Trip to Poland in August 2010

July 30th, 2010 - August 12th, 2010

Trip Memories

Poland

by Kate Schwan

Direct Flight from Chicago to Warsaw

In Warsaw we step foot off the plane, this city has the largest population of Poles in the world, and Chicago-the second largest.

Upon our arrival, we lunch at an outdoor café across from our hotel; it is my first taste of Pierogi outside the US. I am delighted that it is boiled rather than fried, filled with sauerkraut and mushrooms and Mark is quite satisfied with the mushroom zupa.

It is the 66th anniversary of the Warsaw uprising of 1944 and the Royal Route is partitioned off for military festivities of celebration, of remembrance.

We begin to walk on foot to the Old Town market square where there are crowds participating in this festival. We pause at the statue of the mermaid, Syrneka, where pigeons and doves are eating sunflower seeds out of an elderly man’s hand and when one rests on his shoulder, he smiles in appreciation.

Belgian horses (perhaps they are a Polish breed but they look like Belgian to me) pulling carriages- the clopping sound of horse shoes bring another era alive. Artists line the market square with woodcarvings, oil paintings and portrait drawings.

Monetary contributions from countries around the world contributed to the reconstruction of Old Town which our guide informs us was 90% destroyed by German bombs, only the stone arched entrance of the Royal Castle remained, a testament to empathic support heard and responded to around the world.

Around a corner, we are introduced to the birthplace of Poland’s beloved composer, Fryderyk Chopin, and a musical composition of this classical pianist fills the air.

We pause for narrative information at Maria Sklodowska Curie’s museum who along with her husband Pierre discovered polonium and radium receiving the Nobel Prize in Physics. And though she married a Frenchman and moved to France, her heart resided in Poland, our guide emphasized. We did not have the time to visit her museum on this trip; it will have to take place on the next- though this is my first visit I know I will be returning soon.

We dine at a regional restaurant on ethnic zupa, duck, currants, peach and pear slices, pickled beets and potato. Wine and a fruit dessert of pineapple complete this welcome reception to Warsaw.

Some of our party walk to the Cathedral for Mass this evening, while others who feel weakened by the flight and extensive walk of this afternoon’s tour, return to the hotel for an early evening’s sleep.

As we walk to our bus, we pass so many Polish faces, many who resemble American relatives; a hospital graced by a granite statue of a woman, several stories high; and finally we pass a uniformed band headed in the direction of the festival.

It is the early hours of the morning about 3am Polish time and I cannot sleep but I don’t want to disturb Mark so I sit cross- legged in the bathroom with my journal to record yesterday’s events. When I bite into a chip, Mark sits up straight in bed and says, “I think I hear chips”-oops, sorry.

Breakfast at the MDM Hotel is beautifully presented with every food group complete with sprigs of red currants and black currant juice. Ah, how much the Polish love their food early in the morning.

From our breakfast room, the view coldly reminds us of the socialist influence in the concrete buildings. Only 34 buildings were not destroyed during the war, 1100 were destroyed.

Our guide, Zygumut Jablonski, is a master historian of Warsaw and of Poland. In his passionate, focused oration we are introduced to the Royal Route and Lazienki, the Royal Park, where the sculpture of Chopin sitting under a willow tree symbolizes the influence, the inspiration of nature, on the composer. Surrounded by hundreds/ thousands of red rose bushes in full blossom. Amid their fragrance is the taped music of Chopin filling the air…and Zygumut, our guide poetically orates, “Chopin heard the wind and tried to imitate it!”

There are 90 parks in Warsaw; it is a “green” city. The palaces: Myslewicki Palace; Palace on the Water (17th century) where a river canoe with canopy carries passengers and a peacock roams the grounds- our youngest traveler, Miranda, is delighted with this magnificent bird’s plumage and excitedly follows to capture the beauty with her camera; and the Theatre on the island- the amphitheatre of the Park with statues of poets and philosophers is a meditative oasis.

We travel to the City Centre to the Jewish ghetto to see and feel the Monument to the Heroes of the Ghetto, “Reliefs on the monument depict men, women and children struggling to flee the burning ghetto, together with a procession of Jews being driven to death camps under the threat of Nazi bayonets. In front of this monument, on 7 December 1970, Willy Brandt, Chancellor of West Germany, knelt in homage to the murdered victims.”… “the Ghetto Uprising, which began on 19 April 1943 and lasted one month, was organized by the secret Jewish Fighting Organization. Following the suppression of the Uprising, the Nazi’s razed the whole area to the ground.” What is left of the Jewish Ghetto is a powerful monument with inscriptions commemorating this immense loss. A historical photograph of the rubble shows all but a church left standing

I ask our guide about records of my grandfather who was in the Polish cavalry before he was smuggled out of Poland and immigrated through Ellis Island. He said I should go to the military office in the Old Town to research this but since today is Sunday, it is closed.

We travel to Poznan via our motor coach; along the river are preparations for a rowing competition. The view of the Malta River as we cross the bridge shows the beauty of sinewy curves in the shoreline.

This first view of Poznan seems the antithesis of Warsaw, without the Socialist influence of concrete, it feels content.

We settle into our room at the Andersia Hotel which has Japanese architectural features, crisp contour lines and dominant colors, black and red in the lobby, and a spa-like bathroom showcased in glass walls, quite elegant.

The evening meal is in the Andersia reception room where we dine on roast pork, wine and dessert. The conversation at the table is electric-we are all getting to know one another.

Quotes from DK Eyewitness Travel Poland for historical accuracy.

by Tom and Matthew Sobecki

In the morning we visited Auchwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi concentration camp. While driving to the camp we watched a movie about a Russian Army photographer who took some of the first photos of the camps after the Nazis were defeated. Visiting Auchwitz-Birkenau was sad but necessary to see -- to be in the actual place and the actual physical structures where less than 70 years ago brutality of an unimaginable scale occurred. Few words were spoken among us during the detailed tour of the camp (actually two camps several miles apart). We listened carefully as our tour guide walked us through the different sections and described some of the atrocities that had occurred. All of us were touched emotionally during this portion of our trip.

The afternoon was completely different -- we visited the Wieliczka Salt Mine, a UNESCO World Heritage place. We spent several hours inside the large mine, which was an actual working mine until about 15 years ago. The mine contains several very large and many smaller chambers. One of the largest chambers is an actual church, with Biblical scenes carved from stone on the walls. After the mine tour we drove back to our hotel in Krakow.

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