Pegontheroad

He was tried for war crimes after the war, and during During his British trial in Italy, he was found guilty and was condemned to death, but this verdict launched a storm of protest from British generals and from Winston Churchill. His death sentence was commuted, and he spent some time in prison before he was found to have cancer, whereupon he was released.

I had visited the Solidarity museum on my last trip to Gdansk and was mightily impressed. A really terrific museum. I found it very moving, especially when I saw pictures of the members of Solidarity and realized that they looked like my father, who was a farmer and later an airplane mechanic for the Air Force and a millwright at Kaiser Aluminum. I was touched by seeing those faces.

There was a video clip of Walesa's visit to the U.S. congress, when Tom Foley was speaker of the house and Dan Quayle was vice president. Walesa received a huge ovation--maybe 15 minutes long. He spoke, and then the translator repeated his words in English.They were "We the people...." Hearing those words made me tear up. I should probably leave that visit out, since I didn't do that on this trip. But oh, well.

I wanted to visit Westerplatte, where WWII started with a German attack that was faked to make it look as if the Poles had attacked rather than the Germans. I took a pirate ship to get there. I saw a lot of ships, cranes, etc., along the shore but there wasn't much left of the actual site of the attack. I think I needed to have a guide to fill me in on the details and locations of what happened and where. Anyway, I had a pleasant walk along the shore, through the trees, and then to a snack bar, where I snacked. Those Magnum ice cream bars are delicious!

I think the next day was the one I absolutely wasted. I had a good book on my kindle--"American Princess: the Many Lives of Allene Tew," and I was fascinated with her life, and once I started reading it, I just couldn't stop.(I'm so ashamed!) However, the day following the wasted day, I went to Malbork. I didn't want to fuss with taking a bus or a train, so I decided to hire a guide. It was a good decision. Jacek and I talked non-stop about various things. He seemed to like Trump, but of course I hate him and simply raved about what a bad guy he is. At one point he asked me about "black sites" in Poland during the Bush administration, and of course I told him that we knew about those sites.

Pegontheroad

Thanks, cdnyul. I'll try that. I'm no techie, so I may manage to mess it up.

cdnyul

On June 22, we had dinner at Kubicki restaurant, next door to the Hilton.
Perhaps you saw me wave?

Good and cheap breakfast is hard to find in Poland. The best bet would be a "Milk Bar- Bar Mleczny", but they can be a hit and miss in terms of quality. We had ours at the hotels as well.

Good call on the tour guide for Malbork, the train station (beautiful as it is ) is a mile away from the castle.

I didn't do the War museum this time, I am glad you enjoyed it.

Pegontheroad

Okay, onward and upward!

I had dinner one day at a restaurant near the Hilton. A young American woman with her husband and child sitting at the next table struck up a conversation with me (or maybe I struck up a conversation with her). Anyway she spoke Polish, which impressed me mightily because Polish seems totally opaque to me.

She told me that her dad had been in Solidarity and that he was imprisoned because of it. When he got out of prison, he couldn't get a job--presumably also because of his membership in Solidarity--so he decided the family would have to emigrate and found that the easiest path was to go to the U.S.

The only other adventure I had was when I was roaming through the area near the waterfront trying to find that big church which Lech Walesa attended every day. I had attended Mass there on my last trip, but I couldn't find it this time. I was also looking for a cheap breakfast and happened into a vape cafe, where I had a pastry and coffee. The young guy working there seemed interested in practicing his English, so we had a nice chat.

I also had coffee and cake at another little cafe, one of those places I suspect was furnished by the Polish equivalent of the Salvation Army thrift shop--everything mis-matched, cups and saucers, plates, chairs. It was very sweet--homey. I saw the same thing in Erfurt, Germany, a couple of yOkay, onward and upward!

I had dinner one day at a restaurant near the Hilton. A young American woman with her husband and child sitting at the next table struck up a conversation with me (or maybe I struck up a conversation with her). Anyway she spoke Polish, which impressed me mightily because Polish seems totally opaque to me.

She told me that her dad had been in Solidarity and that he was imprisoned because of it. When he got out of prison, he couldn't get a job--presumably also because of his membership in Solidarity--so he decided the family would have to emigrate and found that the easiest path was to go to the U.S.

The only other adventure I had was when I was roaming through the area near the waterfront trying to find that big church which Lech Walesa attended every day. I had attended Mass there on my last trip, but I couldn't find it this time. I was also looking for a cheap breakfast and happened into a vape cafe, where I had a pastry and coffee. The young guy working there seemed interested in practicing his English, so we had a nice chat.

I also had coffee and cake at another little cafe, one of those places I suspect was furnished by the Polish equivalent of the Salvation Army thrift shop--everything mis-matched, cups and saucers, plates, chairs. It was very sweet--homey. I saw the same thing in Erfurt, Germany, a couple of years ago. We ought to do this in the States. It gives a pleasant atmosphere to the cafe.


Because I had goofed up on my planning and had misarranged my schedule, I had to make the long trip to Krakow from Gdansk instead of arranging the cities of my stay logically. So I flew from Gdansk to Krakow, where I landed at the new airport. At least I think it was new since the last time I was in Krakow in 2008. I took a taxi to my hotel, the Hotel Columbus, which I liked. The clerks at the Columbus were quite young and were willing to chat with me. My room there was pleasant enough. Nothing fancy. One of the most interesting aspects of the room was the view out the window. There was a playground with some playground equipment and a basketball court. Periodically I'd see children on the equipment, and one afternoon I watched what appeared to be a lesson in west coast swing. ears ago. We ought to do this in the States. It gives a pleasant atmosphere to the cafe.


Because I had goofed up on my planning and had misarranged my schedule, I had to make the long trip to Krakow from Gdansk instead of arranging the cities of my stay logically. So I flew from Gdansk to Krakow, where I landed at the new airport. At least I think it was new since the last time I was in Krakow in 2008. I took a taxi to my hotel, the Hotel Columbus, which I liked. The clerks at the Columbus were quite young and were willing to chat with me. My room there was pleasant enough. Nothing fancy. One of the most interesting aspects of the room was the view out the window. There was a playground with some playground equipment and a basketball court. Periodically I'd see children on the equipment, and one afternoon I watched what appeared to be a lesson in west coast swing.

Christina

I always enjoy your reports and the detail, I'm thinking of going to Gdansk next year. I've been to Krakow several times, the airport has been there since the 1990s, not sure what you are thinking of. It has been modernized and a new terminal was added in the last decade, though. But John Paul II airport in Balice has been operating since the mid 90s.

Pegontheroad

On re-reading the above, I saw some duplications and other goof-ups. I'm having trouble with this report. I did as Cdnyul suggested and typed in the notebook, but that came with its own problems. I'm going to try to write very short sections. I hope I haven't forgotten too much.

So there I was in Krakow. Part of the time I just wandered around. Every day that I walked to the city center, I would pass this cafe, the Columbus cafe, where I would have a dish of chocolate ice cream--two scoops. Absolutely delicious. Then on the way back, I would have another dish of ice cream--3 scoops this time. Amazingly enough, I didn't gain weight. One day I took one of those "golf cart" type carriages to visit the Jewish quarter. I wasn't impressed with the guide. He spoke good English, having spent seven years in the States, but there was a suggestion--just a hint--of an anti-Semitic attitude in some of the comments he made, which really put me off. Maybe it's my imagination, but I thought it was there.

5alive

I believe your subconscious was picking up clues

Pegontheroad

I'm going to try again. My computer is messed up in a couple of ways. I should get tech support--aka, my nephew Greg, to do something for it.

Anyway, I hope anyone who reads this will realize that my computer was giving me problems, and that it wasn't my ineptitude, despite what my nephew quotes--"picnic." That's "Problem in Chair,Not in Computer."

I went to Schindler's Museum one day. It seems strange to me that 80 years after this terrible thing happened, it can still cause me so much anger and outrage that the Nazis did what they did.I have been reading Nicholas Stargardt's book "The German War" again. According to the book, the German people were really angry that their cities had been bombed so badly, and they eventually decided that the Allies were punishing them for their treatment of the Jews.

They seemed to think that there was a Jewish cabal behind the bombing. Apparently it didn't occur to them that if their leadership would just surrender, the bombing would stop. It didn't help much that Henry Morgenthau, who was something in Roosevelt's circle--cabinet, maybe--thought that postwar Germany should be reduced to farming, no industry. Just a big old farm. Of course, they didn't know how they'd be treated by the victors. The Soviets reacted as expected, but the Yanks and the Brits were in general pretty kind. My understanding is that the Soviets removed everything that wasn't nailed down, including animals such as horses, and took it to the USSR.

One of the times I attended a Goethe Institute, this one at Prien am Chiermsee, I met a German woman, a friend of my landlady, who, along with other young women after the war, was forced to take horses to the USSR. We were watching something on TV about Pope Paul, which reminded her that when they were accompanied by Polish soldiers, they were treated with respect, but that when Soviet soldier was accompanying them, they were raped repeatedly. Sixty years later, she still suffered trauma.

I'm going to try to attach this to the rest of my trip report.

Pegontheroad

It seemed odd to me to see a group of German-speaking Jewish teenagers (wearing yamulkas) going through the exhibits. I wondered what their story was.

Anyway, the museum was interesting, but the lighting (red) and the darkness except for the displays--something, anyway, made me feel quite dizzy. I lasted only two hours, though I could have spent more time there if the lighting hadn't been so strange.

The next day--I think it was the next day, anyway, I took a little tour to Nova Huta, the city built to house the workers in the steelworks. According to Fodors, "Most of the area is an indistinguishable gray concrete sea of Stalinist style architecture." Quite boring, except for the Lord's Ark, the church, which is very modern but attractive.

The Communist authorities somehow neglected to build a church--in a city in possibly the most Catholic country on the planet. That was okay. The Poles built it themselves. Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, who was to become Pope John Paul, laid the first corner stone, and the rest of the church was built by the labor of the people.

I somehow expected the town to be stranger than it was. It was mainly just boring.

Pegontheroad

I did take a picture of a tank I saw in Nowa Huta for my brother, who's a big tank fan, having been senior tank mechanic at Ft. Lewis, Washington, when he was in the national guard.

PalenQ

Ah Nowa Huta - when I was in Krakow I heard that a local slogan was:

"Rome wasn't built in a day but Nowa Huta was!:"

Of course referring to the new planned town of socialist realism the commies built in practically a day that Peg had hopes for being interesting but sounded boring she says and that has been my experience in so-called planned towns from old Eastern Europe Commies - boring, especially in Communist days when I visited many and could hardly get a decent cup of coffee or any food.Thanks for your brief description of Nowa Huta as it brought back memories of my (boring) visit there.

Christina

I completely disagree, so to each his own. I didn't find Nowa Huta boring at all. I found it quite interesting in terms of COmmunism and urban planning, and the design and layout of services, parks, landscaping, and apartments was brilliant, I thought, it was very interesting to see how advanced in planning that was. Those apts are pretty nice looking, also, I bet they'd cost a lot in the US for such a situation. The private guide I had grew up there and so had a personal touch, but just the layout and design was interesting to see what they built for their workers, you sure don't see anything that nice in the US. Also, we went into one of the stores for the residents and that was interesting to see the old layout, shelves, furniture, etc, and the proprieter explaining what types of things the workers could buy in that type of store back in the day.

I didn't expect the town to be strange, that isn't why I went there, I went there as it was interesting from a historical and urban planning perspective, and it was in fact interesting to compare it to various planned communities in the US, a couple of the oldest are near me. The thing I was sorry about was how they tore down Lenin's statue for modern PCness and now you can't see what it was like or the real feel of the place. Which is one reason why I'm against all this current PCness in the US to tear down history and pretend it never occurred, that's what I think happens in totalitarian regimes.

Pegontheroad

Christina, it sounds like I should have had your guide. I meant that the architecture was boring.

As to planned communities, I was raised in the projects in the 1940's. The first one was in Anaconda, Montana, as there was a big copper smelter in Anaconda. We lived there for two years--1942-1944. I visited it again about 10-15 years ago, and it still looked good. It had been well-planned and well-built. It had good management, nice playgrounds and green areas.

The other one was in Hillyard, a sort of suburb of Spokane, named after the railroad magnate, Jim Hill, as there were rail yards there. We lived there from 1944 until 1950. Coplen Park, as it was called, was less well-built and was even then quite shoddy. It has totally disappeared now. When I've been in the area, I have looked to see if I could find any buildings that had survived, but I don't think any are left.

5alive

Interesting detour of the thread. We had a planned development for WWII workers in Portland called Vanport. It's one of those stories that doesn't get brought up much anymore, but it's one of the most horrific stories in Portland history. Never should have been built there. Horrible flood. 17,000 homeless. 50 died. Many were people of color. For years the city tried to say no one died.

Pegontheroad

I think I skipped a part of the trip--the flight from Gdansk to Krakow or from Krakow to somewhere else.I really should have begun writing this thing immediately after I returned.

I wanted to buy a ticket from Krakow to Wroclaw, so I had to find the train station.I walked from my hotel to the train station, about 2 miles. I decided I had to stop, as my feet/legs were killing me. I saw a cafe, which turned out to be a "cat cafe." There were lots of cats and cat stuff--equpment for cat acrobatics and cat leisure. There was a special door to get into the place, arranged so that the cats couldn't get out. There was also a list of rules relating to cats, and when I ordered a cappuchino, it came with a little cat face on the surface. Pretty cool!

I talked to a mother and son from Chicago. The son had been studying civil engineering in Copenhagen. Apparently all the classes were in English. That surprised me, I suppose that stands to reason, since English is a common language in Europe, and the university wants to attract people from all over. The two were planning on visiting several countries, including Italy in July. Italy in July? Good luck on that!

I headed for the big yellow train station, which turned out not to be the train station. The folks there directed me to the shopping center, underneath which was the real train station.

Pegontheroad

The next city on my trip was Wroclaw, a name I'm always insecure about pronouncing. I usually mention that it used to be Breslau when it was German, before the end of the war. That's easy to pronounce, of course. The train trip went well, which was a relief, since the one from Warsaw to Gdansk had a hitch when the taxi driver told me the wrong platform and I foolishly waited on the wrong platform until my train left on a different one. This time the taxi driver dropped me off right by the correct platform. I'm always nervous about hauling my luggage around because I'm a weakling. I have a small suitcase and a smaller carry-on, but I'm a weakling, which is the problem. Fortunately some nice Polish man is always there to heft my suitcase onto the train.

In Wroclaw, I stayed at the Hotel Monopol, which was built in 1892, but has been renovated. It was pretty modern-looking and very comfortable. Another famous guest was Adolph Hitler.

When I travel in Europe, I usually take a little digital recorder and make comments about various things I see and hear. Then when I write my trip report, I consult it and also the pictures I took, both of which remind me of details I otherwise would forget. That didn't happen this time, as I seem to have goofed up the recording and can't consult it. The one thing I did manage to save was the recording of a singer in the church in Wroclaw. Wonderful tenor (?) voice. I dropped into this church, which was next to my hotel and saw that there was a wedding being performed. There were very few people in attendance. Just the bride and groom and their two attendants. The next morning I went to Mass at the same church, and the same tenor was singing. The church was beautiful, too. I think the style was baroque.

This is a gorgeous city. Wonderful architecture, especially what I believe was the city hall, which I thought was very quirky.I have no idea how to describe its style. Just quirky, adorned with a lot of decoration, statues, etc.