Ancestral Homelands - Lithuania and Poland

On Sunday, we went back to the Polonia Palace hotel breakfast buffet before leaving for the airport. I gave the extensive list of items on the buffet in my last post, but noticed on Sunday that I had missed a few items: there was also oatmeal, olives, radishes, peppers, and pickled herring along with a few other unidentifiable kinds of fish. After breakfast, we headed to the airport. We had a really good day of travel - flights were on time, no problems or issues. First we flew from Warsaw to Heathrow Airport in London. At Heathrow, we made the connection to JFK in New York. The flight from Heathrow to JFK was 8 hours, and Denise and I were fortunate to have no one sitting in the entire rows where we sat. So we were able to lay down across the three empty seats and sleep. Also, I discovered the Steelers game on the monitor when there was 4 minutes left in the game. I could have watched the whole game had I known it was on. I did get to watch the Patriots-Jaguars game after, and so pa...

On Saturday, we began our day with the hotel breakfast buffet which was included with the price of the room. The buffet consisted of the following: eggs (scrambled, boiled, fried, omelette), bacon, sausage, kielbasa, frankfurters, ham, prosciutto, salami, a number of different kinds of cheeses, tomatoes with mozzarella, baked tomatoes, mushrooms, fruit (melons, apples, banana, grapefruit), yogurt, cereals, pastries (muffins, croissants), baked apples with cranberries, baked beans, potato wedges, pancakes, breads, lettuce, cucumbers, tomato chunks, 4 or 5 kinds of block cheeses, coffee, tea, milk, and many different kinds of juices, including beet juice. After breakfast, Denise walked around Old Town Warsaw.  Joe was feeling a little worn out from all the walking the past few days, as he is still recovering from surgery, so Joe and I took a horse carriage tour of Warsaw. Some of the things we saw on the tour: the Royal Castle, the Presidential Palace, Copernicus monument, Marie Cu...

On Friday, we visited Our Lady of Czestochowa, which is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Krakow. Our Lady of Czestochowa is a miraculous icon, a painting of Mary holding baby Jesus. This icon is considered miraculous because many miracles have been attributed to it. The image is hanging in a chapel behind the altar on the grounds of the Jasna Gora monastery. When we arrived, there was a group in the chapel praying the rosary. Shortly after, there was a Mass in the chapel. Apparently the chapel is filled all day with various groups praying the rosary, having Mass, or some other type of prayer service. Between the rosary and Mass, we had an opportunity to view the icon up close. There was a line. While we were waiting in line we were looking around at the beautiful chapel. On one wall hung crutches, so many that they covered the entire wall, presumably left there by people who had experienced miraculous healings here and no longer needed the crutches. After viewing the icon up close, we w...

On Thursday, we spent a very somber morning visiting the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. We went to Auschwitz first, which is about a two hour drive from Krakow. At Auschwitz, we first entered the main gate, over which are the German words "Arbeit macht frei", which means "Work will set you free." After entering the compound, we walked around and saw the barracks, the mass execution sites including a long bar used for hanging ("the collective gallows"), the "Death wall" where prisoners were lined up and shot, artifacts such as shoes, eyeglasses, hairbrushes, luggage, Jewish prayer shawls, and an entire room full of hair that was collected after the prisoners' heads were shaved. Also on display were the ruins of the gas chamber, crematorium, and some human ashes.    In one of the barracks, we saw the room where St. Maximilian Kolbe died. Maximilian Kolbe was a Catholic priest who had been sent to Auschwitz. After a prisoner ha...

On Wednesday, we walked to the Old Town section of Krakow, which is the most popular tourist destination in Poland. Here there is a central town square, cafes, shops, churches, etc. all situated along narrow cobblestone streets lined with buildings of medieval architecture. Our first stop was a visit to the church of St. Peter and Paul. St. John Paul's parents were married in this church. (St. John Paul was from Krakow.) Our next stop was the Wawel Castle and the Wawel Cathedral. Being the Cathedral, this is the church John Paul II would have been at when he was Archbishop of Krakow, from 1964-1978, at which time he was elected Pope. Needless to say, John Paul is extremely popular in Krakow. All the churches we visited had John Paul chapels within them. The Wawel Cathedral was beautiful. It has many side chapels on either side of the main nave. There were many large tapestries hanging in the church. Many Polish kings are buried in the crypt beneath the Cathedral. Our next stop ...

On Tuesday, we left Lublin and headed toward Krakow. Along the way, we drove through some small Polish towns that Joe and Denise's paternal grandparents were from. The first town was Harklowa, where their grandmother was from. Then we drove to Lipinki, where their grandfather was from. Next was Libusa, where we think the grandparents got married. And then we went through Gorlice, which is where they lived at one time. It was very interesting seeing these places where family members had lived. It made us feel a connection to the area. As we continued toward Krakow, we stopped along the way to tour the Wielieczka Salt Mine. The Wielieczka Salt Mine is one of the oldest salt mines in the world. It began mining salt in the 13th century, and mined continuously until 2007. Today it is just used for tours. We began the tour by descending many, many steps down a wooden staircase into the mine. By the end of the tour, we had climbed down 435 steps. The salt mine is no longer working as ...

On Monday morning, we took a private tour of Bialowieza National Forest. Our tour guide, Maria, pointed out all the different types of flora, and gave us a bit of history of the area. There is a place in the forest where there are some crosses. They are a memorial to the Jews that the Germans had killed here in the forest during the war. At one point on the tour, we were close (about 3 miles) to the border of Belarus. We saw a wolf cross the trail in front of us right before we exited the park. After our tour, we drove to Lublin, which was about 240 km (150 miles). The roads here are not very good. It took us about 4 hours, not counting stops. Along the way, and in fact all over Poland and Lithuania, we have been seeing Storks nests - lots of them. They are huge: they can be up to 6 feet in diameter and 9 feet deep. They are made of sticks - very large sticks - and are built on top of telephone poles. Because they can weigh several tons, the telephone companies have to reinforce...

On Sunday, we were scheduled to fly from Vilnius to Warsaw to begin the Polish portion of our trip. When we were walking around on Saturday, we had learned that the Vilnius marathon was taking place on Sunday. After inquiring around, and also checking the marathon route online, we learned that the marathon route began and ended at Cathedral Square, making a circular route around the central part of Vilnius, with our B&B located within the circle. We also learned that the roads will be closed at 4 a.m. and won't reopen again until 4 p.m. Since we had to get to the airport for an early afternoon flight, that meant we needed to leave our B&B before 4 a.m. So we got a very early start Sunday morning - not by choice, but by necessity. We therefore spent a large part of the day at the Vilnius airport, trying to sleep in the very uncomfortable world of airport chairs. So our Sunday really was, in a way, a day of rest. We eventually flew to Warsaw, where we rented a car and drove...

On Saturday, we headed out to see the sights here in central Vilnius. First we walked by the Presidential Palace and Vilnius University. Then we passed by Town Hall Square. After this we went to the "Gates of Dawn", which was the old entrance to the city. Located within the Gates is a famous painting of Mary, which is known for many miraculous answers to prayers. We ascended the steps to the alcove where the painting was located. There was some type of service taking place, so we stepped inside briefly to see the painting, say a prayer, and then left quietly so as not to intrude on the service. Next we walked past the Bastion of the Defensive Wall, which is an old fortress. We continued on to the Republic of Uzupis, which would be similar to Greenwich Village. The Republic of Uzupis is a self-proclaimed republic of artists and Bohemians. It has its own constitution, president, anthem, bishop, and national holiday. Next we visited 2 churches which were adjacent to one anot...

On Friday, the B&B delivered breakfast to our room in a picnic basket. Breakfast consisted of a plate of meats, cheese, and tomatoes, bread with butter and strawberry jam, yogurt, fruit, coffee, tea, and juice. It was delicious! After our picnic breakfast, we headed out for a drive to visit the villages where Joe and Denise's grandparents are from. First we drove to Silale, which was about 267 km (166 miles) from Vilnius. This is the town that their maternal grandfather was from. Then we drove to the town of Raseiniai, where their maternal grandmother was from. After that, we went to Kaunas, which is the second largest city in Lithuania. We were trying to find a place to eat in Kaunas, but had trouble finding a good place where adequate parking was available, since we were in the city center and the streets were very narrow and crowded. We finally pulled into a mall parking lot, thinking that there would be a place to eat in the mall. As soon as we made the turn into the park...

We picked up our rental car at the airport and set out to drive to the Vilnius city center, where our B&B was located. Denise came very prepared with detailed maps printed out of exactly where we needed to go. There's only one problem when you're trying to find your way with a map - it doesn't work if there are no street signs to correlate to the map. We finally realized that we were looking for American style street signs: two signs atop a pole on a street corner. Here the street signs are on the side of buildings that are on the corner. And if there is no building on a street corner - sorry, no street sign. Hopefully that wasn't where your turn was supposed to be. After a few wrong turns, we did finally make our way to the B&B. Part of the problem with driving here is that there are streets that are so narrow that they appear to be alleyways, and we think that you're not supposed to drive down them. Then here comes a car and you realize it's okay to ...

We did make our tight connection in Helsinki, although we did have to run from one end of the airport to the other (of course the gate was at the opposite end of the airport). We arrived in time for the"Final Call", and were just about the last ones to board. After the 8 hour flight to Helsinki, the 1 hour flight to Vilnius seemed very short.

Well, our trip to Lithuania/Poland got off to a very interesting start. And this is even before we got to Helsinki for our 50 minute layover. It started at JFK Airport in NYC. We spent 45 minutes at the ticket counter (not in line, but actually at the counter) even though we had checked in ahead of time and just needed to drop off our bags. When you book a flight, you can pay extra to choose your seats. Since we all wanted aisle seats - for more comfort on a long flight - we had paid the extra fee for the seats well ahead of time. At the ticket counter, however, the Finnair agent told us, as she stared interminably at the computer screen in front of her, that she saw no evidence of us having paid for our seats. After much back and forth ("We're certain we paid; the charge showed up on our credit card"/"Well, the computer is not showing that you paid"), we finally just paid again and were told that we'd have to call Finnair when we return home to get reimburs...

Before flying to Lithuania, we spent a couple of days with Denise and her husband Tom in Cold Spring, NY. The weather was very hot, so we spent some relaxing and refreshing time in their backyard pool. On Tuesday, we went to Hyde Park, NY (about 1 hour north of Cold Spring) to visit the Franklin Delano Roosevelt estate. We toured the house where FDR was born and lived most of his life, the stables, the rose garden, and the Presidential Library and museum. The house is larger now than when FDR was born because, as we learned, Franklin and Eleanor added 18 rooms to accommodate their "large" family. They had 5 children. I'm trying to imagine that conversation: "Honey, now that we have 5 kids, we should add 18 rooms to the house." Sounds reasonable, doesn't it?