We took a train from Warsaw to Krakow in order to experience how the local people travel (Father Symeon wanted to save the luxury of a rental car for later!) and found ourselves quite comfortable in a first class cabin for six. We were somehow able to hoist all of our luggage into the racks above our seats and settle in for the three hour trip to the home of Symeon's cousins. Time passed fairly quickly as we enjoyed the views of the countryside outside our window, which was being opened by us and closed by our cabin-mate as we tried to ward off heat and wind by turns. My son Connor had purchased a magnetic chessboard for the occasion and he and Father Symeon were passing it back and forth across their laps with occasional exclamations of victory and defeat. It was a fun diversion for them and for Courtney and me too, as we watched them spar.
Before long we were seated on a bench at the train station in Krakow, awaiting the arrival of Symeon's cousin Adam, who would wisk us away to his home on a farm just east of the city. After a little while of waiting, we were soon swept up by him as he greeted Symeon, grabbed one of our suitcases, and began walking full speed down the platform, down a ramp and into a tunnel, then out into a parking lot where his truck was parked. He loaded all of our bags into the back (with nary a complaint!), helped us into the back seat and then sat up in front with Symeon as he drove us away. He talked and he gestured and he laughed and he smiled as he caught up with Symeon as we flew down the highway toward his home. When we arrived, we received a warm Polish welcome from his mother, his wife, his daughter and two sons, and the many other family members and friends who came in and out during the time that we were there.
I think I have written to you a few weeks ago about our stay on their farm. It was a real highlight of the trip for all of us, giving us a chance to meet and converse with many people and to be so generously provided for by his whole family in every way possible during our stay. One of the things they gave us was the use of their car during our stay. This allowed us to travel much more quickly and efficiently and comfortably too, to the outlying sights we were planning to see, and we readily accepted their generosity.
The only catch was that I was the only one who could drive a stick-shift car and so I would be doing the driving....! The next morning Adam took me on an early morning errand to pick up something for his business and give me a chance to learn how to drive. He didn't speak much English and I certainly didn't know Polish, but between the two of us we managed to get there and back despite the fact that I didn't understand their signs too well ...(a yellow diamond means that I have priority and should not yield and a yellow triangle with a red band around it means the other driver has right-of way). When we arrived back at his house, he critiqued my driving with Symeon and asked him to explain to me the signs I did not understand. He said I was a good driver....and I must admit that he is a far more relaxed and patient driving teacher than I have been in the past....hopefully I have learned not only how to drive in Poland, but also how to be a patient teacher for my teenaged kids too.)
With that, we loaded the kids into the backseat of the car, and Symeon and I set out to find our way to Oswiecim, Poland where former concentration camps Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II- Birkenau are located.
http://en.auschwitz.org/z/
Before long we were seated on a bench at the train station in Krakow, awaiting the arrival of Symeon's cousin Adam, who would wisk us away to his home on a farm just east of the city. After a little while of waiting, we were soon swept up by him as he greeted Symeon, grabbed one of our suitcases, and began walking full speed down the platform, down a ramp and into a tunnel, then out into a parking lot where his truck was parked. He loaded all of our bags into the back (with nary a complaint!), helped us into the back seat and then sat up in front with Symeon as he drove us away. He talked and he gestured and he laughed and he smiled as he caught up with Symeon as we flew down the highway toward his home. When we arrived, we received a warm Polish welcome from his mother, his wife, his daughter and two sons, and the many other family members and friends who came in and out during the time that we were there.
I think I have written to you a few weeks ago about our stay on their farm. It was a real highlight of the trip for all of us, giving us a chance to meet and converse with many people and to be so generously provided for by his whole family in every way possible during our stay. One of the things they gave us was the use of their car during our stay. This allowed us to travel much more quickly and efficiently and comfortably too, to the outlying sights we were planning to see, and we readily accepted their generosity.
The only catch was that I was the only one who could drive a stick-shift car and so I would be doing the driving....! The next morning Adam took me on an early morning errand to pick up something for his business and give me a chance to learn how to drive. He didn't speak much English and I certainly didn't know Polish, but between the two of us we managed to get there and back despite the fact that I didn't understand their signs too well ...(a yellow diamond means that I have priority and should not yield and a yellow triangle with a red band around it means the other driver has right-of way). When we arrived back at his house, he critiqued my driving with Symeon and asked him to explain to me the signs I did not understand. He said I was a good driver....and I must admit that he is a far more relaxed and patient driving teacher than I have been in the past....hopefully I have learned not only how to drive in Poland, but also how to be a patient teacher for my teenaged kids too.)
With that, we loaded the kids into the backseat of the car, and Symeon and I set out to find our way to Oswiecim, Poland where former concentration camps Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II- Birkenau are located.
http://en.auschwitz.org/z/
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