Have traveled to a fair number of towns & villages since you last heard from me. We are in our 4th hotel, making our way by bus. The longest ride was five hours, but with stops, the time passes quickly. Plus, as I mentioned earlier, there are just 23 of us traveling together, so we have lots of room in a large passenger bus. Our bus driver, Robert, is a master of maneuvers. And, our tour leader Anna is a “feeder”. We are constantly being treated with shots of vodka, candy, cookies, gingerbread, etc. Never even a remote chance of being hungry.
Speaking of food, we are eating well. Traditional Polish dishes with lots of starch, fish & meat. The beer is quite delicious, & of course, the vodka can prove to be somewhat medicinal. We need that when traveling in a group, although, I don’t think that is Anna’s intention, to provide us with medicine.
Since leaving Warsaw, we spent three nights in Olsztyn, two nights in Sopot, & now one night in Torun. Then it’s on to Wroclaw for two nights, finishing in Krakow for three nights. Departing for home on 9/23.
Long bus ride today. To break it up, we stopped in the town of Gizycko where we embarked on a 3 lakes & 3 canals cruise. Lunch on board. Gizycko is known as the sailing capital of Poland. Typical Polish lunch on board.Canal in Old Town Olsztyn as seen on walking tour.View of the 14th century Gothic castle of the Warmian Chapter, now a museum. Olsztyn.Wolf’s Lair, Hitler’s headquarters & first fortification in Eastern Europe. Series of bunkers inhabited from 1941 – 1945. Destroyed by the Germans when the Russians began to advance. Another historical museum where one could spend a day just to learn. Had not heard of Wolf’s Lair before this visit to Poland.Organ with 2500 pipes. Short 10 minute concert with moving figures. Baroque style Swieta Lipka Sanctuary, a popular pilgrimage site.Museum of Folk Architecture. This open air museum offers a glimpse into Poland’s rural life heritage & traditional village life. Found the straw thatched roof interesting on this village church. This heritage village reminded me of the historical villages I have visited in the US.Home hosted family dinner with too much food, vodka sampling & entertainment. Entire family got involved in the evening; entertaining, serving & probably growing the vegetables & processing the meat we ate.25 meter ramp on which the boat makes its way to other side to reach the canal to continue sailing. The boat is lifted out of the water & placed onto tracks & dragged across the land. One of four we experienced today. Opened in late 19th century & used for transportation of goods. After railroad completed & took commerce from the canal, it became a tourist attraction & remains so today.Traffic going the other way on the Elblag canal.Golabki: cabbage roll made of pork & rice. Galushki in German. This was a staple when I was growing up, and still is today, but made with beef instead of pork.Solidarity Museum. After WW2, Poland came under Communist rule. Anna told of the severe restrictions put on the Poles by the Soviets. This informative museum told of the struggles to finally gain independence. It all began in 1970 with a strike at the steel mill in Gdansk, & ended in 1989 when Soviet control began to collapse, & Poland finally gained its independence & became a democratic society. Hope was gained in 1980 with an independence victory, but then martial law was declared, & the restrictive life remained in place, so hence the many years in between. Certainly recent history, & many lessons to be taken from the Polish struggle.Gdansk Main Square. Visited an amber store here where we learned how to identify genuine amber. Treated to a taste of vodka with gold flakes.Purchased the one’s Melinda is wearing. Lost my prescription sunglasses in Olsztyn. Another excuse for a wild pair of glasses.Emigration Museum in Gdynia located in the ocean liner terminal building. Because of Poland’s tumultuous history, Poles have been immigrating for centuries. The museum tells the stories of the immigration history & the lives of individuals who chose to make the journey mostly to the West. At one time Chicago welcomed the most Polish people anywhere in US. I wanted to come to Poland to learn. What we are learning is at times overwhelming.Pirate ship parked along the longest wooden pier in Europe, Sopot Molo which stretches out into the Baltic Sea.Fiat anyone? This one’s for you, Walt.Medieval town of Torun located on the Vistula River, one of the “Seven Wonders of Poland”. The Old Town, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is considered one of the best preserved medieval towns in all of Europe.Church of the Lady in Torun. Church on every corner in this small medevial village. Most in Poland are Catholic.Participated in a gingerbread making demonstration today; not acceptable students. Torun gingerbread is a traditional gingerbread that has been produced since the Middle Ages in this village.
I have attempted to give you just a glimpse of what we are doing & seeing. Hope you will travel along using the map in the first photograph above.
Arrived on Wednesday, basically on time, in spite of the Russian drone invasion and subsequent attack. The Warsaw airport was closed for a time, but I was able to avoid the worst of the delays.
Rain today in Warsaw, the first in many months, so I guess we brought it with us. Today was a city tour by bus with several stops along the way. Warsaw is a beautiful city with lots of history. So much of it was destroyed by the Germans during WW2, so the City is both old & modern.
Travel companions.Monument depicting Jews being driven to concentration camps. Notice gentleman in center carrying the Torah. Monument located in what was once Jewish Ghetto. Over 400,000 Jews killed out of 800,000. Only 600 Jews in Warsaw today; 5 synagogues.Jews facing the ovens; flames in background. Outside of a most interesting museum that we did not have enough time to visit. My only regret is not going into Warsaw early, so I could have had time to learn more.Old Town of Warsaw. So charming, clean & beautifully restored. Most of Warsaw was destroyed by the Germans during WW2.Perogi lunch: pork, game, meat, potatoes & cottage cheese.Perogi making demonstration at Park Cafe Krakhaw.Anna, our tour leader, treated each of us to a pastry from a local bakery. This handsome gentleman & his beautiful wife in background are part of our 23 person group.“Docent” who gave us a most interesting & in-depth presentation on the history of vodka in Poland & how it is distilled. After the tour, a sampling of 4 different vodkas. The best of all, Anna treated us to chocolate vodka liqueur after our tasting. Fun experience!!!
Weather has not cooperated, so pictures are few. Travel companions are all lovely people, mostly of the same age. Our guide Anna is terrific; full of enthusiasm, knowledge & most entertaining. I am still having internet issues, so quite the delay in getting this post off. Thought the problem was corrected before I left home, but obviously NOT. I will attempt to post again, but don’t be surprised if you do not hear from me. All in all, having a great time and experiencing a different culture which is always so enlightening. Oh yes, carb loaded meals.
Just returned from a sister’s trip to Canada where we traveled on the Rocky Mountaineer, s special experience, but more on that to come. Unfortunately, Kathy was unable to join us because of a most serious back problem that is preventing her from walking comfortably. Surgery is in her future. As can be imagined, we missed her terribly; after all, she was in on the planning process, and we four were so looking forward to our long time coming adventure.
Patty, Bobbie & I spent a few days in Vancouver before boarding the train. We took a full day tour of the City with a small group. Day 2, we filled ourselves with delicious food on a walking food tour of China Town. The Asian population of Vancouver grows yearly, & is currently at 47%. We stayed at the lovely Fairmont Waterfront, and truly enjoyed our surroundings.
However, the highlight of the trip, & the main reason for going was to experience the Rocky Mountaineer, a two day train ride through the Canadian Rockies. This is a bucket list trip for many people, & I can say, it was quite a wonderful experience. Just a few pictures to summarize our two days.
In addition to having two breakfasts & two lunches, drinks flowed freely each day. The staff was especially attentive, & got a kick out of the sisters, especially Bobbie.
It’s lunch; note the wine glasses.
Moraine Lake.
Lake Louise with the glacier in the background.
A view of Banff from the Fairmont Hotel.
The Fairmont in Banff. Rocky Mountaineer uses the Fairmont Hotels to house their quests, so we stayed in four lovely hotels, three of which were built over 100 years ago to support railroad ridership.
I recovered well enough from my broken ankles to begin travel anew in June. Spent three weeks, have to stay that long when traveling that far, in Singapore & Indonesia. It was a wonderful trip full of adventure. I completely forgot how to construct the blog, so most negligent in keeping most of you up to date regarding my adventures. Just a few pictures to highlight our wonderful trip.
Usual cast of characters: Melinda, Joan, Judy & Ophelia. I met each of these ladies on previous trips, and we have a marvelous time adventuring around the world. Here we are posing in the beautiful gardens of Raffles Hotel in Singapore.
We stayed in beautiful hotels with beautiful settings and impeccable service. This was a spoil vacation from the get go.
What a way to greet the day after a good night’s sleep.
Lovely lunch at Plataran on Flores Island.
Visited a number of both Buddhist & Hindu temples in Indonesia.
Cultural dancing with artistic facial & hand movements.Preparing to make an offering: Maya Sanur Beach.
I am practicing creating my blog before my next adventure which is Poland for two weeks with the same group of women as above. I leave on September 9, & am looking forward to learning about the history of these brave & resilient Poles; plus, I am told it is a most beautiful country. But first, indulge me in another blog. Up next the Rocky Mountaineer with my sisters.
Thanks to Claudio, I made it home safely. We left Buenos Aires on Friday night, well almost Saturday morning. All went seamlessly. I hobbled, was pushed and lifted. I felt like a queen, albeit, a damaged one. We were met by a driver at O’Hare, and the three of us made it to Wheaton by 1 pm on Saturday. Said goodbye to my Super Nurse and have basically been managing on my own with help from dear neighbors and friends.
Learned Monday that I am a bit more damaged than I anticipated. I am having emergency surgery on Wednesday to repair one seriously broken ankle and a minor break on the right. Perhaps, the right will only require a boot, but the doctor will make that decision during surgery; manipulation under sedation. Thank you very much!
Big negative: I will be non weight bearing for six weeks. Will require a hospital stay so a coordinator can determine where I will go. I have my preferences, but we will see how much sway I have.
Claudio insisted on food for me at the United lounge in BA with a taste of the local gin.
Got comfortable in my seat, and slept a good deal of the way to Houston. Thank goodness for business class which the insurance company provided.
My mode of transportation. I also had a walker, but we checked the “donkey” with baggage.
I insisted to the doctor in BA that I could handle the return trip on my own. WRONG!!!! Thank you Claudio for being with me every hobbled step of the way.
All in all, this is not how I wanted my January adventure to South America and Antarctica to come to a conclusion, but fluke happens. Good comes from bad, and I have learned that wonderful professionals, loving family and dear dear friends are the best gift in life. I am a most fortunate person.
Until you hear from me when I go to Singapore & Bali in June, a very realistic goal in my estimation, we are going to put this blog to bed.
Sorry it has taken so long for you to hear from me, but my trip got off to a rather inauspicious start. Not going to spend a lot of verbiage on the details, but suffice it to say I am dealing with two broken ankles and on my way home tonight. This happened on Thursday, 1/9, when traveling from Chicago to Miami where I fainted in the confined space of the plane bathroom. Just dehydrated. Anyway, finally did seek care on Wednesday at a hospital where I learned of my condition. Thank my lucky stars for excellent travel insurance. Everything was handled except for the language barrier, but Joan & Melinda were godsends. Helped with translation and emotional support.
I was able to hobble to see some of the sights including Iguazu Falls, a city tour of Buenos Aires and a tango show before I had to give in to the discomfort.
Nearly 80% of Iguazu Falls is on the Argentina side. The Falls are on the new Seven Natural Wonders of the World, and are considered the most spectacular waterfalls on earth. So sorry to you Niagara as you are just a dot on the map comparatively. There are over 275 falls in total. This view, and imagine the sound, is from the Argentina side. It took us the day to transverse the paths to see many of the Falls.
Just to give you an idea, the Falls are located in the jungle, so we saw plenty of wildlife: monkeys, anteaters, birds and the coatis which are members of the raccoon family. Pesky creatures that are not adverse to attacking backpacks looking for food. Of course the exotic creatures like Puma, Jaguar, Ocelot are nocturnal, so not fortunate enough to see them.
The picture above does not appear to be in focus, but it is the mist from the roaring falls.
Devil’s Throat on the Brazilian side where 20% of the Falls are located. All of the water to the falls comes from rain water. Can’t you just close your eyes and hear the roar of the water? Interesting and time consuming experience going through border immigration when entering & exiting Brazil from Argentina. A story for another time.
Stayed in a little inn outside of the Falls. Had we known better, we would have stayed at a lovely hotel right near the Falls in order to see either the jungle or the roaring water from our rooms. Oh well, live and learn.
Lots of meat in Argentina. I have had my share of protein. This is from our city tour of Buenos Aires.
Lots of color in this area of the City. My pictures are a bit scarce this time as hobbling did not lend itself well to photography. Just have to resort to my memory for images. Uh-oh.
The sensuous tango. Dinner and a show.
Oh, to be this lithe.
Claudio, who will be accompanying me to Chicago. My savior!!!! Wonderful caretaker and conversationalist, but most importantly, extremely experienced nurse. I am so fortunate.
Arriving in Chicago at about noon on Saturday. Claudio will accompany me to Wheaton, and then he will make his way back to Santiago. On Monday, 9:30, I will see the orthopedist. Keep your fingers crossed this whole ordeal will be easily remedied.
Just need to close that this big world is filled with caring and wonderful people. Many times they have brought tears to my eyes because of their generosity. Plus, I need to tell you my traveling companions have been so patient with their time and their concern. I miss them terribly as they are now on their way to boarding the ship for the adventure to Antarctica. I’ll just have to put my final continent on the calendar for another year.
I have decided to start a blog about my various travels in 2025, and have concluded a great way to start and PRACTICE is a summary of my visit to friends in Scottsdale to bring in the new year. Over the years we have created traditions that just needed to be upheld again this year. Lots of adventure in four days.
Hike on first day at Lost Dog with friends Mark, Pat & Sue.
Second day of a leisurely stroll with same cast of characters.
Mark testing the rareness of our beef tenderloin.
Created a new tradition this year; devour 12 grapes in 1 minute at the stroke of midnight in Madrid. Brings good luck and prosperity for the year.
After the ball drops in Times Square, we stroll the neighborhood with our roller bags so we have good travels in the coming year. We do this after a delicious meal and a yet again viewing of Dinner for One.
It’s lunch at Salt & Lime after our third hike. Takes one full week to decorate this place for Christmas.
Traveling with Judy 