

It was a long and eventful day and we were bushed by the time we got back to the hotel.

Longest travel day yet.

5653 The wooden Church of St John the Baptist in Orawka.

5656 Scenes depicting the 10 Commandants and part of the carved and painted ceiling.

5659 John introducing Jesus as the Son of God.

 

 

June 21 – Budapest to Krakow, Poland via Slovakia.  Today we are driving to Krakow an entirely new city for us.  The trip out of Hungary and into Slovakia was very nice.  Rolling hills, green valleys and small villages made for nice traveling.  We stopped at a restaurant in a ski area for lunch and had Chicken Paprika Stew.  It was good but could have been spicier.

 

Just after we crossed the border we made an unscheduled stop at the Orawka Wooden Church, actually the Church of St. John the Baptist.  Started in 1650 it's one of the oldest Catholic churches in Poland.  Outside it's pretty plain but inside almost every surface is covered with murals or polychrome carvings.  The murals show scenes from John's life, the 10 Commandments and other important saints of the church. 

 

Other than that stop it was a long day of driving through interesting scenery.

Dracula, really?

5597 These are the cigar holders on the window sill.

5601 This is the meeting room for the House of Lords that is no longer used except for touring but it's just like the one in the House of Commons.

5609 Gundel's crepes with a small pile of diced dried orange.

5637 Diana standing on the bridge into City Park just below Dracula's Tower.

 

June 20 – Budapest, Hungary.  Today we are going to visit the inside of the Parliament building for the first time.  We've seen the outside often but never inside.  I have it on reliable sources that it's nice.

 

As we entered the building we were facing a large staircase that ascends from the center of the building.  Like the Parliament in England it used to have two separate houses, the House of Commons and the House of Lords.  The House of Lords was abolished years ago but it's the mirror image of the other side and we will be visiting it.  Not surprisingly we had to go through airport style security to enter and a security person tailed us all the way through. 

 

The first thing we came upon is a model of the building built of matchsticks.  Pretty impressive, this is an ornate and complex structure and they got it just right.  The entry hall is larger than the one in the Winter Palace but not as ornate.  The reason the building is so big is that it was built to be the seat of government for the entire Hungarian Empire.  Since WW I, where they were on the losing side they were stripped of all their land except the country of Hungary.  So a pretty small country has a ginormous capital building.

 

There's a lot of gold in the decorations and some nice statuary.  I don't know most of the people they depict so I don't have any good stories about them.  One interesting feature in the hall outside the meeting room are some long cigar racks.  They're numbered and have and ashtray built in so that members could set their cigars down to run in and vote.  When they returned they went to the holder with their number and retrieved their cigars.  Very ecologically sound practice.

 

From the Parliament building we drove to the Gundel Restaurant to have a snack.  They are apparently noted for their crepes and that's what we're having.  They were served with chocolate sauce and some finely chopped dried oranges.  The combination was very good.

 

From there we went to the City Park to see the castles.  They were built for an exhibition celebrating the 1,000 year anniversary of Hungary.  There are copies of famous castles from the kingdom in various styles.  They are really just facades, they are not finished inside but in a very small area you can visit castles from a wide area and from different periods.  

 

From there we went to the City Park to see the castles.  They were built for an exhibition celebrating the 1,000 year anniversary of Hungary.  There are copies of famous castles from the kingdom in various styles.  They are really just facades, they are not finished inside but in a very small area you can visit castles from a wide area and from different periods.  One tower on the first castle is said to be a copy of the tower from Dracula's Castle, now in Romania.

 

Next was a visit to the city market.  I'd been there before and it was too hot to stay inside so I really didn't give it much attention.  It was a pleasant day of low stress touring.

More Pictures

5461 This is the Millennium Monument on Hero's Square.  The figures in the chariots on the colonnades are War and Peace.

5465 Diana is at the base of the column with the 7 Magyar chiefs who founded Hungary.  She's with the most important one, Arpad, who is considered to be the father of Hungary.

5508 The Royal Palace by night.

5545 Matthias' Church by night.

5563 The Parliament Building by night.

Is life on the Buda-side better than the Pesta-side?

5402 Here are the paddle boats I was talking about

5421 This is the Matthias Coronation Church with the Holy Trinity Monument in the foreground.  I've been here 3 times and this is the least scaffolding I've ever seen.

5427 A close up of the top of the Holy Trinity Monument.  Jesus is holding the cross, God's got the world and the Holy Spirit is the Dove in the center.

5440 The view from the Fisherman's Bastion.  Diana's pointing at the Parliament Building

 

June 19 – Zagreb to Budapest, Hungary.  Today's a travel day but a short one.  We are heading out of Slovenia and into Hungary.  On the way we stopped at Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Central Europe.  Hungary does not have access to a sea or ocean so this lake is referred to as the Hungarian Sea.  It's about 50 miles long and 9 miles wide at the widest place.  It's pretty shallow so the water gets very warm.  The microclimate it produces makes this a major wine producing area.  They have a very odd form of paddle boat here.  I've seen them looking like swans or just a rectangular box that you propel with bicycle pedals.  This one has the profile of a dolphin on the sides that makes it look like two of them swimming together, but it also has a built in sliding board that you climb from the back and slide off over the bow.  This outline produces a very odd look.

 

After another short stop for lunch we arrived in Budapest.  We have a city orientation tour to take after about an hour to freshen up.  Diana and I have been here several times but we're going along anyway.  Never know what you might see. 

 

Our first stop was on the Holy Trinity Square by the Holy Trinity Statue.  This type of statue is common in Eastern Europe, we saw on in Vienna.  Most of them were constructed in thanks for surviving the plague and this one is no exception.  Across the square from the statue is the Church of Our Lady, more commonly known as Matthias Coronation Church.  This is the church where Habsburg kings were crowned including Charles IV the last Habsburg king.  King Matthias two weddings took place here.  It's a marvelous church inside but it was closed because they were holding a service.

 

We walked up onto the Fisherman's Bastion for a great view over the Danube and the Pest side of the city.  You can see the Parliament, Saint Stephen's Basilica and quite a bit of Pest because that side of the river is so flat.  Buda has all the hills.  The name Fisherman's Bastion stems from the fact that trade guilds were given the responsibility for the maintenance and manning of certain portions of the wall.  This part right by the Matthias Church was the responsibility of the fishermen.

 

Next stop, Heroes Square.  This monument to the founders, protectors and rulers of Hungary never fails to impress.  It's made up of two curved colonnades with a tall column in the center of the square.  At the base of the column are the mounted bronzes of the leaders of the seven tribes that founded Hungary in the 9^th century.  Atop the column is the Archangel Gabriel holding the Holy Crown of St. Stephan in one hand and the two-barred cross awarded to him for his efforts to convert Hungary buy the Pope.  The colonnades have 7 statues of historical heroes of Hungary each.

 

After a drove by of the Zoo we headed back to the hotel so we can get ready for out dinner and Budapest by night cruise.

 

The dinner was good but the views of Budapest light up were great.  Photography under these circumstances is challenging but I did manage to get a few nice shots.