Poland Part 1

Poland.  What can I say.  We are here.

We arrived in Wroclaw (Vrotzlav) late at night and then drove for over an hour to Piszkowice (Piskoveetz).  Piszkowice is located in a small boot like area along the Czech border near the city of Klodzko. It is definitely not

your typical tourist destination.  But it is very beautiful here.

 

Things we learned in Piszkowice.

1. If you go for a walk on the roads, be prepared to have cars scrape by you at high speeds.

2. Polish people drive like they are in the Indy 500 all of the time.

3. Nuns do too.

4. They do not speak English here.

5. If they do, they will not let you know, because they enjoy eavesdropping (they speak English on your last day to creep you out --leaving you wondering what you said around them)

6. They are perfectly happy talking to you in Polish as long as you smile and nod.

7. Nuns are huggers.

8. If you are not a fan of ham and cheese sandwiches, DO NOT GO TO POLAND.

9. Peirogies are fantastic.

10. All drinks are warm or hot.

11. They love the Pope here.  (He stared at me from the cabinet all week long.) Particularly Pope John Paul II ....Was he Polish?

12. Everything is heated by coal (and trash).

13. They say "Dobray"-"good" and "Tak"-"yes" at least 100 times a day.

14. Beware of sheds with doors that oddly hang open.  You may find overwhelmingly stinky "swinka" inside. (ok,ok. . . pigs) 

 

Piszkowice was a beautiful place.  While we were there, we also took a day trip to Kudowa (Kudova) Zdroj.  It is very close to the Czech border. The town is known for it's mineral water.  Our adoption facilitator/translator, Grazyna, informed us that the signs said that if you bought a glass of their water, it would miraculously heal all your diseases and ailments. (Could we quite possibly heal Olivia's thyroid? Doubt it, expensive water.) Hmmm. . . we all passed.  And then in the park they had a place where you could taste the mineral water from a fancy fountain.  Both Josh and Grazyna came away gagging.  Glad I am the sensible, unadventurous one.

The park was beautiful.  There were pigeons, trees, ponds, and cobblestone walkways.  Not to mention a swan (who refused to be photogenic). 

The other places I refrained from pictures.  Partly because the first place we visted in Kudowa Zdroj was a creepy toy museum. Ok, I was the only one who thought it was creepy. Maybe it was my instituional depression (talk about that later) or my overwhelming carsickness wearing off, but endless windows of old dolls and toys was a bit creepy to me.  There was even a doll that had a face that turned.  She had 3 faces! (shudder) I am absolutely positive I have at least one friend that would agree with the overwhelming eerie nature of old toys (yes, Lori Harvell, I am talking about you). So sorry folks, no pics. 

And the next stop was even creepier. (This time I think more people would agree with me). We visted a chapel.  Not just any old chapel. This particular chapel was decorated with the bones and skulls. Creepy, right? 

Skull Chapel (Kaplica Czaszek)

The chapel was built in 1776 by the local parish priest Wacław Tomaszek. It is the mass grave of people who died during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), three Silesian Wars (1740–1763), as well as of people who died because of cholera epidemics and hunger. Together with J. Schmidt and J. Langer, Tomaszek collected the casualties’ bones and put them in the chapel. Walls of this small, baroque church are filled with three thousand skulls, and there are also bones of another 21 thousand people interred in the basement. The skulls of people who built the chapel are placed in the centre of the building and on the altar.

I was not impressed when the nun took us in and shut the doors. Neither was Orrin. We were glad to be out in the fresh air again.

  

On our way back to Piszkowice, Grazyna decided to take us the scenic road.  It is called "The Road of 100 Turns".  Did I mention before that I get carsick?  Imagine me in the back seat of a very small car on this particular road.  Lets just say the scenery was beautiful; I, on the other hand, was not.  I tried to get an occasional glimpse of the forest and mountains that flew by (I mentioned they drive like maniacs in Poland, right?). We passed a place called the Errant Rocks.  It's random rock pillars throughout the forest.  We were told that scenes from Narnia: Prince Caspian were filmed in the Errant Rocks.  I can see why.  The place did have a Narnia quality to it. (Sorry, no pics of that.  We were driving way too fast on a very skinny road . . .and of course, I was carsick.)

 

Other than that, our stay in Piszkkowice was pretty uneventful. And now we are off the the big city. I'll let you know how that went later.