BoJo Family: POLAND

It has been 3 weeks since we have left Portland on our jurney to Poland. The plan is to stay in Poland for 3 months so that we can see our Polish friends and family, get Aria's polish paperwork taken care of, and so that Joe can learn some Polish.

The trip so far has been very eventful. My biggest worry was the 8hour transatlantic flight, but it turned out to be the least of our worries. As soon as the flight took off, Aria fell asleep and slept till about we landed in London. My dear friend Shaun picked us up from the airport and we drove 2 more hours to his home in Norwich. We stayed with Shaun and his husband Blue for 4 days and it was so wonderful to catch up with a friend I haven't seen since 1997! Aria loved Shaun and Blue and the hardest part for her was dealing with the jetlag.

After 4 days we trekked back to London to visit Joe's old college roommate Peter and his wife Leslie. Aria fell in love with Leslie and she also loved riding on the "tube" (subway). Now, anytime she sees a subway train, she asks "Where is Leslie?".

After a week in England we left for Poland, and my, what a trip that was! Our morning flight out of London was 3 hours late due to extreme fog. Then because we arrived in Warsaw too late for the day train to my hometown of Kedzierzyn-Kozle, we had to wait around in the Warsaw train station for the late evening train. Boarding a train in Poland is a highly competitve sport with everyone rushing on as fast as possible to get the limited seats. Actually, there were no seats at all available in the train when we lugged our bags on so we joined the crowd in the aisle and sat on our bags. Fortunately, our golden-curl haired daughter charms everybody and the conductor finally let us sit in his own room (but only for the last hour of the trip). We had one transfer in the rundown town of Katowice at 12midnight. Naturally, the train we were catching had some problems and was an hour and a half late. Poland at night this time of year is cold! So, some nice people offered to watch our bags while we went inside and got some hot tea. Finally, we got on the train and had a short 1 hour ride to Kedzierzyn-Kozle. Well, upon arriving we tried to make it to the door to get out, but as Polish trains only stop for about 1 minute while everyone leaps off as quick as possible it started moving before got there. So Joe dropped all 6 bags, pushed his way to the conductor and frantically said "Kedzierzyn-Kozle! Kedzierzyn-Kozle!". The conductor yanked the emergency brake, the train screeched to a halt and we got off at the last foot of the walkway. Adventure! We got to my cousin's house at 3 am, which made for a 21hour day!

We stayed with my family in K-K for a week and then we came to Krakow and started looking for an apartment to rent for the remainder of our stay. It was a hectic few days of looking for an apartment. Krakow is not cheap, and it is hard to find medium length rentals. Then, we found a place (right in the heart of the old city) but couldn't move in till the 1st, so they gave us a temporary apartment in the meantime. We moved into our place two days ago and it feels good to finally stop moving for a little while, especially since that moving includes carrying a lot of bags and a 2 year old!

Krakow is a beautiful city with so much to see and do. There are small windy cobblestone roads everywhere, beautiful architecture, there are many churches and the Wawel castle is so impressive. The weather has been very "fallish". It is cold in the am and at night, but during the day the sun comes out and it is so bright and colorful with all the changing leaves. Joe is looking for a course in Polish and I'm just taking it all in and relaxing a bunch. I also have been so happy to see my family and catch up with my best friend Kasia, whom I have known since birth and who is just a riot to be with! Food here is pretty cheap, especially if you avoid the pricey restaurants and eat at one of the bar mleczny (milk bars), which serves delicious home cooked meals for just a few bucks. It is all made fresh daily by some babcia in the back and there is just sooo much to choose from. The lady who serves your food though, is not very friendly and is quick to scold for something. I think I might have put on a few pounds already :)

I miss Portland and family and friends, but it is good to be away from house projects!

Below are pictures of our trip so far!