BLOG ENTRY: September 28-29, The Cdn War Cemetery in Normandy, Arc de Triomphe, & Champs-Élysées
VISIT TO THE CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY
Monday we decided to travel 200kms, 2 hours by train, and rent a taxi to visit the Canadian War Cemetery, carved out of a field near Brettville-sur-Laize, a small village 14 kms from the regional city and provincial capital of Caen in Normandy (similar size 220,000 to Saskatoon), and 15kms from the English channel. My cousin Maurice (Slim) Bagley Rogers, 31, a gunner whose tank hit a land mine, is buried there. He died August 10, 1944, near Brettville sur Laize during the massive allied Normandy invasion, along with 2,793 other Canadian soldiers, a few from Australia, Poland, and France, and 91 unknown soldiers. It is chilling to think of the slaughter of allied and German forces which took place in that very area. What a price to pay in just a few days for the continued freedom of mankind from the tyranny of those who would be totalitarian. Even the death of one is tragic, but when tyranny raises its ugly head, and all else fails it is only the courage and bravery of those willing to fight that protects our freedom and ability to live in peace. It is in memory of this and my relative Slim Rogers that we strongly support the allied action against the tyranny of the unelected and unrepresentative Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and other places in the world, with their threats and actions against many countries and people around the world.
We have family photos from the 1920s and 30s of Slim, his twin brother Gord, now 96, who lives in Lethbridge, and other family members, cousins and friends. In one photo Gord and Slim, likely around 5-6, were dressed in sailor outfits as they had tea with their mother. The times were good in the 1920s and bad in the 1930s. Gord and Slim along with my father and other relatives and friends were hockey, baseball and softball players. There were enough to make up very good teams who travelled the area in competitive sports. In fact, their ice skates in the photos look very similar to the ones which were handed down to me as a young boy. They were all full of life and liked to party – something like all young people I guess. When I telephoned Gord before we left and told him we would try to visit his brother’s grave he became very emotional – the long hand of the pain of war and death.
Slim served in Canada, in England for a year, and then for a few weeks in Normandy. The generals and the soldiers new that many of them would die, but they also knew that the evil of Nazi Germany had to be defeated. They certainly gave their lives for our freedom. Lt. Col. John McCrae wrote in his poem IN FLANDERS FIELDS “If ye break faith with us who die, We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.” Or to put it in today’s terms, ‘if we break faith with those who died, we too may not sleep, though poppies grow on the graves of our short sighted memories’.
We were struck immediately by the similarity in terrain to my home area of Edgeley, Saskatchewan. Another Edgeley man and brother-in-law of Slim, George Boxall, who lived until earlier this year, was a medic in the same battlefield. The cemetery seems a fitting place for our Canadian war dead, many from Saskatchewan. It is tastefully landscaped and the graves are arranged in perfect order. The white grave stones, purple chrysanthemums, deep red roses and other flowers between the grave stones were stunningly beautiful and yet tragic. The entrance is a concrete/sandstone portico, with round roman style columns supporting a large concrete/sandstone top. It reminds us of a miniature Arc de Triomphe.
The train trip to Caen flowed through much territory like Saskatchewan. The fields seemed larger than we had seen coming from Germany. The houses do not have the characteristic curved base to their roofs which we see around the outskirts of Paris, but look more like the wartime houses built in Canada; simple boxes with close cropped roofs. Arriving in Caen, we found a more modern city than Paris, perhaps because much of the city was destroyed in the Battle of Normandy. Some of the remaining buildings date back to William the Conqueror who invaded England in 1066. He is apparently buried in Caen.
Mondays Expenses: Train tickets to Caen and return, 93.60E; Brunch near Paris North Station 12.80E; Taxi to Brettville-sur-Laize plus 45 minute wait and return, 55E; Lunch 5:30pm at Caen train station 24.35E; Coffee at 9:30 on return from Caen 3.00E. TOTAL 188.75E x 1.65 = $CAD 311.44.
THE ARC DE TRIOMPHE and THE AVENUE DES CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES
We don’t push ourselves too much which means we can get behind. After checking our email, doing our blog, and paying some credit card bills over the internet, we left our room at 10am. Breakfast at McDonalds, a reasonable breakfast which costs much less than other places, was 6.70E=$11.05. Then we walked about 1km, past a large India quarter to the La Chappelle metro which took us to the Arc de Triomphe and Avenue des Champs-Élysées, some of the most famous and beautiful sites in the world. We took several photos of the Arc and ourselves as we walked around it. The Arc is in the centre of a large traffic circle, 8 lanes wide, without any lane lines – pure chaos. There is no above ground access. Tunnels on the East and West sides go under the traffic circle to the Arc. They are not well marked. We walked around the entire traffic circle, the intersection of 12 streets, two times and finally found the entrance to tunnel to the Arc.
The Arc de Triomphe is certainly a grand monument. SEE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_de_Triomphe . It is huge, standing 166 ft tall, 51 meters, about twice the height of a Saskatchewan grain elevator, and spells out its message of honouring those who have fought for France. It was originally commissioned by Napoleon to honour his soldiers, but was finished long after he was gone. We purchased tickets for 16E $26 for the two of us to walk the stairs to the top. The first level is up a long winding stairway in which Rose required a rest. At the first level is an interpretation centre and washrooms. Then two more stairways and you are on top. It is topped with marble and large metal spikes to keep people safe. The views around Paris are again panoramic and awesome.
Going down was much easier and we then headed East down the Champs-Élysées. This famous street islined with clipped chestnut trees, wide sidewalks, 20-30 feet, and many luxury shops and ‘galleries’ of shops. The Champs is also a busy and very noisy traffic street. It makes having lunch in one of Saskatoon’s 8th street outdoor patios a quiet pleasure. We had lunch at the Bistro Romain Cadires, 122 Avenue des Champs Elysees, both having the marinated steak, medium. I thought it came perfectly done at rare. Rose was not as happy but admitted that it was good. The meal which consisted of the steak, fries, and a glass of wine cost 26E $43 for both of us including tip.
After lunch we strolled further down the Champs-Élysées. We had been told about a well known electronics store FNAC, which we found on the street, but they did not have the part I need to charge my video camera batteries. I guess I will order one on Ebay and have it sent to our home in Saskatoon. Digital photo camera provide most of what we need for the short video clips of tourist action shots. Next time we travel I will buy a better digital photo camera with better video capabilities and leave the larger and heavier digital video camera at home.
As we were strolling down the street, we had been discussing using some of our remaining time in the day to visit the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, a beautiful looking building on the only large hill in Paris, which can be seen on the horizon from the Arc and the Eiffel Tower. However, we both admitted we were getting tired and we wanted to prepare for our Eurostar train trip to our London stopover hotel tomorrow, Wednesday. So we returned home, now easily selecting our two metro trains and finding our hotel. We even found a Sony store and they fixed Rose’s Ipod so that we can now synch it with the laptop and listen to our Rick Steeves podcasts on Rome and Italy.
THOUGHTS ON PARIS:
What an amazing city. Even though it seems more chaotic and dirty than Berlin, Paris works. We have hardly touched the things we could do in this city. There are many more fascinating sites to see and lots of plays, operas, musicals and concerts. I’m not sure how we would have faired without my French speaking abilities, which while not perfect, worked very well for us.
Our hotel was 90E $150 per night. It was a poor 2 star hotel. We had to complain about our room the first night, and they gave us a somewhat better room the next 5 nights but a 3 foot bathtub and broken shower without an enclosure does not provide suitable comfort. Thin carpet just laid down which was at least the third layer of flooring, is not impressive. There were even a few bugs. The Best Western nearby appears to cost 105-145E, $173-$240 per night, that is $138-540 more for the period. Reviews show it to be a good 3 star, so that is likely a better deal in any this city. We will be checking on our accommodation in Rome.
We leave Paris happy to have come, and looking forward to India and our friends, Jag and Pam Trana. We have been discussing our India time with Jag via Email and decided on arrival in New Delhi to go directly to his home in Chandigarh, north of New Delhi. Then to do some of the sight seeing later in our visit.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
September 26-27 The Louvre, Notre-Dame Cathedral
BLOG ENTRY: September 26-27, The Louvre, Notre-Dame Cathedral
The Louvre Museum
We devoted Saturday to the famous Louvre Museum. Getting there by now is a cinch. Get on bus 48 in front of our hotel and get off at the Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre stop. It wasn’t clear where to find the museum. There was the large wall of a building, which looked much like other walls of buildings, so we entered the first door we could find which was open. We found ourselves in the Louvre des Antiquaires (antiques), the business pavilion of the museum. SEE: http://www.louvre-antiquaires.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=1&lg=en The stores are amazing, each very small but each specializing in different antiques.
We found our way to the famous front and entrance to the museum, the glass pyramid surrounded by pools of water, which is the massive cover for the below ground entrance area to the museum. This must be one of the largest museums in the world. According to Wikipedia it is 652,300 sq ft (60,600 sq meters). That’s the size of 7.5 Canadian football fields. SEE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvre . The building has a massive presence, and is a somewhat U shaped structure on the right bank of the Seine (the right bank when travelling downstream to the ocean).
We only planned one day at the Museum because we had lots to see in Paris and we are not educated in the antiquities and art of the world. We do not have the capacity to even begin to describe the experience of visiting the museum and its contents. Nevertheless, the historical and art pieces on display were nothing short of awesome. There is no point trying to list all the areas of the museum. They were all impressive. For example, we were impressed with the Egyptian area which included massive sandstone (I believe) sphinxes, coffins, funeral masks, and a wide display of art and tools and everyday items. We saw the original Mona Lisa, but on looking at my photo it had glass in front of it. We only noticed two pieces by Michelangelo, but we will see more of his work in Rome, later in October. Many art paintings were massive as you will see in our photos. We really can’t say much more. I am sure that anyone who has studied the details of any aspect or era of world history or art would find fascinating displays to improve their knowledge.
Reflecting on our visit to the Louvre, we were left with the feeling that the world has had many great civilizations which have come and gone. The same can happen to our current civilization. But for now Rose and I feel greatly blessed to have health and to be able to experience so much of the world and so many of the great places in the world. We also have to admire the brilliance of so many creative people who have left their marks on history.
Notre Dame Cathedral
Sunday the buses did not run as often so we took the subway to the St. Michael-Nortre Dame station, walked across the to right side of the river, and down a block to the Cathedral. SEE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_de_Paris . It seemed appropriate to be visiting the Cathedral on Sunday. We had listened to a Rick Steeve’s podcast about Paris, which our friend Carol Tanner had told us about, and which we had downloaded. SEE: http://www.ricksteves.com/news/podcast_menu.htm
Again we found ourselves amoung a sea of people (according to Wikipedia over 13 million a year visit the Cathedral), and a long line to get into the Cathedral. But the line moved quickly and 10-15 minutes later we were entering the Cathedral, 11:45am. There was no charge. A mass was being celebrated so we took a seat near the front, and received communion. As one would expect, the mass was impeccably run. As with everything in this ancient city, the crowds seemed to be handled with ease. As the mass was taking place the crowds were flowing quietly around the side isles of the church. Rose easily followed the Roman Catholic service which was in French, and she does not know French. I speak French well but not fluently, and I could not follow the mass. Afterwards around 12:45pm we did our own walk around the outside aisles.
When we came to the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, Rose lit a candle for the intentions of our friend Tim Sandell, and for my cousin Fred Gimblett, both of whom are suffering with cancer.
The Cathedral is the largest in Europe. Beginning in 1163 it took 200 years to build. It was the first to use the ‘flying buttress’ construction technique which allowed its size. During mass we learned that an organ recital would take place at 4:30pm. After the mass and viewing the inside, Rose and I found the line for walking to the top of the 69 meter, 224 ft towers. We were in line for 1.5 hours, during which we met and chatted with a few Americans, and were entertained by a clown in khaki outfit with a red nose who would follow and surprise people, by for example, sneaking up behind them and imitating their behaviour. The 380 step walk to the top had Rose puffing but she made it. The sites from the top were awesome. The gargoyles, some of which were badly worn down, were imaginative and often ferocious. Viewing the city from the top of the towers was another great experience. Rose found the entrance to one of the bell towers, said to be the one based on the famous novel of Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In his book, Notre-Dame de Paris, Victor Hugo does a great job of describing the scene from the top of the towers. He wrote, "All Paris was spread out at his feet, with her thousand turrets, her undulating horizon, her river winding under bridges, her stream of people flowing to and fro in the streets; with the cloud of smoke rising from her many chimneys [today the chimneys are still there but the cloud of smoke is gone]; with her chain of crested roofs pressing in ever tightening coils round about Notre Dame".
After walking to the top of the tower and back we had a bit to eat at one of several restaurant/bars within a block of the Cathedral. I was surprised by the ‘turkish toilet’ in the men’s bathroom. Luckily I only had to pee (too much information?).
Lunch and bathroom breaks over, we attended an organ recital in the Cathedral by an American, Karel Paukert, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Cleveland Heights, Ohio (in Paris they have to add USA). We listened to his first piece ‘Fantaise et fugue en sol mineur BWV 542’ by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). I wonder if he ever played in the Cathedral. The power and energy of this brilliant piece of classical music coupled with it being played on the booming Cathedral organ in the massive cathedral cavern, was an unforgettable experience. I taped it on my Palm Lifedrive. Someday I will figure out how to upload it to the blog.
As we returned home a man was feeding the sparrows bread out of his hand. He gave a piece to Rose who was excited to have the birds eat out of her hand. We returned home by Metro and this time walked the one block from Gare Du Nord to our hotel without getting lost.
CORRECTIONS:
1) I earlier wrote that we were lost at the 5 street intersections near our hotel. It is really eight streets that intersect!
2) We earlier said that the elevator in our hotel is 3’x4’. Actually it is 2.5’x3’! Rose thinks of our daughter-in-law, Teresa who is claustrophobic, every time she gets into the elevator. The first day we put ourselves and all our luggage in there. Rose did not enjoy that!
The Louvre Museum
We devoted Saturday to the famous Louvre Museum. Getting there by now is a cinch. Get on bus 48 in front of our hotel and get off at the Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre stop. It wasn’t clear where to find the museum. There was the large wall of a building, which looked much like other walls of buildings, so we entered the first door we could find which was open. We found ourselves in the Louvre des Antiquaires (antiques), the business pavilion of the museum. SEE: http://www.louvre-antiquaires.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=1&lg=en The stores are amazing, each very small but each specializing in different antiques.
We found our way to the famous front and entrance to the museum, the glass pyramid surrounded by pools of water, which is the massive cover for the below ground entrance area to the museum. This must be one of the largest museums in the world. According to Wikipedia it is 652,300 sq ft (60,600 sq meters). That’s the size of 7.5 Canadian football fields. SEE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvre . The building has a massive presence, and is a somewhat U shaped structure on the right bank of the Seine (the right bank when travelling downstream to the ocean).
We only planned one day at the Museum because we had lots to see in Paris and we are not educated in the antiquities and art of the world. We do not have the capacity to even begin to describe the experience of visiting the museum and its contents. Nevertheless, the historical and art pieces on display were nothing short of awesome. There is no point trying to list all the areas of the museum. They were all impressive. For example, we were impressed with the Egyptian area which included massive sandstone (I believe) sphinxes, coffins, funeral masks, and a wide display of art and tools and everyday items. We saw the original Mona Lisa, but on looking at my photo it had glass in front of it. We only noticed two pieces by Michelangelo, but we will see more of his work in Rome, later in October. Many art paintings were massive as you will see in our photos. We really can’t say much more. I am sure that anyone who has studied the details of any aspect or era of world history or art would find fascinating displays to improve their knowledge.
Reflecting on our visit to the Louvre, we were left with the feeling that the world has had many great civilizations which have come and gone. The same can happen to our current civilization. But for now Rose and I feel greatly blessed to have health and to be able to experience so much of the world and so many of the great places in the world. We also have to admire the brilliance of so many creative people who have left their marks on history.
Notre Dame Cathedral
Sunday the buses did not run as often so we took the subway to the St. Michael-Nortre Dame station, walked across the to right side of the river, and down a block to the Cathedral. SEE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_de_Paris . It seemed appropriate to be visiting the Cathedral on Sunday. We had listened to a Rick Steeve’s podcast about Paris, which our friend Carol Tanner had told us about, and which we had downloaded. SEE: http://www.ricksteves.com/news/podcast_menu.htm
Again we found ourselves amoung a sea of people (according to Wikipedia over 13 million a year visit the Cathedral), and a long line to get into the Cathedral. But the line moved quickly and 10-15 minutes later we were entering the Cathedral, 11:45am. There was no charge. A mass was being celebrated so we took a seat near the front, and received communion. As one would expect, the mass was impeccably run. As with everything in this ancient city, the crowds seemed to be handled with ease. As the mass was taking place the crowds were flowing quietly around the side isles of the church. Rose easily followed the Roman Catholic service which was in French, and she does not know French. I speak French well but not fluently, and I could not follow the mass. Afterwards around 12:45pm we did our own walk around the outside aisles.
When we came to the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, Rose lit a candle for the intentions of our friend Tim Sandell, and for my cousin Fred Gimblett, both of whom are suffering with cancer.
The Cathedral is the largest in Europe. Beginning in 1163 it took 200 years to build. It was the first to use the ‘flying buttress’ construction technique which allowed its size. During mass we learned that an organ recital would take place at 4:30pm. After the mass and viewing the inside, Rose and I found the line for walking to the top of the 69 meter, 224 ft towers. We were in line for 1.5 hours, during which we met and chatted with a few Americans, and were entertained by a clown in khaki outfit with a red nose who would follow and surprise people, by for example, sneaking up behind them and imitating their behaviour. The 380 step walk to the top had Rose puffing but she made it. The sites from the top were awesome. The gargoyles, some of which were badly worn down, were imaginative and often ferocious. Viewing the city from the top of the towers was another great experience. Rose found the entrance to one of the bell towers, said to be the one based on the famous novel of Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In his book, Notre-Dame de Paris, Victor Hugo does a great job of describing the scene from the top of the towers. He wrote, "All Paris was spread out at his feet, with her thousand turrets, her undulating horizon, her river winding under bridges, her stream of people flowing to and fro in the streets; with the cloud of smoke rising from her many chimneys [today the chimneys are still there but the cloud of smoke is gone]; with her chain of crested roofs pressing in ever tightening coils round about Notre Dame".
After walking to the top of the tower and back we had a bit to eat at one of several restaurant/bars within a block of the Cathedral. I was surprised by the ‘turkish toilet’ in the men’s bathroom. Luckily I only had to pee (too much information?).
Lunch and bathroom breaks over, we attended an organ recital in the Cathedral by an American, Karel Paukert, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Cleveland Heights, Ohio (in Paris they have to add USA). We listened to his first piece ‘Fantaise et fugue en sol mineur BWV 542’ by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). I wonder if he ever played in the Cathedral. The power and energy of this brilliant piece of classical music coupled with it being played on the booming Cathedral organ in the massive cathedral cavern, was an unforgettable experience. I taped it on my Palm Lifedrive. Someday I will figure out how to upload it to the blog.
As we returned home a man was feeding the sparrows bread out of his hand. He gave a piece to Rose who was excited to have the birds eat out of her hand. We returned home by Metro and this time walked the one block from Gare Du Nord to our hotel without getting lost.
CORRECTIONS:
1) I earlier wrote that we were lost at the 5 street intersections near our hotel. It is really eight streets that intersect!
2) We earlier said that the elevator in our hotel is 3’x4’. Actually it is 2.5’x3’! Rose thinks of our daughter-in-law, Teresa who is claustrophobic, every time she gets into the elevator. The first day we put ourselves and all our luggage in there. Rose did not enjoy that!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
September 24-25, Immenstadt to Paris, Romance on the Seine, The Eiffel Tower
BLOG ENTRY: September 24-25, Immenstadt to Paris, Romance on the Seine, The Eiffel Tower
A LONG VOYAGE TO PARIS
Immenstadt to Paris was a long day. At 8:15 we set out from the Stanicki household about 200 yards/metres to the train station, boarded our regional train to Ulm at 8:30 and arrived at 9:30, changed trains and left for Stuttgart at 10:30. We did not use our reserved tickets from Ulm to Stuttgart, for which we paid $24, because they would get us into Stuttgart at 11:30 just a few minutes before our train from Stuttgart to Paris was to leave, the only one available. We learned our lesson, not to have too little time between trains, earlier in the week. At 11:50 we boarded the shining TGV train from Stuttgart to Paris and at 4:30pm we were coasting into the Paris Est train station.
PARIS FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Arriving in Paris from the East was not a pretty site. Graffiti is splashed all along the route. The houses were different. The ones on the outskirts tended to have roofs with small flattening curves at the bottom. They looked older and not as well kept as we saw throughout Gemany. As we neared the station the houses turned into 5-7 story buildings lining each side of narrow streets, nary a tree to be seen. This is a densely populated city. The station, in contrast to the jewel of a station in Berlin, was old. We headed out to find a large mall connected to the station, an old large looking old hotel and spreading into several underground metro stations and several exits.
After searching around for tourist information and not finding any we realized that this was not a simple task. Rose stayed with the bags, while I scouted out this massive complex. I found a book store but it did not have detailed maps for less than 20 Euro. Then I found a ticket office and bought 2, 5 day transit passes for 56.60 Euro, $95, and received a free small ‘Paris Travel Kit’, about the size of two 8 ½ x 14 pages folded to pocket size, which showed the city’s main routes and streets. A security guard told us our hotel was not far. We decided to get a taxi, but the driver said that our hotel, Hotel Meubeuge, which I had booked over the internet, was just ‘la bas’ around the corner by the Paris North train station. Who ever heard of the East and North train stations being beside each other? Anyway we set out dragging our luggage and thankful for the rollers on the bags. We turned the corner to find ourselves in what seemed like a five corner intersection with hard to find street signs (they are up on the buildings and old and fading), which seemed to be next to another 5 corner intersection, and everywhere there was wall to wall people. This is it, one of the world’s major cities. We walked and walked and looked at our inadequate map. Paris is nothing like Berlin. The streets and sidewalks are mainly paved (we learned at another time that during an historical Paris riot, the rioters had used the paving stones as weapons, so the authorities decided that pavement was better).
OUR HOTEL
Finally about and hour after getting off the train, about 5:30pm, we found our street and hotel. Rose was tired. There was a little door into the side of one of those 5-7 story buildings on a narrow street. We entered to find a little lobby. On mentioning our name the attendant behind the little desk nodded that he had our reservation. He gave us our key, one of those old plastic ones with holes to represent the door code.
We headed up to our room. This was definitely an old building. It had an elevator, about 3’x4’. We crammed ourselves and our luggage into to elevator, squeezing a little more so the door would close, and started up to 314. On opening the door we found our room immediately beside the elevator – ie elevator - door, no wall between them. The room was similar in age and workmanship to our Berlin hotel, eg indoor-outdoor carpet unprofessionally laid. However, this room was about 9’x9’ with a 3’ wide bathroom and shower. With our luggage we could barely move around the room. Rose could smell mould. I smelled strong disinfectant despite my clogged nose. Rose was not happy. She said she had expected more, something a little romantic in Paris. Oh Oh! I realized that this hotel was NOT A GOOD DECISION. I went down to the front desk and outlined our concerns, and Rose’s allergy to mould. The attendant said they were booked for the night but that they would see what they could do. I told him that we needed something different or we would have to change hotels. We each had a shower and went out for dinner, stopping at another hotel across the way to look at its rooms. They were a little better, but still had some mould around the tub in the bathroom. At 124 Euro, nearly $200/night we decided to stick with our 90 Euro $135/night hotel and see what they provided the next day.
The next morning at 8am we were going out for breakfast and the attendant told us they needed a few hours to find the room. We walked to the corner and picked the first place for breakfast. I had a plain ham omelette and Rose had milk coffee and a croissant. Cost with tip 15 Euro ~$24. Back at the hotel they still did not have our room so we went up to prepare for our visit to the Eiffel Tower. Coming back down around 10am they had a new room at 522. We went up to see it before agreeing. It was better, about 11’x14’, a little smaller than our master bedroom at home, and a bathroom about 4’x8’ with tub small tub. There was a little mould showing and some possibly painted over, but we decided to accept it, and headed out. The attendant told us that bus 42 which stopped right beside the hotel, would take us to the Eiffel tower.
We got off the bus within site of the Eiffel tower. On arrival at the base of this massive structure built for the 1889 World Fair in Paris, we discovered massive numbers of people, and extremely long lines for tickets, 2.5 hours. An attendant for one of the ‘lifts’ that was closed told us that later in the afternoon it would be better. So we headed off to look into the boat cruises on the Seine, right beside the tower. We decided to splurge and take a lunch cruise on what looked like a very nice boat, for 53 Euro each, total about $170, the lowest of the three levels of service, the highest being 73 Euro each. Boy was that the right decision!
A ROMANTIC CRUISE ON THE SEINE
The lunch cruise turned out to be everything a prairie couple on a world cruise could have imagined. The boat was gleaming with linen set tables in full banquet style. Even the bathrooms sparkled, but I’m not sure the men in there appreciated me taking photos (is that too much information!). On being assigned to our seats we were handed a Rosé mixture of red and white wines. Another bottle of white wine was placed in an ice bucket beside us. After my debacle of a hotel this hit the spot for Rose. For appetizers Rose chose the ‘Ceasars salad with Eggs, Chicken, Marinated anchovy, Olives and Parmesans shavings’; I chose ‘Snails and Asparagus Spears Pot, Asparagus Cream Mousse, with Green Asparagus Nage’. Added to mine were Rose’s egg and marinated anchovy which she can’t eat; all this with the white wine.
The waiter appeared with a bottle of red wine. The boat started on its cruise, leaving the Eiffel tower for our backdrop, as we cruised by the main tourist sites of Paris, all along about 4kms of the Seine river. We were serenaded with classical music by a violinist with accompanying keyboard as we passed the sites: the church of Les Invalides, L’Assemblée Nationale, Le Musée d’Orsay, Le Lourvre, L’institut de France, La Conciergerie, La Cathédral Notre-Dame (made partly famous by Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). L’Hotel de Ville, and lastly La Bibliothéque Nationale.
For our main courses, Rose had ‘Briased Shoulder of Beef on Mashed Potato, served with Parsley dressing’. I chose the ‘Salmon Steak Seared on One Side, Confit of Mediterranean Vegetables’. AND for dessert my taste buds were sparkling with ‘Passion Fruit, Nougat and Pistachio Vacherin with a Light Passion Fruit Sauce’ (take that Dairy Queen!). Rose was titillated with ‘Apricot Tartlet, with Babadére Ice-cream (Layered Apricot Sorbet, Pistachio Ice-cream and Morello Cherry Sorbet)’.
By the end of the cruise we were buddies with the people at the tables beside us, a young couple, just engaged, from Belgium. He sells Canadian Cedar wood products, and she is q newly graduated lawyer. The other couple, celebrating an anniversary, were from Briouze, South of Caen (were my uncle, Maurice (Slim) Rogers, a WWII casualty, is buried nearby at Brettville-sur-Laize. We would like to go there but with a cost of 100 Euro and a day, we might not make it).
THE EIFFEL TOWER
After our spectacular lunch cruise Rose was a little tipsy and gushing with romance. As we walked back to the Eiffel tower around 3pm she felt better and cooled off, so we bought our tickets to the second level, 8 Euro each. The top was closed. However, soon after reaching the second level, we rose to the top for another 5 Euro each. AND of course it was exciting and awesome to see again those sites we had seen on our lunch cruise, and the rest of Paris. It’s amazing that they handle so many thousands of people so smoothly. The only glitch was the conductor of the down lift, who barked repeatedly ‘nous ne pouvons va plus haut madame (Pardon my French writing)’ in response to Rose’s and other’s questions of whether he was going down.
We made our way back to our Hotel using the metro this time. Rose does not like the metro. We exited at Paris North, not far from our hotel, but got lost again for several minutes in the maize of little streets, tall buildings and people. Rose does not like being lost. The problem is that she is worse at directions than me, but sometimes is right. Try that situation and see if you remain friends. We did (remain friends), soon after finding our hotel.
LESSONS IN SHOWERING:
Lessons in showering in a 3 foot bathtub (at the bottom) without an enclosure in a 2 star European hotel. 1) Kneel and bend over the tub to wash your hair – no problem. 2) Sit in tub, knees up slightly, and run water over your body. Turn water off. 3) Stand and soap yourself. 4) Now, carefully, lean as close as possible to the wall, moving the shower head over your back and legs, taking care not to shower the floor, toilet and sink. Turn frontwards and do the same. 5) Dry yourself in the tub (there is no bathmat). 6) Step, carefully, out of the tub and finish drying. 7) Use the towel to wipe up the floor (don’t use the towel again and hope that they give you a new one). Now you are clean and ready for another amazing day in Paris.
A LONG VOYAGE TO PARIS
Immenstadt to Paris was a long day. At 8:15 we set out from the Stanicki household about 200 yards/metres to the train station, boarded our regional train to Ulm at 8:30 and arrived at 9:30, changed trains and left for Stuttgart at 10:30. We did not use our reserved tickets from Ulm to Stuttgart, for which we paid $24, because they would get us into Stuttgart at 11:30 just a few minutes before our train from Stuttgart to Paris was to leave, the only one available. We learned our lesson, not to have too little time between trains, earlier in the week. At 11:50 we boarded the shining TGV train from Stuttgart to Paris and at 4:30pm we were coasting into the Paris Est train station.
PARIS FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Arriving in Paris from the East was not a pretty site. Graffiti is splashed all along the route. The houses were different. The ones on the outskirts tended to have roofs with small flattening curves at the bottom. They looked older and not as well kept as we saw throughout Gemany. As we neared the station the houses turned into 5-7 story buildings lining each side of narrow streets, nary a tree to be seen. This is a densely populated city. The station, in contrast to the jewel of a station in Berlin, was old. We headed out to find a large mall connected to the station, an old large looking old hotel and spreading into several underground metro stations and several exits.
After searching around for tourist information and not finding any we realized that this was not a simple task. Rose stayed with the bags, while I scouted out this massive complex. I found a book store but it did not have detailed maps for less than 20 Euro. Then I found a ticket office and bought 2, 5 day transit passes for 56.60 Euro, $95, and received a free small ‘Paris Travel Kit’, about the size of two 8 ½ x 14 pages folded to pocket size, which showed the city’s main routes and streets. A security guard told us our hotel was not far. We decided to get a taxi, but the driver said that our hotel, Hotel Meubeuge, which I had booked over the internet, was just ‘la bas’ around the corner by the Paris North train station. Who ever heard of the East and North train stations being beside each other? Anyway we set out dragging our luggage and thankful for the rollers on the bags. We turned the corner to find ourselves in what seemed like a five corner intersection with hard to find street signs (they are up on the buildings and old and fading), which seemed to be next to another 5 corner intersection, and everywhere there was wall to wall people. This is it, one of the world’s major cities. We walked and walked and looked at our inadequate map. Paris is nothing like Berlin. The streets and sidewalks are mainly paved (we learned at another time that during an historical Paris riot, the rioters had used the paving stones as weapons, so the authorities decided that pavement was better).
OUR HOTEL
Finally about and hour after getting off the train, about 5:30pm, we found our street and hotel. Rose was tired. There was a little door into the side of one of those 5-7 story buildings on a narrow street. We entered to find a little lobby. On mentioning our name the attendant behind the little desk nodded that he had our reservation. He gave us our key, one of those old plastic ones with holes to represent the door code.
We headed up to our room. This was definitely an old building. It had an elevator, about 3’x4’. We crammed ourselves and our luggage into to elevator, squeezing a little more so the door would close, and started up to 314. On opening the door we found our room immediately beside the elevator – ie elevator - door, no wall between them. The room was similar in age and workmanship to our Berlin hotel, eg indoor-outdoor carpet unprofessionally laid. However, this room was about 9’x9’ with a 3’ wide bathroom and shower. With our luggage we could barely move around the room. Rose could smell mould. I smelled strong disinfectant despite my clogged nose. Rose was not happy. She said she had expected more, something a little romantic in Paris. Oh Oh! I realized that this hotel was NOT A GOOD DECISION. I went down to the front desk and outlined our concerns, and Rose’s allergy to mould. The attendant said they were booked for the night but that they would see what they could do. I told him that we needed something different or we would have to change hotels. We each had a shower and went out for dinner, stopping at another hotel across the way to look at its rooms. They were a little better, but still had some mould around the tub in the bathroom. At 124 Euro, nearly $200/night we decided to stick with our 90 Euro $135/night hotel and see what they provided the next day.
The next morning at 8am we were going out for breakfast and the attendant told us they needed a few hours to find the room. We walked to the corner and picked the first place for breakfast. I had a plain ham omelette and Rose had milk coffee and a croissant. Cost with tip 15 Euro ~$24. Back at the hotel they still did not have our room so we went up to prepare for our visit to the Eiffel Tower. Coming back down around 10am they had a new room at 522. We went up to see it before agreeing. It was better, about 11’x14’, a little smaller than our master bedroom at home, and a bathroom about 4’x8’ with tub small tub. There was a little mould showing and some possibly painted over, but we decided to accept it, and headed out. The attendant told us that bus 42 which stopped right beside the hotel, would take us to the Eiffel tower.
We got off the bus within site of the Eiffel tower. On arrival at the base of this massive structure built for the 1889 World Fair in Paris, we discovered massive numbers of people, and extremely long lines for tickets, 2.5 hours. An attendant for one of the ‘lifts’ that was closed told us that later in the afternoon it would be better. So we headed off to look into the boat cruises on the Seine, right beside the tower. We decided to splurge and take a lunch cruise on what looked like a very nice boat, for 53 Euro each, total about $170, the lowest of the three levels of service, the highest being 73 Euro each. Boy was that the right decision!
A ROMANTIC CRUISE ON THE SEINE
The lunch cruise turned out to be everything a prairie couple on a world cruise could have imagined. The boat was gleaming with linen set tables in full banquet style. Even the bathrooms sparkled, but I’m not sure the men in there appreciated me taking photos (is that too much information!). On being assigned to our seats we were handed a Rosé mixture of red and white wines. Another bottle of white wine was placed in an ice bucket beside us. After my debacle of a hotel this hit the spot for Rose. For appetizers Rose chose the ‘Ceasars salad with Eggs, Chicken, Marinated anchovy, Olives and Parmesans shavings’; I chose ‘Snails and Asparagus Spears Pot, Asparagus Cream Mousse, with Green Asparagus Nage’. Added to mine were Rose’s egg and marinated anchovy which she can’t eat; all this with the white wine.
The waiter appeared with a bottle of red wine. The boat started on its cruise, leaving the Eiffel tower for our backdrop, as we cruised by the main tourist sites of Paris, all along about 4kms of the Seine river. We were serenaded with classical music by a violinist with accompanying keyboard as we passed the sites: the church of Les Invalides, L’Assemblée Nationale, Le Musée d’Orsay, Le Lourvre, L’institut de France, La Conciergerie, La Cathédral Notre-Dame (made partly famous by Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). L’Hotel de Ville, and lastly La Bibliothéque Nationale.
For our main courses, Rose had ‘Briased Shoulder of Beef on Mashed Potato, served with Parsley dressing’. I chose the ‘Salmon Steak Seared on One Side, Confit of Mediterranean Vegetables’. AND for dessert my taste buds were sparkling with ‘Passion Fruit, Nougat and Pistachio Vacherin with a Light Passion Fruit Sauce’ (take that Dairy Queen!). Rose was titillated with ‘Apricot Tartlet, with Babadére Ice-cream (Layered Apricot Sorbet, Pistachio Ice-cream and Morello Cherry Sorbet)’.
By the end of the cruise we were buddies with the people at the tables beside us, a young couple, just engaged, from Belgium. He sells Canadian Cedar wood products, and she is q newly graduated lawyer. The other couple, celebrating an anniversary, were from Briouze, South of Caen (were my uncle, Maurice (Slim) Rogers, a WWII casualty, is buried nearby at Brettville-sur-Laize. We would like to go there but with a cost of 100 Euro and a day, we might not make it).
THE EIFFEL TOWER
After our spectacular lunch cruise Rose was a little tipsy and gushing with romance. As we walked back to the Eiffel tower around 3pm she felt better and cooled off, so we bought our tickets to the second level, 8 Euro each. The top was closed. However, soon after reaching the second level, we rose to the top for another 5 Euro each. AND of course it was exciting and awesome to see again those sites we had seen on our lunch cruise, and the rest of Paris. It’s amazing that they handle so many thousands of people so smoothly. The only glitch was the conductor of the down lift, who barked repeatedly ‘nous ne pouvons va plus haut madame (Pardon my French writing)’ in response to Rose’s and other’s questions of whether he was going down.
We made our way back to our Hotel using the metro this time. Rose does not like the metro. We exited at Paris North, not far from our hotel, but got lost again for several minutes in the maize of little streets, tall buildings and people. Rose does not like being lost. The problem is that she is worse at directions than me, but sometimes is right. Try that situation and see if you remain friends. We did (remain friends), soon after finding our hotel.
LESSONS IN SHOWERING:
Lessons in showering in a 3 foot bathtub (at the bottom) without an enclosure in a 2 star European hotel. 1) Kneel and bend over the tub to wash your hair – no problem. 2) Sit in tub, knees up slightly, and run water over your body. Turn water off. 3) Stand and soap yourself. 4) Now, carefully, lean as close as possible to the wall, moving the shower head over your back and legs, taking care not to shower the floor, toilet and sink. Turn frontwards and do the same. 5) Dry yourself in the tub (there is no bathmat). 6) Step, carefully, out of the tub and finish drying. 7) Use the towel to wipe up the floor (don’t use the towel again and hope that they give you a new one). Now you are clean and ready for another amazing day in Paris.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
September 20-24 Amberg, Immenstadt
BLOG ENTRY: Sunday-Wednesday, September 20-24 – Amberg and Immenstadt
Peine to Amberg
Monday morning Marcel delivered us to the local open air train station in Peine. We boarded the empty double decker on time at 9:44, arrived in Hannover 22 minutes later at 10:06. We found the platform for our 10:26 train to Nurnberg and confirmed with other passengers that the train sitting there was ours. We boarded but on finding what we thought was our car we found some people in our seats, so we sat in some empty seats. When a porter finally came along we learned that another train had been attached to ours and we were supposed to be on that train. We hurried down the platform and finally boarded the right car and found the right seats, just as the train began its 3 hour trip from Hannover to Nurnberg.
The terrain is very hilly, you might even call it mildly mountainous, with many tunnels and pretty little towns nestled in and somewhat up the hillside valleys between the mountains. They are like large furry (the trees) sugar loaves sprinkled by God along a rolling plain. Now I realize that the fairy tale towns of our children’s books when I grew up were descriptions of actual towns. Houses along the way were becoming alpine looking, with anywhere from 2-6 stories. The windows are layered in each level until there is just one in the crux of the steeply sloped roofs.
We arrived in Nurnberg HBF at 1:30. My research showed that the next regional train to Amberg was leaving in 10 minutes and another was leaving an hour later so we decided to take that one. We explored the Nurnberg station, and then caught the 2:42 train to Amberg arriving at 3:30pm. Our friend Maria Dinklemeyer was there to meet us. We had visited her with Mike and Lillian in 2003 after my assignment in Warsaw. She had taken us to meet several of Rose’s Stanicki cousins: Natalia, Oksana, Monica, and Sylvia all sisters who also lived in the area. None of the sisters speak English. Back in 2000 Natalia, and Maria, had visited us to attend Mike’s daughter, Janice’s wedding in Edmonton. So we had contacted Maria and asked to stay with her and asked for her help to see the cousins again.
Things change. Most of the sisters are no longer talking to each other. Oksana’s young son died in 2005 and she has been in deep depression ever since. Sylvia and her husband split up and Sylvia went into depression. Monica had two handicapped children from her husband Heinze. He could not handle the situation and left. Rather than supporting each other the sisters relationships deteriorated and they find life easier by not talking to or visiting each other. Perhaps the lack of a stable family heritage had something to do with the situation; who knows. But at this time we would visit Maria and not see any cousins in the area.
Blown away in Amberg
Maria was at the station to meet us in Amberg, apologizing for not being able to arrange to visit with Rose’s cousins. We explained that we understood the situation. She said that on arrival at the station she saw Roland, Natalia’s 35? year old son. She thought he had come to meet us, and maybe he had, but he was clearly drunk and he slipped away.
We were immediately ‘blown away’ in Amberg. Maria’s son-in-law, Christoff, picked us up in what can only be described as the most advanced Audi 4x4 I have ever seen. GPS, DVDs, warning signals, automatic doors and windows etc etc. They took us to Christoff and Maria’s daughter, Cindy’s place, where a birthday party for their 7 year old daughter was in progress. Harold, Maria’s son, his wife and new 4 week old baby, and a few other friends and children were in attendance.
We were ‘blown away’ again. They live in a former convent which has been redesigned by an architect and remodelled for family living. It must surely have won an award. Maria promised to send us a WEB site about it. The convent/home must be about 6,000 sq ft – 568 sq m on each of the two floors, with covered parking for about 8 cars. Part of the top floor is rented out. Part of the ground floor is Christoff’s office for his management consulting company. The party was taking place on a deck about 60’x60 ft leading out from a large glassed wall door to the dinning/kitchen/living open area. Kids were wizzing around on their little plastic motor bikes and cars, and a ping pong table was getting a workout further back. In the middle of large dining/kitchen/living open area a massive modern fireplace with openings to the living and dining rooms, is the feature. Outside beside the deck is a swimming pool fed by natural spring water. A little further up the mountain, via a nicely landscaped path, is a garden building, complete with toilet, heating, and crafts for children and adults. On the way up a set of swings is nestled into the hillside, and slightly below the pool is a basket ball hoop, trampoline and sandbox. Even further up the hill is a soccer field cut into a level area on the mountainside. This remarkable 10 acre place is sitting ¾ of the way up the forested sugar loaf, and overlooking the ancient town square of Amberg. We were privileged to be invited by Christoff to see his wine cellar, a classic cellar with several rooms of brick rounded walls and ceilings winding through the cellar. Christoff says it will hold 2500 bottles, but he only has 1100. The rooms are temperature controlled and have a dehumidifier connected to the sewer system (Teresa, you know what it means to empty dehumidifiers). Thinking of our friends Ken and Alex, we took several photos of the wine cellar. However, we are having trouble uploading photos to our Picasa WEB album so I’m not sure when they will be available to see.
Christoff’s family and another family had owned a large business which found and developed kaolin and feldspar resources for the making of china ware, and ceramics. After disagreements over management, Christoff’s family sold out to the other family. Christoff and other members of his family were left with substantial financial resources. Christoff and Cindy purchased the convent located on the highest sugar loaf mountain in the area, and hired an architect to remodel the place, all work completed in 13 months.
Later we returned to Maria’s home. We had stayed with her in 2003, in her very modern 3 level home (photos on the blog). At that time she was separated from her Doctor husband who had a drinking problem. Now she is divorced. She got the house and he kept his money/pension. She lives on the bottom floor and rents the other 2 floors to a young couple in the US military for 1200 Euro/month. They are currently on assignment in Iraq so the upper floors are empty.
A CRUISE ON THE DANUBE
Monday, Maria took us to Regensburg and Kelheim, both on the Danube. In Kelheim we went on a 45 minute cruise up the Danube, to the Benedictine abbey called Weltenburg, where we had lunch. Rose and I had never in our lives imagined that we might cruise on the Danube, so we were delighted with the trip. It was a beautiful sunny day and the scenery was spectacular. We could have been on a cruise in the Rockie mountains, if the rivers flowed slow enough and the mountains were not so high. There were high cliffs on each side of the river. It was a perfect day with sunshine and little wind.
Returning home we took Maria walked us through the beautiful ancient city centre of Regensburg. All the streets for many blocks have been closed to traffic, finished in paving old and new paving stones, and are filled with shops, sidewalk restaurants and bars, ice cream parlours, and a massive old church, which was being repaired. On returning to Amberg we went took Maria to dinner at a local Italian restaurant.
IMMENSTADT
Tuesday morning we had breakfast and left for Immenstadt. The regional train from Amberg to Nurnberg came as expected. However, in Nurnberg, we learned that the train for the next leg of our trip, Nurnbeg to Augsberg, was delayed 20 minutes, which meant we would miss our next train from Augsberg to Immenstadt with the seats we had paid $12 each to reserve, on top of our Eurail pass. Sure enough we missed our next train. The conductor directed us to a regional train, and with the help of other passengers we were able to negotiate our way to Immenstadt one hour late, where Rose’s cousins Kaudyja, and Jergen, Heike and family (Simona 12, Kevin 11, Lucas 7, Alex 5, and Jessica 3 today) were waiting for us.
Klaudyja 56 is Jergen’s 41 sister and has no children of her own. After many years of illness and cancer she, Jergen and Heike and family decided to pool their meagre resources and live together. They found two flats beside each other. Jergen works as a computer TV technician to support the group. Klaudyja gets some disability, and the government also supports the family through child benefits, medical and dental services. Klaudyja was sporting a beautiful set of teeth provided by the health care system because of her low income. (Rose and I paid $7,000 in 2007 for dental work that failed and we are now looking at another $7,000 for corrective work) The familiy now hqw one flat for sleeping and the other for daytime activity. They carved out of this compact living arrangement, a private room for Rose and I with our own bathroom, stocked from wall to wall, with the personal necessities of three adults and 5 children in the same small living accomodation.
We did not stay in the apartment for long. Klaudyja was anxious to show us the 'see', lake Constance, near their home. We all walked about 4km to the lake and there we saw the reason for her enthusiasm. The lake is nestled in the mountains, with a small port for boats and sailboats, around which is a few shops, a dock leading out into the water, and a path leading around the lake. We continued another km along the path. By the time we returned we had out daily exercise and were ready for dinner. Jergen, Heike, Jessica and I went to a local grocery store for food and refreshments. I bought a few beer and
Wednesday Jurgen had arranged the day off and at Klaudyja’s suggestion we took the whole family by train to the tourist resort of Lindau at lake Bodensee, 1 hour away by train (cost 56 Euro). Wikipedia has a article on the place at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindau
Before leaving on the train we visited Klaudyja’s brother (Rose’s cousin) who has been in hospital in a coma for three years. He has no control over his limbs, but seemed to understand the activity around him as he blinked or huffed at various things or comments. We were impressed with his good condition, despite being bedridden. There were no bed shores, and his complexion was very good.
Returning home Klaudyja showed Rose how she makes schnitzel. Rose heard her say that she has to be careful not to buy sheep eggs because they make the schnitzel taste like fish. Rose carefully repeated the phrase and Klaugyja responded, 'yes, never use sheep eggs'. Rose said 'sheep, bah bah sheep'. And Klaugyja said, 'not expensive eggs, sheep eggs'. Rose said, 'you mean cheap eggs'. Klaudyja and Rose both realized at the same time that Klaudyja's pronounciation of 'cheap eggs' sounded to Rose like 'sheep eggs', and they were hooting about it for the rest of the day.
LINDAU and LAKE BODENSEE
At 3pm we travelled one hour by train to Lindau and one hour back, plus 2 hours exploring the Lake Bodensee resort at Lindau, and returned one hour by train at 7pm. We enjoyed climbing up the lighthouse tower with the lion statue at the entrance to the harbour. Alex, who wanted to go up the lighthouse, became terrified at the small, narrow, steep winding stairs around the inside of the round lighthouse. His father to picked him up half way up and he screamed blue murder the rest of the way. His younger sister, Jessica would have walked the railing at the top of the lighthouse if her mother had let her. The quiet lake with sailboats moored and sailing, cruise boats taking people to nearby islands, plus the several sidewalk restaurants and bars with many people, made a truly pastoral scene. After the lighthouse we walked along the lake shore walk. It reminded me of walking along the ocean around Stanley Park in Vancouver. As we walked we came upon a small playground with concrete play structures. The children were entertained there for 30 minutes while the adults, except the parents. There were no toilets there but the children just visited the bushes whenever necessary. The 5 young children do no often ride on the train so it was a real adventure for them.
On returning home Rose and I hid in our bedroom while the children were fed and put to bed. Later we had a bite to eat with Klaudyja before packing for our trip to Paris on Thursday. We convinced Klaudyja to accept 50 Euro for the children and adults as small gifts since we were not able to carry gifts with us.
Thursday morning we leave for Paris, catching the 8:30 train for one hour to Ulm, then a train from Ulm to Stuttgart for one hour, then another train to Paris for 4 hours. We have many good memories of our visit with this large family of meagre resources. Kevin played his accordion for us. He and Lucas both have Skype on computers so we will be talking to them from our hotel in Paris. It is Jessica’s birthday today, Thursday. She is three but says she is four. I suggested she is correct since she is in her fourth year.
Once again we see proof that family size and income need not be conditions for happiness. This is a happy family living surely under financial stress but with the benefit of mutual love and support.
Peine to Amberg
Monday morning Marcel delivered us to the local open air train station in Peine. We boarded the empty double decker on time at 9:44, arrived in Hannover 22 minutes later at 10:06. We found the platform for our 10:26 train to Nurnberg and confirmed with other passengers that the train sitting there was ours. We boarded but on finding what we thought was our car we found some people in our seats, so we sat in some empty seats. When a porter finally came along we learned that another train had been attached to ours and we were supposed to be on that train. We hurried down the platform and finally boarded the right car and found the right seats, just as the train began its 3 hour trip from Hannover to Nurnberg.
The terrain is very hilly, you might even call it mildly mountainous, with many tunnels and pretty little towns nestled in and somewhat up the hillside valleys between the mountains. They are like large furry (the trees) sugar loaves sprinkled by God along a rolling plain. Now I realize that the fairy tale towns of our children’s books when I grew up were descriptions of actual towns. Houses along the way were becoming alpine looking, with anywhere from 2-6 stories. The windows are layered in each level until there is just one in the crux of the steeply sloped roofs.
We arrived in Nurnberg HBF at 1:30. My research showed that the next regional train to Amberg was leaving in 10 minutes and another was leaving an hour later so we decided to take that one. We explored the Nurnberg station, and then caught the 2:42 train to Amberg arriving at 3:30pm. Our friend Maria Dinklemeyer was there to meet us. We had visited her with Mike and Lillian in 2003 after my assignment in Warsaw. She had taken us to meet several of Rose’s Stanicki cousins: Natalia, Oksana, Monica, and Sylvia all sisters who also lived in the area. None of the sisters speak English. Back in 2000 Natalia, and Maria, had visited us to attend Mike’s daughter, Janice’s wedding in Edmonton. So we had contacted Maria and asked to stay with her and asked for her help to see the cousins again.
Things change. Most of the sisters are no longer talking to each other. Oksana’s young son died in 2005 and she has been in deep depression ever since. Sylvia and her husband split up and Sylvia went into depression. Monica had two handicapped children from her husband Heinze. He could not handle the situation and left. Rather than supporting each other the sisters relationships deteriorated and they find life easier by not talking to or visiting each other. Perhaps the lack of a stable family heritage had something to do with the situation; who knows. But at this time we would visit Maria and not see any cousins in the area.
Blown away in Amberg
Maria was at the station to meet us in Amberg, apologizing for not being able to arrange to visit with Rose’s cousins. We explained that we understood the situation. She said that on arrival at the station she saw Roland, Natalia’s 35? year old son. She thought he had come to meet us, and maybe he had, but he was clearly drunk and he slipped away.
We were immediately ‘blown away’ in Amberg. Maria’s son-in-law, Christoff, picked us up in what can only be described as the most advanced Audi 4x4 I have ever seen. GPS, DVDs, warning signals, automatic doors and windows etc etc. They took us to Christoff and Maria’s daughter, Cindy’s place, where a birthday party for their 7 year old daughter was in progress. Harold, Maria’s son, his wife and new 4 week old baby, and a few other friends and children were in attendance.
We were ‘blown away’ again. They live in a former convent which has been redesigned by an architect and remodelled for family living. It must surely have won an award. Maria promised to send us a WEB site about it. The convent/home must be about 6,000 sq ft – 568 sq m on each of the two floors, with covered parking for about 8 cars. Part of the top floor is rented out. Part of the ground floor is Christoff’s office for his management consulting company. The party was taking place on a deck about 60’x60 ft leading out from a large glassed wall door to the dinning/kitchen/living open area. Kids were wizzing around on their little plastic motor bikes and cars, and a ping pong table was getting a workout further back. In the middle of large dining/kitchen/living open area a massive modern fireplace with openings to the living and dining rooms, is the feature. Outside beside the deck is a swimming pool fed by natural spring water. A little further up the mountain, via a nicely landscaped path, is a garden building, complete with toilet, heating, and crafts for children and adults. On the way up a set of swings is nestled into the hillside, and slightly below the pool is a basket ball hoop, trampoline and sandbox. Even further up the hill is a soccer field cut into a level area on the mountainside. This remarkable 10 acre place is sitting ¾ of the way up the forested sugar loaf, and overlooking the ancient town square of Amberg. We were privileged to be invited by Christoff to see his wine cellar, a classic cellar with several rooms of brick rounded walls and ceilings winding through the cellar. Christoff says it will hold 2500 bottles, but he only has 1100. The rooms are temperature controlled and have a dehumidifier connected to the sewer system (Teresa, you know what it means to empty dehumidifiers). Thinking of our friends Ken and Alex, we took several photos of the wine cellar. However, we are having trouble uploading photos to our Picasa WEB album so I’m not sure when they will be available to see.
Christoff’s family and another family had owned a large business which found and developed kaolin and feldspar resources for the making of china ware, and ceramics. After disagreements over management, Christoff’s family sold out to the other family. Christoff and other members of his family were left with substantial financial resources. Christoff and Cindy purchased the convent located on the highest sugar loaf mountain in the area, and hired an architect to remodel the place, all work completed in 13 months.
Later we returned to Maria’s home. We had stayed with her in 2003, in her very modern 3 level home (photos on the blog). At that time she was separated from her Doctor husband who had a drinking problem. Now she is divorced. She got the house and he kept his money/pension. She lives on the bottom floor and rents the other 2 floors to a young couple in the US military for 1200 Euro/month. They are currently on assignment in Iraq so the upper floors are empty.
A CRUISE ON THE DANUBE
Monday, Maria took us to Regensburg and Kelheim, both on the Danube. In Kelheim we went on a 45 minute cruise up the Danube, to the Benedictine abbey called Weltenburg, where we had lunch. Rose and I had never in our lives imagined that we might cruise on the Danube, so we were delighted with the trip. It was a beautiful sunny day and the scenery was spectacular. We could have been on a cruise in the Rockie mountains, if the rivers flowed slow enough and the mountains were not so high. There were high cliffs on each side of the river. It was a perfect day with sunshine and little wind.
Returning home we took Maria walked us through the beautiful ancient city centre of Regensburg. All the streets for many blocks have been closed to traffic, finished in paving old and new paving stones, and are filled with shops, sidewalk restaurants and bars, ice cream parlours, and a massive old church, which was being repaired. On returning to Amberg we went took Maria to dinner at a local Italian restaurant.
IMMENSTADT
Tuesday morning we had breakfast and left for Immenstadt. The regional train from Amberg to Nurnberg came as expected. However, in Nurnberg, we learned that the train for the next leg of our trip, Nurnbeg to Augsberg, was delayed 20 minutes, which meant we would miss our next train from Augsberg to Immenstadt with the seats we had paid $12 each to reserve, on top of our Eurail pass. Sure enough we missed our next train. The conductor directed us to a regional train, and with the help of other passengers we were able to negotiate our way to Immenstadt one hour late, where Rose’s cousins Kaudyja, and Jergen, Heike and family (Simona 12, Kevin 11, Lucas 7, Alex 5, and Jessica 3 today) were waiting for us.
Klaudyja 56 is Jergen’s 41 sister and has no children of her own. After many years of illness and cancer she, Jergen and Heike and family decided to pool their meagre resources and live together. They found two flats beside each other. Jergen works as a computer TV technician to support the group. Klaudyja gets some disability, and the government also supports the family through child benefits, medical and dental services. Klaudyja was sporting a beautiful set of teeth provided by the health care system because of her low income. (Rose and I paid $7,000 in 2007 for dental work that failed and we are now looking at another $7,000 for corrective work) The familiy now hqw one flat for sleeping and the other for daytime activity. They carved out of this compact living arrangement, a private room for Rose and I with our own bathroom, stocked from wall to wall, with the personal necessities of three adults and 5 children in the same small living accomodation.
We did not stay in the apartment for long. Klaudyja was anxious to show us the 'see', lake Constance, near their home. We all walked about 4km to the lake and there we saw the reason for her enthusiasm. The lake is nestled in the mountains, with a small port for boats and sailboats, around which is a few shops, a dock leading out into the water, and a path leading around the lake. We continued another km along the path. By the time we returned we had out daily exercise and were ready for dinner. Jergen, Heike, Jessica and I went to a local grocery store for food and refreshments. I bought a few beer and
Wednesday Jurgen had arranged the day off and at Klaudyja’s suggestion we took the whole family by train to the tourist resort of Lindau at lake Bodensee, 1 hour away by train (cost 56 Euro). Wikipedia has a article on the place at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindau
Before leaving on the train we visited Klaudyja’s brother (Rose’s cousin) who has been in hospital in a coma for three years. He has no control over his limbs, but seemed to understand the activity around him as he blinked or huffed at various things or comments. We were impressed with his good condition, despite being bedridden. There were no bed shores, and his complexion was very good.
Returning home Klaudyja showed Rose how she makes schnitzel. Rose heard her say that she has to be careful not to buy sheep eggs because they make the schnitzel taste like fish. Rose carefully repeated the phrase and Klaugyja responded, 'yes, never use sheep eggs'. Rose said 'sheep, bah bah sheep'. And Klaugyja said, 'not expensive eggs, sheep eggs'. Rose said, 'you mean cheap eggs'. Klaudyja and Rose both realized at the same time that Klaudyja's pronounciation of 'cheap eggs' sounded to Rose like 'sheep eggs', and they were hooting about it for the rest of the day.
LINDAU and LAKE BODENSEE
At 3pm we travelled one hour by train to Lindau and one hour back, plus 2 hours exploring the Lake Bodensee resort at Lindau, and returned one hour by train at 7pm. We enjoyed climbing up the lighthouse tower with the lion statue at the entrance to the harbour. Alex, who wanted to go up the lighthouse, became terrified at the small, narrow, steep winding stairs around the inside of the round lighthouse. His father to picked him up half way up and he screamed blue murder the rest of the way. His younger sister, Jessica would have walked the railing at the top of the lighthouse if her mother had let her. The quiet lake with sailboats moored and sailing, cruise boats taking people to nearby islands, plus the several sidewalk restaurants and bars with many people, made a truly pastoral scene. After the lighthouse we walked along the lake shore walk. It reminded me of walking along the ocean around Stanley Park in Vancouver. As we walked we came upon a small playground with concrete play structures. The children were entertained there for 30 minutes while the adults, except the parents. There were no toilets there but the children just visited the bushes whenever necessary. The 5 young children do no often ride on the train so it was a real adventure for them.
On returning home Rose and I hid in our bedroom while the children were fed and put to bed. Later we had a bite to eat with Klaudyja before packing for our trip to Paris on Thursday. We convinced Klaudyja to accept 50 Euro for the children and adults as small gifts since we were not able to carry gifts with us.
Thursday morning we leave for Paris, catching the 8:30 train for one hour to Ulm, then a train from Ulm to Stuttgart for one hour, then another train to Paris for 4 hours. We have many good memories of our visit with this large family of meagre resources. Kevin played his accordion for us. He and Lucas both have Skype on computers so we will be talking to them from our hotel in Paris. It is Jessica’s birthday today, Thursday. She is three but says she is four. I suggested she is correct since she is in her fourth year.
Once again we see proof that family size and income need not be conditions for happiness. This is a happy family living surely under financial stress but with the benefit of mutual love and support.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
September 18-19, Friday-Saturday, Peine Germany
BLOG ENTRY: Friday-Saturday - September 18-19
Negotiating our way in Germany, where neither of us speak the language, through the maze of taxi’s, buses, trains (and their ticketing and reservation procedures, platform numbers, car numbers, seat numbers), finding an address, or a bus route, knowing where to get off, finding a toilet and the fee for entry (0.5-1.5 Euro) - - - is becoming something we do with confidence, we think! On trains and buses there is always someone who pipes up, in response to “Does anyone speak English”, and says “I speak a little”. While driving a car might be more like at home, I have a feeling it would not be any better.
Friday we packed our bags and went to the breakfast room of our Hotel Pension Messe at 8am, adding our blog entry (still no wireless in our room), and having their great breakfast. We talked to people from Holland, Germany, France, Poland, and Italy. They were retirees like us, students, workers from Poland, vacationers, and even a professor from England (he was complaining that he could not get the unadvertised free wireless internet in his room). After breakfast we thanked the three staff, had them call a taxi for us, went to the closest S-Bahn (that’s the above ground train network), got our Eurail 4 day pass validated, and took the first train to Berlin HBF to catch the 11:10 train to Hannover.
We arrived at the station early by 9:15, so we took some time to explore the huge train/mall/subway station. It is 5 levels, 14 platforms on various levels, with a largely open centre area around which the mall stores, restaurants and banks etc were located, six glass podular elevators, and escalators between all levels for the main flow of traffic. Our tour guide yesterday said its estimated cost of less than one billion rose to 3 billion. Near completion a large centre beam that the architect said was “too large to fall”, fell. Luckily it was early in the morning and no one was killed. We had a latte at McDonalds. Afterwards Rose sat and listened to a live classical piano performance, while I sifted through the stores, looking for a charger for the batteries for my video camera. I found a Sony Store where the attendant showed me a universal charger for 50 Euro. But it was with European plugs which a converter for use in North America for another 20 Euro – not worth it, since I had purchased my charger to $40 CAD.
By this point in our trip we have no trouble finding our train platform and even the section of the platform on which to wait. We boarded and were off on our smooth, comfortable, quiet ride to Hannover arriving at 12:55. My internet research before leaving Saskatoon showed me that there is a regional train going to Peine from Hannover (maybe 50kms) every hour until 14:55. Rose’s cousin Doris (Stanicki) and husband Marcel Tauscher wanted us to arrive after 3pm so we had 2 hours to look around the Hannover station.
Hannover with 500,000 people but serving and area with likely a 1-2 million people has a 4 level station, for trains and metro, and a modern mall in the form of a long hall stretching about ½ km crossing and under the train tracks. We had lunch at a modern Thai restaurant, and checked on our train times. At 14:45 we went to platform 9 and later boarded a double-decker train of many cars which was packed full. The train delivers workers to and from smaller surrounding cities to and from Hannover. Arriving at Vohrum which, we thought was our stop, we learned that Peine was the next stop. We waited by the door for the next stop, and a young man (58 we later learned) came walking by looking in. He pointed at me (I was wearing my Canada-Whiterock T-shirt. I opened the door and it was Marcel. So we made it to Vohrum-Peine, two smaller cities near Hannover.
Doris (and her husband Marcel) was the only only 1st cousin of Rose’s that we had never met. Rose’s mother’s family of 7 siblings had been ripped apart by WWI, WWII, and the Russian communists, leaving them spread throughout Europe and Canada. Most of their children, Rose’s generation, were not even aware of each other. Those in Germany had been brought there as ‘slaves’ by the German Nazi’s and had no country status. Those who had been forcibly moved from their original homes in Poland to Ukraine were no longer allowed by the communists to visit each other. Rose’s grandmother died of broken heart shortly after being moved to Ukraine, with nothing but the shirts on their backs, with 2 of her 7 children. Emotional problems seem to be common in the family.
Marcel and Doris Tauscher live in what started out in the year 1100 as a mill on the Fushe River (looks like a large creek at this time of year). In the 1600s a top level was added. A local two lane paved road curls around the ‘mill’ house and passes over a small bridge on the Fushe at one end of the house. The paved road is in perfect condition bordered on each side with about 2 feet of small square paving stones, the street curb, and then more modern paving stone sidewalks on each side. Marcel parks across the street which is also the parking lot for a small stable and horse pasture. We crossed the street being careful to watch for cars which often come around the curve, and walked up a steep flight of 15 ‘chicken’ steps to their ‘flat’. They have the top floor of the old mill place 2500 sq feet (250 sq meters), which they rent from the owner who lives downstairs. They also have the large attic of the mill, which is still showing the old wood of the mill, including a wooden ‘pulley’ (see our photos on Picasa), and which they use for storage and in which their three, now adult, children played. Their flat has a lot of character, being fit into the different shaped large rooms of an old mill. There are lots of windows, tasteful decorations with comfortable furniture, paintings by Doris (she taught herself using a book about Van Gogh’s art) and photographs by Marcel, and by their children, macramé and hangings, plants on the window sills and floors, 6 guitars of Marcel’s, piano, saxophone, and Ukulele.
For six years Doris and Marcel have been looking after his mother (84) who has progressing Alzheimer’s disease. She speaks, German and Belgium-French. Marcel had to keep reminding her who we were and she would keep saying, “vous parlez Français?”. But on Saturday for the late evening meal, she said perfectly a 4 verse blessing of food she learned from nuns when she was in kindergarten. Marcel said that his father had died when he was young. His mother raised him and his siblings and he is proud of the strength and guidance she provided for the family. At first he denied her condition, but now accepts it, even when she asks him who he is.
Before dinner that evening Doris took us for a 4km walk around their local ‘see’, lake, created by digging out soil for roads during an earlier era. The temperature was about 24 degrees, the sun was shining, there was a small beach with a few children playing, and full service beach house. With the surrounding trees it was a beautiful site. As we walked at the far end of the see we saw red several naked men sunbathing on the see shore. They made no moves to cover themselves and Doris continued as normal. It was good to see such a relaxed atmosphere to nudity.
That evening Doris and Marcel had prepared dinner consisting of pork tenderloin, pre-made gravy, mashed potatoes, sliced cold meats, cheeses and bums, and, believe it or not, a fine German dry red wine. We will buy some dry red German wines when we return home. After dinner Rose and I showed our photos of cousins and the DVD of Rose’s life which we made for Rose’s 65th birthday. Rose was feeling ill so she went to bed early, while Marcel and I watched his favourite soccer team lose. He reminds me of my son-in-law, Carter, as he makes exasperated comments when his team misses a chance and, finally, loses the game. Marcel said that when his team won the league championship a few years ago, the neighbours across the river heard his cheer. After the game, I was honoured that Marcel played on his guitar, a few pieces by his favourite singer, Neil Young.
Rose slept the next morning, while Marcel and I walked ½ km to the nearby grocery store for buns etc. Over breakfast I learned a little about Marcel’s past. His father was a handsome German soldier in WWII (it was a delight for me to meet the son of a German soldier and I had many questions). Marcel’s father had fought in Russia, throughout Germany and Belgium. He had many girlfriends during the war and before he married Marcel’s mother. Marcel said he had not talked much with his father about the war since his father died when he was young. He knew that his father had objected to the actions of some of his superiors and because of that was sent to jail for a time, and branded. His father joined the army as a young man of 18, but after the war must have been embarrassed at being involved in such a mistake. I mentioned that mistakes can happen anywhere, and recounted that I am aware that my grandfather had at one time joined an arm of the Ku-Klux-Klan which operated in the Regina-Qu’Appelle area of Saskatchewan, ostensibly as a conservative political option, but burned his card after hearing of a cross burning. Marcel’s father died at an early age of TB when Marcel was 11. Marcel seems though to have acquired his father’s positive outlook on life, regardless of the trails encountered. He believes that the war was part of another era, a tragic quirk in history, and I agree. But that does not mean that it will not happen again. It has in many areas of the world and we all bear a responsibility to try to avoid this ‘flesh eating disease’ of the human condition. I have made a mental note to read about the rise and fall of the German Nazis.
Saturday afternoon, Marcel and Doris’s daughter, Sara, arrived from Hannover for a few hours visit. She had been in Scotland where her brother is studying and brought her parents a few mementos of the trip. She stayed with Marcel’s mother while Marcel and Doris showed Rose the ancient and modern parts of their city of Peine. Peine was a major steel making city during the war, so it had been heavily bombed by the allies. The buildings along streets in the centre of town are a mixture of the ancient construction, since 1100 I believe, and the rebuilt more modern buildings. In the market square a festival-like atmosphere was taking place. The ‘sports clubs’ of the area were having a day devoted to encouraging children to be involved in physical activities, and which included entertainment for adults. We stopped at the ice cream parlour where Rose and I were finally allowed to pay the bill. The ice cream Sundays were unique. Marcel’s and mine included white and chocolate ice creams with whipped cream and a sauce made with raisons and a unique flavour. Rose and Doris had yogurt ice cream with strawberry topping. The cost with tip was 20 Euro – 36 CAD.
On returning home we had spent a few minutes with Sara. She was reviewing on her laptop, the photos she had taken with her analog photo camera in Scotland. She had them digitized but the resolution was poor and she was lamenting not having checked into that. She had the negatives so she hoped to be able to correct the problem. Soon it was time for her to go and her Dad took her to the train.
Over dinner (supper) that evening around 8pm Marcel and I fell into discussions of the Afghan war, climate change, nuclear power generation verses the alternatives. Marcel votes ‘green’ so we found ourselves not agreeing on anything, but we surprisingly kept the discussion positive, and a respectful exchange of our understandings of the real world. After dinner we all sat in the living room and visited more while Marcel had his cigarette. We made our plans for breakfast and the drive to the train station in the morning, and went to bed.
Negotiating our way in Germany, where neither of us speak the language, through the maze of taxi’s, buses, trains (and their ticketing and reservation procedures, platform numbers, car numbers, seat numbers), finding an address, or a bus route, knowing where to get off, finding a toilet and the fee for entry (0.5-1.5 Euro) - - - is becoming something we do with confidence, we think! On trains and buses there is always someone who pipes up, in response to “Does anyone speak English”, and says “I speak a little”. While driving a car might be more like at home, I have a feeling it would not be any better.
Friday we packed our bags and went to the breakfast room of our Hotel Pension Messe at 8am, adding our blog entry (still no wireless in our room), and having their great breakfast. We talked to people from Holland, Germany, France, Poland, and Italy. They were retirees like us, students, workers from Poland, vacationers, and even a professor from England (he was complaining that he could not get the unadvertised free wireless internet in his room). After breakfast we thanked the three staff, had them call a taxi for us, went to the closest S-Bahn (that’s the above ground train network), got our Eurail 4 day pass validated, and took the first train to Berlin HBF to catch the 11:10 train to Hannover.
We arrived at the station early by 9:15, so we took some time to explore the huge train/mall/subway station. It is 5 levels, 14 platforms on various levels, with a largely open centre area around which the mall stores, restaurants and banks etc were located, six glass podular elevators, and escalators between all levels for the main flow of traffic. Our tour guide yesterday said its estimated cost of less than one billion rose to 3 billion. Near completion a large centre beam that the architect said was “too large to fall”, fell. Luckily it was early in the morning and no one was killed. We had a latte at McDonalds. Afterwards Rose sat and listened to a live classical piano performance, while I sifted through the stores, looking for a charger for the batteries for my video camera. I found a Sony Store where the attendant showed me a universal charger for 50 Euro. But it was with European plugs which a converter for use in North America for another 20 Euro – not worth it, since I had purchased my charger to $40 CAD.
By this point in our trip we have no trouble finding our train platform and even the section of the platform on which to wait. We boarded and were off on our smooth, comfortable, quiet ride to Hannover arriving at 12:55. My internet research before leaving Saskatoon showed me that there is a regional train going to Peine from Hannover (maybe 50kms) every hour until 14:55. Rose’s cousin Doris (Stanicki) and husband Marcel Tauscher wanted us to arrive after 3pm so we had 2 hours to look around the Hannover station.
Hannover with 500,000 people but serving and area with likely a 1-2 million people has a 4 level station, for trains and metro, and a modern mall in the form of a long hall stretching about ½ km crossing and under the train tracks. We had lunch at a modern Thai restaurant, and checked on our train times. At 14:45 we went to platform 9 and later boarded a double-decker train of many cars which was packed full. The train delivers workers to and from smaller surrounding cities to and from Hannover. Arriving at Vohrum which, we thought was our stop, we learned that Peine was the next stop. We waited by the door for the next stop, and a young man (58 we later learned) came walking by looking in. He pointed at me (I was wearing my Canada-Whiterock T-shirt. I opened the door and it was Marcel. So we made it to Vohrum-Peine, two smaller cities near Hannover.
Doris (and her husband Marcel) was the only only 1st cousin of Rose’s that we had never met. Rose’s mother’s family of 7 siblings had been ripped apart by WWI, WWII, and the Russian communists, leaving them spread throughout Europe and Canada. Most of their children, Rose’s generation, were not even aware of each other. Those in Germany had been brought there as ‘slaves’ by the German Nazi’s and had no country status. Those who had been forcibly moved from their original homes in Poland to Ukraine were no longer allowed by the communists to visit each other. Rose’s grandmother died of broken heart shortly after being moved to Ukraine, with nothing but the shirts on their backs, with 2 of her 7 children. Emotional problems seem to be common in the family.
Marcel and Doris Tauscher live in what started out in the year 1100 as a mill on the Fushe River (looks like a large creek at this time of year). In the 1600s a top level was added. A local two lane paved road curls around the ‘mill’ house and passes over a small bridge on the Fushe at one end of the house. The paved road is in perfect condition bordered on each side with about 2 feet of small square paving stones, the street curb, and then more modern paving stone sidewalks on each side. Marcel parks across the street which is also the parking lot for a small stable and horse pasture. We crossed the street being careful to watch for cars which often come around the curve, and walked up a steep flight of 15 ‘chicken’ steps to their ‘flat’. They have the top floor of the old mill place 2500 sq feet (250 sq meters), which they rent from the owner who lives downstairs. They also have the large attic of the mill, which is still showing the old wood of the mill, including a wooden ‘pulley’ (see our photos on Picasa), and which they use for storage and in which their three, now adult, children played. Their flat has a lot of character, being fit into the different shaped large rooms of an old mill. There are lots of windows, tasteful decorations with comfortable furniture, paintings by Doris (she taught herself using a book about Van Gogh’s art) and photographs by Marcel, and by their children, macramé and hangings, plants on the window sills and floors, 6 guitars of Marcel’s, piano, saxophone, and Ukulele.
For six years Doris and Marcel have been looking after his mother (84) who has progressing Alzheimer’s disease. She speaks, German and Belgium-French. Marcel had to keep reminding her who we were and she would keep saying, “vous parlez Français?”. But on Saturday for the late evening meal, she said perfectly a 4 verse blessing of food she learned from nuns when she was in kindergarten. Marcel said that his father had died when he was young. His mother raised him and his siblings and he is proud of the strength and guidance she provided for the family. At first he denied her condition, but now accepts it, even when she asks him who he is.
Before dinner that evening Doris took us for a 4km walk around their local ‘see’, lake, created by digging out soil for roads during an earlier era. The temperature was about 24 degrees, the sun was shining, there was a small beach with a few children playing, and full service beach house. With the surrounding trees it was a beautiful site. As we walked at the far end of the see we saw red several naked men sunbathing on the see shore. They made no moves to cover themselves and Doris continued as normal. It was good to see such a relaxed atmosphere to nudity.
That evening Doris and Marcel had prepared dinner consisting of pork tenderloin, pre-made gravy, mashed potatoes, sliced cold meats, cheeses and bums, and, believe it or not, a fine German dry red wine. We will buy some dry red German wines when we return home. After dinner Rose and I showed our photos of cousins and the DVD of Rose’s life which we made for Rose’s 65th birthday. Rose was feeling ill so she went to bed early, while Marcel and I watched his favourite soccer team lose. He reminds me of my son-in-law, Carter, as he makes exasperated comments when his team misses a chance and, finally, loses the game. Marcel said that when his team won the league championship a few years ago, the neighbours across the river heard his cheer. After the game, I was honoured that Marcel played on his guitar, a few pieces by his favourite singer, Neil Young.
Rose slept the next morning, while Marcel and I walked ½ km to the nearby grocery store for buns etc. Over breakfast I learned a little about Marcel’s past. His father was a handsome German soldier in WWII (it was a delight for me to meet the son of a German soldier and I had many questions). Marcel’s father had fought in Russia, throughout Germany and Belgium. He had many girlfriends during the war and before he married Marcel’s mother. Marcel said he had not talked much with his father about the war since his father died when he was young. He knew that his father had objected to the actions of some of his superiors and because of that was sent to jail for a time, and branded. His father joined the army as a young man of 18, but after the war must have been embarrassed at being involved in such a mistake. I mentioned that mistakes can happen anywhere, and recounted that I am aware that my grandfather had at one time joined an arm of the Ku-Klux-Klan which operated in the Regina-Qu’Appelle area of Saskatchewan, ostensibly as a conservative political option, but burned his card after hearing of a cross burning. Marcel’s father died at an early age of TB when Marcel was 11. Marcel seems though to have acquired his father’s positive outlook on life, regardless of the trails encountered. He believes that the war was part of another era, a tragic quirk in history, and I agree. But that does not mean that it will not happen again. It has in many areas of the world and we all bear a responsibility to try to avoid this ‘flesh eating disease’ of the human condition. I have made a mental note to read about the rise and fall of the German Nazis.
Saturday afternoon, Marcel and Doris’s daughter, Sara, arrived from Hannover for a few hours visit. She had been in Scotland where her brother is studying and brought her parents a few mementos of the trip. She stayed with Marcel’s mother while Marcel and Doris showed Rose the ancient and modern parts of their city of Peine. Peine was a major steel making city during the war, so it had been heavily bombed by the allies. The buildings along streets in the centre of town are a mixture of the ancient construction, since 1100 I believe, and the rebuilt more modern buildings. In the market square a festival-like atmosphere was taking place. The ‘sports clubs’ of the area were having a day devoted to encouraging children to be involved in physical activities, and which included entertainment for adults. We stopped at the ice cream parlour where Rose and I were finally allowed to pay the bill. The ice cream Sundays were unique. Marcel’s and mine included white and chocolate ice creams with whipped cream and a sauce made with raisons and a unique flavour. Rose and Doris had yogurt ice cream with strawberry topping. The cost with tip was 20 Euro – 36 CAD.
On returning home we had spent a few minutes with Sara. She was reviewing on her laptop, the photos she had taken with her analog photo camera in Scotland. She had them digitized but the resolution was poor and she was lamenting not having checked into that. She had the negatives so she hoped to be able to correct the problem. Soon it was time for her to go and her Dad took her to the train.
Over dinner (supper) that evening around 8pm Marcel and I fell into discussions of the Afghan war, climate change, nuclear power generation verses the alternatives. Marcel votes ‘green’ so we found ourselves not agreeing on anything, but we surprisingly kept the discussion positive, and a respectful exchange of our understandings of the real world. After dinner we all sat in the living room and visited more while Marcel had his cigarette. We made our plans for breakfast and the drive to the train station in the morning, and went to bed.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
September 16-17 – Warsaw to Berlin – A Day in Berlin
September 16-17 – Warsaw to Berlin – A Day in Berlin
Arising Wednesday my head cold was bothering me and Rose had a sore throat. We readied ourselves for the train trip and took a hotel taxi to the station for Zloty 27.50, - gave the driver 30, about 11 CAD. The train station is the same building as in 2003 when we last used it but with improvements. In 2003 there was an information desk for foreigners. Now there is a tourist office and a train assistance office for visitors. The large main hall of the train station, not quite the size of a football field, used to be empty in the middle with ticket counters and offices around the edges and pigeons flying around. Now there is some nicely arranged seating in the centre with a few trees and plants around the seating, several tables of new and used books for sale, two tuck shops, a toiletries store, doors to the outside, and no Pigeons. Pigeons are well loved in Warsaw as they were a source of food for those trapped by the Germans in the Warsaw Ghetto of WWII. The restaurant which in 2003 was several tables in an open area with pigeons landing all about, is now covered, with nicely designed and arranged wooden tables amid artificial plants. Two good coffee cost us 14 Zloty – $4 CDN. Lucky that Janusz Lipkowski had given us the Platform number because we could not figure it out from the electronic train schedules on the walls. However the train information office also confirmed the platform number. We went down two levels to our platform, but it was still confusing as to where to wait and from which direction the train would come. There was an electronic sign about the trains coming but it was in German for people going to Vienna and Berlin. By talking to people we finally found someone going to Berlin and hung around him.
We boarded the train without any trouble and immediately found our seats. I hucked my nearly 50 lb hockey type bag with rollers up the 5 feet to the shelf above the seats along with Rose’s bag, and we settled in to our good sized 1st class seats. Even though we were in 1st class seats from Jaroslaw to Warsaw, this time the train was different. It was incredibly smooth. The toilets were clean with little smell and actually flushed as opposed to dumping their loads on the tracks below. By the end of our trip from Jaroslaw to Warsaw the toilets had serious odour problems, enough to make us gag. I slept most of the way to Berlin trying to fend off my cold, and Rose got ahead of me in reading our book for the trip – John Steinbeck’s 1983 novel: Travels with Charlie: In Search of America. Our lawyer, Robert Stephenson, gave it to me for my 60th birthday but we had not yet read it.
On arrival in Berlin, a city of 3 million, we found ourselves in a large very modern metropolitan train/mall/subway station, of about 4-5 levels. We made our way to an information desk and got advice on how to get to our Pension Hotel. Cute isn’t it – that retirees stay at a pension hotel. Don’t know what the term is used. We were surprised that we were not able to find any free tourist information. Everything had a price – eg. A nice little booklet on Berlin, complete with maps, for 15 Euro – 23 CAD. We found an ATM machine and took out 200 EURO from our bank account in Saskatoon, at $1.61/Euro and a $5 fee. Then we found our platform 14, of 18 platforms, (there were 4 platforms in Warsaw, a city of 2 million) and we were off. On arrival at a station close to our hotel we took a taxi a couple of kms to our Hotel Pension Messe for 12 Euro.
After the Hilton the Hotel Pension Messe, with 18 rooms was a surprise www.hotel-pension-messe.de . The buildings are 5 story and are all connected in the block. You enter a little door and walk up creaky old stairs or take a small 3’x4’ elevator to the reception where there is a small counter and buzzer for the attendant. It looks like a rooming house. The attendant lady did not speak English, but was able to collect the 124 Euro for 2 nights, after which we went to our room. The room has the toilet, shower, and double bed promised on the internet when I ordered it in Saskatoon. An indoor/outdoor type carpet is laid unprofessionally and tacked down in some places. It also has 3 cots and a fold out chesterbed, some of which had long strands of women’s hair on them. The bathroom is a 4’x4.5’ area for toilet and sink, plus at 36” shower. The shower has a bifold door with plastic raindrop panels, one cracked. The shower head was on an adjustable height bar, but would not stay in position. I fashioned a brace for it from the plastic chords for our luggage tags.
Despite the language problems, we were able to exchange the feather pillows for foam ones. We also found out that they have wireless internet. With some difficulty and advice from a man who seemed to come from nowhere, we got it going. But it usually will not work in our room. The room has a small TV with only German channels, and no phone. I still had my cold and Rose’s was getting worse so we took some Ibuprofen and went to bed.
We were pleasantly surprised to find that they provide breakfast. The next morning we found the breakfast very good: cereals, fruit cocktail, yogurt, breads, cheeses, sliced meats, butter, margarine and jams. We found a ‘chemist’ nearby and even though he did not speak English we were able to select a cold medicine that combined decongestant, cough suppressant, and pain killer. We also asked for advice to get to the centre of the city. Just then a friend of the chemist, a man originally from India but who studied in England and had been in Canada, arrived. He advised us where to buy bus tickets and to take buses 49 and 100. Well, we made bus 49 which took us to the Zoological gardens but could not find bus 100. Later we found that bus 100 drove throughout the tourist area and we could have taken it at no cost with our bus day pass. Berlin is a large urban area with many stores and tourist buses, so we decided, since we only had one day and we know nothing about getting around the city, to do a city tour on the ‘Berlin City Tour’ bus for 11.25 Euro each.
The Berlin City Tour bus took us to all the sites: sections of the Berlin wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Alexanderplatz, Brandenburg Gate and many other places. This company’s tour buses run the same route every 20 minutes. There are several points at which you can get off and then pick up a bus later at that point. Sounds good but at one point we stood around for an hour waiting for our bus. Made me wish I had done more to look into the promo I received from Rail Europe which would allow me to buy a Sim card for my Rogers Cell phone which we left at home. The tour guides on each bus speak alternatively in German, and English with a heavy German accent. That plus the speakers on the bus were not good, so it was difficult to follow the commentary. Another time, which I don’t expect to ever happen, I would try to find a tour with a solely English guide. Despite the situation we saw a Berlin highly urbanized and organized, a modern city of the world. After the tour we decided to head home. There was a large electronic store nearby so we tried to find a replacement battery charger for my Canon Mini DV video camera. No Luck. The charger quit working in Ukraine so we have not been able to use the video camera since.
Getting back to the hotel was also a challenge but we overcame it by finding a bus information centre and learning to take bus 49, wandering around, and finally finding the bus. The driver did not speak English and could care less, but a passenger finally took up our cause with the driver. Even that left us in doubt and the bus had already started moving. The bus was proceeding on ‘Kanstrabe’, similar to our hotel street called ‘Neue Kanstrabe’ so we stayed on hoping it would come to our area. Sure enough Rose recognized a restaurant near our hotel and we hopped off at the next stop.
After a shower and a rest we went to the Viet-Frish www.viet-frisch.de authentically decorated restaurant, and shared a tasty meal of green tea with ginger, wonton soup, and a stir fry for Euro 13.70. We gave 16 ~ 26 CAD. As we lazily strolled back to our hotel, enjoying the perfect breeze, the waitress came running out with our bag – all our train, plane, cruise tickets and my wallet. I fully expect at some point in life to have an incident where we lose or have stuff stolen, but we were so grateful we tipped well in this case. We even gave the waitress a hug to her surprise. These incidents really reaffirm our belief in the natural goodness of most ordinary people. I recall another incident on the train from Warsaw. A man found a wallet on the train and was going by compartments to find the owner. Of course that doesn’t mean that life for all is fair. I recall the incident in Canada where a young man on a bus was randomly selected by a deranged man who stabbed him to death and cut his head cut off. And that is all for now!
Arising Wednesday my head cold was bothering me and Rose had a sore throat. We readied ourselves for the train trip and took a hotel taxi to the station for Zloty 27.50, - gave the driver 30, about 11 CAD. The train station is the same building as in 2003 when we last used it but with improvements. In 2003 there was an information desk for foreigners. Now there is a tourist office and a train assistance office for visitors. The large main hall of the train station, not quite the size of a football field, used to be empty in the middle with ticket counters and offices around the edges and pigeons flying around. Now there is some nicely arranged seating in the centre with a few trees and plants around the seating, several tables of new and used books for sale, two tuck shops, a toiletries store, doors to the outside, and no Pigeons. Pigeons are well loved in Warsaw as they were a source of food for those trapped by the Germans in the Warsaw Ghetto of WWII. The restaurant which in 2003 was several tables in an open area with pigeons landing all about, is now covered, with nicely designed and arranged wooden tables amid artificial plants. Two good coffee cost us 14 Zloty – $4 CDN. Lucky that Janusz Lipkowski had given us the Platform number because we could not figure it out from the electronic train schedules on the walls. However the train information office also confirmed the platform number. We went down two levels to our platform, but it was still confusing as to where to wait and from which direction the train would come. There was an electronic sign about the trains coming but it was in German for people going to Vienna and Berlin. By talking to people we finally found someone going to Berlin and hung around him.
We boarded the train without any trouble and immediately found our seats. I hucked my nearly 50 lb hockey type bag with rollers up the 5 feet to the shelf above the seats along with Rose’s bag, and we settled in to our good sized 1st class seats. Even though we were in 1st class seats from Jaroslaw to Warsaw, this time the train was different. It was incredibly smooth. The toilets were clean with little smell and actually flushed as opposed to dumping their loads on the tracks below. By the end of our trip from Jaroslaw to Warsaw the toilets had serious odour problems, enough to make us gag. I slept most of the way to Berlin trying to fend off my cold, and Rose got ahead of me in reading our book for the trip – John Steinbeck’s 1983 novel: Travels with Charlie: In Search of America. Our lawyer, Robert Stephenson, gave it to me for my 60th birthday but we had not yet read it.
On arrival in Berlin, a city of 3 million, we found ourselves in a large very modern metropolitan train/mall/subway station, of about 4-5 levels. We made our way to an information desk and got advice on how to get to our Pension Hotel. Cute isn’t it – that retirees stay at a pension hotel. Don’t know what the term is used. We were surprised that we were not able to find any free tourist information. Everything had a price – eg. A nice little booklet on Berlin, complete with maps, for 15 Euro – 23 CAD. We found an ATM machine and took out 200 EURO from our bank account in Saskatoon, at $1.61/Euro and a $5 fee. Then we found our platform 14, of 18 platforms, (there were 4 platforms in Warsaw, a city of 2 million) and we were off. On arrival at a station close to our hotel we took a taxi a couple of kms to our Hotel Pension Messe for 12 Euro.
After the Hilton the Hotel Pension Messe, with 18 rooms was a surprise www.hotel-pension-messe.de . The buildings are 5 story and are all connected in the block. You enter a little door and walk up creaky old stairs or take a small 3’x4’ elevator to the reception where there is a small counter and buzzer for the attendant. It looks like a rooming house. The attendant lady did not speak English, but was able to collect the 124 Euro for 2 nights, after which we went to our room. The room has the toilet, shower, and double bed promised on the internet when I ordered it in Saskatoon. An indoor/outdoor type carpet is laid unprofessionally and tacked down in some places. It also has 3 cots and a fold out chesterbed, some of which had long strands of women’s hair on them. The bathroom is a 4’x4.5’ area for toilet and sink, plus at 36” shower. The shower has a bifold door with plastic raindrop panels, one cracked. The shower head was on an adjustable height bar, but would not stay in position. I fashioned a brace for it from the plastic chords for our luggage tags.
Despite the language problems, we were able to exchange the feather pillows for foam ones. We also found out that they have wireless internet. With some difficulty and advice from a man who seemed to come from nowhere, we got it going. But it usually will not work in our room. The room has a small TV with only German channels, and no phone. I still had my cold and Rose’s was getting worse so we took some Ibuprofen and went to bed.
We were pleasantly surprised to find that they provide breakfast. The next morning we found the breakfast very good: cereals, fruit cocktail, yogurt, breads, cheeses, sliced meats, butter, margarine and jams. We found a ‘chemist’ nearby and even though he did not speak English we were able to select a cold medicine that combined decongestant, cough suppressant, and pain killer. We also asked for advice to get to the centre of the city. Just then a friend of the chemist, a man originally from India but who studied in England and had been in Canada, arrived. He advised us where to buy bus tickets and to take buses 49 and 100. Well, we made bus 49 which took us to the Zoological gardens but could not find bus 100. Later we found that bus 100 drove throughout the tourist area and we could have taken it at no cost with our bus day pass. Berlin is a large urban area with many stores and tourist buses, so we decided, since we only had one day and we know nothing about getting around the city, to do a city tour on the ‘Berlin City Tour’ bus for 11.25 Euro each.
The Berlin City Tour bus took us to all the sites: sections of the Berlin wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Alexanderplatz, Brandenburg Gate and many other places. This company’s tour buses run the same route every 20 minutes. There are several points at which you can get off and then pick up a bus later at that point. Sounds good but at one point we stood around for an hour waiting for our bus. Made me wish I had done more to look into the promo I received from Rail Europe which would allow me to buy a Sim card for my Rogers Cell phone which we left at home. The tour guides on each bus speak alternatively in German, and English with a heavy German accent. That plus the speakers on the bus were not good, so it was difficult to follow the commentary. Another time, which I don’t expect to ever happen, I would try to find a tour with a solely English guide. Despite the situation we saw a Berlin highly urbanized and organized, a modern city of the world. After the tour we decided to head home. There was a large electronic store nearby so we tried to find a replacement battery charger for my Canon Mini DV video camera. No Luck. The charger quit working in Ukraine so we have not been able to use the video camera since.
Getting back to the hotel was also a challenge but we overcame it by finding a bus information centre and learning to take bus 49, wandering around, and finally finding the bus. The driver did not speak English and could care less, but a passenger finally took up our cause with the driver. Even that left us in doubt and the bus had already started moving. The bus was proceeding on ‘Kanstrabe’, similar to our hotel street called ‘Neue Kanstrabe’ so we stayed on hoping it would come to our area. Sure enough Rose recognized a restaurant near our hotel and we hopped off at the next stop.
After a shower and a rest we went to the Viet-Frish www.viet-frisch.de authentically decorated restaurant, and shared a tasty meal of green tea with ginger, wonton soup, and a stir fry for Euro 13.70. We gave 16 ~ 26 CAD. As we lazily strolled back to our hotel, enjoying the perfect breeze, the waitress came running out with our bag – all our train, plane, cruise tickets and my wallet. I fully expect at some point in life to have an incident where we lose or have stuff stolen, but we were so grateful we tipped well in this case. We even gave the waitress a hug to her surprise. These incidents really reaffirm our belief in the natural goodness of most ordinary people. I recall another incident on the train from Warsaw. A man found a wallet on the train and was going by compartments to find the owner. Of course that doesn’t mean that life for all is fair. I recall the incident in Canada where a young man on a bus was randomly selected by a deranged man who stabbed him to death and cut his head cut off. And that is all for now!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Monday-Tuesday, September 14-15 - The train - The Lipkowski's - The Cdn Embassy Trade Staff
LEAVING MAKOWISTO
We were up at 6 in order to have a thankful normal shower for the second day in a row. Beata was supposed to pick us up at 7:30 to catch our 8:42 train at Jaroslaw 7 kms away. We knew they were repairing a bridge over the Sen river so when she was still not there several minutes after 7:30 we were getting anxious. We had the Antonio’s phone number so we called: yedem, yedem Beata said. I said good bye and she arrived with Mike and Lillian (they are trying to cash some international travelers checks) about 10 minutes later. Mike said he would have liked to have another piece of bread. He has been battling diarrhea for a week. We think it was from rinsing his false teeth in local water.
We were at the station by 8:15. I went to the bank machine up the street for another 500 PLN. On return we all walked down through the short marble clad tunnel and waited on Peron (Platform) 2 for the train. I began the verbal dance of giving a gift for Beata and Marion (we had left 200 PLN for the children last night), through my translators, Mike and Lillian. Tell her that we want to give her a gift. Tell her that we do not have room in our luggage for gifts. Immediately Beata’s eyes widened and she said neh neh followed by an impassioned string of Polish words. Tell her it is only a small gift for her and Marian to do something special for themselves. Neh neh. I did not want to stuff the 200 PLN ~70 CAD down her bra as Mike had to do to give his gift to Yanina (Pietrucha) where we stayed for a few nights just after we came into Poland. I shoved it up her coat sleeve. She seemed resigned to accept.
THE TRAIN TO WARSAW
We waited at the leading end of the platform thinking that our Wagon (Car) 3 would be there. It was at the other end of the train so I started the trek to the other end. Neh Neh said a man pointing to the door, and confirmed by the others. Our car was at the far end of the train. We boarded and the train which immediately started moving. We had to walk through 10 cars dragging our bags down the narrow passageways, and through resisting doors at each end of each car. Rose cut her finger in one door and our bags certainly received many tests. We arrived at our 1st class car to find it almost empty and at the far end of the train. The only difference between 1st and 2nd class is that the seats are slightly larger and softer and the café style car is one car away. We took turns going to breakfast. Rose spent 22 PLN for kielbasa, bun, coffee, salad which she didn’t touch, and pickles. Mine was 16 PLN, for scrambled eggs and ham with a bun and coffee – about 13 CAD in all. We then sat back for the 6 hr ride to Warsaw, through Rzeszow, Tarnow, Krakow, and then a long ride to Warsaw.
As the train glides through towns and country we see a Poland that confirms our first impressions. Poland is on the move economically. Most roads are paved, and many houses are new or remodeled. A lot of the brick and block houses have been upgraded by stucco and paint. Automobile traffic is light but steady, whereas in Ukraine it was occasional on badly kept paved roads. Agriculture seems well organized and mechanized with small and older machinery. Church steeples rise everywhere you look. It reminded me of Ukraine where Bill would cross himself when passing any religious shrine. That was not the case in Poland. We did not see many shrines, a few on the edge of home yards, and we did not see anyone crossing themselves as they passed. However, they did seem committed to the Roman Catholic Church and their hero, Pope John Paul II.
We arrived in Warsaw a few minutes late to be met on the platform by Ewa Lipkowski, talking on a cell phone. She was talking to her grandson who is in the finals of the European volleyball championships. She had also just learned that the large consumer mall across the street from the train station, which is managed by her son, had a bomb scare. But that was information. The reason she was there was to get us to the hotel and checked in. The taxi she had arranged was not there, likely because of traffic tie ups caused by the bomb scare. Finally it came and we arrived at the Hilton Hotel in Warsaw. She left us for later pick up by her husband, Janusz Lipkowsky, an internationally known chemist and crystallographer, to go to their place for dinner. One of my last projects at work was to arrange a science tour of Saskatchewan for Janusz and Ewa was with him. We got along well during the week long tour.
The Hilton in Warsaw is a new hotel, in fact one of the finest I have ever seen in the world. We had a special rate of $125 Cdn non-refundable, and paid ahead. On checking in we found that internet hookups cost 75 PLN/day ie 30 CDN. We did not order it, but I felt committed to our blog, and wondered how long it would be until I could make another submission. Our room was total class, and the porter was thorough in explaining its features so we tipped him 20PLN, about $3.50. His eyes widened. I asked if that was enough and he said Oh Yes with a big smile. We have a king sized bed, with white duvet, gleaming bath with shower and tub, kettle with coffee and tea supplies, love seat, plasma TV, desk with internet, and fridge. I asked him why the hotel would charge so much for internet when it cost them so little. I thought, this must be how the corporate magnates get their millions. He said he might be able to arrange a lower cost. Interesting isn’t it, how whenever anyone tries to rip you off, options appear. We agreed to pay 40 PLN about $15 for internet access for our entire stay. Another amazing feature of the hotel was the spa facility: stylish, large pool, many top of the line workout machines, steam, sauna, and tanning bed, and rooms for workout groups, all part of the room price.
DINNER WITH THE LIPKOWSKI'S
Janusz arrived at the hotel from work at 6:30pm and we proceeded by taxi to his home about 10km away on the west edge of the formal city boundary. They live on the top floor of a 5 story walk-up. I kept looking back at Rose to make sure she was still there. Their apartment is about 1200 sq ft and a loft style. That is the roof was encroaching on the rooms and vertical windows were built into the encroachment. They had just arrived from Turkey a few days before. There were paintings all over the walls, a large LCD TV on the floor fitted into one the areas where the roof was encroaching. Janusz pointed out that during the economic downturn the TV sales were so good he had to buy. They rented this place they said because they both like the large space, the loft approach, the quiet compared to their earlier inner city apartment – and it gives them exercise walking up the 5 levels. These are people who study and enjoy every aspect of life. Books lined the walls. An imposing drain pipe was painted and became a unique lamp. Both Janusz and Ewa are chemists, but Ewa left work to raise the family and Janusz became very successful. Ewa paints, travels with her husband, enjoys the grandchildren, and makes a simple dinner for friends like us into a memorable experience. Janusz showed me his camera collection (I immediately told him about our friends the Bliss’s and John’s camera collection and took some photos to send to John), then his crystal collection, and then…and then Ewa had dinner (supper in Poland) ready.
Dinner started with pizza, crust of philly dough covered with a mozzarella cheese, sliced pears, and crumbled blue cheese on top, baked in a slow oven. This was followed by a home made tomato broth soup with onions and parsley, served at the table with dried baked round pea style noodles and a tablespoon of gin mixed in, simple but elegant. The main course was sliced pork sauted in a sauce of creams and spices, together with shredded beats cooked and buttered, small purchased potato dumplings, and a unique cole-slaw. Together with wine and the after dinner expresso (tea for Rose) and a fine single malt scotch, it made for a very special evening. Janusz made the desert, a grapefruit sherbert covered with chocolate and surrounded with whipped cream – not bad for a chemist.
The conversation with the Lipkowski’s was also stimulating. We discussed their hobbies and travels, theirs and our grandchildren, and exchanged a few humorous life stories. We covered the Polish economy with Rose and I describing our recent experiences in the South of Poland and during my 2003 7 week assignment at the Canadian Embassy in Warsaw. This seemed like a good place to raise some of our beliefs, particularly regarding the equality of women and homosexuals. We had watched the previous evening, a BBC report on a Norwegian law requiring public companies to have 40% women on their boards. Their reaction was not in keeping with their seemingly scientific and liberal life style. Both suggested homosexuality was not as prevalent in Poland as in North America, and was not the 7% of the population I suggested. They did not have anything to say on the subject. The conversation became sort of one sided with Rose and I putting forth several points and they not really responding. On the subject of women Janusz noted that the majority of graduates in his area of chemistry at university were women. So I asked him how many women were in the Polish Academy of Science. He admitted that it was virtually all men. We discussed how the changing demographics of university graduates had to soon have impact on the traditional organizations of society. The discussion also ranged over divorce. Both they and us had been divorced. Janusz described an interesting approach he had read to making decisions in matters of inheritance. It was in effect a mathematical algorithm which allowed participants to weight their preference for various items, and with the use of some money, everyone’s satisfaction was maximized. All in all it was a delightful evening, and they arranged a taxi to take us back to our luxurious hotel. Ewa gave us some pepperoni, a bun and a tomato so we could avoid the breakfast buffet at the hotel for 85 pln, ~$30 per person.
LUNCH WITH THE CDN EMBASSY TRADE STAFF
Tuesday morning Rose went to the hotel spa for a manicure – same price as she pays in Canada, while I rested and worked on our blog submissions. We then headed to the Canadian Embassy for lunch at 12:30pm with some of the trade staff. We tested our ability to use the city’s tram system, using the passes the Lipkowski’s had also generously provided for us, and it was simple to use. We arrived at the Embassy and were met by Arek who walked us a short way down the street to Restauracja Ujazdowska, where he got us set up for the lunch. We were impressed that 4 trade staff would join us for lunch: Arek, Ewa, Teresa, and Jolanta, all wonderful people who I had worked with during my assignment in 2003 (see guys – I told you I would say nice things about you). We were surprised that they were pleased we had contacted them. Makes me realize how many friendships go undeveloped because we don’t think the other person would be interested. The conversation was exciting as we exchanged notes on past projects, current families, and our world tour. We told them how impressed were are with Poland, and how much it seems to have progressed since we were here in 2003. In 2003 the centre of Warsaw seemed to have more cranes than in all of Canada, building hotels and office buildings. Now, we noted, the most cranes seem to be in the suburbs, building housing complexes. The roads throughout Poland seem to be in very good shape. Rose always adds a little humour and this time it was the story of Rose telling Breann about seeing a horse in Southern Poland on a small farm along with cows and pigs. Breann said she thought it would be wonderful to live on a farm like that. Rose reminded her that animals cause a lot of smell. Breann said, “Well grandma, haven’t they heard of Febreeze (the air freshener)!
We parted with our Embassy staff friends at 1:30 pm and walked all the way back to our hotel, about 2.5 hours. Along the way we stopped at the Sheraton hotel which was part of our life when we were here in 2003 and at the apartment complex in which we lived in 2003. As we walked, many places brought back memories of our wonderful times in Poland in 2003. Back then Warsaw was not part of the European Union and a little scary for us, but now we enjoyed it was we would any city in North America. We both have the beginnings of colds so we purchased some food at the local mall and holed up in our hotel for the night. Still the Lipkowski’s were looking after us. Janusz emailed us to say that our departing platform for our train to Berlin tomorrow will be #3.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Friday-Sunday, September 11-13: A Family in Need – A Family With Life
Friday-Sunday, September 11-13: A Family in Need – A Family With Life
Friday afternoon Leszick drove us to Jaroslaw were we met his Aunt, Angela, Yalina's sister and another Pietrucha relative, where we had another round of food and convsation. Angela had worked in the post office during her career and her husband died in 2004 of cancer. She lived with her two single sons in their 30s. One son was working as a school caretaker and ther other, who was at home, avoided us. Just as we were leaving Angela's niece and husband, who are working in Ireland, arrived. After a quick greeting and exchange of contact information we were off again.
On arrival in Makowisko a small single street village 4km from Jaroslaw, we drove a few kms from the highway on a smaller paved road, lined with houses which fronted small farm like plots, to 67C Makowisko, at the far end of town. Many of the houses were new or remodeled or in the process. We encountered a modern looking 2 level home with unfinished basement, on a gravel road, about 100 meters off the paved road. We learned that the house was started in 2000, is about 900 sq ft., and still being built. It is a nice design outside and in, sort of alpine in structure but finished in stucco over the basic brick/block construction. The main floor has a 12’x18’ open living/dining room, parent’s bedroom, small entrance way, very small bathroom which includes a 30 inch shower with no door and 8 overused tooth brushes in a cup; a 9’x12’ kitchen with cupboards and sink on one wall, a breakfast nook table and bench, clothes washer, fridge, and window. The living room has a wall unit with TV and ghetto blaster, and a chesterfield worse for the wear.
It’s cute to see 4-5 children lined up on the chesterfield watching TV, and not fighting, perhaps on their best behavior for guests. The dining area had a nice table and chairs set. Floors are of tile and laminate, but the chimney has fallen in, and the stair well to updstairs is still in raw concrete covered with chunks of carpet. Upstairs are 5 sparsely furnished bedrooms, 4 nicely finished with laminate floors. The two youngest boys have small beds but the other children had fold-down couches.
This is a home of dreams for the parents and their 6 children. The parents are Marian and Beata Antonio. Marian’s mother was a Stanicki, a cousin of Rose and Mike’s. Marian has been working in Germany for 6 years as a construction worker specializing in ceramic tile and painting. Her earns 10 Euro per hour, 10 hours a day 6 days a week, and rents a room for 200 Euro/month. He was supposed to arrive home Friday when we arrived, after three months in Germany, but ne mah (it didn’t happen). He arrived at 4pm on Saturday, much to the excitement of his wife and family. He will be home for 2 weeks during which he will do more work on his own house.
These 6 children: Sylvia 17, Marcin 16, Ewa 15, David 13, Karl 11, and Sebastian 9, seem to be very happy, well educated, smart kids. Tom taught them double solitaire, which the younger ones took turns at and they all mastered in a few moments. Tom was impressed with their tolerance when receiving a pile of cards or losing a game. They taught us a few games too: Cuckoo and Dupa Biscoopa (Bishop’s Ass). They showed us a very well built swing set made from logs and a few bolts, which included a single seat and a double seat swing. The swing was made by the boys, and is a central part of the children’s outdoor activities, along with Faco, the small house dog, and Brutus a large dog chained up outside beside a shed, and a rabbit in a pen, Karl’s pet, named Gray. David loves to play with Faco and Brutus, each tugging at a rope or piece of plastic, jumping around Brutus’s chain area, yelling and barking, and bumping at each other. Sebastion likes to open the cage and pet the rabbit, while Faco dreams of sinking his teeth into the tasty looking rabbit. All the children are intensely curious about their surroundings and about what I write on the computer. Heartwarming is the only way to describe their support and respect for their parents. Their mother Beata is clearly a rock of the family and exhibits an extraordinary zest for life (demonstrated by her continuous smile and excited conversation), despite their lack of material stuff!
Marcin is studying either surveying or engineering at a technical school, we were not sure of our understanding of the explanation. We can tell that he will do well. Ewa, thin and tall for her age, exhibits a quite confidence and sparkle in her enthusiasm for life and her dream to become a teacher. Sylvia is quiet but seems most capable at English Polish translation, and clearly has a boyfriend whom we did not meet. She is studying to be an artist. Sebastian, the youngest, loves to show how he can rear up his little dirt bike complete with worn-to-the-metal peddles and handle bars. David and Karl, who is more timid and mentioned his fear of ghosts, don’t yet talk of careers. They all love the computer and TV. All of them spend a lot of time outdoors.
Their parents seem to have an excellent relationship despite Marian being away so much. The children all help out at home and are well behaved. Rose was impressed to see Marcin, 16, sitting outside on the rough unfinished concrete front steps peeling the potatoes, while the girls were inside preparing very tasty dishes for the meal, under the supervision and participation of their mother. Parts of the house are finished very nicely and parts have not yet been finished, awaiting Marion to earn more money and have more time. The furniture shows the wear of a family of 6 bright active children. They have TV, water, sewer, 2 computers, one with keys that stick which is hooked up to the internet, and an HP printer without any ink.
Rose and I slept in Ewa’s room, while Mike and Lillian slept in Marcin and David’s room. The kids doubled up on their single beds while we are visiting. Having a shower was nearly impossible. I don’t know how the kids seemed to be so clean.
On Saturday, Marian’s parents Wladyk and Ann (Stanicki) Antonia and Ann’s sister Maria, who were our first visit on entering Poland, drove the 20 kms for a visit and for dinner. It was cute to see the slight tension between Aunt Maria and Beata. Beata told us that Aunt Maria felt conditions inadequate at their place and always brought cooked food when she visited. Beata is proud of her cooking and her family and resents this attitude. The visit turned into a great revelation of family and connections as Mike, Lillian, and Rose were in animated discussions with Wladyk, Ann, and Maria, with the rest of the family occasionally stopping to hear a story. The discussion became more animated as we brought out the photos of our 2003 visits in Ukraine and Germany, and my DVD movie of Rose’s first 65 years for her 65th birthday, which we played on my laptop.
FEELINGS: Rose and I have been impressed with the integrity and supportiveness of our relatives and friends. At times it has been a problem, in Ukraine and with older people everywhere, as people seemed desperate to pump us full of food seemingly as a way of showing their copious hospitality.
We have learned how to give money. We never mention that it is to help out or to defray costs. We always say that we do not have room in our luggage to carry gifts, which is true, so we give gifts of money.
Rose and I only spent one night at Marian and Beata’s. We felt that the family needed their rooms more than we needed to stay with them, and we were in relieved to have a decent shower in a local hotel which would match, to a degree, our 3 star hotels, with wireless internet.
You have to be inspired by the energy, committment, and persistence of the Polish people. After centuries of fedualism, destruction by the Germans, and exploitive domination by the Russians, these people are looking forward and doing whatever is necessary for getting ahead. It seems almost everyone is working somewhere else in Europe.
Relgion is the centre of life for both Ukrainians and Poles. In Ukraine anyone passing the numerous loving cared for shrines to 'Our Lady' and 'The Cross', whether in a car or on foot, cross themselves. In our hotel here in Poland on Sunday morning the attendant was watching morning mass on TV, a mass totally conducted by men. Our family was planning to go to church but after the excitement of arriving guests and the return of their father, everyone slept in.
HISTORY OF THE AREA, JAROSLAW POLAND (from Wikipedia):
The city was established by the Ruthenian prince Yaroslav the Wise in the 11th century. It was granted Magdeburg rights by Polish prince W?adys?aw Opolczyk in 1375.
The city quickly developed as important trade centre and a port on the San river, reaching the period of its greatest prosperity in 16th and 17th century, with trade routes linking Silesia with Ruthenia and Gda?sk with Hungary coming through it and merchants from such distant countries as Spain, England, Finland, Armenia and Persia arriving at the annual three week long fair on the feast of the Assumption. In 1574 a Jesuit college was established in Jaros?aw.
In the 1590s Tatars from the Ottoman Empire pillaged the surrounding countryside. (See Moldavian Magnate Wars, The Magnate Wars (1593-1617), Causes.) They were unable to overcome the city's fortifications, but their raids started to diminish the city's economic strength and importance. Outbreaks of bubonic plague in the 1620s and the Swedish The Deluge in 1655-60 further undermined its prominence. In the Great Northern War of 1700-21 the region was repeatedly pillaged by Russian, Saxon and Swedish armies, causing the city to decline further.
Jaros?aw was under Austrian rule from the First Partition of Poland in 1772 until Poland regained independence in 1918. After the 2nd World War the city remained part of Poland. Poland's communist government expelled most of Jaros?aw's Ukrainian population, at first to Soviet territories and later to territories transferred from Germany to Poland in 1944-45.
Friday afternoon Leszick drove us to Jaroslaw were we met his Aunt, Angela, Yalina's sister and another Pietrucha relative, where we had another round of food and convsation. Angela had worked in the post office during her career and her husband died in 2004 of cancer. She lived with her two single sons in their 30s. One son was working as a school caretaker and ther other, who was at home, avoided us. Just as we were leaving Angela's niece and husband, who are working in Ireland, arrived. After a quick greeting and exchange of contact information we were off again.
On arrival in Makowisko a small single street village 4km from Jaroslaw, we drove a few kms from the highway on a smaller paved road, lined with houses which fronted small farm like plots, to 67C Makowisko, at the far end of town. Many of the houses were new or remodeled or in the process. We encountered a modern looking 2 level home with unfinished basement, on a gravel road, about 100 meters off the paved road. We learned that the house was started in 2000, is about 900 sq ft., and still being built. It is a nice design outside and in, sort of alpine in structure but finished in stucco over the basic brick/block construction. The main floor has a 12’x18’ open living/dining room, parent’s bedroom, small entrance way, very small bathroom which includes a 30 inch shower with no door and 8 overused tooth brushes in a cup; a 9’x12’ kitchen with cupboards and sink on one wall, a breakfast nook table and bench, clothes washer, fridge, and window. The living room has a wall unit with TV and ghetto blaster, and a chesterfield worse for the wear.
It’s cute to see 4-5 children lined up on the chesterfield watching TV, and not fighting, perhaps on their best behavior for guests. The dining area had a nice table and chairs set. Floors are of tile and laminate, but the chimney has fallen in, and the stair well to updstairs is still in raw concrete covered with chunks of carpet. Upstairs are 5 sparsely furnished bedrooms, 4 nicely finished with laminate floors. The two youngest boys have small beds but the other children had fold-down couches.
This is a home of dreams for the parents and their 6 children. The parents are Marian and Beata Antonio. Marian’s mother was a Stanicki, a cousin of Rose and Mike’s. Marian has been working in Germany for 6 years as a construction worker specializing in ceramic tile and painting. Her earns 10 Euro per hour, 10 hours a day 6 days a week, and rents a room for 200 Euro/month. He was supposed to arrive home Friday when we arrived, after three months in Germany, but ne mah (it didn’t happen). He arrived at 4pm on Saturday, much to the excitement of his wife and family. He will be home for 2 weeks during which he will do more work on his own house.
These 6 children: Sylvia 17, Marcin 16, Ewa 15, David 13, Karl 11, and Sebastian 9, seem to be very happy, well educated, smart kids. Tom taught them double solitaire, which the younger ones took turns at and they all mastered in a few moments. Tom was impressed with their tolerance when receiving a pile of cards or losing a game. They taught us a few games too: Cuckoo and Dupa Biscoopa (Bishop’s Ass). They showed us a very well built swing set made from logs and a few bolts, which included a single seat and a double seat swing. The swing was made by the boys, and is a central part of the children’s outdoor activities, along with Faco, the small house dog, and Brutus a large dog chained up outside beside a shed, and a rabbit in a pen, Karl’s pet, named Gray. David loves to play with Faco and Brutus, each tugging at a rope or piece of plastic, jumping around Brutus’s chain area, yelling and barking, and bumping at each other. Sebastion likes to open the cage and pet the rabbit, while Faco dreams of sinking his teeth into the tasty looking rabbit. All the children are intensely curious about their surroundings and about what I write on the computer. Heartwarming is the only way to describe their support and respect for their parents. Their mother Beata is clearly a rock of the family and exhibits an extraordinary zest for life (demonstrated by her continuous smile and excited conversation), despite their lack of material stuff!
Marcin is studying either surveying or engineering at a technical school, we were not sure of our understanding of the explanation. We can tell that he will do well. Ewa, thin and tall for her age, exhibits a quite confidence and sparkle in her enthusiasm for life and her dream to become a teacher. Sylvia is quiet but seems most capable at English Polish translation, and clearly has a boyfriend whom we did not meet. She is studying to be an artist. Sebastian, the youngest, loves to show how he can rear up his little dirt bike complete with worn-to-the-metal peddles and handle bars. David and Karl, who is more timid and mentioned his fear of ghosts, don’t yet talk of careers. They all love the computer and TV. All of them spend a lot of time outdoors.
Their parents seem to have an excellent relationship despite Marian being away so much. The children all help out at home and are well behaved. Rose was impressed to see Marcin, 16, sitting outside on the rough unfinished concrete front steps peeling the potatoes, while the girls were inside preparing very tasty dishes for the meal, under the supervision and participation of their mother. Parts of the house are finished very nicely and parts have not yet been finished, awaiting Marion to earn more money and have more time. The furniture shows the wear of a family of 6 bright active children. They have TV, water, sewer, 2 computers, one with keys that stick which is hooked up to the internet, and an HP printer without any ink.
Rose and I slept in Ewa’s room, while Mike and Lillian slept in Marcin and David’s room. The kids doubled up on their single beds while we are visiting. Having a shower was nearly impossible. I don’t know how the kids seemed to be so clean.
On Saturday, Marian’s parents Wladyk and Ann (Stanicki) Antonia and Ann’s sister Maria, who were our first visit on entering Poland, drove the 20 kms for a visit and for dinner. It was cute to see the slight tension between Aunt Maria and Beata. Beata told us that Aunt Maria felt conditions inadequate at their place and always brought cooked food when she visited. Beata is proud of her cooking and her family and resents this attitude. The visit turned into a great revelation of family and connections as Mike, Lillian, and Rose were in animated discussions with Wladyk, Ann, and Maria, with the rest of the family occasionally stopping to hear a story. The discussion became more animated as we brought out the photos of our 2003 visits in Ukraine and Germany, and my DVD movie of Rose’s first 65 years for her 65th birthday, which we played on my laptop.
FEELINGS: Rose and I have been impressed with the integrity and supportiveness of our relatives and friends. At times it has been a problem, in Ukraine and with older people everywhere, as people seemed desperate to pump us full of food seemingly as a way of showing their copious hospitality.
We have learned how to give money. We never mention that it is to help out or to defray costs. We always say that we do not have room in our luggage to carry gifts, which is true, so we give gifts of money.
Rose and I only spent one night at Marian and Beata’s. We felt that the family needed their rooms more than we needed to stay with them, and we were in relieved to have a decent shower in a local hotel which would match, to a degree, our 3 star hotels, with wireless internet.
You have to be inspired by the energy, committment, and persistence of the Polish people. After centuries of fedualism, destruction by the Germans, and exploitive domination by the Russians, these people are looking forward and doing whatever is necessary for getting ahead. It seems almost everyone is working somewhere else in Europe.
Relgion is the centre of life for both Ukrainians and Poles. In Ukraine anyone passing the numerous loving cared for shrines to 'Our Lady' and 'The Cross', whether in a car or on foot, cross themselves. In our hotel here in Poland on Sunday morning the attendant was watching morning mass on TV, a mass totally conducted by men. Our family was planning to go to church but after the excitement of arriving guests and the return of their father, everyone slept in.
HISTORY OF THE AREA, JAROSLAW POLAND (from Wikipedia):
The city was established by the Ruthenian prince Yaroslav the Wise in the 11th century. It was granted Magdeburg rights by Polish prince W?adys?aw Opolczyk in 1375.
The city quickly developed as important trade centre and a port on the San river, reaching the period of its greatest prosperity in 16th and 17th century, with trade routes linking Silesia with Ruthenia and Gda?sk with Hungary coming through it and merchants from such distant countries as Spain, England, Finland, Armenia and Persia arriving at the annual three week long fair on the feast of the Assumption. In 1574 a Jesuit college was established in Jaros?aw.
In the 1590s Tatars from the Ottoman Empire pillaged the surrounding countryside. (See Moldavian Magnate Wars, The Magnate Wars (1593-1617), Causes.) They were unable to overcome the city's fortifications, but their raids started to diminish the city's economic strength and importance. Outbreaks of bubonic plague in the 1620s and the Swedish The Deluge in 1655-60 further undermined its prominence. In the Great Northern War of 1700-21 the region was repeatedly pillaged by Russian, Saxon and Swedish armies, causing the city to decline further.
Jaros?aw was under Austrian rule from the First Partition of Poland in 1772 until Poland regained independence in 1918. After the 2nd World War the city remained part of Poland. Poland's communist government expelled most of Jaros?aw's Ukrainian population, at first to Soviet territories and later to territories transferred from Germany to Poland in 1944-45.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
SEE OUR PHOTOS
We have begun uploading our photos to PICASA. If you want to see them go to the following WEB address: http://picasaweb.google.ca/rogerstr1990/UKRAINE2009# Click on it and if that does not work try copying it into your web browser.
All the best
Tom and Rose
All the best
Tom and Rose
Friday, September 11, 2009
September 10: VISITING RELATIVES
BLOG ENTRY, September 10: VISITING RELATIVES
Today was both shocking and heartwarming. First, Yalena (her name we find is Yanina) and Wladic’s son, Leszck, took us, in his 4 year old Honda Civic (both he and his wife work in Italy trading off time at home to look after their two young boys, about 9 and 11), to get our reservations for the train trip from Jaroslaw to Warsaw on the 14th. We went to a small city called Lubachiu?, the closest significant railway station where tickets could be bought. However, they could not issue Eurail reservations so Leszck drove us the 25 kms to Jaroslaw where we reserved our tickets for 30 Zloty (on top of the cost for the Eurail pass).
We returned at 12:30pm to visit Annie (Pietrucha) and Bernard Tworka, and another widower brother Joseph Pietrucha 77. This time the house was even older and more dilapidated, reminding me of a shack in the woods for wood cutters, although this one was made of the typical brick/stucco construction. We were served borscht, several very fatty sausage meats, and bread. The small kitchen, about 8’ x 10’, had printed linoleum on the floor, curled up at the edges and tacked down at the door. A small 24” propane stove sat beside the door with the propane tank beside it. As I sat at the tiny table I was asked to move to ensure that the burner on the stove did not set fire to me. In another corner was the old tiled stove/heater. Adjoining the kitchen was a smaller bathroom with cob webs, a flush toilet and no sink, which stank so much that Rose nearly threw up when using it. She had to rush outside afterwards for fresh air and refused to enter the house again, to the disappointment of our hosts. Also adjoining the kitchen was a carpeted living room with TV, cabinets, and a computer (for the grandchildren). After tiring of the conversation I went into the living room to lie on the ‘sofa’. It reminded me of the horse hair settee on which my sister, Judy, and I used to play as children in the attic of our old farm house in Saskatchewan. The generous and excited cousins were classic images of poor elderly grandpas and grandmas in the ‘old country’. Some had no teeth. Others had a few teeth in the final stages of deterioration. But they were talking a mile a minute.
We did not realize that Leszck was not planning to pick us up until 4pm. When Lillian and Mike finally tired of the conversation at about 2:30pm we all walked 4kms back to our host’s home. Before we left the host removed our plates from the table, rinsed them in cold water, and put them on the shelf. The first portion of the walk was along the narrow highway, whose ditches served as sewer lines – really gross odors. You could see the drain pipes coming out from the homes. After a couple of kms we encountered paving stone sidewalks. The sun was shining and the temperature must have been around 24 C, 75 F. We enjoyed the exercise and the walk.
Later 31 year old Leszck returned and took us to more visits. The first was his house. We were surprised to find a recently built modern designed North American style house and garage, still of the block/stucco construction, but with hardwood floors with centered sculpted carpets, a large plasma TV, on which one of the boys was using his Play Station game, an equally modern kitchen which included, for example, a stainless steel dishwasher, the first we had seen in Ukraine or Poland. Leszck was in the midst of his time at home and his wife was working in Italy. Between the two of them they likely earn about EURO 30,000. Leszck invited us to sit in his simple but well appointed dining room with solid wood table and leather padded chairs, buffet and side wall to ceiling cupboards, where he laid out a snack/meal of the usual salads, cold meat cuts, bread, with water and pop, followed by cakes. He accepted our decline of his offer of vodka, and did not push us to eat more than we wanted. The salads were all herring in different sauces, and the meats included the highest quality hams, which I had not seen since we left home. He proudly showed us around the house. We asked if he planned to immigrate to Italy. He said he was Polish and planned to live in Poland. He had been an electrician in the army and he planned set up an auto electrical business out of his garage.
About 6:30pm Leszck took us to visit his pregnant sister Agata’s home, another family of younger cousins in their 30s. They lived with his parents, in their late 50’s, in a remodeled older home, again with plasma TV and computer, but retaining the tiled heaters, ‘as insurance’. Ogata works in the local town office. Her husband, Chrsitoff Mariko, works for the power/electrical company, and their 6 year old daughter, Julita, was busy with her ‘babies’ cats pushing them around in a small carriage.
The visits today showed us more of the nature of the population. The older men tended to have had heart attacks, bad teeth, smoke, and be heavy drinkers. The older women were the result of living with the older men. The younger ones were much more careful about their health.
Agata’s husband, Chrsitoff Mariko, drove us home in his older Pegeut wagon at 8:30pm.
Today was both shocking and heartwarming. First, Yalena (her name we find is Yanina) and Wladic’s son, Leszck, took us, in his 4 year old Honda Civic (both he and his wife work in Italy trading off time at home to look after their two young boys, about 9 and 11), to get our reservations for the train trip from Jaroslaw to Warsaw on the 14th. We went to a small city called Lubachiu?, the closest significant railway station where tickets could be bought. However, they could not issue Eurail reservations so Leszck drove us the 25 kms to Jaroslaw where we reserved our tickets for 30 Zloty (on top of the cost for the Eurail pass).
We returned at 12:30pm to visit Annie (Pietrucha) and Bernard Tworka, and another widower brother Joseph Pietrucha 77. This time the house was even older and more dilapidated, reminding me of a shack in the woods for wood cutters, although this one was made of the typical brick/stucco construction. We were served borscht, several very fatty sausage meats, and bread. The small kitchen, about 8’ x 10’, had printed linoleum on the floor, curled up at the edges and tacked down at the door. A small 24” propane stove sat beside the door with the propane tank beside it. As I sat at the tiny table I was asked to move to ensure that the burner on the stove did not set fire to me. In another corner was the old tiled stove/heater. Adjoining the kitchen was a smaller bathroom with cob webs, a flush toilet and no sink, which stank so much that Rose nearly threw up when using it. She had to rush outside afterwards for fresh air and refused to enter the house again, to the disappointment of our hosts. Also adjoining the kitchen was a carpeted living room with TV, cabinets, and a computer (for the grandchildren). After tiring of the conversation I went into the living room to lie on the ‘sofa’. It reminded me of the horse hair settee on which my sister, Judy, and I used to play as children in the attic of our old farm house in Saskatchewan. The generous and excited cousins were classic images of poor elderly grandpas and grandmas in the ‘old country’. Some had no teeth. Others had a few teeth in the final stages of deterioration. But they were talking a mile a minute.
We did not realize that Leszck was not planning to pick us up until 4pm. When Lillian and Mike finally tired of the conversation at about 2:30pm we all walked 4kms back to our host’s home. Before we left the host removed our plates from the table, rinsed them in cold water, and put them on the shelf. The first portion of the walk was along the narrow highway, whose ditches served as sewer lines – really gross odors. You could see the drain pipes coming out from the homes. After a couple of kms we encountered paving stone sidewalks. The sun was shining and the temperature must have been around 24 C, 75 F. We enjoyed the exercise and the walk.
Later 31 year old Leszck returned and took us to more visits. The first was his house. We were surprised to find a recently built modern designed North American style house and garage, still of the block/stucco construction, but with hardwood floors with centered sculpted carpets, a large plasma TV, on which one of the boys was using his Play Station game, an equally modern kitchen which included, for example, a stainless steel dishwasher, the first we had seen in Ukraine or Poland. Leszck was in the midst of his time at home and his wife was working in Italy. Between the two of them they likely earn about EURO 30,000. Leszck invited us to sit in his simple but well appointed dining room with solid wood table and leather padded chairs, buffet and side wall to ceiling cupboards, where he laid out a snack/meal of the usual salads, cold meat cuts, bread, with water and pop, followed by cakes. He accepted our decline of his offer of vodka, and did not push us to eat more than we wanted. The salads were all herring in different sauces, and the meats included the highest quality hams, which I had not seen since we left home. He proudly showed us around the house. We asked if he planned to immigrate to Italy. He said he was Polish and planned to live in Poland. He had been an electrician in the army and he planned set up an auto electrical business out of his garage.
About 6:30pm Leszck took us to visit his pregnant sister Agata’s home, another family of younger cousins in their 30s. They lived with his parents, in their late 50’s, in a remodeled older home, again with plasma TV and computer, but retaining the tiled heaters, ‘as insurance’. Ogata works in the local town office. Her husband, Chrsitoff Mariko, works for the power/electrical company, and their 6 year old daughter, Julita, was busy with her ‘babies’ cats pushing them around in a small carriage.
The visits today showed us more of the nature of the population. The older men tended to have had heart attacks, bad teeth, smoke, and be heavy drinkers. The older women were the result of living with the older men. The younger ones were much more careful about their health.
Agata’s husband, Chrsitoff Mariko, drove us home in his older Pegeut wagon at 8:30pm.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
September 9, Last Night in Horodek, Celebration Dinner, OFF to Poland
BLOG ENTRY, September 9: , OUR LAST NIGHTS IN GORODEK AND A CELEBRATION DINNER
Today I am conscious that these blog entries are only reflections and experiences. They are made without information or knowledge of the history, customs, and local organization. My writing also leaves something to be desired but I do not have time to give it a thorough review and editing.
DINNER AT COUSIN LESHYA’S:
Leshya (Stanicki) and Jaroslaw Mazola invited us to dinner on Monday. Jaroslaw is a foreman for roof builders. He makes enough to put food on the table, and pay the utilities: gas, power, and water. He must not make much because most rooms only have one of the usual 3-4 bulb ceiling lights working. Leshya works as a caregiver in Italy, changing off with Maria every three months. At 1500 EURO/month for 6 months, her income goes to fix and maintain the house in repair. Since our last visit in 2003 the rough brick outer shell of the house has been stuccoed and an indoor bathroom added. Leshya came home for the wedding, giving up a week’s pay and making the 24 hr bus trip from Chusefort, Northeastern Italy. They have a large house, maybe 1500 sq ft, but not finished or furnished as well as the other houses. The house is situated near the small lake, or maybe it should be called a slough/fish pond, in town. You get there via a road which is really a rutted potholed trail, overgrown with shrubs, beside the lake.
The Mazola’s daughter Oksana and husband Yura and two boys, 1 and 3 live with them. Yura is a local fireman, and Oksana plays the domestic role at home. During dinner the nicely dressed Oksana slipped out to milk the goat for milk, which was put straight into feeding bottles for the babies. I slipped out, guided by Yura, to see the scene. We walked through the back yard of 2 sheds for poultry, animals?, and equipment?, by a crudely constructed thatched roof gondola, around another house which was in bad shape (we were told that Jaroslaw’s crippled sister lives there, tended by Oksana), and further back to a small shed. The goat was tethered in the shed and Oksansa was milking it. Three pigs grunted in a small pen. As we entered I had to lower my head for the ‘roof’ which I found on turning around to be a shelf with chickens, one of whose rears was right in my face. Together with the odors it was a bit of a shock, but nothing different with my own memories of growing up on our farm in Saskatchewan.
As usual for dinners and visits in Ukraine, we arrived to see a table being filled with the meal. Once we were sitting the hostess started putting (trying to put) large portions of food on our plates, despite our protests. I have developed a technique to deal with this. I pick up my plate and hold it on my lap, covered by my hands. I am willing to risk the insult to the host, in order to safe my stomach and me from the later urgings to ‘yeastey, yeastey’, eat, eat.
During dinner, Leshya told us the harrowing story of her first time travelling to Italy for a caregiver job in 1997. She had saved up enough for the trip, but only spoke Ukrainian and had no idea where Italy was located. She bought a ticket to Warsaw, the wrong direction. In Warsaw she learned that she had to go South to Krakow to get a train to Italy. On finally arriving in Krakow at 3am, she found herself lost, in total darkness, totally confused, and without food or knowledge of where to find any. She only had 200 dollars which she needed to save for the rest of the trip. Fortunately she met a lady who she had known in Ukraine. The lady shared her bread with her. Later a man came who spoke Polish. Leshya knew Polish (her parents had been forcibly moved from Poland to Ukraine). After some cautious converstation the lady and Leshya shared their bread and befriended the man. The man provided protection and later helped Leshya buy her ticket for the rest of the voyage to Italy. The experience reminded me of the stories I have seen on TV of women, looking for a better life, who get tricked into slavery and prostitution. Fortunately, many people like Leshya make it to their destination safely and are able to arrange an improved, but still deprived, life for themselves and their families.
My heart aches for these relatives and for the billions in the world in these kinds of situations. I anger at the thought of the greedy ruthless and corrupt leaders who cause these situations. At the same time I realize how inadequate the human mind is to lead the masses. Even great leaders cannot overcome all the evil caused by our their own minds and those of their supporters.
CELEBRATION DINNER:
Tuesday evening around 7:30pm we (Rose and I, Mike (Rose’s 80 year old brother) and Lillian) took our hosts (cousin Maria Murmil, her daughter Halya and husband Bill Burda, and their two small boys) to dinner at what is likely the best restaurant in town, and it was good. We billed it as a going away dinner, but it was also an early birthday celebration for Maria’s 60th birthday on September 12, and Christmas gifts presentation. Both couples gave Maria US$ 100 for her birthday and $200 which we usually give for Christmas, totaling $600. While these were gifts we suspect they will be used to pay most of the cost of $800 for a new roof needed on the house. Bill drove the 9 of us the three km trip in his small 10 year old Peugot car in two trips.
After Rose, myself, and Halya were dropped off we hopped around a few puddles to walk to a nearby flower shop/shack, about 6 ft by 9 ft, to buy a nice flower arrangement for 40 Hrenya ~CAD$ 5, then walked to the restaurant. It was across from the retail area of haphazardly located shacks and puddles, behind a few ‘normal’, ie brick/stucco stores and banks/money changers, through an alley with a few more shack stores, up some stairs to the back of the brick/stucco buildings, and into the restaurant. Nicely designed and painted, the restaurant was about 2,000 sq ft/220 sq meters. Ceramic tiled floors met nicely painted plaster walls and ceiling. A few framed large prints of what appeared to be famous paintings adorned the walls and 2 Venus 4 ft high plaster statues were placed amid artificial trees around the walls. The ceilings had curved designs in two levels about 6 inches deep, and modern lighting with ‘star’ lights imbedded. About 20 tables were nicely spaced in the larger area. A smaller area had a few tables set together for a large group. Customers could serve themselves from a self serve area or be served a prepared meal as we were.
Since we Canadians and could not read Ukrainian, except for Mike who has limited ability, Halya had preordered the food. Appetizers consisted of roast tongue (very good once you steeled yourself to try it), an egg salad, sliced cold meats, coleslaw, breads, cucumber/carrot pickles and beat pickles with horseradish, all very good. The main course was pounded pork strips wrapped and stuffed with a mushroom sauce filling, fried and then roasted in the oven; mashed potatoes with butter and dill sprinkled over them, vodka, Russian wine, and bottled water. We finished dinner with a dish of ice cream sprinkled with grated chocolate, cognac, espresso coffee for me and tea for the others. The others have learned to avoid the normal coffee which consists of a few teaspoons of coffee with boiling water poured over it. The total cost for all of us was 600 Hrenya, about $70.
OFF TO POLAND
We were up at 4am Wednesday so that cousin Wasyl (Bill) Ohinok could pick us up at 5am and take us to visit the Stanicki and Pietrucha cousins in Southeastern Poland. It was only a 50 km drive to the border, but Bill was not sure how long it would take to get through the border. He knew what he was talking about. We arrived at the Ukrainian side of the border at 6am to see a line of cars ½ km long. Bill skipped around it and scooted in about 100 yards from the Ukrainian exit customs (I suspect we could move forward because we had nothing to declare). My guess is that the border delays, which we were told can be around 24 hours, amount to a huge economic cost. Bill has been in the broker/transport business for years so he knows how to handle these situations. He jumped out of the van, a 1994 red Peugot on which he said he had 700,000 kms, talked to a few people in line, then to a few guards/customs agents, and went off into a building. On return, with a slip of paper, he wove through the line to within about 50 meters of the border. By 9:10am (8:10 Poland time) we were through the border, had stopped for coffee, bathroom break, and obtained Polish Zloty at the conveniently located exchange bank, at the rate of 2.76 Zolty per US$.
Within a few minutes we were visiting relatives. The highways were well paved, contrary to the oft patched highways of the Ukraine -reminders of how it used to be going from Saskatchewan to Alberta on Highway 7.
The first stop was just a few kms from the border, a quaint little farm house and yard where a small elderly (70s) couple lived, Anna (stanicky) and Wladyk Antonio. It could have been an old farm house in a remote Saskatchewan area. Their son lived in the next lot, in a much nicer looking house, but was just getting the children off to school. Mike and Lillian found the place by memory from their 1990 and2003 visits. Mike had not been able to contact them by phone, so he just walked through the fenced yard, by the classic water well with bucket and pulley for drawing water, up to the door, and knocked. After explaining who he was the door opened and he was welcomed by the wife. Once they knew him, there were hugs and kisses for all. Also visiting was Anna’s sister Maria (Stanicki) who we had never met before. Anna’s husband came out later. He was somewhat crippled by a stroke. We visited a short time and then headed off to find Mike’s and Rose’s cousins from their father’s side, the Pietruchas.
After 20 kms of rural paved roads we came upon the small town of Lukawiec, population of about 2000 according to our hosts, nestled along the side of a hill in rolling plains, and distinguished by a large new church with metal roof somewhat like a tall upside down skewed funnel with a pointed cap on top. Once again Mike and Lillian directed Bill, from memory of their earlier visits, to a small farm, maybe 10-20 acres on the edge of town. Yanina (Pietrucha) and Wladic Kuchciak received us with open arms, Yanina shaking from the excitement of us finally arriving. She was excited to meet, Rose, another Pietrucha, for the first time. After a ‘snack’ meal Bill left to return to Ukraine. He refused to accept any payment so I forcefully and sternly stuffed a US$ 50 in his shirt pocket, which he accepted.
The house was another old, slightly remodeled home, of the basic brick/block construction with covered with stucco. The inside showed its age and the elderly parents satisfaction with the old home: planked floors, plaster walls, old tiled heaters in the rooms and for the kitchen stove, no hot water other than provided on the stove, narrow 48 inch pull out chesterfields for us two visiting couples, one bathroom for everyone, with running cold water and an old flush toilet, tub, sink, and small clothes washer. We each had a sitting/bedroom but Rose and I had to walk through Mike and Lillian’s dinning/bed room to get to the bathroom. The sink tap comes out of the wall about 2 feet above the bottom of the sink, making it difficult to avoid splashing water as the tap is turned on. There was no electricity when we arrived in the morning. A new styled front door and PVC windows has been added by their son, Marek, who works in Italy, and who is planning to remodel the house for his parents to live in the ground level basement, currently being used for garden storage, and his family to live upstairs. Clearly though, these people were generous with their home, food and time, for their Canadian cousins.
After the snack we went out to see the ‘farm’. There were too many things to describe. In the back yard there were geese, ducks, chickens, and their related droppings, a tethered barking dog, a barn and storage shed for the small >20 year old tractor. Further back were some recently tilled fields. Walking along we saw a small tractor pulled mechanical potato picker, and another one which dug up the potatoes and left them on the ground for a team of 15 young and old to gather and load into a tractor pulled cart. Later travels showed many of these situations in the area. There were two small fields of reeds, once used for making baskets, but that venture has now stopped with the reeds still being grown (later travels revealed many more reed fields). We never found out what is done with them now. One lot contained a small pallet construction business. We learned that the 50-70 year old logs (they must have started growing after WWII) were brought in from the Czech Republic. Logs were stripped of their bark, sawn into beams, and then cut into lumber for the final process of making pallets.
We walked down the nicely paved narrow road to visit more relatives, Yalena’s brother Anjay Pietrucha & his wife Katerina, and receive more snacks. These relatives, mostly second and third cousins, were starting to become a blur to me, as I did not understand the conversation other than Rose explaining to me the source of some round of laughter. We returned home at 5:30pm for supper later in the evening.
On the way home we were surprised to find a small official looking building 2 doors down from our host’s home. Inside I found a small library, 5 computers hooked up to the internet, 2 with young boys at them, phone service, and a large plasma TV. Poland has a program similar to that of Industry Canada to fund and encourage local community information sources and access to the internet. I was able to check our email, bank account, and call home for messages using our prepaid Shaw calling card. Supper was thankfully light because of the insistence of Mike and Lillian, but still Yanina seemed disappointed that we did not eat all of the platters of food on the table. The food was good, very good. Yalena makes everything herself, except the vodka (and we found a few places where the ‘vodka’ was home brew). We had a hot red-current tea-like drink, sliced meats, unique egg and meat salads, and a range of home made canned pickles and beet relishes. Nevertheless, Mike ended up with diarrhea the next day.
Supper had not finished long when more guest’s arrived, Rose and Mike’s cousin John Pietrucha and his wife. The food was brought out again, and the visiting began again. Before long the conversations were getting loud and excited, as family ties were renewed. I could not take it any more and went to do this writing.
My understanding of the history of the area is that the European wars, together with Russian and German occupations, and Stalin’s manipulation, exploitation, and starvation of Ukrainians and Poles, left the Stanicky and Pietrucha families decimated and strewn around the world. Even first cousins did not know each other. Some of the Stanicky family in Poland had been suddenly and forcefully moved to Ukraine, leaving remaining members heart broken. Others were penalized for things like selling eggs, and sent to Siberia, shot, or had bodily limbs cut off. One story is of a family member made to walk over burning coals. Some, like Rose, Mike, and Lillian’s Stanicky, Pietrucha, and Derin families, left and came to Canada. Latecomers to Canada in the early 1900s they had to live in the more northerly areas and struggled to eke out an existence with no infrastructure nothing in place – courageous pioneers. I am often reminded of the words of one of Canada’s late Governor Generals, Romeo Leblanc ‘that Canada was built by the extraordinary efforts of ordinary Canadians’. Amidst the improved living standards of these families in all their current countries, the families still seem to harbor in their behaviors and demeanors, an inner sadness of their past lives.
FEELINGS:
Visiting distant relatives in other countries with different cultures is difficult at any time, but we are finding the conditions wearing. I have not had a shower or bath for a few days. Mike and Lillian seem reluctant, or too trusting, or simply as unable as us to change the situation. After all they are relatives and we all want to meet each other. We feel a bit stuck, but yet safe and appreciative of the generosity of these people and of the opportunity to experience the life of for the majority of people in Ukraine and Poland. We are looking forward to moving on. We also realize that the people we are visiting live better than many others. We still have four days in this area, one more night in this house and then 3 nights visiting a Stanicki cousin near Jaroslaw, where on September 14, we catch the express Eurail train to Warsaw with first class tickets.
Today I am conscious that these blog entries are only reflections and experiences. They are made without information or knowledge of the history, customs, and local organization. My writing also leaves something to be desired but I do not have time to give it a thorough review and editing.
DINNER AT COUSIN LESHYA’S:
Leshya (Stanicki) and Jaroslaw Mazola invited us to dinner on Monday. Jaroslaw is a foreman for roof builders. He makes enough to put food on the table, and pay the utilities: gas, power, and water. He must not make much because most rooms only have one of the usual 3-4 bulb ceiling lights working. Leshya works as a caregiver in Italy, changing off with Maria every three months. At 1500 EURO/month for 6 months, her income goes to fix and maintain the house in repair. Since our last visit in 2003 the rough brick outer shell of the house has been stuccoed and an indoor bathroom added. Leshya came home for the wedding, giving up a week’s pay and making the 24 hr bus trip from Chusefort, Northeastern Italy. They have a large house, maybe 1500 sq ft, but not finished or furnished as well as the other houses. The house is situated near the small lake, or maybe it should be called a slough/fish pond, in town. You get there via a road which is really a rutted potholed trail, overgrown with shrubs, beside the lake.
The Mazola’s daughter Oksana and husband Yura and two boys, 1 and 3 live with them. Yura is a local fireman, and Oksana plays the domestic role at home. During dinner the nicely dressed Oksana slipped out to milk the goat for milk, which was put straight into feeding bottles for the babies. I slipped out, guided by Yura, to see the scene. We walked through the back yard of 2 sheds for poultry, animals?, and equipment?, by a crudely constructed thatched roof gondola, around another house which was in bad shape (we were told that Jaroslaw’s crippled sister lives there, tended by Oksana), and further back to a small shed. The goat was tethered in the shed and Oksansa was milking it. Three pigs grunted in a small pen. As we entered I had to lower my head for the ‘roof’ which I found on turning around to be a shelf with chickens, one of whose rears was right in my face. Together with the odors it was a bit of a shock, but nothing different with my own memories of growing up on our farm in Saskatchewan.
As usual for dinners and visits in Ukraine, we arrived to see a table being filled with the meal. Once we were sitting the hostess started putting (trying to put) large portions of food on our plates, despite our protests. I have developed a technique to deal with this. I pick up my plate and hold it on my lap, covered by my hands. I am willing to risk the insult to the host, in order to safe my stomach and me from the later urgings to ‘yeastey, yeastey’, eat, eat.
During dinner, Leshya told us the harrowing story of her first time travelling to Italy for a caregiver job in 1997. She had saved up enough for the trip, but only spoke Ukrainian and had no idea where Italy was located. She bought a ticket to Warsaw, the wrong direction. In Warsaw she learned that she had to go South to Krakow to get a train to Italy. On finally arriving in Krakow at 3am, she found herself lost, in total darkness, totally confused, and without food or knowledge of where to find any. She only had 200 dollars which she needed to save for the rest of the trip. Fortunately she met a lady who she had known in Ukraine. The lady shared her bread with her. Later a man came who spoke Polish. Leshya knew Polish (her parents had been forcibly moved from Poland to Ukraine). After some cautious converstation the lady and Leshya shared their bread and befriended the man. The man provided protection and later helped Leshya buy her ticket for the rest of the voyage to Italy. The experience reminded me of the stories I have seen on TV of women, looking for a better life, who get tricked into slavery and prostitution. Fortunately, many people like Leshya make it to their destination safely and are able to arrange an improved, but still deprived, life for themselves and their families.
My heart aches for these relatives and for the billions in the world in these kinds of situations. I anger at the thought of the greedy ruthless and corrupt leaders who cause these situations. At the same time I realize how inadequate the human mind is to lead the masses. Even great leaders cannot overcome all the evil caused by our their own minds and those of their supporters.
CELEBRATION DINNER:
Tuesday evening around 7:30pm we (Rose and I, Mike (Rose’s 80 year old brother) and Lillian) took our hosts (cousin Maria Murmil, her daughter Halya and husband Bill Burda, and their two small boys) to dinner at what is likely the best restaurant in town, and it was good. We billed it as a going away dinner, but it was also an early birthday celebration for Maria’s 60th birthday on September 12, and Christmas gifts presentation. Both couples gave Maria US$ 100 for her birthday and $200 which we usually give for Christmas, totaling $600. While these were gifts we suspect they will be used to pay most of the cost of $800 for a new roof needed on the house. Bill drove the 9 of us the three km trip in his small 10 year old Peugot car in two trips.
After Rose, myself, and Halya were dropped off we hopped around a few puddles to walk to a nearby flower shop/shack, about 6 ft by 9 ft, to buy a nice flower arrangement for 40 Hrenya ~CAD$ 5, then walked to the restaurant. It was across from the retail area of haphazardly located shacks and puddles, behind a few ‘normal’, ie brick/stucco stores and banks/money changers, through an alley with a few more shack stores, up some stairs to the back of the brick/stucco buildings, and into the restaurant. Nicely designed and painted, the restaurant was about 2,000 sq ft/220 sq meters. Ceramic tiled floors met nicely painted plaster walls and ceiling. A few framed large prints of what appeared to be famous paintings adorned the walls and 2 Venus 4 ft high plaster statues were placed amid artificial trees around the walls. The ceilings had curved designs in two levels about 6 inches deep, and modern lighting with ‘star’ lights imbedded. About 20 tables were nicely spaced in the larger area. A smaller area had a few tables set together for a large group. Customers could serve themselves from a self serve area or be served a prepared meal as we were.
Since we Canadians and could not read Ukrainian, except for Mike who has limited ability, Halya had preordered the food. Appetizers consisted of roast tongue (very good once you steeled yourself to try it), an egg salad, sliced cold meats, coleslaw, breads, cucumber/carrot pickles and beat pickles with horseradish, all very good. The main course was pounded pork strips wrapped and stuffed with a mushroom sauce filling, fried and then roasted in the oven; mashed potatoes with butter and dill sprinkled over them, vodka, Russian wine, and bottled water. We finished dinner with a dish of ice cream sprinkled with grated chocolate, cognac, espresso coffee for me and tea for the others. The others have learned to avoid the normal coffee which consists of a few teaspoons of coffee with boiling water poured over it. The total cost for all of us was 600 Hrenya, about $70.
OFF TO POLAND
We were up at 4am Wednesday so that cousin Wasyl (Bill) Ohinok could pick us up at 5am and take us to visit the Stanicki and Pietrucha cousins in Southeastern Poland. It was only a 50 km drive to the border, but Bill was not sure how long it would take to get through the border. He knew what he was talking about. We arrived at the Ukrainian side of the border at 6am to see a line of cars ½ km long. Bill skipped around it and scooted in about 100 yards from the Ukrainian exit customs (I suspect we could move forward because we had nothing to declare). My guess is that the border delays, which we were told can be around 24 hours, amount to a huge economic cost. Bill has been in the broker/transport business for years so he knows how to handle these situations. He jumped out of the van, a 1994 red Peugot on which he said he had 700,000 kms, talked to a few people in line, then to a few guards/customs agents, and went off into a building. On return, with a slip of paper, he wove through the line to within about 50 meters of the border. By 9:10am (8:10 Poland time) we were through the border, had stopped for coffee, bathroom break, and obtained Polish Zloty at the conveniently located exchange bank, at the rate of 2.76 Zolty per US$.
Within a few minutes we were visiting relatives. The highways were well paved, contrary to the oft patched highways of the Ukraine -reminders of how it used to be going from Saskatchewan to Alberta on Highway 7.
The first stop was just a few kms from the border, a quaint little farm house and yard where a small elderly (70s) couple lived, Anna (stanicky) and Wladyk Antonio. It could have been an old farm house in a remote Saskatchewan area. Their son lived in the next lot, in a much nicer looking house, but was just getting the children off to school. Mike and Lillian found the place by memory from their 1990 and2003 visits. Mike had not been able to contact them by phone, so he just walked through the fenced yard, by the classic water well with bucket and pulley for drawing water, up to the door, and knocked. After explaining who he was the door opened and he was welcomed by the wife. Once they knew him, there were hugs and kisses for all. Also visiting was Anna’s sister Maria (Stanicki) who we had never met before. Anna’s husband came out later. He was somewhat crippled by a stroke. We visited a short time and then headed off to find Mike’s and Rose’s cousins from their father’s side, the Pietruchas.
After 20 kms of rural paved roads we came upon the small town of Lukawiec, population of about 2000 according to our hosts, nestled along the side of a hill in rolling plains, and distinguished by a large new church with metal roof somewhat like a tall upside down skewed funnel with a pointed cap on top. Once again Mike and Lillian directed Bill, from memory of their earlier visits, to a small farm, maybe 10-20 acres on the edge of town. Yanina (Pietrucha) and Wladic Kuchciak received us with open arms, Yanina shaking from the excitement of us finally arriving. She was excited to meet, Rose, another Pietrucha, for the first time. After a ‘snack’ meal Bill left to return to Ukraine. He refused to accept any payment so I forcefully and sternly stuffed a US$ 50 in his shirt pocket, which he accepted.
The house was another old, slightly remodeled home, of the basic brick/block construction with covered with stucco. The inside showed its age and the elderly parents satisfaction with the old home: planked floors, plaster walls, old tiled heaters in the rooms and for the kitchen stove, no hot water other than provided on the stove, narrow 48 inch pull out chesterfields for us two visiting couples, one bathroom for everyone, with running cold water and an old flush toilet, tub, sink, and small clothes washer. We each had a sitting/bedroom but Rose and I had to walk through Mike and Lillian’s dinning/bed room to get to the bathroom. The sink tap comes out of the wall about 2 feet above the bottom of the sink, making it difficult to avoid splashing water as the tap is turned on. There was no electricity when we arrived in the morning. A new styled front door and PVC windows has been added by their son, Marek, who works in Italy, and who is planning to remodel the house for his parents to live in the ground level basement, currently being used for garden storage, and his family to live upstairs. Clearly though, these people were generous with their home, food and time, for their Canadian cousins.
After the snack we went out to see the ‘farm’. There were too many things to describe. In the back yard there were geese, ducks, chickens, and their related droppings, a tethered barking dog, a barn and storage shed for the small >20 year old tractor. Further back were some recently tilled fields. Walking along we saw a small tractor pulled mechanical potato picker, and another one which dug up the potatoes and left them on the ground for a team of 15 young and old to gather and load into a tractor pulled cart. Later travels showed many of these situations in the area. There were two small fields of reeds, once used for making baskets, but that venture has now stopped with the reeds still being grown (later travels revealed many more reed fields). We never found out what is done with them now. One lot contained a small pallet construction business. We learned that the 50-70 year old logs (they must have started growing after WWII) were brought in from the Czech Republic. Logs were stripped of their bark, sawn into beams, and then cut into lumber for the final process of making pallets.
We walked down the nicely paved narrow road to visit more relatives, Yalena’s brother Anjay Pietrucha & his wife Katerina, and receive more snacks. These relatives, mostly second and third cousins, were starting to become a blur to me, as I did not understand the conversation other than Rose explaining to me the source of some round of laughter. We returned home at 5:30pm for supper later in the evening.
On the way home we were surprised to find a small official looking building 2 doors down from our host’s home. Inside I found a small library, 5 computers hooked up to the internet, 2 with young boys at them, phone service, and a large plasma TV. Poland has a program similar to that of Industry Canada to fund and encourage local community information sources and access to the internet. I was able to check our email, bank account, and call home for messages using our prepaid Shaw calling card. Supper was thankfully light because of the insistence of Mike and Lillian, but still Yanina seemed disappointed that we did not eat all of the platters of food on the table. The food was good, very good. Yalena makes everything herself, except the vodka (and we found a few places where the ‘vodka’ was home brew). We had a hot red-current tea-like drink, sliced meats, unique egg and meat salads, and a range of home made canned pickles and beet relishes. Nevertheless, Mike ended up with diarrhea the next day.
Supper had not finished long when more guest’s arrived, Rose and Mike’s cousin John Pietrucha and his wife. The food was brought out again, and the visiting began again. Before long the conversations were getting loud and excited, as family ties were renewed. I could not take it any more and went to do this writing.
My understanding of the history of the area is that the European wars, together with Russian and German occupations, and Stalin’s manipulation, exploitation, and starvation of Ukrainians and Poles, left the Stanicky and Pietrucha families decimated and strewn around the world. Even first cousins did not know each other. Some of the Stanicky family in Poland had been suddenly and forcefully moved to Ukraine, leaving remaining members heart broken. Others were penalized for things like selling eggs, and sent to Siberia, shot, or had bodily limbs cut off. One story is of a family member made to walk over burning coals. Some, like Rose, Mike, and Lillian’s Stanicky, Pietrucha, and Derin families, left and came to Canada. Latecomers to Canada in the early 1900s they had to live in the more northerly areas and struggled to eke out an existence with no infrastructure nothing in place – courageous pioneers. I am often reminded of the words of one of Canada’s late Governor Generals, Romeo Leblanc ‘that Canada was built by the extraordinary efforts of ordinary Canadians’. Amidst the improved living standards of these families in all their current countries, the families still seem to harbor in their behaviors and demeanors, an inner sadness of their past lives.
FEELINGS:
Visiting distant relatives in other countries with different cultures is difficult at any time, but we are finding the conditions wearing. I have not had a shower or bath for a few days. Mike and Lillian seem reluctant, or too trusting, or simply as unable as us to change the situation. After all they are relatives and we all want to meet each other. We feel a bit stuck, but yet safe and appreciative of the generosity of these people and of the opportunity to experience the life of for the majority of people in Ukraine and Poland. We are looking forward to moving on. We also realize that the people we are visiting live better than many others. We still have four days in this area, one more night in this house and then 3 nights visiting a Stanicki cousin near Jaroslaw, where on September 14, we catch the express Eurail train to Warsaw with first class tickets.
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