Adventures Here and There: Poland Adventures Continued

On the second day of my Poznan visit, David and Joan picked me up about 10 AM and we drove to the Kornick Castle. This is an amazing place. It is indeed a castle but very different than any other that I've seen in Poland. For photos I invite you to again to David's blog:http://www.david-polanddavid.blogspot.com/
Once there look for the entry for Saturday, March 27. Also look on the right hand side of the page for a photo slide show from Kornick. Unfortunately, this was a rainy day so we could not enjoy the gardens at this site. I did, however, notice some bluebells blooming not far from the drawbridge that leads to the castle.

We next drove to Smielow. This palace has been turned into a museum honoring Adam Mickiewicz who was apparently more admired in this area of Poland than anywhere else in Poland where he is also highly regarded. The above is a photo of a painting showing what this palace looked like in the 19th century.

Here is one room of the decorated for living rather than as a museum. Again you can see many other photos from this visit by looking at David's blog as noted above.

We ended our time together with a very nice dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Poznan.

On Sunday morning I was up early for breakfast. In fact, I was there before breakfast was open and had to "please wait 5 minutes" while the hostess went to the kitchen to get the scrambled eggs. I had a taxi coming at 8:30 so wandered to the lobby and found the taxi driver just pulling up. He was dressed in a suit and tie -- maybe planning to attend to church some time during the morning. I got to the train station in plenty of time to catch the Berlin-Warsaw Express again right on time at 9:28..

I found both the Poznan train station and the trade fair building to be built in the somewhat ugly 1950s style found many places also in the United States. This is the first train station I've seen in Poland that wasn't built in a somewhat classic style.

These buildings certainly don't fit with the rest of Poznan which is very attractive.

Near Konin the view out the window began to turn into the Poland I've found in my other visits. The area around Poznan is different because the farm lands are very large and quite large equipment is used as well. There are also few buildings in the country side.

I transferred in Warsaw to another train and arrived in Siedlce at 14:30 as planned. Dorota and her husband were waiting for me. We went to her mother's home for a wonderful Poland obiad. Later in the evening we went to the film, Desert Flower. This is a very powerful movie about Waris Dirie. Looking around on the Internet I find this book was called a best seller in Europe. I'm not certain it received the same standing in the United States. However, the issue comes to us in Minnesota because we have many residents and citizens who have experienced female multilation right in our community. I sat in the movie thinking of all the students I've had who had C-sections as the result of this happening to them as a child or young woman. I remembered sitting in a presentation by Women from Africa where one woman described how she asked her mother how this could have happened to her.

On Monday morning Dorota and I went for a drive. She took some invoices for school furniture to Cisie School, a place that I have taught twice. It was so very good to see teachers with whom I have worked. And I was privilieged to see the Global Volunteers child sponsorship money in action. Then we drove to Reymonotowka so that Dorota could also work on some Global Volunteers issues. We found a construction project in place. The driveways are being redone so that the spring "mud" can be eliminated. Also, some of the bedrooms were being readied for a painting. It was good to be at Reymontowka again, but it seemed strange to see it empty-- rather than with 60 kids buzzing around. All this work is being done now because the time of Lent and Easter is when Reymontowka is truly empty as events such as weddings do not take place. I got to see many staff members at Reymontowka.

Later in the afternoon the three of us went east of Siedlce to visit the palace at Kroczwe. This palace was originally built in 1734, rebuilt 100 years later and again remodelled in the 1930s. The same family lived on the property for 300 years and then lost it during the Communist years. The government allowed the property to fall into ruin. In 1992 the family recovered the housing area, but not the surrounding land. They have since started dairy and fish operations as a way to make an income to help restore the palace as well as to create jobs in the local area.

The palace definitely has "good bones" as the real estate agents would say.

Here is the central hall.

Here is a bit of the gold rococo in the ball room which still needs much loving care.

Here are a couple of photos of wooden floors in the palace. I enjoyed seeing this palace very much.

And from the first time Dorota and I entered Cisie until we returned home from this drive, we kept seeing storks. The final count was 10 -- spring is definitely getting started. I've never before seen so many storks in one day. All but one were in nests. The exception was walking on the ground probably looking for some food.

Today Dorota and I went to Prus high school where I met with some of the students that were in my English classes last year in Zakopane. What a treat to see these young women. Hope some of them will in fact be in Zakopane again this June.

We went next to lunch at a new restaurant in Siedlce. It's English name would be Crepes/Pancakes around the World. In Polish it is nalesnikis. Studying the menu revealed one choice was Amerikanski, which were plain nalesnikis with maple syrup -- a good choice for an American who has been out of the States for 2 months.

I took the train into Warsaw late in the afternoon and arrived at my favorite place, the Boutique Bed and Breakfast. I got to the B&B just when the English speaking staff was leaving, but they were all ready for me with a handout to help me if I found only a Polish speaking staff person. Much to my surprise they gave me the Queen Apartment. This is actually bigger than my flat in Pecs and nearly the same size as my apartment in Minnesota.