The Bus Driver Adventure

After my most recent posting one person commented that he was surprised that the windows were so clean that I could take photos. Thus, I can't resist adding just a couple more to show the great variety that is Poland.

But I must speak about the bus driver. He started with 32 teens and about 5 adults at 8 AM on June 28 in Siedlce and drove us to the Krakow airport where we picked up 13 more volunteers. Then we continued to Zakopane. He spent the next two weeks with us there, driving for short trips in the area. On July 12 he repeated the trip from Zakopane to Siedlce.

We arrived near Siedlce about 6 PM in a driving thunderstorm. It was so bad that we were delayed on the highway for awhile for trees to be cleared from the highway. I was to depart at the Hotel Hetman. It was still raining when we arrived there. The Hotel Hetman sits along the major highway. However, to get there one must turn on a small side street and then turn into the hotel parking lot. So the bus driver turned off the highway onto the side street. I was expecting to get off there. No! He backed the bus into the hotel parking lot so that I could leave the bus from the passenger side and immediately get under a roof on the hotel entrance. I was overcome. When I made it to the front of the bus I said thank you very much and good bye in Polish --which I can't write with an American keyboard. I felt so grateful for this thoughtfulness. However, he took my hand and kissed it, in the very gallant way of Polish men. This will be a memory forever.