September 2019 – A Traveling Fool

September 29, 2019

The Baltics 2012: Saint Petersburg, Part 1

The three biggest reasons why I chose the Baltics tour were: 1) Denmark – from which my mother’s father’s parents came, 2) Latvia – from which one of my sister-in-law’s parents came, and 3) St Petersburg – just because it was St Petersburg. Back in the 1980s, my mom had gone to Moscow, St Petersburg and Kiev with a church group. It was still the Soviet Union at that time. But it wouldn’t be too many years before the dissolution in 1991.

Founded by Peter the Great in 1703, St Petersburg was the capitol of Imperial Russia. The capitol was moved to Moscow in 1918 after renaming St Petersburg as Petrograd in 1914. Then, in 1924, Petrograd was renamed Leningrad. The name went back to St Petersburg in 1991 at the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. So, when Mom visited, it was called Leningrad.

She had been taken to Lenin’s tomb when she was there. By the time I got there, he had been buried. I took a photo of a Subway Sandwich shop to show her how much had changed since she was there. However, not everything had changed.

Before leaving for the trip, I had to purchase an entry visa for $400. This involved filling out a voluminous form with much more information than I felt that they needed. They asked for the address of every place I had ever lived my entire life. For every place I ever worked my entire life, they wanted the name of the company, the address, the name of my boss, and what I did there. They also wanted the name, address, and years of attendance for every school. At the University level, they wanted what I had majored in as well. I did the best I could and then had a photo taken without me smiling. They didn’t want anyone smiling in the accompanying photo. I guess being happy was not an option.

On the Estonian side of the border, things took barely any time at all. If we had blinked, we would have missed that side of the border. The Russian side was another matter.

Only a handful of us were from the US. The rest were from the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. However, they parked us over to the side and kept us waiting for hours while they let several other buses and tour coaches through. Despite all of the forms filled out to get the entrance visa, we had many more forms to fill out. Then we needed to be interviewed one by one.

Drug sniffing dogs were sent through the coach while bomb detectors and cameras were slipped under the coach. Our luggage was all removed and we had to open it for inspection. As we completed our inspections and interviews, we were sent into a room where we were watched over by armed guards until we were all done. Then they had us sit there for a while longer before we could get back on our coach. In the meantime, we ate the bag lunches that Andrej had purchased for us before leaving Estonia. Obviously this was just their modus operandi.

Also, while waiting, we adjusted our watches due to Russia not participating in Daylight Savings Time. At that point, we were nine hours ahead of Minneapolis. By comparison, London is six hours ahead of Minneapolis. We adjusted our watches several times on this trip.

After reaching Saint Petersburg, we were given a basic tour of most of the main sites of the city. Our only stop was at St Isaac’s Square. There we could see St Isaac’s Cathedral, Mariinsky Palace, and an equestrian statue of Czar Nicholas I in the center.

Dedicated to St Isaac of Dalmatia, the cathedral was a museum during the years of the Soviet Union. It has since been restored as a cathedral. The Mariinsky Palace was built by Nicholas I for his daughter and her husband as a wedding gift and is located directly across the square from St Isaac’s Cathedral.

St Petersburg had lots of people dressed in 18^th century Imperial Russia costumes at various historic sites throughout the city. We encountered our first one at St Isaac’s Square. Since she was the most elaborately costumed, I have included the photo I took of her.

We headed from the square to our hotel and dinner. We started the next day with the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island. The Kunstkammer was the first museum in Russia and was founded by Peter the Great in 1727. It was essentially a “cabinet of curiosities”. The most gruesome exhibit was and still is the severed head of the brother of a former mistress of Peter the Great who had been executed for embezzlement.

A pair of Rostral columns, originating in Grecian and Roman times to celebrate a military or naval victory, stood not far from the museum in front of the former stock exchange (the Borse). The island also contained an Academy of Sciences, a Naval Academy and the Cruiser Aurora.

The Aurora was built in 1900 and saw service in the Russo-Japanese War and World War I. By World War II, it was used as a training ship. After the war, it was permanently moored on the Neva River and turned into a museum ship. During World War I, one of the first events of the Bolshevik Revolution was a mutiny that took place onboard the Aurora.

The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood was built on the spot where Czar Alexander II was blown to bits in 1881. It was gorgeous and everything that an ornate Russian Orthodox Church should be. The interior contained more mosaics than any other church in the world, so the church has been used as a mosaics museum.

Our last visit before lunch was to the Peter and Paul Fortress, which was the original citadel created by Peter the Great in 1703. There was a mint, a prison, and a mausoleum for non-reigning Romanovs. The mausoleum was created because the Cathedral was getting too full of tombs.

Before visiting the Cathedral, we looked at a statue of Peter the Great. The statue was considered to be an accurate portrayal. The Czar was about six feet eight in height, but was not in proportion for his height. His hands, feet, shoulders and head were all smaller than they should have been.

Inside of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, which was definitely crowded, we saw loads of tombs, including Peter the Great, Catherine I (his wife), Elizabeth I (his daughter), and Catherine II the Great (his other daughter). A special room with the remains of Czar Nicholas II and his family was set to the side. DNA tests had been performed on the remains they found and all – the Czar, his wife, Alix, and their children, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei – were properly identified and interred.

The remains of Alexander II were in a rose-colored tomb with his wife next to him in a black tomb. The newest tomb (other than the memorial to Nicholas II and his family) contained Nicholas II’s mother. A quartet of men did some acapella singing in a side chapel.

Lunch was a cruise on the Neva River. En route to the boat, we passed the Admiralty, an equestrian statue of Peter the Great, and a couple of Egyptian statues. Periodically during lunch, I had to take a break from the food (which included borscht) to take photos of what we were passing. Smolny Cathedral, which was attached to a convent, and Kresty Prison, which began life in the 1730s as a wine warehouse and later converted to a prison, rebuilt and expanded, were two of the buildings we saw from the river that we hadn’t seen during other trips around town. During the Soviet era, Kresty Prison became notoriously overcrowded with ten times the number of prisoners for which it was designed. We could also see a statue of Lenin in front of the rail station.

Next time – more of St Petersburg, including the Winter Palace/ Hermitage Museum.

Subway Sandwich Shop
Statue of Nicholas I
St Isaac’s Cathedral
Mariinsky Palace
Costumed lady at St Isaac’s Square
The Kunstkammer
The Rostral Columns
Naval Academy
Cruiser Aurora
Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood
Another view of the church
Statue of Peter the Great
Peter and Paul Fortress
Peter and Paul Cathedral
Royal tombs inside cathedral
Tomb of Nicholas II and family
Smolny Cathedral
Kresty Prison
Statue of Lenin outside of rail station

September 22, 2019

The Baltics 2012: Estonia

We arrived in Parnu, Estonia by lunchtime. We had lunch together at a restaurant in the Old Town with a set menu – soup, main course, and dessert. It was quite good. Parnu is on a bay of the Gulf of Livonia in the Baltic Sea. The Old Town gave us some beautiful buildings to look at as we walked off that large lunch.

The town was founded circa 1251 by a bishop, destroyed around 1600, and then was rebuilt. It changed hands several times between the Poles, Lithuanians, Swedes and Russians, until becoming part of the newly formed country of Estonia after World War I. Like Latvia, Estonia was occupied by the Soviets, then the Nazis, then the Soviets again during World War II, ending up under Soviet rule after the war.

Parnu is mainly a resort town and vacation spot for Estonians, Finns, Russians, and Swedes. Its location provides beaches, water sports, and a very well laid out Old Town with loads of restaurants and hotels.

We arrived in Tallinn early evening. With civilization dating back 5,000 years, Tallinn itself was founded as a town in 1248 by the Danes. Estonia overall was civilized as far back as 9,000 years. Tallinn was also part of the Hanseatic League. Tallinn has never been raised or pillaged, but was bombed by the Soviets near the end of World War II. Despite that, most of the Medieval Old Town is intact and is considered to be the best preserved medieval architecture in Europe. As such, it is a World Heritage site.

Information Technology is a thriving industry in Estonia. Skype originated in Tallinn. The hotel had computers in the rooms, so I could send emails to folks back home. This was before I had a smartphone with internet capabilities (I got one of those in February of 2013).

We went into the Old Town (which wasn’t too far from our hotel) for a “Medieval Dinner”. The only thing that was Medieval about the dinner was the building, which was 14^th century. The Old Town is mainly pedestrian only, so we walked in from where the tour coach dropped us off and did a little bit of a tour before reaching the building where the dinner was being held by seeing the 13^th century St Nicholas Church and the Town Hall Square.

The Town Hall dates to the 13^th century with its tower dating to the 17^th century. It is the oldest town hall in the Baltics or Scandinavia and the last surviving Gothic Town Hall in Northern Europe. It has the coolest painted dragon gargoyles up near the roof (which you can see in the photo I have included). The square was originally the market square of the town and now has loads of restaurants. They also have a wonderful Christmas Market there every year. The restaurant we were visiting was in the cellar of one of the buildings on the square.

On our way back to the tour coach (which had moved elsewhere and parked after dropping us off) after dinner, we looked at some Medieval foundations viewable through glass windows in the street, and the Square of Freedom.

The following day, we started at the Upper Town (also known as Toompea). Toompea Castle is now used as government buildings, including Parliament. The population of Tallinn was a little over 50% ethnic Estonian and roughly 37% ethnic Russian with the rest of the people being a mixture of several different ethnic groups. There was a lovely Russian Orthodox church called the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in the Upper Town. It was built in the 1890s when Tallinn was part of the Russian Empire. The nearby Dome Church, was built by the Danes in the 13^th century and is the oldest church in Tallinn.

After visiting another amber shop (which had some earrings in gold, instead of the silver everyone else had), we went to a viewing area to see the Lower Town (called All-linn) below. We could also see out to the Baltic. Several ferries traveled back and forth daily from Tallinn to Helsinki, Finland – mostly bringing folks from Helsinki for the day as prices were much lower in Estonia than Finland. A certain amount of Estonians would travel to Helsinki in the morning for their jobs as salaries were higher in Finland.

We could also see the spire of St Olaf’s Cathedral. Although built in the 12^th century, the church burnt down several times over the centuries, so it isn’t at all original to the 12^th century any more. Otherwise it would have had the title of the oldest church in Tallinn instead of the Dome Church.

From Toompea, we took a long, steep cobbled road (named Pikk Jalg) down into the All-linn. When we arrived at the Town Hall Square, we met up with our local guide, Nikoli. His mother was ethnic Estonian, while his father was ethnic Russian. He was adorable and took a liking to me. Actually lots of tour guides do because I am always so interested in what they are talking about and usually have a pretty good understanding of the history of the place already. I also don’t give them much difficulty about anything. So I’m easy to deal with.

Just like Dubrovnik, Croatia, who claimed that they had the oldest pharmacy/ chemist/ apothecary in the world, Tallinn made the same claim regarding a building they had in their Town Hall Square. Actually they were both beat by the 12^th century pharmacy in Florence, Italy.

Nikoli gave us a walking tour of the Lower Town, which included a very lovely, but small luxury hotel with a Presidential Suite (and balcony). Then he led us into one of my favorite places in Tallinn – St Catherine’s Passage. We entered through a deep arch from behind St Catherine’s Church, which had been built 700 years ago. On one side of the passage had once been a monastery. Several Medieval gravestones were mounted on the wall on that side. The buildings on the other side had been turned into shops, bars and restaurants.

At the other end of the passage, was a narrow street between the city walls and some lovely Medieval houses. The round Helleman Tower was just outside of the passage. A little further along was an even older square tower. At this point, the walls had a covered, timber-framed top. One could walk along the top of the wall largely out of the elements.

When we reached the Viru Gates (which were also original), that was the end of the tour. Most of the group was staying in the area to have some lunch and then would join Nikoli for an optional tour of Tallinn’s Russian Museum. I wasn’t interested in the museum as we have a great Russian Museum in Minneapolis not far from my house. Heike also wasn’t interested in the museum, so we got on the tour coach, which was parked just beyond the Viru Gates and rode back to the hotel. We had lunch there, and then went for a walk in the general neighborhood of the hotel. Nikoli seemed disappointed that we weren’t joining him for the museum tour, but I’m sure he survived.

Next time – adventures in crossing the border into Russia (where they were still acting like they were the Soviet Union) and St Petersburg.

Parnu
Church in Parnu
Tallinn Town Hall
Street behind Town Hall at night
Monument in Square of Freedom
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
View of Lower Town from Upper Town
Lower Town
Walking down Pikk Jalg
St Catherine’s Passage with gravestones on left
Further down St Catherine’s Passage
Helleman Tower on City Wall
A little further along City Wall
Restaurants just inside Viru Gates
Viru Gates
Estonian castle on border with Russia

September 15, 2019

The Baltics: Latvia

Ever since one of my brothers married a lovely lady whose parents had fled Latvia during World War II as the Soviets were returning, I had wanted to visit Latvia. The tour I took in 2012 to the Baltics allowed me to do just that.

My sister-in-law’s family was part of a Latvian community here in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis & St Paul, so we had the pleasure of meeting and becoming familiar and friendly with several other people of Latvian heritage. Along with that, we had been able to take part in some wonderful meals with some traditional Latvian foods. So I was not a complete novice on this trip when it came to Latvian cuisine and was looking forward to having some great culinary experiences.

Not too long after crossing the border from Lithuania to Latvia, we came upon Rundale Palace, where we had lunch and a tour. It was a large, beautiful place and had been designed by the same architect who designed the Winter Palace in St Petersburg. It was begun in 1736 for the Duke of Courland.

In the 1790s, the area was absorbed into the Russian Empire and Catherine the Great gave the palace to the younger brother of one of her favorite lovers. When he died, his widow remarried and the palace passed to her new husband’s family.

Rundale Palace suffered quite a bit of damage during the 1919 Latvian War of Independence and then became a school for several years. In the 1960s, a local historical society acquired the palace and started restoring it in 1972. They did a great job. It is an absolute treasure house. They let visitors take photos inside, so I took a ton of them. Just a tiny sampling is shown here.

On to Riga, where we spent the night at a Radisson Blu. Across the street from the hotel was Pareizticigo Katedrale, a Russian Orthodox cathedral. We were on our own for dinner that night. So some of us walked over to the cathedral, which is Nativity of Christ Cathedral in English. It was built in the late 19^th century. During the Soviet Occupation after World War II, it was converted into a planetarium. Since the Soviet Dissolution in 1991, it has been restored to its past glory.

We walked around the area to explore the neighborhood. There was a victory monument – the Freedom Monument, built to commemorate the 1919 Latvian War of Independence – a short distance from the cathedral. There was also a large park by the monument. We found that we were actually walking distance to both the Old Town and the diplomatic district where most of the embassies were located and nearly all of the buildings were in the Art Nouveau style.

Since we had eaten a fairly large meal for lunch, we decided to pick up some lighter fare for dinner. We had a lot to see and do the next day, so we were all of a mind to eat lightly and turn in early.

Riga was founded by the Teutonic Knights in 1201. During its history, it has been part of the Holy Roman Empire, the Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth, and both the Swedish and Russian Empires. During the Middle Ages, it was also part of the Hanseatic League. This was a group of merchant cities on the Baltic which were very prosperous.

After the 1919 Latvian War of Independence, Latvia managed to remain on its own until World War II, when it was taken over by the Soviets and tens of thousands of its citizens (mostly male) were either executed or deported to Siberia. Then the Nazis took over and conscripted most of the remaining men into their army. As the Soviets were returning in 1944, many of the Latvians who were part of the Twin Cities group with whom my family interacted fled. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have to flee from my home.

The next morning after breakfast, we set out to take a look at all of the gorgeous Art Nouveau buildings and embassies. The French and Russian embassies were closest to the hotel. Riga has the largest collection of Art Nouveau buildings in the world.

We watched the Changing of the Guards at the Freedom Monument and walked through the park to the Old Town, passing the National Opera House on the way. Suddenly we left a combination of the 21^st, 20^th and 19^th centuries and found ourselves in a mostly medieval era.

The first part of the Old Town that we encountered was a tower and barracks used by the military back in the Middle Ages. The Powder Tower is now used as a military museum. The barracks have been converted into homes. The Swede Gate, which is one of the original gates, was built into the city wall in the 1600s to provide better access to the barracks.

Within the city walls was the Latvian Parliament and a nearby church with a memorial to the barricades that existed in 1991 when Latvia was trying to separate from the Soviet Union. The church, named St James’ Cathedral, was built in the 13^th century.

Outside of the trio of 17^th century houses called the Three Brothers, a couple of men were playing a tuba and a French horn. One of the houses was originally built in 1490, but was refurbished in the 17^th century when the other two houses were built. The middle house, which is the fanciest of the three, has the date 1646 on it. The legend is that they were built for three brothers and have always been called the Three Brothers throughout the centuries.

Riga Castle is the third structure to have that name and was built over the remains of an earlier castle back in the 17^th century. It is currently the residence of the President of Latvia. Here and there around the Old Town are bits and pieces of earlier castles.

The Doma Baznica (Basilica Dome) is the oldest church in Latvia and also in the Baltics. It was built beginning in 1211. Several roosters are mounted on the spires of the cathedral and are considered to be symbols of Latvia. The main tower of the cathedral was in scaffolding to clean it when we were there.

The cathedral was next to a large square with some beautiful houses on it. A short distance away were several guild houses. Within a convent courtyard, was a white building that had been part of the original Riga Castle.

We came across St Peter’s Basilica with the tallest tower in Riga. Originally built in 1209 as a small church, St Peter’s was completely renovated in the 15^th century.

The Town Square was very medieval with statues of knights and of St George slaying the dragon. The jewel of the square was the Melngalvju Nama or House of the Blackheads. Although the date on the building is 1334, the building was totally destroyed during World War II and had to be completely reconstructed.

The Blackheads were a society of banquet caterers to the upper classes. They chose as their patron saint St Maurice, who was traditionally depicted as a black soldier in knight’s armor.

After some of us went for a late lunch at a self-service called Lido about two blocks from the hotel, we took the tour coach out to the Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum. They had a roadside inn, a peasant homestead, a windmill, a church, and several other homesteads from various parts of Latvia dating to the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

I love visiting these types of museums since they preserve a way of life that pretty much no longer exists in these countries. When the Soviets took over, they mostly moved everyone out of their small farms in the country into apartment blocks in cities and towns and put them to work in factories. I especially loved seeing the interior of a very small, plain church. The interior was beautifully painted and had some wonderful carved pieces – altar, pulpit, pews.

That night we had dinner at a restaurant called La Boheme, which was a short walk from the hotel. The dinner was delicious and we were serenaded by Latvian folk music. It was pouring rain on the way over to the restaurant, but it was done when we needed to return to the hotel.

On our way to Estonia the next day, we had a morning break in Sigulda. There were two castles close to one another there. One had been built in the 13^th century and the other in the 19^th century. The older castle was in the process of being restored after sitting in a ruined state for a few centuries. We could only see a little of it as most of it was a construction zone. The newer castle wasn’t open to the public, so we walked around in the gardens outside.

Next time — Estonia with its authentically medieval Old Town in Tallinn, which wasn’t destroyed by bombs during World War II.

Rundale Palace
A bedroom
Another room
Freedom Monument
View from hotel
Cathedral near hotel
Cathedral interior
Art Nouveau building
Riga Old Town
The Three Brothers
Beautiful houses
House of the Blackheads
A Latvian homestead
Another homestead
A windmill
Interior of church
New Sigulda Castle
Old Sigulda Castle

September 8, 2019

The Baltics: Lithuania

Once we crossed the border from Poland to Lithuania, we were officially in one of the Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia). We had skirted around a tip of Belarus. Andrej told us that Belarus was not part of the European Union and had a pretty intense and expensive process for entry. So we waved as we went by.

Amber was an extremely valuable commodity throughout most of the history of the Baltic States. This made the area very wealthy and very desirable for conquer by others. In the 13^th century, Lithuania formed the Kingdom of Lithuania and became the largest state in Europe by the 14^th century as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were the territories of the Grand Duchy. In the 16^th century, Lithuania and Poland formed a Commonwealth that was dismantled in the 18^th century.

During World War II, all three Baltic States changed hands between the Soviet Republic and Nazi Germany several times and become part of the Soviet Union after the war. Lithuania declared its independence in 1990 – a year before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. At one point, the Soviets rolled into Vilnius (the capitol city) in tanks, shooting and crushing unarmed Lithuanians.

According to legend, in the 14^th century, Grand Duke Gediminas was out hunting near the Vilnia River and had a dream about a wolf howling up on a nearby hill. The dream was interpreted as meaning that he should create his new capitol at that location. So he built a castle and created the city of Vilnius.

Our first visit was to the Church of St Peter & St Paul, which was a 17^th century Baroque masterpiece with an amazing chandelier shaped like a boat. This represented St Peter as a fisherman. The altar was missing. It was moved to another church and ended up being destroyed while in its new location. It was never replaced.

On our way from the Church of St Peter & St Paul to the Gate of Dawn, we passed the Hill of Crosses. Andrej told us that the first people to try to convert the pagans to Christianity were executed on that hill. Once the Lithuanians were Christianized, they began to place crosses there. During the Soviet Occupation, the number of crosses began to surge. So now, thousands (over 100,000 have been estimated) of crosses are clustered on the hill.

We entered one part of the town through the Gate of Dawn, built in the 16^th century. Above the gate is the chapel of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn, which contains an icon of the Virgin Mary that is said to have miraculous powers. Visitors weren’t allowed, but I was able to zoom in with my camera and get a fairly decent photo of the icon through the window.

Not far from there was a beautiful peach-colored church built in the 17^th century and dedicated to St Casimir. We walked as far as the Town Hall and then headed back to the Gate of Dawn to get on the tour coach to visit the castle that Grand Duke Gediminas built. It looked very modern and had a very interesting and modern-looking statue of Gediminas himself. The castle was white with black trim and the statue was black.

On the same square as the castle was the Cathedral and a tower that we came back to after lunch to visit. In the meantime, we went to the Presidential Palace and by the University.

Heike, Debbie and I decided to have lunch at a traditional Lithuanian restaurant that wasn’t too far from the Cathedral Square. It was very old and very cozy. The food was homemade and delicious.

Back at the Cathedral, the main attraction was the chapel dedicated to St Casimir. It was gorgeous, with loads of marble and eight statues of rulers of Lithuania plated in silver. It also contained St Casimir’s tomb, which had a marble altar with a silver sarcophagus on the wall above.

On Lake Galve outside of Vilnius was Trakai Castle. This was the residence of the Dukes of Lithuania prior to Duke Gediminas moving the capitol to Vilnius. It covers an entire island on the lake. After a guided tour, we had loads of free time to explore. Although built on an island, the castle was a sprawling place with several courtyards and buildings. It was built in a combination of stone and brick. Parts had been rebuilt over the centuries after various battles and after World War II. As we were leaving, a storm was gathering and I managed to get a pretty good shot of a sailboat going by with the castle silhouetted against the darkening sky.

Back in Vilnius, we went to a Lithuanian Dinner and Folklore Show that night. It was a very good meal, but not much of a show. The building it was in was quite old, so had a great atmosphere.

I was really looking forward to heading to Latvia the next day as the parents of one of my sisters-in-law were from Latvia.

Church of St Peter & St Paul
Church Interior
Boat Chandelier
Hill of Crosses
Gate of Dawn
Icon in Chapel
Church of St Casimir
Vilnius Town Hall
Gediminas Castle
Presidential Palace
Restaurant for Lunch
Vilnius Cathedral
Tomb of St Casimir
Trakai Castle
Part of Trakai Castle
Another Part of Trakai Castle
Inner Courtyard
A Drawbridge and Gate
A Storm Coming Up at Trakai Castle

September 2, 2019

The Baltics: Poland Revisited

When Mom and I visited Poland as part of a tour of Central Europe in 2008, we had lunch in Poznan before heading on to Warsaw. On the 2012 tour of the Baltic Region, our group had an overnight in Poznan. After dinner, Andrej guided those who wanted to go on a walk into the City Center of the Old Town. It was starting to get dark, but I managed to get some decent photos before it got too dark.

Existing for several centuries before the Christianization of Poland in Poznan in 966, Poznan is considered to be the oldest city in Poland and was a stronghold of the Polan tribes. It was the Polans who formed what became the Polish state.

Although a tad fuzzy, I liked the way the Statue of Neptune was silhouetted against the sky in the photo I took of it. The Town Hall dates to the 13^th century and was used as the town hall all the way to the 1930s. It is now a museum. The town square in front of the Town Hall is pedestrian only and has loads of outdoor seating for the various restaurants lining the square. Mom and I ate at a restaurant in a red building on the square when we were there four years earlier (you can see the red building in the included photo). That trip had taken place in March, so we didn’t sit outside.

Heike wanted to visit the camera shop in the shopping mall by our hotel, Stary Brower, so we decided to head back that way before the place closed for the night. Most of the rest of the group stayed in the square for a drink or two. We took a wrong turn at one point, but were set right by a young man who spoke English. We had been told by Andrej that those who were younger than 30 most likely spoke English, while those older than 30 most likely would not.

We made it to the camera shop while it was still open. The fellow at the counter was under 30, which made us happy. He was waiting on an older couple from France, who did not speak Polish. The shopkeeper spoke both Polish and English, but not French. I had taken French in high school and understood some of what the couple was saying. With a combination of the couple’s French, my attempts to translate what I could understand into English, and a lot of hand signals, nods or shaking heads, we finally got them what they wanted. Hugs all around before they left the shop.

After getting Heike what she was looking for, we headed back to the hotel and stopped off at the bar there for a drink before bed. So we had a little adventure and still got a nightcap.

The next day, we arrived in Warsaw around lunch time and were given some free time to get settled into the hotel and have lunch before heading out on a tour of the city. Heike (from Perth, Australia), Debbie (from Reading, England), Charmaine (from Vancouver, Canada), and I had made plans to go to a traditional Polish restaurant situated on the ground floor of the building in which our hotel was located for dinner, so I went for a relatively light lunch with a salmon and avocado sandwich in a restaurant inside of the hotel.

After lunch, we were taken around to see the sights of Warsaw: the Palace of Culture and Science (built in 1955 by the Communists); a Statue of native son Copernicus; the church with the heart of another native son, Chopin; the house where Chopin lived; and the Presidential Palace before we got to the Old Town (Stare Miastro in Polish). That was when we got off the tour coach at the Palace Square and began our walking tour.

Mom and I had taken a tour of the Royal Castle when we were there together, so I didn’t feel too disappointed that we didn’t have time (with just an afternoon to see Warsaw) to tour it on this trip. Normally I would take any chance I could to tour any castle or palace I encounter. This particular castle was originally built in the 14^th century as a Ducal Palace, becoming the Royal Castle for the Kings of Poland in the 1600s. It was pretty much destroyed during World War II and was reconstructed after the war. Most of the contents of the castle had been saved and hidden away by the citizens of Warsaw. So, although the building itself is a reconstruction, the contents are original.

At the center of the square is Zygmunt’s Column, which was erected by King Wladyslaw IV in 1644 to honor his father, King Sigismund III Vasa. We walked from there past the Cathedral of St John to the Market Square.

The last time I had been in the market square, it had been very cold and had snowed the night before. The Mermaid of Warsaw had been under repair and enclosed in a wooden case. This time, there were cafes on the square and the Mermaid (which has a fountain at her base) was in her glory. We were shown a film in one of the buildings on the square about Warsaw’s destruction and reconstruction.

We were taken to an amber shop and then given some free time. Since I love amber (which is prominent in the Baltic region), I did buy some jewelry. Then I had plenty of time to roam around the square, where I also picked up a Polish dagger and a small knight in armor (who stands on a table in the corner of the bedroom I use as my library – I have always wanted a suit of armor in the corner of a library).

On our way back to the hotel, we passed by the Tomb of the Unknowns. Then Heike, Debbie, Charmaine and I met up just outside of U Szwejka for our authentic Polish dinner. If we had been aware of the size of the meal, we probably would have ordered two meals and split them. But we ordered four meals, consisting of a half of a baked duck, baked apples, beets, coleslaw, and stuffing. The photo included here is from the restaurant’s website, since I didn’t have my camera with me. The platter in the photo looks small than what I remember. The platter was more the size of a platter that would be used for the turkey at Thanksgiving and/or Christmas. The beers were also gigantic. One glass was nearly the size of a pitcher at most places. I was relieved that dessert was not included. If it had been, I might have exploded.

We waddled out of the place about an hour and a half after we were seated. We had taken our time to get through it all. Instead of immediately going back to the hotel next door, we took a walk to settle all of that food down in our stomachs. Despite being full to brimming with food, we stopped in at a grocers and picked up some supplies for the next couple of days.

Our last stop in Poland was the town of Augustow, where we stopped for lunch. Heike, Charmaine and I wanted a relatively light lunch after the prior night’s dinner, so we stopped in at a cafeteria, where we could see what we were getting and just get small amounts. I tried a Kratocze, which was a potato dumpling with a minced meat filling. It came with a small side of coleslaw. I selected a fruit drink that ended up being quite thick and very, very sweet (which I couldn’t tell before drinking it). I left most of it behind. We found Debbie after lunch and explored some of the town before we needed to leave. There was a small park with a statue of the founding king (Sigismund II Augustus) and a war memorial.

Next time – Lithuania.