Russia and Poland Trip
May/June 2018
to gain all while you give,
to roam the roads of lands remote,
to travel is to live."
Hans Christian Andersen
"Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow"
Anita Desai
Tuesday, May 22
Tuesday was a travel day for us. It started early with being taken to the San
Diego Airport at 4:15 AM. Our plane took
off for Newark, New Jersey. We arrived
there at about 2:30 PM with a 3 hour layover before we caught the flight from
there to Stockholm, Sweden. We boarded
the SAS flight at about 5:15 PM and then headed out on the 2nd leg of our
trip. It was a little exciting when I
got up to utilized the restroom. Laura
was dozing when there was a commotion in the aisle right by our seats. A man had fainted and Laura’s first concern
was that it was me. All turned out well,
the man recovered and they got him back to his seat and I was able to return to
my seat. The rest of the flight was
uneventful.
Wednesday, May 23
We landed in Stockholm at 7:15 AM local. We had a 4 hour layover before continuing on
to Saint Petersburg. There was no
excitement on that flight.
We landed at 2:15 PM local.
This was the end after about 16 hours of air travel plus another 7 hours
of wait time in airports. As a result,
we were pretty tired. Neither of us was
able to get much sleep on the flights.
When we landed in Saint Petersburg, we had to clear Russian
Customs and Immigrations. That went
well and then we went to claim our luggage.
We started to get concerned when many of the bags had been unloaded but
ours had not showed up yet. Then finally
there came our bags. Now the rush to get
bags started again. People pushed in
front of us to be there when their bags arrived. I saw our bag come off and tried to grab it
but could not get a good grip. The bag
pulled me off balance and there was a sudden gust of gravity and I fell
catching myself on my front tooth on a luggage cart. I got up, spitting out broken tooth into my
hand. Fortunately there was no bleeding
and no trauma to my mouth. I just ended
up with a bump on the forehead and a front tooth broken in half.
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| Our ship - the River Victoria |
After the tour briefing, we had a good dinner. Then it was time for bed.
Thursday, 24 May
We arose at 6:30 am and were off to breakfast at 7:30. After a hearty breakfast, we boarded the
buses for our first tour. It was a bus
tour of the city of Saint Petersburg with a canal boat ride. The bus tour was a typical on the right, we
have (insert site) and on the left (insert site). They did stop at several places so we could
get off the bus to take pictures.
Of course at each stop there were vendors hawking their
wares to the tourists. The other reason
to stop at the souvenir shops were the free restrooms. Not that the pay toilets were expensive, only
30 rubles. The rate of exchanges is
approximately 60 rubles to $1.00 US.
We also stopped at the Church on the Spilled Blood before they
released us for 90 minutes of “free” time to have lunch.
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| Church on the Spilled Blood |
Laura and I found a small cafeteria not far from the
Cathedral for a small lunch. I tried the
roasted pumpkin soup which was very good, Laura had a rice and lamb dish. We then walked back to the Arts Square to the
Pushkin Statue where we were meeting the guide for the next tour which was of
the Peter and Paul Fortress. It is the
fort that Peter the First built to protect the city of Saint Petersburg. It was also the site of a prison which held
political prisoners prior to execution or their sentence to Siberia at hard
labor.
The view of the prison rooms were a stark difference from
the opulance of the cathedral in the fortress.
The tours have been interesting but very crowded and there is not a lot
of time to really see everything because you have to keep up with the
group. As it were, one wife lost her
husband and the tour guide was running around and calling everyone to try to
find him. After about an hour, he was
found. He had accidently joined another tour group. All of us tourists look alike.
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| Peter and Paul Fortress |
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| Church at the fortress |
Traffic was busy on our return to the ship because of an international conference, so we were an hour late getting back to the ship.
Friday, May 25th
Shipboard breakfast and dinner are times were we have met
many other people who are taking the cruise.
We have been surprised of the number of people who we have met who were
from San Diego County or from Washington State.
So with meeting these people, breakfast and dinner are leisurely.
Our tour today left the ship at 8:30 for the Hermitage
Museum. This was a 1/2 day tour with the
afternoon being free time. The Hermitage
Museum is huge. They said that if you only
spent 30 seconds at each item of art work, it would take you 7 years to see
everything. The Hermitage is the former Winter Palace of the Tsars.
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| Hermitage Museum |
After the tour, Laura and I split up. She took her free time to wander around the city near the Hermitage before returning to the ship. I went back to the ship so that I could be taken to a local dentist to have my tooth repaired. After 90 minutes in the dentist’s chair, I was happy with my repair. We had been concerned about the expense but did have travel insurance which would cover the dental repair. I was very surprised when I received a bill for 5000 ruples which was about $83.00 US.
I got back to the ship shortly after Laura. We had a quick buffet dinner and then changed to catch the bus that was taking us to the Alexandrinsky Theater to see a performance of the Swan Lake Ballet. It was a very enjoyable but it made for a very late night. This was the start of the Summer Nights. At 11 PM, it was still twilight.
Saturday, May 26th
This morning after breakfast, we boarded the bus for a tour
of Catherine’s Palace. This was the Summer
Palace and is about 1 hour outside of St. Petersburg.
The tours were quick and the rooms were crowded. Laura likes to take pictures without people
in them but that is difficult, she would hang back until we were leaving a room
to catch the room before the next group entered. The palaces/museums that we visited were set
up the same way. The entrance lead from
room to room decorated to impress the visitors to the Palace, the next floor
would have the ballrooms and dining rooms which would display items of art.
The top floors were for the children of the residents and the
staff. The kitchen was in a separate
building. I guess that is why Russians
have an affinity for a cold soup.
After the tour of Catherine’s Palace we boarded the bus to travel to the Peterhof Gardens. This was about an hour away and was another Summer Palace. It took us a little longer than planned because it was Ancestor’s Day and many families were travelling to visit the graves of their family.
After the tour of Catherine’s Palace we boarded the bus to travel to the Peterhof Gardens. This was about an hour away and was another Summer Palace. It took us a little longer than planned because it was Ancestor’s Day and many families were travelling to visit the graves of their family.
We did not visit the palace here at Peterhof as the focus
was on the gardens and fountains. The
gardens were over 200 acres much was forest land with trees that Peter had
imported. Very little was done in
flowers because of the short growing season.
The majority of the flowers we saw were either tulips or pansies.
Peter had a sense of humor.
There were a number of trick fountains that would spray people who
ventured near them. There would be a
servant hidden from view who would set them off. All the fountains were gravity fed.
As we left Peterhof we passed by one of the residences of President Putin. He was supposedly in St. Petersburg while we were there.
After the tour we returned to the ship for the Captain’s
Reception and Dinner. It was a good
day. We have been lucky on the
weather. Saint Petersburg averages only
about 30 to 45 days of sunny skies. That
is why many of the buildings are painted in a bright yellow, blue or
green. It is to offset the grayness of
the normal day. We have had 4 straight
days of beautiful, blue sunny skies. The
temperature was warm and except when we took the canal boat ride there was no
strong breeze. Out on the canals, it got
quite chilly.
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| Peterhof Gardens |
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| One of Putin's residences |
After dinner the ship started the trip up the river towards
Moscow. There was a very nice sunset.Saturday night, we were underway up the river towards Moscow. We entered Ladoga Lake, the largest in Europe covering 7,000 square miles. By morning, we had entered the Svir River. We had a late morning, we were allowed an extra hour before breakfast.
The morning was spent after breakfast attending a lecture on
the “Feminine Rule in Russia”. There was
an opportunity to experience an Oxygen cocktail which was a fizzy fruit
drink. Interesting but it was not high
on my list of beverage choices.
We took a ride around the area on a horse drawn
carriage. Then we went to a little shop
to taste their pirogi. That was
different because we were used to seeing meat pies like a Cornish pasty and
they also had fruit ones that were open faced like a pizza. We tried a dew berry one and it was very
good. On the way back to the ship, we
saw a wooden slide for children. First
thought was “Boy, those Russian kids are tough.
Just think of the splinters.” We
found out that it was only used in winter because then it is used for
sledding. There are no hills in the
area.
It was an interesting visit but the purpose was to give the
passengers an opportunity to purchase souvenirs. We returned to the ship and got underway at
4:30 PM. Laura went up to the main
lounge and painted a Matryoska doll (stacking doll).
Dinner was very good and we had as one of our table mates a
retired Nevada National Guard General.
After his retirement he worked for Homeland Security. It was an interesting conversation. But soon it was off to bed to prepare for
another day.
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| The Matryoska Doll that Laura hand painted |
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| The smaller of the 2 wooden churches |
When we awoke, we were cruising the Onega Lake which is the
second largest lake in Europe. At 8:15
AM, we docked at the village of Kizhi.
It is on an island in the lake and is a museum of examples of early
Russian dwellings. It also has the #3
ENESCO World Heritage site.
There are actually two churches. The larger is the summer church and the
smaller was the winter church. The
summer church is under restoration so we were not able to go into it. These were churches for the common people. They are constructed of pine wood with only a
few iron nails used on the roof. The
icons were painted by peasants from the villages nearby. After we left the summer church, we visited the home of one
of the wealthier members of the church.
He was the treasurer. The various
rooms had items on display to show how they lived. There was a young lady in the living
room/kitchen/bedroom of the home that was spinning thread from goat hair. The
guide said that women would spin thread all winter and then in the spring when
it got lighter, they would weave the fabric to make their families
clothing.
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The icons on the wall tell the story of the bible, because
most people back then could not read
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We also passed another small church where a gentleman was
ringing the bells. We saw a wooden
windmill which was used to grind wheat and rye into flour. Then there was another small church. We had made the circuit and were on our way
back to the ship. This was a short visit
as we were supposed to be back on the ship by 10:30 AM. But since we were tied up outside of three
other ships when we landed, we had about a 30 minute delay while two of the
ships left and ours moved in closer.
After returning to the ship, we attended a lecture “ The
Russian Monarchy and its Tragedy”. It
was very interesting.
Then we were dismissed for lunch. This afternoon will be filled with a Russian
Cuisine Presentation and Pierogi tasting.
Later they will have a Russian Language class. I am not going to that as the dental implant
from my KGB overlords allows me now to speak and understand Russian
fluently.
Not that we have had time to watch the televison but the
last two nights the movies have been “From Russia with Love” and “Dr.
Zhivago”. I think they have a theme
going.
Tuesday, May 29th
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| Ruins of the Kroskhino Church |
We did not stop cruising the river until we tied up at the
village of Goritsy at 1:30 PM. About 2
hours prior to our arrival, we sailed past the remains of the Kroskhino Church
which was flooded when they constructed the Volga-Baltic Canal.
Our tour today was a visit to the village of Goritsy which
was described as a small village where you can see how life is in the North of
Russia. The village has a population of
about 600. We took the walking tour
which took us to a view point so we could take a picture of the Resurrection
Convent which in ancient times had up to 400 nuns mostly members from high
families who had lost their virtue. Now
there are about 20. Afterwards we
visited the home of a retired Russian Army Border Guard who proudly showed off
the home that he had built there. Of
interest was the stove which did double duty not only heating the house but
also cooking his food. He also had a
pallet to sleep on the top of it. His grandmother
slept there and lived until she was 99 years old. |
| We visited this home in Goritsy |
After the visit to the school, we ran the gauntlet of
souvenir shops to return to the ship.
Back on the ship, Laura went to listen to a talk given by
the Ship’s Souvenir Shop manager about the various products which are typical
for purchase and how they are made.
Afterwards there was a Vodka sampling.
We were given three shots of different types of vodka and learned a
little about each of them. The cranberry vodka was our favorite. It was a very popular presentation.
Dinner was a Russian dinner.
We had borscht and beef stroganoff.
The stroganoff was different in that it is served with mashed potatoes
unlike the noodles to which we are accustomed.
Wednesday, May 30
We were allowed another late morning as we would be cruising
up the Volga River until we reach Uglich in the midafternoon.
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| One of the towns we passed along the river |
We would also pass what might be summer homes built on the
riverbank. Some were very nice some were
old and a little ramshackle. There were
also boat house built along the shore from time to time.
At 10 AM, the ship had another popular event. It was a Blini cooking demonstration and
tasting. Laura had a chance to cook her own
blini and then we shared it. Afterwards
there was a lecture “Russia in Transition, From Gorbachev to Putin”. We learned that the common people did not
like Gorbachev very much mainly because he restricted their consumption of
vodka.
We docked at Yaroslavl at 2:30 PM and boarded buses for a
city tour and a visit to the Church of St. Elijah the Prophet.
This was a larger town than what we had visited since St.
Petersburg. One major difference was
that the residential area was in the center of the town and the industrial area
was in the suburbs. The town was covered
with a spider web of electrical lines.
Not only were they for electrical supply to the homes and stores but
there were electric buses cruising the street.
One of the first places we were taken on the tour was a puppet theatre
and museum.
After the museum, we had to pass through their gift shop
where they were selling some very expensive lacquer ware boxes. Laura found one that was $2198 US. Needless to say, we did not buy one there.
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| St. Elijah the Prophet |
We also visited the Church of the Dormition, which also has a memorial to World War II in front of it. It had beautiful gold domes. Then we were taken to an overlook of their Millennium Park.
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| Ckhurch of the Dormition |
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| Millennium Park |
Thursday, May 31st
We crossed a lake last night which was quite rough. The ship was rocking and rolling. One of our tablemates today said a ceiling
tile fell on her in the middle of the night while another said her glass of
water tipped off the bedside table.
As a change of pace, we had an early morning as our ship was
docking at Uglich at 8:00 AM. We decided
to skip the guided tour and strike out on our own. We have had good weather so far on the trip
but today it is overcast and windy. We
both wore our leather coats off the ship which helped block some of the wind
but it was still chilly.
The statue is of Prince Dmitry who died from falling on a
knife 7 times. The next photo is the
church which was built for him. A church
that is red in color symbolizes that someone died there. The remainder of the day will be spent cruising. We are looking forward to a tea time in the lounge this afternoon.
Friday, June 1st
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| The walls and gate to the Kremlin |
We arrived in Moscow at 1:00 PM and left soon after for a
tour of the Kremlin and the Armory Museum.
Friday traffic was a Russian bear.
I had always thought of the Kremlin as a single building but it is a
collection of buildings in the fortress which established Moscow. It contains a number of churches and
governmental buildings such as the Russia Senate.
We were not allowed to take pictures inside the Cathedral of
Assumption that we visited nor the Armoury Museum. The Armoury Museum was a museum of Russian
treasures. It had clothing from the
czars, carriages, silver, gold and jeweled items. There was one small room which did contain
old flintlock pistols and rifles plus suits of armour.
After our tour of the Kremlin, we elbowed our way back to
the buses and drove to see a folk show.
Traffic was still bad and made worse because Putin was being presented
with new officers of the Soviet army.
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| Cathedral and cannon inside the walls of the Kremlin |
The folk show was excellent. We enjoyed it very much. We then returned to the ship by 10:00 PM for a late dinner and to bed.
Saturday, June 2nd
Today after breakfast, we had a city bus tour which took us
to see a cemetery where some of the recent leaders of the USSR were
buried. We saw Nikita Khrushchev'sgrave. The tour was rushed but the cemetery was packed with monuments. We were also driven to Sparrow Hill which is about 240 feet above the city. So it was a pretty good view point. It was interesting also because a motorcycle group had some bikes on display. My favorite was a WWII army motorcycle and sidecar outfitted with a machine gun.
We then were taken back downtown and driven to near Red
Square. We were under impressed by Red
Square. There were several
problems. They were setting up viewing
screens for the World Cup Soccer Matches which will happen in about 10 days and
the main part of the square was covered with tented booths for a Book Fair
complete with snack vendors and portapotties.
It might be more impressive if those items were not present. We did walk
past Lenin’s tomb but did not stop to pay our respects. We enjoyed what appeared to be a young man’s
military academy marching band. They
were pretty good.
After Red Square we got back on the bus and were driven to
Arabat Street which had a number of cafes and the usual souvenir shops. We had 90 minutes there to shop and to get
lunch if we so desired. We chose to have
lunch at the MyMy café (pronounced MooMoo).
We had kabobs with pickled onions and Laura also chose a mushroom dish
that was very good. Laura also found her
favorite type of shop – a grocery store.
We then got back on the bus and were driven to the Metro
station where we took a tour of 4 different stations each with their own
décor. It was very interesting but very
noisy and very crowded. I was certainly
concerned about getting seperated from the group and riding the subways of
Moscow for the rest of my life.
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| mosaic mural in the subway |
We then returned to the ship for the Captain’s Farwell
Reception and Dinner.
Sunday, June 3rd
We had nothing planned for today so we caught the
complimentary bus back to Red Square so we could visit the GUM department
store.
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| Inside the GUM department store |
After that we had about 90 minutes before the bus returned
so we stopped into a little café for a coffee for me and a milk shake for Laura
while we people watched while we enjoyed your drinks.
Afterwards we walked to the meeting place to
await the guide to lead us back to where the bus would pick us up. Just before we got there, they must have been
testing something for the World Soccer Cup games because there was red and gold
foil strips all over the area. Children
were scooping up handfuls and throwing it up into the air. The down side was the poor street cleaners
were trying to sweep it up and it was blowing back just as fast as they swept
it.
Our guide, Eleana rounded up all of us and took us back to the bus and we returned to the ship. Laura is starting to pack while I compose this. We depart the ship and Russia tomorrow morning to continue our trip to join up with the Scotties in Poland.
Afterwards we walked to the meeting place to
await the guide to lead us back to where the bus would pick us up. Just before we got there, they must have been
testing something for the World Soccer Cup games because there was red and gold
foil strips all over the area. Children
were scooping up handfuls and throwing it up into the air. The down side was the poor street cleaners
were trying to sweep it up and it was blowing back just as fast as they swept
it. Our guide, Eleana rounded up all of us and took us back to the bus and we returned to the ship. Laura is starting to pack while I compose this. We depart the ship and Russia tomorrow morning to continue our trip to join up with the Scotties in Poland.
Monday, June 4th
Our departure from Russia was not without its problems. We were awoken at 6:15 AM by Kalinka to
inform us that our plane had been cancelled and we should come to the desk and
she would help us get a booking. When we
got there, we learned that the airline said that there was not a flight to Warsaw
with the flight number that our tickets said we were to be flying on. Laura and Kalinka worked and finally got us a
flight with Lot airlines which were a Polish airline company.
This changed the airport and our departure time from the
ship. So now instead of leaving the ship
at 8:15 AM for a 12:15 PM flight, we were leaving the ship at 10:45 for a 6:05
PM flight. We got to the airport which
was the closest to the ship and were dropped off at Terminal E. We found out that we could not check in until
2 hours before the flight so we looked for a place to sit for the next 4
hours. There was a Starbucks right by
the check in desk so we went purchased a drink and camped out in a couple of
fairly comfortable chairs. When time
came to check in, we were told that we had to go to Terminal D which was about
a 15 minute walk away. We trudged
through the airport until we reached Terminal D and we could not find any signs
for Lot airlines. Finally we asked a
gate attendant and she sent us to the Aeroflot counter. Sure enough we were flying on Aeroflot
instead of Lot. We had to go through
customs, passport control, once more through security before we arrived to
where the plane was boarding. Since it
was getting late and we had not eaten lunch, we decided to have a Burger King
burger. It was not our first choice but
it was the only show in town in that part of the airport. Laura ordered our burgers and they called for
us to start boarding. So we took our
dinner in a paper bag, juggled our drinks and headed off to ride the bus to go
to the airplane.
The flight was only 2 hours, dinner was barely worth eating
and then Laura commented that Aeroflot has a reputation of being held together
with duct tape. I didn’t think too much
about it until as we were getting off the plane I saw a nut lying on a seat
that had fallen off something. It
obliviously was nothing important because we did land safely.
We reclaimed our luggage, traipsed through the airport to
passport control, through customs and then out to catch a taxi with a stop at
an ATM so we would have some of the local money – Polish Zloty. We arrived at the hotel with no difficulties
and met up with the Scotties who had their own problems getting to Warsaw. They had only arrived about an hour earlier.
We retired to the bar to have a beer and to visit before we
called it a night. It was good to see
them once again, the beer was good but the friendship was better.
Tuesday, June 5th
This morning we met Malcom and Myra in the restaurant and
after breakfast, we headed out to catch the local bus to take us to the Old
Town area of Warsaw. With a little
assistance from a very nice lady we were able to purchase our 3 day bus pass
and catch the bus. I found it refreshing
that younger Poles gave up their seats on the bus for the elder ladies. After about 15 minute bus ride, we arrived at
the beginning of the Old Town to begin our adventure.
Because we had not seen enough churches in Russia, the first
place Laura spotted was Saint Anne’s church.
As we wandered through the streets of the Old Town, it was
fascinating to see the details on the buildings. We really liked the decorations and the old
signs.
Laura fell in love with a black schnauzer that was passing
by. Although you can’t tell it from the
pictures, there were large groups of school children touring the city. They ranged from maybe 3rd graders to high
school. All seemed fairly well behaved
but the younger ones were more interested in purchasing little toys and such
from the vendors in the squares or getting ice cream from the shops. Not to be out done, we stopped at a café on
the square and had a beer while we sat and people watched.
We wandered through the Old Town looking in the Amber shops,
I found an antique shop which I found very interesting. We then took a Hop-on Hop-off bus tour which
took an hour. We just rode the entire
trip not getting off anywhere along the route.
It was disappointing. I think
that the narrative that was being played was not really in sync with our
drive. It also started to sprinkle so
the driver put the retractable top over the top deck of the bus. Fortunately when we got to the end of the
line it had stopped and the sun was shining once again. Life is good.
We found a place to have an early dinner. I had a potato pancake in goulash and Laura
had white polish sausage plus sharing a plate of 9 pierogis with Myra. Afterwards we caught the bus back to the
hotel where we played Mexican Train and shared a bottle of wine until it was
time to call it a night.
Wednesday, June 6th
Today after breakfast we journeyed out on the bus in the
opposite direction to visit King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanow. It was built in 1677 and is special because
it is the only thing that the Germans had not destroyed in Warsaw during its
occupation during WWII.
The Palace was grand as most palaces are. It was interesting though how the displays
were set up. You would enter a section
and continue through a series of rooms and then come to a dead end. You would have to back track back through
everything you had already seen before you could get to the next area of
displays. Also they did not exit you
through a gift shop.
The gardens were fantastic.
We really enjoyed walking through them and admiring the flowers and
trees that were planted.
When we were finished walking through the garden, we stopped at a small ice cream shop for a treat. We then thought it was getting to be getting close to dinner so we stopped at a little sidewalk café for a beer and dinner. Then it was back on the bus with only a little confusion of what bus and which way it was going. We did safely return to the hotel and bid our good nights.
Thursday, June 7th
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| A peacock in the park |
We were fortunate to be visiting the park and the palace on
Thursday because entrance to the palace was free today for solo visitors. We had a very nice walk through the palace
admiring all the art and décor that was displayed there.
I was impressed by much of what I saw but was really
surprised by the ivory stocked flintlock rifle that was on display. We wandered out of the park and realized that we had not exited on the same street from where we entered. We walked and walked until we found some people who gave us conflicting directions on how to return to Old Town. Finally we did find a bus that took us to the City Center where the train station was located. After a few minutes, it was decided that we would take a taxi the rest of the way to Old Town.
We wandered around for a while, stopped for a beer in a
street side café and then caught the bus back to the hotel. We had dinner in the hotel restaurant. While we were waiting, we watched large
groups of tourists come walking into the hotel with their luggage. Soon the restaurant was quite busy and
noisy. We finished our dinners and
adjourned to our room to play a short game of Mexican Train. This ended our last day in Warsaw for this
portion of the trip.
Friday, June 8th
We awoke, packed our bags so we were ready to leave and went
down for breakfast. The dining room was
an absolute madhouse. The staff said we
could get our breakfast and then cross the lobby and go eat in the conference
room. It was a battle to get anything to
eat and there was a line 10 deep waiting to get coffee.
We checked out and called for a taxi which took us to the
Central Train Station. We already had
tickets with assigned seats and we knew what train, what platform and what car
we were supposed to get onto. When the
train arrived we bustled to get our bags on and to reach our seats. Shortly after we were seated a group of women
came up claiming that we were in their seats.
We showed them our tickets and finally another passenger explained to
them that they were in the wrong car.
The trip to Krakow was only 2 l/2 hours and was an express
train so we did not have any stops with the exception of when we had to wait to
allow another train gong the other direction to pass. |
| Cloth Hall in Krakow's main square |
Saturday, June 9th
Today we left the hotel and took the tram to visit the Wawel
Royal Castle. It was a bright sunny
shiny morning with the promise of reaching 86 degrees by afternoon.
The castle was wonderful, I wish we could share what we saw
but they did not allow any photography inside of any of the building. It was a shame. Now the castle was not as ornate as the ones
that we saw in Warsaw. It did house the
largest collection of Flemish tapestries in the world. They had 134 of the original 160 that
belonged to the castle. During WWII they
were bundled up and travelled around Europe before finally being placed in
Canada. They were returned to Poland in
the 1960’s.
After touring the castle, we exited via the Dragon’s Den
which was a very long spiral staircase which leads to a cave that came out in
front of one of the walls of the castle.
At the entrance of the cave was a statue of the Wawel dragon which
breathed fire every 5 minutes.
After exiting the castle, we took an hour long cruise on the
river. It was pleasant but there really
was not much to see along the riverbank.
Afterwards we walked back towards the castle looking for our tram
stop. We found a restaurant instead and
stopped for dinner. Laura had a dish
consisting of chopped duck in a sauce wrapped in pancakes. I had a bowl of goulash. Both meals were very good.
We then returned to the hotel for a quick game of Mexican
Train and then to our rooms to prepare for tomorrow’s adventure.
Sunday, June 10th
The morning skies were gray and gloomy which fit the mood
for the first adventure today. We were
picked up by a guide in a van and were transported to the front gates of
Auschwitz. I don’t know what I was
expecting but I was surprised that the buildings were 2 story brick structures
for the most part. We were marched
through a number of them that were set up as displays on how the prisoners
lived and died. All around us were large
photographs of the people being processed.
We entered the camp under the gates which said “Work will
set you free” and through the double wire fences into the camp. Each building was to house 750 to 1000
individuals. Women and girls were
separated from the men and small boys.
We entered another brick building which was displays of the
belongings that were taken from the people as they were processed. There were rooms filled with shoes, eye
glasses, suitcases, pots and pans, hair brushes, artificial legs, and one of
the most disturbing was a room filled with human hair. The guide said when the Russian Army
liberated the camp they found 17 tons of human hair packed for shipment.
They also walked us into the barracks that they used to test
the poison gas prior to building the permanent structures at Birkenau. It was very weird to walk into the room where
the prisoners were herded and then gassed; even more so to then exit past the
ovens in the crematorium. The tour took
almost 2 hours. We met our driver; he
presented us with a bottle of water and a sandwich roll with cheese and tomato. I must say I did not have much of an
appetite.
After our 15 minute lunch break we were driven to Birkenau
which was maybe two miles away from Auschwitz.
Birkenau was a death camp. It was
huge. Many of the buildings there were
wooden and either was burnt by the SS officers when the Russian Army got near
or just fell apart over the years. There
were also brick barracks. Some of them
were used to house Russian POW’s and others for women.
We entered this camp along the train tracks that would have
brought the prisoners there in railway wagons.
The sun had come out by now but it did not really brighten the
mood. In fact the hot sun made the march
more oppressive.
We walked to the far end of the camp where the three gas
chambers and ovens were located. They
had all been destroyed by the SS troops as they were leaving the camp. There was a memorial to the victims located
nearby.
We then walked back towards the other end of the camp
passing the majority of the brick buildings.
We did stop in one that was called the “Death Barrack” because it was
where the Jewish women were taken prior to their date with the gas
chamber. They might stay there 3 to 4
days without food or water.
The sleeping arrangements were 7 – 10 people on each of the
three layers. Not exactly the Holiday
Inn.
 |
| The Germans tried to destroy all the evidence at Birkenau |
That ended our tour and just so the day was not all gloom
and doom, we travelled back to Krakow and then about 45 minutes past Krakow to
visit the Wieliczka Salt mine. Our
driver told us when we arrived that we were too early for our tour so he took
us into a near by resturant where we could get something to eat and drink. It was a very nice, quaint little place but
the service was terrible. They were slow
to take our order, then when it arrived the orders were wrong, we asked several
times for salt for the fries and were told that they would go get some but it
never arrived. We thought maybe they had
to go to the salt mine to dig some for us.
We ended up borrowing a shaker from another table. Problem solved.
The tour of the salt mine was cool. I really mean that, it was about 50 degrees
in the mine with a strong breeze as we walked through the passageways. Our first hurdle was to walk down 380 steps
to reach the first chamber. Laura and I
brought up the rear. 
We ended up going down three layers for a total of 800
steps. Fortunately we did not have to
climb back up to the surface, they allowed us to use an elevator. The salt carvings were all done by the miners,
no professional sculptor did any of the work.
At the large chamber it was like the interior of a church with all the
holy statues, crystal chandliers made of wood and salt crystals. The only thing that spoiled the scene was the
gift shop in one corner.
We emerged from the salt mine and were met by our driver who
took us safely back to our hotel. We played a rousing game of Mexican Train and
then retired to prepare for the next day.
Monday, June 11th
We had decided to have breakfast in the hotel. It was alright but we will continue to bring
breakfast food from a local market to eat in our rooms.
We took the tram to the area of the Jewish section and
walked around looking at the various buildings. We found an area that had empty chairs. They represented the Jews who were missing from Krakow.
We ended up crossing the river and finally locating Schindler’s factory which has been turned into museum showing the residents of Krakow under Nazi occupation. It also described what Schindler did to protect his workers. It was a very moving experience walking through the displays and reading what survivors wrote about their experiences.
We ended up crossing the river and finally locating Schindler’s factory which has been turned into museum showing the residents of Krakow under Nazi occupation. It also described what Schindler did to protect his workers. It was a very moving experience walking through the displays and reading what survivors wrote about their experiences.
The museum was a series of narrow halls with many alcoves which displayed personal items or photos portraying events in the ghetto. Often times there would be pictures on a wall but then there would be a plexiglass sheet with a faint image which gave the impression that you were looking at ghosts walking through the scene.
After that tour, it was time to find a café and order a
small beer. The ladies chose lemonade.
We wandered about the Old Town area for awhile looking at
the sights and at the people. We found a
little rustic resturant back off the square where we had dinner and then
returned to the hotel.
Tuesday, June 12th
We awoke this morning to the pitter patter of rain on the
street outside of the hotel. We took our
time and when we finally decieded to head out exploring it had stopped. We rode the tram back down to the area of the
Market Square in the Old Town. We started
exploring some of the side streets which we had not been on in previous
visits.
We visited the Basilica of the Holy Trinity but like many
churches, it was under a rather complete restoration. The naves down each side of the church were
blocked off and the area of the main altar was also under reconstruction so
they had hung a hugh canvas painting of what it looked like.
We walked past St. Mary’s Basilica which faced out onto the
Market Square. They charged an admission
fee for tourists. The ticket office was
closed and the door that tourists could enter was closed. 
As we walked around we started to feel rain drops, so we headed to the Cloth Hall and found an empty table at one of the cafes. We ordered coffee and sat there talking, watching the people run through the square and listening to the bells of St. Mary ring out the time. On the hour there was a trumpet call from the bell tower. It was all very enjoyable.
After the rain finally stopped we walked across the square
to look at the windows of a wax museum.
They had figures of Albert Einstein and Dobby the House Elf in the front
windows. In the lobby we could see a
figure of Hillary Clinton which did not look anything like her and a figure of
Mother Teresa. We asked Dobby where a
good resturant was for an early dinner but he would not answer us. I guess he could not understand English. So we asked one of the street corner tour
salesmen. He told us of a place just
down the street and around the corner that he said was very good and
reasonable. I think it belonged to a
cousin. It seems that everyone has a
cousin who owns either a resturant or gift shop. We located the resturant and were ushered in
and down the stair to the basement of the building. It was very rustic establishment with large
wooden plank tables and benches.
Laura had a lamb sausage roll with potato dumplings while I
had a breaded pork chop with fries. Both
meals were served on wooden trenchers.
You can’t get any more rustic than that.
After the resturant, we wandered about a little while longer
trying to find the tram stop which would take us back to the hotel. Laura always tries to take pictures with as
few people in them as possible and Malcolm thought he would mess with her a
little. 
We did find the correct place to catch the tram back to the hotel and then played another game of Mexican Train until it was so dark that it was difficult to read the dominos.
Wednesday, June 13th
Today was a travelling day.
We checked out of the hotel at 8:30, caught a taxi and went to the train
station to catch the 9:53 AM train to Gdansk.
On the train previously we had seats that faced each other with a table
inbetween so we were planning to play some more Mexican Train but alas that was
not to happen. This time we had seats
facing the same direction so we spent the time on the train reading or looking
at the pastoral scenes. We arrived at
Gdansk at 3:20 PM. We caught a taxi to
take us to the hotel. The taxi driver
was so excited to get a fare that he took off before Laura was completely in
the taxi.
Anyway we got to the Stay Inn hotel safely. The room is small; you have to go out into
the hallway to change your mind. After
we unpacked we headed out to do a little recon of the area. We found a place for dinner then walked down
towards the port. We met a couple from
North Carolina who had already been here a day.
They were going to Warsaw and then to Krakow so we shared information on
what we had seen. It started to sprinkle
so we headed back to the hotel and called it a night. 
Thursday June 14th
We awoke and set out to conquer the town. But first we needed to find breakfast. We found a place just up the street from our
hotel that had a very good looking menu.
Fortunately the food was also good.
From there we wandered the street, tramping up and down, exploring the
various amber shops. There are many of
those and if you can’t find it there are plenty of street vendors set up along
the street displaying their offerings. Each of the towns that we have visited in Poland has had
a
different flair in the architecture of their buildings. Warsaw we saw very ornate designs in the
stucco walls and a wide range of colors.
Krakow was more plain style of building.
Gdansk is a combination of modern and ancient style. Some of the buildings have corner stones that
show that they were first built in the 1600’s.
Also there is a profusion of metal art and statuary on the buildings
which we have found fascinating.  |
| Sopot Pier |
 |
Grand Hotel in Sopot
Many famous old-time stars stayed here
|
One of the things that we have become accustomed to is large
groups of children being lead through the streets two by two. They came in all sizes up to teenagers but
the cutest were the little kids. At
times it seems like they are following us.
We headed back to Gdansk about 4 PM, rested for a little bit
before heading out to find somewhere to have dinner. One of the handicaps today was that the World
Cup games were being televised in many of the cafes and the fans got very loud
and rowdy from time to time. We finally
found a place where we could have a reasonably quiet dinner.
Saturday, June 16th
We arose and headed back to our favorite breakfast
place. For a change of pace today we
walked back to the river way and followed it until we came to the
drawbridge. We crossed it just as it was
getting ready to rise. It was good
timing on our part. 
We had a much better view across the river of the buildings
that we had been walking next to for the past 2 days. We watched the pirate ship return from its
cruise and even watched some adventurous kayakers paddling up a side channel of the river.
There were many yachts moored on this side of the river and one not so
good looking boat. We also saw a very
nice Caddy that was an advertisement for a nearby restaurant.
We stopped in a café for a drink and then walked on awhile
before finding some steps where we stopped to eat some pastries that we had
purchased. It was there were Laura saw
her king – The Lizard King. We returned
to the hotel to rest up prior to going out for dinner. Today is our last day in Gdansk. Tomorrow we board the train and head back to
Warsaw and a hotel at the airport. Our
shopping is done, our bags are perilously close to being overweight; I think
the vacation is over.
Sunday, June 17th
Today was a travelling day.
We checked out of the hotel and caught a taxi to the train station. We had tickets for a train to Warsaw. We found the correct place to catch the train
and when it arrived we hustled our bags onto it. Unfortunately this train already had a lot of
passengers already onboard so we could not get all our bags into the nice
shelves in the bag storage area. Two of
the bags had to sit in the aisle where I kept a close watch on them to make
sure that they did not scoot across the aisle.
The train ride to Warsaw was uneventful, as was the taxi
ride to the hotel, which was located near the airport. We had planned it that way to insure that we
would not have problems with traffic when we were going to catch our respective
airplanes.
If we thought that the hotel room in Gdansk was small, this
one was smaller. The head of the bed was
on one wall and the foot was on the other wall.
In order to get to the other side of the bed, you had to crawl
over. .We ate in the hotel which was not really exciting. It was cafeteria style with not a big selection. We saw only a few people other than the 4 of us who were eating there.
We did find a table so we could play some Mexican Train with
Myra and Malcolm to pass the time. We said our farewells and headed off to bed.
Monday, June 18th
We awoke early and took the hotel shuttle to the
airport. Our flight was for 9:30 AM so
we had time for a quick breakfast.
Service was slow but we did finish in time to catch the flight. We had a layover and a change of planes in
Copenhagen. When we got there, we
learned that our connecting flight was going to be delayed by 3 hours. This was a bit of concern because we did not
have much time to clear customs in San Francisco. The flight from Copenhagen was long and
boring. We could not sleep because of
the noise so we read and watched the movies that were being shown on the little
screens.
When we landed in San Francisco, we rushed to get off the
plane. We were lucky in that we were
only 3 seats back from the good seats so we did not have many people ahead of
us. We got through customs fairly
quickly but then you have to wait to claim your luggage and take it to be
rebooked. It seemed like our bags were
the last ones off the plane. We dropped
off the bags and headed for the gate. We
still had about 15 minutes to catch the flight to San Diego.
Of course, we had to go through security once again which
ate up much of our time. We rushed on
to find our gate and arrived there 7 minutes after the plane left. So we had to go find the service center to
get rebooked on the next plane. That was
another adventure as we were given 3 different directions to get to the service
center.
We did get rebooked and were on our way by 8:35 PM to San
Diego. Kim and James met us and drove us
home. We felt like the Walking
Dead. The trip had started at 7:30 AM
and ended at 10:30 PM which doesn’t sound too bad until you add in the 10 hour
difference between our starting location and the ending location. When you figure it all up, we had been
travelling for 25 hours. But now it is
over, we slept in our own beds.
Tuesday, June 19th
The trip is over, bags are unpacked & stored away until
next time, 3 loads of laundry have been done and the refrigerator
restocked. Life is good. Now we have a month to get ready for our next
trip – a visit to the great Pacific North Wet and the cabin on the Washougal
River.
I hope you have enjoyed the pictures and my words. Until next time. Sincerely, George and Laura
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A group picture of the 4 travelers, plus a child we don't know
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