The Land of Pork and Cabbage

Berlin

The flight over was good. It took a while but I finally figured out that if I took off my shoes, I could get my feet into the cubby hole and get the seat to lie almost flat. I slept fairly well. The flight from Amsterdam to Berlin was delayed 3 hours. There was no crew. I guess they had a rough Saturday night and decided to sleep in. When I finally arrived in Berlin, the Tegal airport was even worse than LaGuardia. Their new airport is years late with many technical problems. At least they are trying to fix the problem.

A little over and hour of bus and subway got me to my hotel, the Gendarm for 2.70€. No escalators or elevators in the subway stations. The hotel was indeed 4 star. It was located in what was once East Berlin, by the Gendarmenmarkt. There was a chocolate store as big as Whole Foods next door. Everything I wanted to see was in walking distance. About 8pm I walked to the Augustiner and had a platter of roast pork, braised cabbage, and potato dumplings, washed down with a liter of beer, 20€. Sleep was not a problem!

Mid-morning I drug myself out of bed and headed out. Breakfast was a large cappuccino, OJ and a great croissant, 8.10€. As I strolled down Unter den Linden, there was Neue Wache, a very touching memorial to the victims of war and tyranny. As I turned off to go to Museum Island, there on Spee Canal, was a tour boat the Prins Bernhard. I am always a sucker for river tours. 10€ for seniors seemed like a bargain and it was a great tour up and down the Spee river.

The Neue Museum was worth the trip to Berlin. The bust of Nefertiti may be the most memorable ancient artifact I ever saw. Her name means, the beautiful one has come. What an understatement. The rest of the museum had wonderful objects looted from all over the Middle East. There were also a lot of prehistoric European exhibits. I learned a lot about prehistoric Europe, the fertile crescent (modern Iraq), and other places I had never even heard of. Lunch at the café was a salad and Riesling.

I visited the Pergamum museum 16 years ago, and still remember the visceral impact of the displays. The highlight, the Pergamum altar was closed for renovation, but the Ishtar gates are breath taking. The scale of the architectural displays is like no other museum. Again objects from all over the Middle East.

On a Monday night, every German, Bavarian, or Austrian restaurant on Charlottenstrasse was booked. The hotel suggested Maximillian’s around the corner. The young lads in their lederhosen were just too cute. A Beer Coachman’s steak is a pork steak, topped with ham, topped with tomatoes, and then melted cheese, an egg, and a side of fried potatoes. Too good, with a dark beer, 19.50€. Although I did lust over the roasted pork knuckle I saw at the next table, it was the size of a cabbage head. I need more than 10,000 steps a day for that.

Tuesday started slow, not over jet lag yet. I decided there was not time to go to Sans Souci as the trains show as taking almost 2 hours each way. So I walked up the Brandenburg gate to get a picture for Michael Haggans. It was a complete mob scene, I wonder how bad it is in the summer. I spotted a City Tour bus with an open air top deck, and for 10€ got an all-day pass. It was cloudy and a bit cool, but I got some great shots, including the Bellevue Palace (where the German president now lives) and the Hauptbanhof. I got off at the Kaiser Wilhelm church which had been severely damaged in WWII. They kept the vestibule as an anti-war monument. Very powerful message.

Eventually the bus came to the KaDeWe, largest department store in Europe, it covers 4 city blocks and is 7 stories tall. The sixth floor is foodie paradise! The entire floor is gourmet, and there are stations where they fix it and serve it right there. Harrods can’t compare. Lunch was a deluxe bouillabase and a Muscadet, 26€. I took the bus back to the hotel.

Warsaw

I took a taxi to the Ostbahnhof. Of course you have to lug your suitcase up the stairs. It was supposed to be the express, but it didn’t go very fast, 5 hours to Warsaw. I did get a first class ticket for 49€ by buying it early on the web. The seats were comfortable, the WC was clean, and when I asked for a beer they brought ½ liter in a glass for 3€. I had a most interesting compartment companion from Lebanon. He was in import/export but we talked about Middle Eastern food, and how surprisingly welcoming people in strange lands could be. We also talked about the many sects of Islam and the chasm between what the Quran says and what is recently presented as orthodoxy.   When he got off at Posnen, I talked to a young polish woman. She worked for an American computer company, formerly in London but now from home. Got a few tips on things to see.

Wally was there to meet me when the train pulled into Warsaw. We took a taxi to the apartment I had rented. He had had problems checking in, they had to get a lock smith and it took 3 hours for them to get settled. Also since the street in front of the building was under construction he had to carry the bags up four flights. They also gave him the wrong password for the WiFi. Eventually we found the right password written on the router. The polish word for password is haslo. The apartment was in an old 17^th century granary built on the side of a hill. The main entrance was on the south, fortunately the 4^th floor (where our unit was) had an exit on the north side. The unit was 2 story, 2 bed, 2 bath and very new inside. Wally and I finished a bottle of wine, solved the world’s problems, and called it a night (morning actually).

In the morning Annie fixed breakfast and we started walking. We were on the edge of the Old City so everything was close. The main square had a statue of a warrior mermaid, with a very odd legend.     The Old Town (from the 13^th century), was very cute with cobbled streets and baroque architecture. All this area was destroyed in WWII but reconstructed faithfully. The square had loads of outdoor cafes, but it was in the forties and windy, so we didn’t stop. At least the sun was shining. After walking thru the Barbican (old city gate) we enter the new town (15^th century). The highlight there was the restored church of St. Casimir.

Walking back thru the old town, we stopped at the café in the Bristol Hotel for coffee. Very nice, old, chichi, and expensive, but worth a visit. The décor was by Erte.  The royal castle (early 17^th century) was an hour well spent. Then we had lunch, roast goose, roast veal and Russian pierogis (fried). Almost 10k steps, a good first day. Wine and cold cuts for supper.

The second day broke clear and crisp (high 30’s). Somehow the temps were 10 degrees lower than the forecast I  looked at the previous week. We headed out and caught a bus to Wilanow (W is pronounced like V in Polish) A 17^th century summer royal residence. The first surprise was the price of the tickets, free on Thursdays! Of course free tickets meant student groups everywhere. The grounds were impeccable, formal gardens and more natural but cultivated gardens. It backed up to the Vistula River and had secluded viewing areas to sit and watch it roll by. They were starting to set up their holiday lights already, just like the good old USA.

After a traditional lunch we strolled down Nowy Swiat, the main shopping street and part of the Royal Route. As it was still only in the low 40’s, I bought a scarf at a traditional store, H&M. At about 5 we reached a store front where they were having daily Chopin concerts. They were free but you were encouraged to make a donation to a Ukrainian refugee fund. A very good music student played for about 20 minutes to warm up the 20 some people there. The main pianist was Weronika Chodakowska and she played beautifully. If you are in Warsaw, hearing Chopin seems like a must. A beautiful evening stroll brought us back to our humble apartment and after 16,000 steps, an early night to bed.

To Lublin

There was frost on the car in the morning. What happened to Fall already? Anyway a nice 2 hour drive called for a nap on my part. Our first stop was in Sieciechow to see a church with paintings by Szymon Mankowski. The church wasn’t there. Google maps to the rescue, it was 5km out of town. On the way to the next stop we passed a farmers market in Deblin and had to stop. The apples, cauliflower, plums, peppers, and things we could not identify all looked great. When we walked in there was a buzz “Americans”. We hesitated by a sausage truck, and the guy started cutting samples, big samples. We bought 2 kinds of pate, 2 kinds of sausage and some head cheese. 3 pounds of meat and less than 6 dollars (21 PLN). We had so many samples we did not need lunch. Golab had a beautiful Mannerist-Baroque church from 1628 with the darling Lorentine chapel just next to it.

The next stop was the former residence of the Czartoryski family in Pulawy. It was a huge house with a nice, small museum, and a beautiful landscaped park. The park had several small ornamental out buildings. The day’s highlight was the extensive 16^th century castle ruins at Janoweic. There was a small museum and a large park with several wooden buildings and an 18^th century manor. Sort of an ethnographic display. Next on the road was one very small ferry. It might hold 6 compact cars, or 1 medium truck. It was a cable ferry, i.e. there was a cable from bank to bank that the ferry used to pull itself back and forth. Safely across we stopped in Kazimierz Dolny. This is a picture post card tourist town, with beautifully restored Mannerist houses around the town square. We were getting grumpy from lack of food and the sun was going down, making it colder. We scrubbed the last stop and headed for Lublin.

Lublin’s center is an old walled city and as we approached it Gretel (our name for the built-in car GPS) slipped an electronic cog and talked goofy. Google maps managed to get us to the Market Square, which was supposed to be pedestrian only. We found our hotel, the Cleopatra, just off the square and we got the car out to a legal parking space before the police noticed. Our hotel was over a Middle Eastern restaurant and shisha bar. As we checked in the clerk looked at our passports and said “Oh you are from America, that is so great”. Our rooms were lovely but they were on the 4^th floor, all stairs. Hasn’t anybody told these people about elevators? We wandered out into the glooming. It was a beautiful fall evening. Just outside the Cracow Gate we found the Ulice Miasta Restaurant and lit into platters of duck, veal, pork and cabbage. Washed down with liters of beer. We did sleep well that night.

The morning was again crisp and clear. We wandered the town and its myriad churches taking pictures. The highlight was Lublin castle built in the 14^th century with the Trinity chapel covered in Byzantine frescos painted in 1418. Late morning we headed to the Kozlowka Palace. Completed in 1742, it is the best preserved aristocratic residence in Poland. They only had a Polish tour and you had to go on a tour to get in. First thing inside the door was the family tree. The guide talked about it for 20 minutes as the group listened intently. I’m glad I don’t understand Polish, it was way too much information. It was truly impressive to tour a house like this with its original furnishings and everyday objects. The carriage house had a great exhibit and I managed several pictures before they told me “no photography”.

Zamosc

From there we drove to Zamosc a beautifully preserved renaissance town, I think I took a nap on the way. Our hotel was the Senator and somehow we managed to drive right to it and there was a parking space steps from the front door. Our rooms were on the 3^rd floor, all stairs. We noshed on our plums and meats from Deblin and started our walk. The hotel was just off the square. The entire town was cobbled and most of the buildings were restored. The main Market Square was huge (10,000 square meters). The old town was prey much encircle by its walls. It was like the Europe we imagined when we were young. After our late snack, we just had soup in the cave like basement restaurant, accompanied by a nice local dark beer, Perla.

The next morning it was……………………….clear and crisp. We started to walk around Zamosc again but as it was bitter cold and there were no coffee shops open, we went back for coffee at the hotel. Then we headed south in to Malopolska (lesser Poland). The terrain was much more rolling and wooded as we neared the Carpathian Mountains. Our first stop was Jaroslaw, a charming, cold, town with a Renaissance style palace, the Orsetti house, and closed on Sundays.   The main square was nice with a magnificent town hall, and all the coffee shops were closed.

Lancut

We headed to Krasiczyn but detoured to Przemysl as it looked cute. Somehow we wound our way up the highest hill and walked up to the castle (founded in the 1340’s).   It was getting colder so we skipped the cathedral. Eventually we made it to the Krasiczyn Castle. It was one of the most significant Ruthenian castles of the old Polish crown. It has been restored and is now used for weddings, concerts, and events. Our next stay was in Lancut, only one floor of stairs this time. The Lancut Palace has a 15 room hotel on the north side. Rooms were $37 including breakfast. There also is a first class restaurant in the hotel. You can order whatever you want, and they bring you whatever they please. The palace is in the middle of a park and it took a while for us to find out how to get in. Only hotel guest could drive into the park, you had to get the security guard to let down the chain. Wally almost got shot for trying to take down the chain himself.

The town of Lancut, founded in 1349, was purchased by Stanislaw Lubomirski in 1629. (We read about another town that was pawned to the duke of Luxemburg to finance a war). The palace was completed in 1641. On Mondays admission was free. They did have these felt slippers you put on over your shoes, because you walked on some of the most beautiful wood floors I have seen (and I have seen a lot). No pictures from inside, bit I assure you it was very impressive. We looked out the window in the morning to see the first snowfall of the year, yuck! Since walking in the gardens was out, we left for Lezajsk.

Our first stop was the Info center and museum. The man at the info center locked up and gave us a personal tour of the local museum. One thing he said was that Poland had the world’s second constitution after the US, France was third. Then he took us to the Lezajsk beer museum. Unfortunately Heineken bought Lezajsk brewing a few years ago and the museum was just propaganda. Still the free beer at the end was very good. Then we stopped at the Bernadine basilica and monastery built in 1618. The pipe organ built in 1693 was impressive, and as there was a service going on, we heard a bit of it. In the afternoon we went to Rzeszow. Worst traffic we have seen on the whole trip, we got so frustrated with the traffic and the rain, we left. We did see the cathedral, plain on the outside, locked up, but with cool doors. Back to our rooms at the palace and then dinner at the palace restaurant because it was too nasty to go anywhere.

The morning brought rain, but we headed out. After a long drive we reached Biecz. A charming 16^th century town of 4,500.   The town hall was beautiful, and the part of the old walls still standing was fascinating (at least to me). Just north in the hamlet of Binarowa was an old wooden church built in 1500 and still in use. Unfortunately we did not find out until later that we could have gone to the rectory and asked  to get in and see the paintings inside. Nowy (new) Sacz was delightful with a large market square and a Neo-Baroque town hall. The surrounding pedestrian district had many well restored old buildings. Next was Stary (what a great word for old) Sacz, an old Galician town. It was completely different. Mostly one story houses around the cobbled market square. The convent of the Order of St Clare was founded in 1208 and the chapel was consecrated in 1280, but most of the interiors date from the 17^th century.

Tarnow

As the light faded we drove north along the shore of Lake Roznowski. It was quite large and I finally saw fishermen. We reached Tarnow as night settled in. Our hotel was Hotel GAL and they had an elevator! They said it was a 10 minute walk to the old town but it was over a mile up hill. We had asked for a Polish restaurant but they sent us to a Moroccan one that did not have an English menu. They didn’t seem to want us any more than we wanted them but they sent us to a great place on the main square. Annie had crashed so Wally and I ordered the mixed pork platter for 2. They said we would need a bigger table, so we moved. With 4 beers it was $20. I was sure glad we had a mile walk back to the hotel.

Another partly cloudy crisp day but a bit warmer. We went looking for Debno. Gretel (the car GPS) got us to a wide spot in the road. Google started directing us down very narrow roads, one of which turned into gravel, then ruts, then maybe just a farmer’s field. When we got back on pavement we turned right. Pretty soon the road was covered in leaves, then branches, then Wally had to get out and move a tree out of the way. It was too narrow to turn around and then there was a spot with trees leaning over the road that just cleared the car by inches. Before long we were back to where we started. Google maps showed a museum in the middle of a large field. We circled, and just as we were about back again to where we started we found an entrance drive. There it was, a small perfectly proportioned castle surrounded by a moat built in 1470-80. After walking around it, twice, we finally rang the doorbell. A guide, who spoke zilch English waved us in. She waved us from room to room turning on and off the lights. The period interiors recreated a noble house of the 15^th to 18^th century. It was great. We even saw what must be the earliest version of a pinball table. By the end, someone who spoke English showed up and took our money. $2 each.

From there we went to Nowy Wisnicz. I thought we wanted to see the Monastery of the Discalced Carmelites, but it had been turned into a prison. The Lubomirski Castle was hard to miss looming over the town. We wandered thru the castle on our own. It was roughly restored and had some furnishings but was mostly empty. It really gave you the feel of a castle in the middle ages. We headed back to Tarnow and wandered around the main square. We visited the late Gothic Cathedral of the Nativity and of the Virgin Mary. It was getting colder so we took a break before dinner. We asked a different clerk at the hotel for a restaurant with Polish food. It was quite charming but turned out to serve Italian food. I guess young people here don’t know what Polish food is. Anyway we went back to the Jana where we were the previous evening. They were glad to have us back and we had, among other things, the best pierogis of the trip.   After dinner they gave us shots of a flavored liquor which we could not quite identify. She showed us the bottle and we guessed quince. She agreed but said nobody else knew what quince was. It was great.

The next morning we visited Zalipie, a small village where the wives paint the most beautiful, floral, animal, geometric, designs on the houses. Part way there Wally realized that he didn’t have his camera. We called the hotel and they called back shortly to say they found it. It was raining in the village, so I would just hop out at each house and snap a quick photo. Then, after picking up the camera back in Tarnow, we were off to Niepolomice and the 14^th century royal castle. It was a nice enough castle (we have seen so many by this time) with part turned into a hotel. Upstairs they had an art museum.   We had never heard of these Polish artists but their work was fantastic. They may not have invented new techniques but their works were world class. They also had a well curated exhibit of el Greco!

Our last stop was Wieliczka, home to a famous salt mine? We stayed at the Hotel Galicja on the first floor, $37 with breakfast. I just wanted to walk over to the mine with Wally, I’ve seen lots of mines in the American west. Wally bought 2 tickets. As we stood in line they said it was a 3 hour tour, the book said 1 ½ hours. As we walked in they said we had to go down 375 steps! Seven step to a flight and boy was I dizzy by the time we got down there. Then they said we were going down another 400 steps, a total of 135 meters down. The mine has been continuously worked for over 700 years though they no long mine rock salt, just brine.   It was well ventilated and had several dioramas as well as religious niches. The main chapel was impressive, even the chandeliers were made of salt crystals. After 2 hours, and many steps down, we got to the main souvenir stop and they asked if we wanted to see three more chambers and go for another hour or go to the elevator. When we elected the elevator, the guide said only another kilometer to go. When we came up, it was raining and we were not where we went down. It was another kilometer back to the hotel. Got my steps that day!

Krakow

Day 14 and we are headed to Krakow. We found a great parking space by the castle. As we were getting out of the car a nice gentleman told us this was parking for people who worked at the castle and we would be towed. So we found a pricy parking garage on the other side. Wawel Royal castle built in 1502 is immense. The sun was peeking out and the grounds were beautiful. The tour thru the Royal halls was self-guided. No photography but fantastic decorations, especially the Senators’ Hall. We took a break for coffee and then toured the cathedral where all of the Polish kings were buried. It was the most ornate church yet. We toured the crypt but passed on climbing the bell tower. Finally we had a guided tour of the royal residences. They were nice and had some impressive tapestries. The highlight was some rooms in the Hen’s Foot tower. The walls were covered in Corinthian leather, hand tooled and painted.

Our rooms were in the Astor B&B. We had to pull in the mirrors on the car to get thru the portal to the parking. They did not have a breakfast room, so they brought a tray to your room in the morning. It was 3 blocks to the old town and then 3 more to the main square. WOW it was the best square I’ve seen other than St. Mark’s in Venice. It was covered in outdoor cafes with the Cloth Hall arcade in the middle. It was just dusk and I brow beat Wally and Annie into taking an open carriage ride thru the old town. I loved it. We went into the Church of St Mary, wandered a couple of side streets and thru the Cloth Hall arcade (what a bunch of Kitsch). Earlier I had spotted a place doing slow Polish food, Ed Red. For appetizers we had marrow bones and blood sausage. I had beef heart for my main course and it was the best thing I ate that year. It was my most expensive meal in Poland, with two high end vodkas, and wine, I spent $40.   It was so good!

The next day it was raining lightly but warmer. I suggested that we do our own thing and meet back at the hotel @ 4:30. After I got caught up on my blog, I wandered out. First I visited the Barbican, the fortified main gate to the old city. I love medieval fortifications and this one was in great shape. I spent the $2 to go thru the inside. Then I entered the city thru the Florina gate. The old city was filled with young people, I guess this is the city for them to congregate this year. After a bit of wandering and picture taking I settled down in a café on the main square for a latte and a chance to watch the city go by. It was just misty and they had propane heaters and lap blankets in the outdoor cafes. On the hour there is a bugle that plays from the spire of the church in memory of a look out who was shot while warning the people of an impending attack. Shortly I resumed my aimless wandering, lots of great old architecture, and I saw a wedding in one of the old churches.

That evening we had an early dinner in a tiny rustic place, Chata. The furnishings were split logs and there were sheepskins on the benches. Three entrees, an appetizer, and drinks came to $25. As we finished dinner the back ground music started to include cows mooing and chickens and pigs. A bit too rustic for my taste, but the food was good. Then we went to a chamber concert in the church of St. Peter and Paul. It was Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and several other short pieces. The acoustics were perfect and the setting was quite ornate. On our way back to our hotel we did see a couple of skin heads duking it out in a very clumsy manner. The rain had stopped and the evening was lovely.

Sunday was sunny, as I headed out I again noticed hundreds of young people dragging their suitcases around the streets. 15 years ago they were in Berlin, 10 years ago they were in Zagreb. Just like any herd animal, I guess. Unfortunately there were also some very aggressive pan handlers. I promptly got lost, and saw some very nice buildings. Eventually I got to the Jozef Mehoffer museum, free on Sunday, which was the house of a famous art nouveau artist. There was some great stained glass. Next was Szczepanski, which had an exhibit of French impressionist prints and the personal collection of the original owner. Time for a cappuccino and some more people watching on the main square. I wanted to go to the gallery on the 2^nd floor of the cloth building, but got on the down elevator by mistake. I wound up in the Rynek Underground which was fascinating. In 2005 they did a major archeological excavation on the east side of the square. Then they put a concrete lid on it and put the square back. Now you can tour the ruins under the plaza, and learn the history of the city. It was well done and very educational. I finally found the right gallery but it was anti climatic. I did like a couple of works by Piotr Michalowski. Wally and Annie found a wonderful restaurant that had been around for 120 years and was decorated all in Art Nouveau. I had goose thigh. We closed our visit to Krakow with concert by the Krakow Chamber Orchestra.

Monday and back in the car. We headed to Czestochowa and the monastery of Jasna Gora. We started out driving thru some wooded areas with the fall foliage just starting to burst into color. Later it just became more rolling farm land. This a huge fortified monastery founded in 1382. The Black Madonna is the number one pilgrimage site in Poland. At 1:30pm they unveiled it. There were trumpets blaring as they very slowly, raised a gold screen from in front of the picture. It was painted in 1434 over a prior one that had been damaged. It was quite a ceremony and most of the people took it very seriously. The whole site was free, but even my stony agnostic heart gave them a donation for their restoration fund. We stopped for the night in Brzeg, a small working class town. The Villa Romeo lobby was not fancy but the rooms were all art deco with the best bathrooms of the trip. In fact the breakfast was also the best of the trip, and all for $43 a night. We wandered thru a charming old town, past the closed mill on the river, and looked at the castle.   The town hall was impressive as were some of the churches. We had dinner at a small place with a choice of Polish or German Menus. We chose the one in German and pretty much got what we thought we ordered. Dinner was about $30 with drinks and tips, for all three of us.

In the morning we went to see the Brzeg Castle, not expecting much. It was terrific. First we saw the crypt with all the caskets, and the skeleton of a woman who had killed her husband and her father had her starved to death, this right after breakfast too.   The second floor had had great period furnishings and art. The third floor was mostly religious art (yawn). Then they sent us down the see “the Shine of the Kerosene Lamp.” We thought they meant shrine, they did mean shine. It was a large well curated exhibit of beautiful kerosene lamps. We took a brief stop at Henrykow (founded by Henryk the bearded) to see an old abbey, but it was locked and we moved on. Paczkow is a charming town completely surrounded by its medieval walls.

Wroclaw

Then we drove thru the Klodzko Valley. It was the best drive of the trip, over the hills and low mountains with the leaves in full fall colors. We actually cut thru a small bit of the Czech Republic, but there was barely a sign to mark the border. It is impossible to capture the beauty of that drive in pictures. We stopped in Bystrzyca Klodzka to see the museum of fire making, about matches and lighters, who knew? We then stopped in Klodzko to see a huge 18^th century Prussian fortification overlooking the town and the river. We could easily have spent a week in this valley. Then it was onward to Wroclaw for a late dinner on the main square.

The morning was overcast and misty. We had a nice breakfast with the largest piece of quiche I ever tried to eat, $5 with a cappuccino. First stop was the old town hall started in the 15^th century and added on to for many years. They had some nice exhibits, and it was free. Most of the buildings around the main square (Rynek in Polish) were period restorations, and quite charming. Also they have scattered around these cute bronze dwarves. They started as a protest against the communists. The Wroclaw university building was suitably impressive. Wroclaw is very much a university town. Just past the university is the church of the Holy Name of Jesus. Modest on the outside, but the most elaborate baroque interior we have seen on the trip. A few blocks further, as I was looking at my map, a nice lady pointed out the market building. Inside was a splendid array of fruits, veggies, sausages, etc. I bought 6 plums and a persimmon for less than a buck.

We eventually made our way to the Panorama of Raclawice, which is a painting 400 feet by 46 feet, depicting a victory of the Poles over the Russians in 1794. It was moved to Wroclaw after the WWII and the installation, in a complete circle, was quite dramatic. After a very nice nap, we found a small café for dinner, and I had the trout. We went back to the same café for breakfast because the coffee was so good. The next morning was cloudy but dry, and we started wandering after breakfast.

Our first stop was the Cathedral of St. Mary Magdalene which had a “penitents” bridge that connected the two steeples. We meandered along taking pictures of interesting buildings, eventually crossing to Piasek island and then to Ostrow Tumski. The entire area seemed to be churches and associated church buildings. Back across the river we stopped at Wroclaw University to see the assembly hall and the Oratorium Marianum. Both were over the top baroque. More wandering and interesting buildings brought us to the Royal Palace, which we didn’t bother to go into. Time for another nap.

For our last dinner together in Poland we went to the Swidnicka Cellar restaurant under the old town hall. It was originally a beer hall and an important part of Wroclaw commerce. We decided to share and ordered the pork Knuckle, 1.3 kg or 3 pounds!   Bigos and grilled veggies. When they brought the pork, the people at the next table started to laugh, then they took our picture. It was the best pork knuckle of the trip, and so were the bigos and potatoes. With beers, vodka, coffee it was $50. We went looking for an ice cream place with waffle cones for Annie but the first place was closed, so we wandered into the big mall. We bought some vodka for me the take home and found the ice cream.

Return

We had a couple of baguettes for breakfast on the road. It was 3.5 hours the Berlin on the expressway, 4.5 on the scenic route. After a while we gave up on Gretel, the car GPS, then we gave up on google maps and went to paper maps. At Lubiaz we saw the biggest monastery ever, but didn’t go in, Baroqued out I guess. With all our great navigating, it only took 6 hours the get to Berlin. They dropped me off at the Mecure, a mid-range hotel, in as park like setting a mile from the airport. I wasn’t expecting much from the hotel restaurant, but I had the best pork chop of my life. It had an inch of fat on it which tasted like ambrosia. I don’t know what they fed their pigs in this part of the world, but they are delicious. Prices were a lot different in Germany than Poland.