Here is the Flickr stream. It's only what I took in Gdańsk so-far - Malbork and Lublin are coming soon.
Hope everyone enjoys!
16.9.07
10.9.07
We avoided going to Hel ...
... and went to Malbork instead !
So, I've seen several castles now - in Austria, Ireland, Slovenia and Poland. But none of them compare to Malbork/Marienburg. Oh my ! It's
freaking fantastic. If you're into the Medeival period - and I definitely am - this is a must. It's phenomenal. Granted, much of it was destroyed during the War, but it's amazing to see what's there now, and what it once was. It is crawling with cool history, and you can feel it in the bricks when you're in the place. Impressive exhibits and a great guide (well, it was in Polish, but Ania 
says he was great - he certainly seemed both interested and knowledegable) showed us and a few others around for three hours. By closing time, we were left to our own devices for a bit, which was really nice too, and since it didn't seem like a busy day, we basically almost had the place to ourselves. It's bloody huge, and the restoration work going on there is impressive as well.
So, I've seen several castles now - in Austria, Ireland, Slovenia and Poland. But none of them compare to Malbork/Marienburg. Oh my ! It's
freaking fantastic. If you're into the Medeival period - and I definitely am - this is a must. It's phenomenal. Granted, much of it was destroyed during the War, but it's amazing to see what's there now, and what it once was. It is crawling with cool history, and you can feel it in the bricks when you're in the place. Impressive exhibits and a great guide (well, it was in Polish, but Ania 
says he was great - he certainly seemed both interested and knowledegable) showed us and a few others around for three hours. By closing time, we were left to our own devices for a bit, which was really nice too, and since it didn't seem like a busy day, we basically almost had the place to ourselves. It's bloody huge, and the restoration work going on there is impressive as well.Moja Polsku Jazyk...
.. jest nie dobra :-)
Ok, I tried this time, I really did. Especially now, listening to myself on some of the video I took, I really realize how pitiful my Polish is. And, why Polish speakers don't respond to me when I try speaking to them ;-) It doesn't sound like Polish. So, I must work harder on it. Maybe recording myself is a good tool, if I can face it.
The only good part is that I am beginning to have a much better ear for it. Certain things I'm starting to understand without thinking, and can even claim to have had a few intuitive moments with Polish this time. Still, I have a lot - A LOT - of work to do. I conducted myself in Polish well on the flights, and a few times in restaurants, and did a little bit of talking with Ania's friends we met in Lublin (thanks especially to Anetka who is always great at getting me to understand her).
Ok, I tried this time, I really did. Especially now, listening to myself on some of the video I took, I really realize how pitiful my Polish is. And, why Polish speakers don't respond to me when I try speaking to them ;-) It doesn't sound like Polish. So, I must work harder on it. Maybe recording myself is a good tool, if I can face it.
The only good part is that I am beginning to have a much better ear for it. Certain things I'm starting to understand without thinking, and can even claim to have had a few intuitive moments with Polish this time. Still, I have a lot - A LOT - of work to do. I conducted myself in Polish well on the flights, and a few times in restaurants, and did a little bit of talking with Ania's friends we met in Lublin (thanks especially to Anetka who is always great at getting me to understand her).
Beer !
I love Polish beer. Especially in Gdańsk, I really really enjoyed myself with the beer. I mentioned Kozlak in a previous post, but also discovered something new from the same brewery (Amber) that I loved ! Żywe, which means "alive". It's a high-gravity lager, unfiltered, unpasteurized beer that is most reminiscent of some of the heavier micros I've had in the States. It's fan-flipping 'tastic ! I don't know if I could drink it all the time, but between Kozlak and Żywe, I had a hard time deciding what to have. Oh, and Ania - who normally isn't such a beer drinker, really liked Żywe too, so that was doubly cool. We tried one more beer from the Amber brewery I hadn't had yet, and it was good, but not as likable as Żywe.
Other than that I don't think I had anything else I hadn't had before, but I did enjoy my "standards" - Żywiec, Okocim and Perła. For some reason this time I had a couple of Żywiec off draught that really blew my socks off. It's always good, but these were beers I'll remember for a while. Oh, and in Lublin at the Irish Pub U Szewca I had a couple of obligatory Guinness.
Other than that I don't think I had anything else I hadn't had before, but I did enjoy my "standards" - Żywiec, Okocim and Perła. For some reason this time I had a couple of Żywiec off draught that really blew my socks off. It's always good, but these were beers I'll remember for a while. Oh, and in Lublin at the Irish Pub U Szewca I had a couple of obligatory Guinness.
Meeting the Family
On Friday, we arrived back in Kraśnik, finally ending our driving adventure around Poland. We'd spent the last night out in Lublin, in a really cool little B&B right in the old city, so it was a quick 45 minute drive back to her home.
We got there right in time for a dinner with her family. Her father and aunt had spent all day preparing a huge feast of a meal. Her brother Tomek joined us, and so did her father's parents. So, I got to meet not only her aunt (whose daughter lives with her husband in the Seattle area) but one set of grandparents too. Not much English was spoken, but her grandfather had been practising saying "hello" and "goodbye" in English, and we had great fun with that.
It was a deluxe feast with baked trout, traditional salads, roasted potatoes, and lots of other nice goodies. I ate until I was stuffed to the gills (haha!), and with the wine and beer we also had, it was one of those meals it takes you a few hours to recover from :-) And, truthfully, I was still full the next morning.
Before Ania's grandparents left, I had one little job to do. I had been practising all week asking Ania's father if I could marry her. Yes, very traditional, but I wanted to do it. So, dressed in shirt and tie, I stood up and popped the question (in Polish, no less). His response was positive, and everyone seemd to enjoy the gesture fully. I also spoke for the first time with her mother, who lives in Isreal, on the phone before the meal, and also asked her the same question. Both of them seemed pleased I was going to the effort, and I was pleased with thier responses.
We got there right in time for a dinner with her family. Her father and aunt had spent all day preparing a huge feast of a meal. Her brother Tomek joined us, and so did her father's parents. So, I got to meet not only her aunt (whose daughter lives with her husband in the Seattle area) but one set of grandparents too. Not much English was spoken, but her grandfather had been practising saying "hello" and "goodbye" in English, and we had great fun with that.
It was a deluxe feast with baked trout, traditional salads, roasted potatoes, and lots of other nice goodies. I ate until I was stuffed to the gills (haha!), and with the wine and beer we also had, it was one of those meals it takes you a few hours to recover from :-) And, truthfully, I was still full the next morning.
Before Ania's grandparents left, I had one little job to do. I had been practising all week asking Ania's father if I could marry her. Yes, very traditional, but I wanted to do it. So, dressed in shirt and tie, I stood up and popped the question (in Polish, no less). His response was positive, and everyone seemd to enjoy the gesture fully. I also spoke for the first time with her mother, who lives in Isreal, on the phone before the meal, and also asked her the same question. Both of them seemed pleased I was going to the effort, and I was pleased with thier responses.
The Ring !
So, as most of you know, one of the big reasons for making this trip was to deliver Ania's engagement ring to her. It was a big success. I gave it to her without much fanfare the first night we were in Gdańsk, as I wanted her to have it all week we were together.It fit perfectly, and it was soo cool to see it on her hand, finally.
She loves it. She kept showing it off with such pride and a giant smile to everyone we met. I felt so good about my choice, and it makes our choice to get married feel even more real.
Driving in Poland
Ok, so as many of you who know me know, I am realtively critical of drivers in the States. Well, I'd never think I would describe Albuquerque drivers as calm and sedate, but compared to what we experienced on our trek between Kraśnik and Gdańsk and back again, I would have to say it's true.
Most of the motorways/highways are only two lanes (one each direction), and people travel vastly different speeds. The convention is to drive on - or at least partly on - the shoulder if you know someone is trying to overtake you, but in many cases the overtaking driver isn't patient enough, so they'll just swing out into the flow of traffic in the other lane, double-, triple-passing, or worse (sometimes with other drivers - often more than one - following them), basically running both lanes of traffic off the road in the process, sometimes at ridiculously high speeds. Couple that with sometimes braking furiously to avoid head-on collisions and slipping back into traffic in the right lane, it is incredible there aren't more accidents.
Add to this the fact that the truck drivers will compeltely hog the road, basically unnecessarily, the constriction of traffic basically encourages erratic driving, passing and the like. It's like they enjoy making things worse instead of better. I was literally in disbelief at some of the maneuvers I saw. Between trying to keep what I considered a safe distance and being seriously tailgated at 120+ km/h, and just trying to keep focused on the normal driving experience, it was pretty stressful.
The one thing I'll say is that at least they use their blinkers. Very few drivers spared the use of them, and it did help immensely. Around the larger cities there are some four and even six lane stretches of road, but they're few and far between, and painfully short. I always found myself wishing there was just a little more road, and another lane or two.
Oh well ! I am glad we did it. I have a newfound respect - generally - for American drivers, and think after this I could probably drive with confidence almost anywhere. It makes "bad" driving in the States seem pretty tame by comparison.
One more little anecdote... We were on a fairly small road that we used to avoid the traffic in Warsaw proper, and it was fairly packed. We're going along a section of road that was really narrow wiothout much shoulder, and literally out of nowhere came this huge Mercedes that was going 300 km/h if he was standing still. Really, I don't think I've ever seen anything not on a track going that fast, and he was barreling down, straddling the center line, in between two lanes of traffic. Amazing. If he'd have hit someone, it would have been so ugly. At least nobody would have lived long enough to know what happened.
Most of the motorways/highways are only two lanes (one each direction), and people travel vastly different speeds. The convention is to drive on - or at least partly on - the shoulder if you know someone is trying to overtake you, but in many cases the overtaking driver isn't patient enough, so they'll just swing out into the flow of traffic in the other lane, double-, triple-passing, or worse (sometimes with other drivers - often more than one - following them), basically running both lanes of traffic off the road in the process, sometimes at ridiculously high speeds. Couple that with sometimes braking furiously to avoid head-on collisions and slipping back into traffic in the right lane, it is incredible there aren't more accidents.
Add to this the fact that the truck drivers will compeltely hog the road, basically unnecessarily, the constriction of traffic basically encourages erratic driving, passing and the like. It's like they enjoy making things worse instead of better. I was literally in disbelief at some of the maneuvers I saw. Between trying to keep what I considered a safe distance and being seriously tailgated at 120+ km/h, and just trying to keep focused on the normal driving experience, it was pretty stressful.
The one thing I'll say is that at least they use their blinkers. Very few drivers spared the use of them, and it did help immensely. Around the larger cities there are some four and even six lane stretches of road, but they're few and far between, and painfully short. I always found myself wishing there was just a little more road, and another lane or two.
Oh well ! I am glad we did it. I have a newfound respect - generally - for American drivers, and think after this I could probably drive with confidence almost anywhere. It makes "bad" driving in the States seem pretty tame by comparison.
One more little anecdote... We were on a fairly small road that we used to avoid the traffic in Warsaw proper, and it was fairly packed. We're going along a section of road that was really narrow wiothout much shoulder, and literally out of nowhere came this huge Mercedes that was going 300 km/h if he was standing still. Really, I don't think I've ever seen anything not on a track going that fast, and he was barreling down, straddling the center line, in between two lanes of traffic. Amazing. If he'd have hit someone, it would have been so ugly. At least nobody would have lived long enough to know what happened.
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