Warsaw--5/23,24/2011

The waiter addressed us in Polish and was surprised to find that we were Americans.  "Really?" he exclaimed in his broken but mostly correct English.  "You look Polish."  Well, I guess I should since I'm half Polish.  We had landed in Warsaw late that afternoon, and although I don't feel a particular commonality with the motherland, I did get a little teary-eyed, mostly because I was thinking about my grandparents and what must have been lives of simple, but perhaps very family-oriented ways. Steeped in culture that I'd like to discover, the Polish people are blooming despite many winters of communist-dominated lives. 

The food that my grandmother fixed was definitely learned in the homeland.  We've already had a few helpings of pieroge, pork chops cooked like she made them (half browned, half oven-baked), 3 varieties of sauerkraut, and asparagus with browned butter.  Yum!  We've paid homage to the kind of churches they attended, and admired the beautiful and colorful varieties of flowers in every corner of town.

How fitting that we landed on Dad's birthday; we celebrated with a nice glass of red.  He had decided not to come to Poland when we had a chance several years ago, and Mom and I regretted that we hadn't put a little more pressure on him to change his mind (which he very rarely did anyway).  We did spend the evening thinking about the joy coming to this beautiful country would bring him as we walked around the old town square by our Castle Hotel which had been built in the 1500's.

Happy 92nd birthday, Dad



Warsaw ghetto memorial



Today we spent half a day on a city tour of Warsaw and got to enjoy two luscious parks, dedicated to Marshall Pilsudski and Frederick Chopin, and a couple of palaces, and the Royal Castle.  We also saw where the Warsaw ghetto had been during WWII; it was solemn and sad to see old photos and to know the history of that dreaded place.                                



Warsaw ghetto historical plaque

Old town square---our hotel on the far right







Breakfast in Old Town square

 We lunched today in the old town square and celebrated Terry's birthday with pieroge and wienerschnitzel with cabbage.  Our hotel was nearby, so after doing a little shopping on the way back, we packed our luggage and took a taxi back to the airport to rent a car.  Tomorrow we'll drive to my grandparents' home villages, Hute Deregowska and Zarzecze. 

Happy birthday, Terry!!