To the Center of the Earth and Halfway to Heaven

It was really foggy Wednesday morning.  We could barely see the Wisla (Vistula) River.  But that didn’t matter, because we were going to visit the Wieliczka Salt Mines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wieliczka_Salt_Mine), just outside of Krakow.  They have been pulling salt from the earth in Wieliczka since before recorded history.  The mining for salt started in the mid-14^th century.  Wieliczka is most famous for the magnificent salt carvings.  We started down what turned out to be 54 flights of stairs that took us down 130 meters.  You could get dizzy going around each landing if you went too fast.  And that was just a start!  We walked for the next two meters further down into the salt caves.  The most impressive sight is an entire church carved into the salt, including the floor, altars, chandeliers, friezes and statues.  By the time we got to the bottom we were 327 meters below the surface.  We were more than happy to squeeze into the rickety elevator for a ride back to the top rather than trying to climb up those stairs! 

When we returned from Wieliczka, we returned to Wawel Hill.  By now, the fog had cleared.  We had a guided tour of Wawel the prior day, but I felt the tour went through the cathedral too quickly and missed some real highlights.  Entrance to the cathedral, as with any Catholic church, is free.  But a ticket was needed to see the museum and go up the tower to see  Zygmunt’s Bell.  We took a pass on the audio tour and just used the map of important points that’s provided free of charge.  We went through the cathedral more slowly, which gave us a chance to look at the magnificent side altars and artword, go down to the crypt that hold Chopin (his heart may be in Warsaw but the rest of him is in Krakow), Miczkiewicz, and other notable Polish artists.  Accessible from the outside of the cathedral is the crypt that hold Pilsudski, and the late president Lech Kaczynski and his wife who died in the tragic plane crash in Smolensk.  The highlight was climbing the stairs of the tower to get to Zygmunt's Bell, the largest bell in Europe.  Again up wooden stairs, climbing through narrow passages between the 2 foot thick wooden framing of the 14th century construction was really challenging!  It's luck to touch the clapper, and I think the luck is being so high over Krakow - the panoramic view was awesome!  

We wandered back to Old Town to look for dinner.  We decided on Chlopski Jadlo, which looked like it might have some decent Polish food.  It had wooden benches, jars of pickles, and kielbasa hanging from the ceiling.  Many of the restaurants in Old Town specialize in “food from the middle ages.”  We’re not interested in wild boar (really, you can get wild boar), but everyday Polish food prepared well.  The food at Chlopski Jadlo was o.k., but I think that I could actually do it better, and it was a little overpriced.  So this was the first and last time we’ll see the inside of Chlopski Jadlo.

From Warsaw to Krakow

Yesterday morning we took a train from Warsaw Central Station to Krakow.  Poland has an excellent network of trains to all of its major cities.  Every sign in the station was in both Polish and English, so it was easy to purchase tickets and find the correct platform.  You can also purchase a EuroRail pass or tickets from home or a U.S. travel agent.  Unfortunately, the train was 30 minutes late arriving in Warsaw, but the 3 hour ride to Krakow was comfortable and pleasant.

We were met at the platform in Krakow by our cousin, Krystyna, and her husband, Leszek.  They took us to their apartment for a delicious dinner of pierogi and stuffed cabbage.  Smaczne!  Delicious!  Although the main purpose of this trip is for Robert to meet the family and tour Poland, a genealogist just can't stop updating the family tree, and this was a perfect opportunity to add the information about Krystyna's first great-grandchildren both born within the last 18 months.  I will vouch that she looks too young to be a great-grandmother.  Later, we checked into our hotel, and were excited to find that we have a panoramic view of the Wisla river (Vistula) and Wawel hill.

Today we took a tour of Krakow.  I hesitate to call it a bus tour.  Although there were only seven of us in the group, we boarded a huge bus.  It took us first to Kazimierz, the Jewish neighborhood of Krakow.  Its a brief stop because the tourist area of Kazimierz is much smaller than the entire neighborhood.  But it is very interesting as it contains the first synagogue built in Krakow, a small Jewish cemetary, and the childhood home of Helena Rubenstein.  The bus then took us to Wawel hill, and that was the last we saw of the bus for the next two and a half hours!  The rest was a walking tour. 

On Wawel hill, we toured the cathedral and rooms in the royal castle.  The Polish kings are buried in Wawel Cathedral, along with other Polish saints, poets, authors, and politicians.  The most recent were the late Polish president, Kaczynski, and his wife, were died in the Smolensk tragedgy.  Krakow was the second capital of Poland (Gniezno was the first), but even when the capital was moved to Warsaw, the kings maintained a residence in Wawel.  The tour of the royal castle was comprehensive, but the tour of the cathedral was too brief.  So, we have it on the list to go back and do our own tour of the cathedral. 

We then walked to the Old Town (Stare Miasto).  Along the route, the guide spoke of the history of Krakow.  Along with famous buildings, she pointed out the more famous churches, but I noticed there were many more churches that she didn't mention!  Of course, we toured the most famous church, St. Mary's, affectionately called Mariacki.  Above the altar is the renowned 5-panel altarpiece created by Wit Stosz in the 13th century.  After the tour, we waited outside the cathedral to hear the traditional hourly playing of the Hejnal.  When the Tatars were about to attack Krakow, the nightwatchman saw them coming.  To warn the king and citizens of Krakow, he signaled them with a trumpet from the watchtower of Mariacki.  He was struck in the throat by an arrow, which is recalled by the sudden end of the tune.

This is where the official tour ended, but we spent a couple more hours at the Market Square (Rynek) in Old Town.  In the center of Market Square is Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), which has been a market place for several centuries.  Of course today it is full of shops selling traditional Polish souvenirs of woodcarvings, weavings, crystal, lots and lots of amber, as well as less expensive souvenirs.  Inside Cloth Hall are stalls, and outside are shops.  The best souvenir shop is not inside Cloth Hall, but in a shop on the outside corner of Cloth Hall.  It contains high quality souvenirs, handcrafts and artwork.  Almost all of the handcrafts and artwork are attributed to named artists and the town where the artist lives.  This is the place I would recommend if you want to take home a small szopka (traditional paper nativity), wicinianki (hand-cut paper designs), weavings, glass paintings, or Christmas ornaments.  The Market Square is bordered by many, many restaurants, bookstores and banks.  One special shop is the Wawel Chocolate shop.  Wawel Chocolate is the brand name of what I think is the best chocolate in the world!

Old Town was brimming with bookstores, and young adults, becaus it is also the location of Jagiellonian University, the second oldest university in Europe.  School starts this week; the reason that I know that is because a friend, Agnieszka, is starting her first year as a math major!  Best of luck!

Again we asked the tour guide for recommendations for dinner.  She mentioned that many of the restaurants in Market Square feature dishes from the middle ages in Krakow, trying to appeal to tourists.  She gave us the names of a couple of more traditional, and less expensive, Polish restaurants that are in streets just off Market Square.

Chopin REALLY left his heart in Warsaw

This morning we took an organized tour of Warsaw.  An organized tour is a good way to get a good overview when  you're new to a city, especially one as large as Warsaw.  There were a variety of tours available: walking, bicycle, on-off trams (where you have a choice to get on and off at various stops on a set route), and the traditional bus tour.  We went with a 3-hour bus tour.  Barbara, the tour guide, was a non-stop talker giving us historical, cultural and political information - including her own political views!  We saw all the highlights and more:
*  Lazienki Park - which includes various former palaces of Polish kings and nobles and the famous monument to Chopin. 
* a walking tour of Old Town (Stare Miasto)
* the Uprising monument
* Monument to the Ghetto Heroes (which stands in front of a Jewish History Museum that is under construction)
* the former Jewish Ghetto
* Saski Park
* several presidential palaces
* a dozen embassies
* and about 100 churches!

2010 was the 200th anniversary of Chopin's birth which was celebrated around the world.  Chopin was born in Zelazowa Wola, but he and his family moved to Warsaw when he was 1 year old.  Chopin lived in Warsaw until his late 20s when he moved to France, the birthplace of his father.  Warsaw recognized the anniversary by installing 16 black granite benches which have a walking map of famous places associated with Chopin, a button that can be pushed to hear 30-second sections of various Chopin pieces, and a code that can be photographed by a smart phone to download a Chopin walking tour, music and more.

In the afternoon, we walked to Holy Cross Church in which the heart of Chopin is interred in one of the church pillars.  We were surprised to see that author Wladyslaw Reymont's heart is also interred on another side of the same pillar.  The practice of removing someone's heart and burying it in a location distant from the body sounds odd to us today, but it was an common practice in historical times.

We then walked to the Old Town (Stare Miasto) in order to take a tour of the Royal Palace.  As with 95% of Warsaw, the Royal Palace was destroyed in World War II but has been faithfully restored and furnished with either original furnishings that were not destroyed or replicas, and artwork of the period.  Needless to say, those kings knew how to live well!

Lying on the ground next to the Royal Palace are two former Sigismund II columns from different periods.  The Sigismund column has stook in the heart of Old Town since the 17th century.  The Poles think it is good luck to touch the fallen columns.  We weren't sure which one, so we made sure to make contact with both!  :-)

Besides being an excellent tour guide, Barbara gave us recommendations on which shop has the least expensive amber, the best traditional ice cream, and the best and least expensive authentic Polish food.  So for dinner we had Tysiec beer and delicious, generous helpings of traditional Polish food at Podwale (http://www.podwale5.pl/).  The staff was friendly, and like most public places in Poland, they speak enough English to have a good conversation.  Our waiter, Pawel, treated us to an after-dinner glass of wisniuwka (a traditional cherry liquor that our Mom used to make every year)!  Honestly, Warsaw has many, many very good restaurants that it would be hard to go wrong in any of them.  After dinner, we walked over to Barbara's recommended ice cream shop (we needed the walk after the huge dinner, but probably not the ice cream!), Lody Tradycyjne (http://www.lody-warszawa.pl/).  It was creamy and delicious, served in a home-made waffle cone.  Before walking back to the hotel, we stopped at the Tomb of Unknown Soldiers, which stands in front of the lovely Saski Park.

We hate to say goodbye to Warsaw, but tomorrow morning we take a train to Krakow!

We're in Warsaw!

We arrived in Warsaw this morning.  We took a direct Lot Airlines flight from Chicago to Warsaw because it's a long enough trip (9 hours flight time) that to take a flight that required a transfer would just do me in!  Contrary to recent comments I've heard from Polish friends, the flight left and arrived on time.

I picked a hotel near Old Town (Stary Miasto) so that we would be within walking distance of lots of historic churches, museums and restaurants.  After we checked in, we headed for a walk through Old Town just to orient ourselves to what was available.  Warsaw reminds me of Washington DC - you could spend two weeks here and still not see everything worth seeing.  However, between the long flight and the walk, we were about to drop, so headed back to the hotel for a 2 hour nap.  We're getting old!

Refreshed from the nap, we headed to the National Museum of Ethnography (ethnomuseum.website.pl).  The guide book describes this as an overlooked gem of a museum, and that seemed to be the case.  Although the ticket price is only 12 zloty per adult (about $4), there were very few people there - but the museum's cafe was buzzing with young people!   The National Museum of Ethnography  has a wonderful permanent display of historic Polish costumes from several regions, wood tools, wooden kitchen implements, baskets, pottery and artwork.  If you want to see how your Polish ancestors lived and worked and dressed, this is a must see museum.  The museum also has permanent exhibits of Australian/Oceanic, African and Asian ethnography, as well as temporary exhibits that are changed frequently.

At this point (which I guess was 1 am Chicago time), we were hungry.  There are so many different types of restaurants, it's almost hard to choose.  We picked a lovely place near the hotel called Restauracja Polska Przy Trakcja (Polish Restaurant along the Route, referring the the Royal Route).  The weather in Warsaw has been cold and rainy, but today was lovely and the restaurant was open to the street, as well as having cafe seating.  The fare includes traditional Polish dishes (goose, duck, pork, borscht, zur, etc.), with very high quality and reasonable prices.  Robert couldn't resist trying the cheesecake made from someone's babcia's recipe (the grandmother was unnamed). This isn't a New York style cheesecake, but a traditional Polish cheesecake made with farmer's cheese, except this one had cherry sauce and a generous drizzle of chocolate syrup.  Dinner was accompanied by beautiful piano music.

It's really wonderful to be back in Poland!

Polska? Tak!

What's special about Poland? Together with Val Kilmer, Natalie Portman, Russel Crowe and many more world celebrities discover the uniqueness of Poland in this YouTube video!

We're Off to Poland!

It's been six years since I've been to Poland, and we leave tomorrow.  It will be my fourth trip, but my brother Robert's first.  The family has been asking for years, "When is Robert coming".  Well, we'll be there Sunday morning!

Days 3 and 4 on the Pathways!

We started yesterday with sessions at 8 am and went until 9 pm with a lovely gala dinner.  The breadth of the sessions is just amazing - records, strategies & techniques, military, lectures on how to give lectures!  In the exhibit hall the vendors provided demonstrations.  FamilySearch provided special workshops.  In the evening was the FGS 35th anniversary gala with a beautiful presentation on how Mary Lincoln kept her family's history through photographs.

It was hard to believe that it was time to get up and head to more sessions today!  Again from 8 am to 6 pm we learned about technology, writing, records-records-records, foreign language documents, genealogical standards, and so much more.  Again, there were workshops and more vendor demonstrations.  Additional sessions were held under the auspices of Ancestry.  A shout out to MaryAnn Pacholik Wilkins who was attending the Ancestry sessions and stopped by the PGSA booth.  MaryAnn and I haven't seen each other since grammar school!  Genealogy doesn't just connect family, it also connects friends!

We're heading home tomorrow, and I've got to get ready for a trip to Poland!!  I leave on Saturday, September 17.  More about the trip later.

Day 2 on the Pathway!

Today started with a keynote address by David Ferriero, Archivest of the United States.  He told a wonderful story of how he found his own ancestors, which showed him the importance of genealogy.  NARA uses a tremendous number of social media outlets, including Facebook, blogs and twitter.  The plans are to make NARA a portal to digitalized records.  He said an index to the long-awaited 1940 census will be available by April 2012.  We can't wait!!

The rest of the day was packed with great speakers covering an incredible variety of topics.  Debbie Mieszala of Lake County, IL had a very entertaining and information presentation on her Disappearing Dude.  I found the Craig Scott presentation on Researching Your World War I Ancestor very informative.  There are two more days of the conference yet to go - I hope we can hang in there!

FGS Pathways to the Heartland

I'm at the Federation of Genealogical Societies' 2011 conference in Springfield, Illinois, "Pathways to the Heartland".  PGSA President Eileen Carter is also here.  The PGSA booth is being tended by the dynamic duo Richard and Terri Lach.  If you're at the conference, please stop by booth 409 and say hello!

The schedule is full of terrific sessions; it's going to be hard to choose which to attend!  This first day was dedicated to sessions about genealogical societies.  There were a lot of good ideas on how to increase membership benefits, how to organize and run projects, what makes a good website, and much more.  We know that what we've learned today will be really useful for the PGSA.

After today's sessions, the Illinois State Genealogical Society and Family Search sponsored an ice cream social.  There were games - geneajeopardy was a favorite, ice cream, cakes, and popcorn.  Abraham and Mary Lincoln paid a visit.  There was also a fellow playing an accordian and he played a polka for me and Eileen!

Eileen and I spent a few minutes talking with Pat Oxley, President of FGS.  We heard of a lot of wonderful new things that the FGS will be providing to the member genealogy societies, and she said there was a lot more coming.  We also had a chance to meet D. Joshua Taylor, who was featured on Who Do You Think You Are.

We're looking forward to tomorrow's sessions.  And the exhibit hall opens tomorrow at 10!  I'll post about that tomorrow night!