All good things must come to an end, as they saying goes. We started as a group of four on April 4th in Switzerland to a group of twelve when we all got together in Italy on April 19th. There was just the two of us traveling on May 8th, as we set out for Poland. The entire trip was memorable and unique at each and every stop.

Switzerland

This was our first ever train tour and it was really great fun. It was nice to be able to wander around the train and visit with our group as we traveled compared to the coach where we must remain seated at all times. . I am still amazed how our TD Ellen got all of us on every single train without missing a beat. She was truly amazing.

Switzerland is a country with an abundance of natural beauty. The pristine lakes, towering mountains, and lush green valleys make it a haven for nature lovers. Whether you’re an avid hiker or simply someone who appreciates the serenity of the outdoors, Switzerland has something to offer everyone.

Italy

As we started our world travels, we decided that we would not repeat a visit to any country as there are so many places to see in the world. Well, we failed that goal as this was our 5th visit to Italy. How can you not return to this beautiful country especially when it involves meeting up with wonderful friends?

From all the great meals we shared

To all the new memories made

Christopher was our first American TD but his soul was Italian through and through . Our driver Mauricio was excellent and he got us to where we needed to be safely even if it included driving in reverse for an entire block due to unexpected road construction.

Poland

When someone asked me why Poland before our trip, I always responded by saying “why not?” Now that I have traveled to Poland, I have a much different perspective.

Poland is a country rich in history with hundreds of medieval castles, excellent museums which are definitely worth visiting such as the Warsaw Rising Museum and POLIN Museum. You will be charmed by Kraków and surprised by Warsaw. Poland has 14 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and breathtaking mountain ranges. The the food is incredible which makes it a paradise for foodies. The Salt Mines were unbelievable.  But one of the best things I was  lucky enough to experience in Poland was the kindness of the people and the country’s hospitality! Every single person we encountered especially the staff at the Hilton Hotel before the tour started were all just amazing.

To old and friends and new friends, we hope to see you again one day

We visited the historic Auschwitz concentration camp on our way back to Warsaw this morning, which served as a sobering reminder of the atrocities committed during the Holocaust.

We also made a stop at the Monastery of Jasna Góra. For hundreds of years, the monastery has drawn pilgrims, and inside is a significant icon of the Virgin Mary. The icon known as the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, or Our Lady of Częstochowa, is a popularly revered figure who is credited with performing numerous miracles. It shows the Mother of God holding the Christ Child.

And just when we were getting to know everyone, it’s time to head home

We hope to meet up with Helen, Mary and Mike again one day!

Simply Thank You

Every travel day, Jacek was always there to make sure our luggage was on the coach and he always got us to our destination on time and safely.

Mietek was Simply Amazing!

It’s been a while since I’ve been this melancholy about leaving a place we’ve recently visited. Is it Poland or our wonderful tour director, Mietek, who has consistently expressed his love and admiration for his gorgeous country? Perhaps a little bit of both. It was a pleasure to meet you, Mietek; you truly gave such a joyful and passionate representation of your country.

During our few days in Kraków, we saw the Cloth Hall and St. Mary’s Basilica, as well as ancient homes, castles, and churches including the Royal Castle and Cathedral on Wawel Hill. We strolled around the lovely Old Town, Rynek Glówny. We traveled to Nowa Huta, a whole city constructed during the communist era in Poland while our Local Specialist shared some incredible communist anecdotes with us.

We wandered down Szeroka Street in the historic Kazimierz neighborhood, which is home to synagogues, Helena Rubinstein’s birthplace, the Jewish Quarter, and the Ghetto. The streets of Kazimierz provided the setting for numerous scenes in the film “Schindler’s List.” Jay and I had the opportunity to visit Schindler’s Factory Museum one afternoon.

Pope John Paul II was particularly attached to Wawel Cathedral. The Bishop, and later Cardinal Wojtyła visited the cathedral an innumerable number of times. Four decisive moments in his life were connected with the Cathedral. Karol Wojtyła, then an ordinary priest, celebrated his first Holy Mass at the neo-Romanesque altar in St Leonard’s Crypt on the 2nd of November, 1946 . The Mass was for the intention of his deceased parents and brother. Wojtyła  was consecrated bishop on the 28th of September, 1958, St Wenceslaus Day, a patron of Wawel Cathedral,. He was installed here as archbishop on the 8th of March, 1964, and later as cardinal on the 9th of July, 1967.

Wieliczka Salt Mine

This is a must-see if you’re ever in Krakow. It’s unbelievable to think that regular salt miners created these beautiful sculptures. This place is an actual piece of art! We followed our local guide 135 m (440 ft) underground to marvel at the unique sculptures and the setting of this 800-year old salt mine

The Salt Mine reaches a depth of 1,073 ft, and extends via horizontal passages and chambers for over 178 miles. The rock salt is naturally of varying shades of grey, resembling unpolished granite rather than the white crystalline substance that might be expected.

From Neolithic times, sodium chloride (table salt) was produced here from the up-welling brine. The Wieliczka salt mine, excavated from the 13th century, produced table salt continuously until 1996, as one of the world’s oldest operating salt mines. The Wieliczka Salt Mine is now an official Polish Historic Monument and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its attractions include the shafts and labyrinthine passageways, displays of historic salt-mining technology, an underground lake, four chapels and numerous statues carved by miners out of the rock salt, and more recent sculptures by contemporary artists.

I know I have said this in all the previous posts, but, I REALLY wish we could have stayed longer!

Zakopane is a resort town in southern Poland, at the base of the Tatras Mountains. It’s a popular departure point for winter sports and summertime mountain climbing and hiking. Kasprowy Wierch and Gubałówka, reachable by cable car and funicular, are nearby ski destinations offering sweeping mountain views.

The town is also known for its turn-of-the-20th-century wooden chalets, symbols of Zakopane-style architecture. 

Zakopane Style or Witkiewicz Styleis an art style, most visible in architecture, but also found in furniture and related objects, inspired by the regional art of Poland’s hightland regions, most notably Podhale. Drawing on the motifs and traditions in the buildings of the Carpathian Mountains, this synthesis was created by Stanisław Witkiewicz who was born in the Lithuanian village of Pašiaušė, and is now considered to be one of the core traditions of the Goral people.

Sanktuarium Matki Bożej Fatimskiej w Zakopanem (The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima in Zakopane)

The oldest part of the complex, the chapel of the Immaculate Heart of Virgin Mary, was built in 1951, with the statue of Our Lady of Fatima located inside. It was given to cardinal Stefan Wyszynski by the bishop of Fatima and placed in the chapel in 1961. On 15th of October 1961, Karol Wojtyla, later Pope John Paul II and bishop of Krakow at that time, consecrated the chapel and the statue.The church you see today was was created in gratitude for saving Karol Wojtyla’s life in the unsuccessful assassination attempt on 13th of May 1981. It was consecrated by Pope John Paul II in June 1997 during his sixth pilgrimage to Poland.

This was another stop that I just wished we had more time to explore!

Established by the Teutonic Knights in 1233, Toruń was tremendously lucky to escape damage during World War II and is therefore extremely well-preserved. As one of Poland’s oldest cities, it lets visitors really imagine the pace of mediaeval life while strolling among moody Gothic churches and picturesque burgher houses on cobblestone streets.

The church and Baptismal font in which Nicolas Copernicus was baptized in 1473 can be seen in a side chapel inside the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist in, Toruń, Poland.

The Leaning Tower of Toruń, while not quite Pisa, this 15-metre tower was built at the turn of the 14th century in order to defend the town, but leaned soon after due to the instability of the ground. The tower stopped performing its defensive function in the 18th century and in fact now houses an atmospheric pub where you can try one of the local brews.

Filuś is a small, cast-in bronze small mutt, sitting in the north-east corner of the Old Town Square. It is waiting there for his master, it is holding a bowler hat in its mouth and watching the umbrella which is leaning against the lantern. It is not difficult to notice that the friendly dog is a companion of the famous professor Filutek, the character of the funny drawing stories. They were published during the gloomy days of Polish People’s Republic in the popular Cracow cultural weekly magazine ‘Przekrój’ which has been published continuously since 1948.

Toruń’s famous frog fountain and adjacent statue of the raftsman commemorate the local legend of a travelling witch, who was expelled from the city, and got her vengeance by cursing Toruń with a plague of frogs. Today, the piegons enjoy the cool water from the fountain!

Wroclaw In Search of Gnomes

If you are ever in Wroclaw,  add an extra day to your trip to go in search of the gnomes. I will definitely stay longer in Toruń and Wroclaw next time.

And of course Street Art

Gdańsk (Danzig in German) is a port city on the Baltic coast of Poland. At the center of its Main Town, reconstructed after WWII, are the colorful facades of Long Market, now home to shops and restaurants. Nearby is Neptune Fountain, a 17th-century symbol of the city topped by a bronze statue of the sea god. Gdańsk is also a center for the world’s amber trade; boutiques throughout the city sell the ossified resin.

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit was born in Gdańsk. Fahrenheit invented thermometers accurate and consistent enough to allow the comparison of temperature measurements between different observers using different instruments.Fahrenheit is also credited with inventing mercury-in-glass thermometers. I’m sure I’m not the only one who remembers those things!

The European Solidarity Center is a museum and library devoted to the history of Solidarity, the Polish trade union and civil resistance movement, and other opposition movements of Communist Eastern Europe. It opened on 31 August 2014.

The Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork, commonly known as Malbork Castle, is a 13th-century castle complex located in the town of Malbork. It is the largest castle in the world measured by land area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was originally constructed by the Teutonic Order, a German Catholic religious order of crusaders  in the form of an Ordensburg fortress and named Marienburg in honor of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Kwaśne Jabłko (Sour Apple)

We enjoyed a delicious Be My Guest lunch at a farm called  Kwaśne Jabłko (Sour Apple), an organic farm and lodge tucked away from roads, in the Pasłęka River Valley. I always look forward to the Be My Guest stop and  I must say that this will be on my top 10 favorites.  

I wish we could stay here longer.

We met our fellow travelers for our tour around Poland this evening. This is the first time I’ll ever be on a coach with 51 total passengers; actually, I never knew the coach had that many seats. I just hope none of us are assigned to sit in the baggage compartment!

After our introduction, we took a ride around town and enjoyed a nice welcome meal at a local Polish restaurant that I thought was never going to stop serving food.

One of the many dishes we tasted was something called Smalec, a dish made of rendered pork fat (lard), bacon, onion, and spices. Apples are used in many recipes as well and though I don’t like cooked apples, the crust on the dessert was perfect with the ice cream!

May 12: Mother’s Day’s in Warsaw

Rather than a particular Sunday, Polish Mother’s Day (Dzień Matki) is always celebrated on May 26th, no matter what day of the week. First celebrated in Krakow in the early 1900s; it is not a public holiday and was said to grow in popularity after the Second World War.

Our first morning out was a tour around the city center with a local specialist who gave us deeper insight on how the city was rebuilt after the Second World War.

We also visited Wilanow Palace which was built in the late 17th century as a summer home for King Jan Sobieski III. The treasures inside the palace form part of the museum. which is considered to be one of the oldest in the country and the repository of the country’s royal and artistic heritage.

Łazienki Królewskie is a favorite place for walks and an oasis of green in the center of Warsaw where one can rest watching nature and take a break from the hustle and bustle of the city. This park-and-palace complex was a summer residence of King Stanisław August and nowadays performs a variety of functions: it’s a museum, a place of cultural, scientific and entertainment events and, due to the summer concerts that take place at the foot of the world’s most famous monument of Fryderyk Chopin, also an important place for music lovers.

We decided to skip a repeat visit to the Vodka Museum and instead get ready for our early departure to Gdańsk in the morning.

Our quick and easy flight from Milan to Warsaw went well. It was obvious that we were in for a wonderful stay as we drove to our hotel, which is conveniently situated in the heart of Warsaw’s busy city center. Warsaw’s City Center is known locally as ‘Śródmieście,’ which is a catch-all term for the downtown area. Definitions vary, but generally, you know when you’re in it – wide streets, huge monumental buildings and skyscrapers, construction sites, billboards, busy crosswalks and little to stand in the way of progress. It’s the modern, fast-paced, forward-looking part of the city radiating out from the  Palace of Culture & Science, and it’s here that you will find the majority of the city’s hotels and restaurants along with government buildings and places of commerce – the heart of the contemporary capital. 

And yes, ABC (Another Bloody Church), many more churches and they were all beautiful inside.

Demonstration Alerts

Demonstration Alert – U.S. Embassy, Warsaw (May 9, 2024)

Location: Downtown Warsaw, from Castle Square to the Polish Parliament building (Wiejska 6, 00-481 Warsaw).

Event: The Embassy has learned that a demonstration organized by PiS and Solidarity Trade Union is scheduled to take place Friday, May 10, 2024, starting at 12:00 p.m. and is projected to last until 10:00 p.m. 

Participants will gather at Castle Square and march towards the Polish Parliament building.

Due to the potential size of the crowds, estimated to rise potentially to 200,000 participants, U.S. citizens are advised that serious traffic congestion may occur.  Public transportation may be crowded as well. 

Demonstration Alert – U. S Embassy, Warsaw (May10, 2024)

Location: Downtown Warsaw, from Castle Square to the U.S. Embassy (Aleje Ujazdowskie 29/31)

Event: The Embassy has been informed by Polish police of a march in Warsaw organized in support of Palestinians.  The march is scheduled to take place Sunday, May 12, 2024, starting at 1:00 p.m. and concluding at approximately 4:00 p.m.

Participants will gather at Castle Square (plac Zamkowy), with the march ending at the U.S Embassy.

Police expect the demonstration to be peaceful, although the possibility for demonstrations to escalate always exists.  In the event of an emergency, call 1-1-2 for Polish Emergency Services.

We’ve had an exciting and enlightening experience seeing Warsaw on our own the past 5 days. I will include more sites in the “official” photo book once I get it together!

Among  the many treasures of Tuscany lies Lucca, a fairytale-like city with towering Renaissance walls in the shadows of the Apuan Alps and the Pisan Mountain Range. Lucca was everything I heard it was and expected it to be. During the Middle Ages, this beautiful medieval town became a prominent center for silk manufacturing, and by the 15th century, it had become the largest producer of silk textiles in Europe.

Today, this fortified town has become a hub for culture. In the warmer months, the Lucca Summer Festival takes centre stage, featuring top international artists. We personally had the pleasure of attending one of the nightly Puccini recitals held at various locations throughout the town.

As we strolled through the town, we discover ancient traditions and peculiarities still intact – many stores, for example, still carry their original shop signs, so you may think you are entering a butcher with a “ macellaio sign swinging from the doorframe, only to find shelves stacked high with designer sunglasses inside.

Many people were walking around the beautiful tree lined city walls while others were cycling around exploring breathtaking homes and gardens

After a month of traveling as a foursome, we will part ways. Meeting up with friends in Italy from around the USA was a beautiful experience. Jay and I will continue traveling to Poland for a few more weeks while Andy and Leilani return home.