Kimber came to Poland after her latest trip to Africa. I am filling in for the HES Manager for two and a half weeks. I will be in Poland over Thanksgiving but Kirk and Sidney are coming over Wednesday through Sunday.
The first picture has nothing to do with Poland or Africa but is of Sidney as "Lady Bug Girl" for Halloween. The kids have to dress up as characters from a book for a Character parade rather than for Halloween. So this is what she looked like going to school. Only about half the costume made it home and by Halloween, she and the cat had worked it over pretty good and nearly all the fuzz was missing.
I arrived last Monday and worked all week. Thursday I went on an adventure by train three hours to Krakow and then three hours south-southeast of there to Debica to perform an audit on a waste disposal sight. It was an interesting adventure. The train was packed to Krakow and then nearly empty after that. We toured the facility and walked through our checklists before getting some late lunch/early dinner. We headed back to the train station only to wait for the train which was late by 85 minutes. It was a long day. We left at 6 am and arrived home at 1 am the next morning. We had first class tickets which I was grateful for but I have inserted a picture of a first class cabin. It seats six. Bathrooms are on the end of each car and they are well below the standard of an airplane bathroom.
I went on two walking tours this weekend though. One other note before I begin the details of the walking tours, is that I ate Sushi (other than California rolls) in Poland for the first time. There is a nice sushi restaurant in the mall. It is reliable with good prices and convenient.
Oh and my other comment is that the Intercontinental Hotel in Warsaw is very nice. I have a small apartment with a little kitchenette and nice view. It will be very comfortable when Kirk and Sidney visit. Second, breakfast is fabulous. There are waffles, pancakes, omelets, potatoes, veggies, sausages, bacon, ham, etc for hot food. Multiple cereals, yogurts, cottage cheeses, and rolls. There is fresh fruit including watermelon and pineapple. Sliced meats and cheeses as well as smoked salmon. It is better than any breakfast I have ever seen. Kirk and Sidney will love it. Plus, there is a harpist after 8 am every morning except Sunday. It is fantastic.
So Saturday, after sleeping late and fattening myself, I set out to walk to Old Town. i walked down several of the main shopping streets, looking at the variety of shops. For those who know me, I didn't venture into them. One is that I am not crazy about shopping and two is the language barrier. But it was nice to see what was out there.
I also didn't take many pictures on Saturday because Kirk and Sidney had been here in the summer, and it was cold and gray now. Pictures would require me to uncover my hands and they were cold. So I walked along the roads here that make up "the Royal Way". This route led me into the Old town where I saw several churches, monuments and museums as well the Mermaid of Warsaw. There are few really old buildings here as most of the town was destroyed in 1944. The most notable thing I walked by was the Warsaw Uprising Monument. The uprising started 1 August 1944 and lasted 63 days. Some 200,000 polish people died in the uprising against the Germans. The monument was built prior to the end of the occupation of Poland by Russia.
My intention Sunday was to get to a large park in the opposite direction of the Old Town. I fattened myself up again on breakfast and started out. I was headed for Park Lazienkowski. However, I got terribly lost trying to get there. I made a complete wrong turn somewhere and ended up in an area of town with some very old communist looking apartments. I was feeling a bit out of league and nearly panicked. But I figured out where I was and moved quickly back in the right direction. I never felt unsafe, only uncomfortable.
Getting to the park was a real reward though. It was lovely even in the dreary winter. I was surprised to see peacocks among the other birds (ones I don't like say pigeons). There were also tufted brown squirrels that were a bit aggressive. I stopped to look at one and it jumped half way up my leg. I had no food and didn't even look like I had food. Here is a picture of the lady peacocks since they always get neglected. They are hanging out in an empty fountain.
I spent about two hours in the park, watching people and kids. Several people were feeding the smaller birds from their hand. It was a pretty nice day, even sunny.
On the walk home, which was much more direct and easy I might add, I saw the Frederic Chopin monument. The pool in front was drained but it was still very nice. Like much else in Warsaw though, it was a rebuild after the war. I also walked by the Botanical Garden, which is closed for the winter, and another smaller park that had a great playground. The walk home was much more pleasant than the walk there and now I know where I am going. I was starved again as I had been walking for over 4 hours. So I got a Kebab, which is like a huge Giro Sandwich and costs approximately $5. It was sooooo good.
We will likely take Sidney to the park to play. We are also going to try to go tot he new science museum, the Kopernik Science Center. We have heard it is very popular and hard to get into.
We also intend to eat a lot and play a lot. The pool is on the 43 floor so you are swimming at the height of the clock on the Palace of Science and Culture. That is a unique experience. There are also some indoor play places to try. And the Marriott delivers Thanksgiving dinner so several people from the office are getting together for dinner on Thursday at the office.
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