As always it took a while to sort the picture from all the different cameras, but they are finally up and can be found in the pictures section. As mentioned before, the trip was simply fantastic as many things have changed in Poland since I’ve been there last. Here is a little rundown of our itineraries. We both flew out of Austin, however while Tina flew through Washington D.C. directly to Frankfurt, I stopped for a day in New York. Originally, I intended to spend some time with Sofie, but it turned out she was on business in L. A. that week, so that was a no go. Alas, Rafi took over the entertainment duties and suffice it to say that having to suffer through a trans-Atlantic flight while hung over would be the last thing I would wish upon anyone. So yes, NYC was fun as usual and I even managed to pick up a suit for the wedding while there.
The next day, Sunday, I was off to Poland, and I flew directly into Warsaw where I was picked up by my cousin and headed to Tarczyn, which is a small village on the outskirts of Warsaw where I relaxed for the rest of the day. The following day, I headed back to Warsaw where I spent a lovely day with my grandma Wala, and a fun evening with my cousin Wojtek and his girl Magda. Many things change over eleven years, and it should be of no surprise that one of the formerly most dangerous districts in Warsaw, Praga, now hosts some of the most trendy pubs. On Tuesday, I met up with grandma Wala again and together we took a Train to Monki, where most of my dad’s family lives. Well, not exactly, we took a train to Bialystok, where Janek, the youngest of my dad’s brothers picked us up and provided a lift to Monki. As expected, we were greeted with a lot of food, followed by more food. It is impossible to visit anyone in Poland without having some tea or coffee and at least a few biscuits. After a few hours in Monki and plenty of chatter with both grandmas as well as my dad’s brother Kazik and his wife, Janek was once again nice enough to give me a ride to Olecko where I visited several more relatives, before heading back to Monki for the night.
The following day I spent some time wandering around Monki, and although it has grown a little over the last few years, it still remains largely the way I remember it from when I was a kid. Which is a good thing, since even after all these years it felt familiar and almost like a distant home. We used to visit Monki quite frequently when we lived in Poland all these years ago. After spending some more time chit chatting and a good meal it was once again time to board the train and get back to Warsaw. Once there, I met up with Wojtek again, and we went on a small city tour of Warsaw, visiting some of the new and ultra-modern shopping centers, as well as several landmarks from the communists past such as palac kultury. Thanks to Wojtek’s affective driving habits we got everywhere in a relative short amount of time. Finally, Thursday was a day of rest on which I did absolutely nothing, at least until the evening when I met up with my cousin Eva, but the happenings from there on I will leave for the next blog post.
The next day, Sunday, I was off to Poland, and I flew directly into Warsaw where I was picked up by my cousin and headed to Tarczyn, which is a small village on the outskirts of Warsaw where I relaxed for the rest of the day. The following day, I headed back to Warsaw where I spent a lovely day with my grandma Wala, and a fun evening with my cousin Wojtek and his girl Magda. Many things change over eleven years, and it should be of no surprise that one of the formerly most dangerous districts in Warsaw, Praga, now hosts some of the most trendy pubs. On Tuesday, I met up with grandma Wala again and together we took a Train to Monki, where most of my dad’s family lives. Well, not exactly, we took a train to Bialystok, where Janek, the youngest of my dad’s brothers picked us up and provided a lift to Monki. As expected, we were greeted with a lot of food, followed by more food. It is impossible to visit anyone in Poland without having some tea or coffee and at least a few biscuits. After a few hours in Monki and plenty of chatter with both grandmas as well as my dad’s brother Kazik and his wife, Janek was once again nice enough to give me a ride to Olecko where I visited several more relatives, before heading back to Monki for the night.
The following day I spent some time wandering around Monki, and although it has grown a little over the last few years, it still remains largely the way I remember it from when I was a kid. Which is a good thing, since even after all these years it felt familiar and almost like a distant home. We used to visit Monki quite frequently when we lived in Poland all these years ago. After spending some more time chit chatting and a good meal it was once again time to board the train and get back to Warsaw. Once there, I met up with Wojtek again, and we went on a small city tour of Warsaw, visiting some of the new and ultra-modern shopping centers, as well as several landmarks from the communists past such as palac kultury. Thanks to Wojtek’s affective driving habits we got everywhere in a relative short amount of time. Finally, Thursday was a day of rest on which I did absolutely nothing, at least until the evening when I met up with my cousin Eva, but the happenings from there on I will leave for the next blog post.
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