Day 11

(All of the pictures from our Poland trip are up!)

Jenna:

I am sure that TH's family is beginning to think that I am a narcoleptic because I cannot seem to get enough sleep here. I am hoping that it is just something in the air that keeps putting me to sleep, and not difficulty adjusting to the time zone change. How can I be a world traveler if I just want to crawl in bed an hour after I wake up each morning?

FIL picked us up at 9 and we drove to Auschwitz. Visiting the concentration camp was difficult, and emotionally draining. I read Night by Elie Wiesel right before we went, and it was a good choice for me because it made the entire experience really come alive in my mind. Although this may be more difficult for some visitors, I am glad I did it. This was the first thing I have done the entire trip where I didn’t take any pictures, not because I didn’t want to remember, but because I didn’t think there was any way to accurately capture on film what being in that terrible place can do. It’s not what you see that is important, it’s what you feel. My mother’s side of the family has Jewish ancestors, and it is quite possible that many of them died in places like Auschwitz. FIL was a wonderful guide, somehow knowing the right time to be with us explaining what we were seeing, and also knowing when we needed a moment to take things in. It is an experience that I believe everyone should have if they can, if only to remind them of the necessity of accepting others no matter how different they may seem. We saw the names of people displayed on the wall who could possibly be related to us, and I got really excited about the opportunity to do some genealogy in Poland someday! Mom and I took a picture in front of the “Work will make you free” gate (which was a total lie that the Nazi’s told!), but we didn’t smile. We weren’t really sure what to do.

Lunch was a nice break from the somber and depressing atmosphere at the concentration camp (our is it called dinner here?) and the restaurant was the rustic lodge built over 100 years ago. There was a cat wandering around the dining room, which I found to be kind of quaint, but only because he didn’t jump on the table and eat my dinner with me. We of course had a soup course, which is the traditional thing to do, but is really only common in restaurants. They eat soup like we eat salad, year round, sometimes eating chilled soup in the middle of the summer. I had beet root (a pretty red color) with noodles stuffed with meat in the middle. I have no idea what Mom had, but she ate it all so it must have been good. It was originally what FIL ordered, but they had to trade because her original soup had cream in it. All three of us had the same entrée, which is apparently the traditional way to eat dinner. It was something akin to a hashbrown folded over with meat and gravy and mushrooms in the middle. It was de-lisc-ious. I think I am going to have to round up a recipe for this dish and try to make it at home. I had to pay 1 polish dollar to use the bathroom, and I felt a little self conscious because the little man guarding the bathroom went in and cleaned it right after I used it.

The restaurant was actually located on the grounds of an open-air museum with all kinds of little buildings demonstrating what traditional Polish homes looked like. There are old-school style wells all over the place here, but they really aren’t that fun because you can’t wind the bucket up and down. I threw a penny in and made a wish for good luck anyway. I know that Poland has a secret supply of dwarves hidden somewhere, because the doorways to these houses were tiny. I could barely stand up straight walking through. Mom and I really got a kick out of the beehives shaped like people, and I made sure to pose in front of the poor man’s cottage to remind myself what kind of house I will be living in if I live in Poland someday. I was excited to find a bride and groom dressed in traditional wedding garb, although I don’t think I will be modeling my own wedding day look after the traditional Polish one. I don’t think a giant pyramid shaped hat of flowers would really look that great on me.

Then we were off to a real castle! A medieval festival was happening, only making us realize how really boring and dull the medieval festivals we have are. First of all, how many medieval festivals have you heard of in the US that happened in a real castle? Also, how many of these festivals feature real sword fights? And strange wrestling games with half naked men? We didn’t get many pictures of all of this, sadly, because both of our cameras died. I was able to take a few pictures of a bride and groom wandering the castle grounds doing some portraits. TH's family guessed that they had been married that morning, and had left their guests somewhere to come to the medieval festival to get some interesting photos. That sounds like my kind of bride and groom!

All of our pictures end at this point, but this isn’t where our day finished. We watched some burly half-naked men wrestle around for possession of a stick, and were just in time to watch a real sword fight between two big “armies”. These people totally put the medieval club at BYU to shame! I have some great footage on my video camera of these men rushing towards each other and hitting each other as hard as they could to knock the other guy down. Much more intense than any football game I have ever seen. I saw a cotton candy stand on our way out, and even though it had been something like 10 years since I had last found cotton candy appealing in any way, I remembered that TH told me once he though Polish cotton candy was so much better than American. I might agree with him if I could only remember what American cotton candy actually tastes like!

Our last stop for the day was a grand tour of TH's childhood home. They are in the middle of remodeling, so I don’t have many pictures of their place at all. I know that my Mom wouldn’t want someone coming in and taking pictures of what our house looks like in the middle of remodeling! Even with a little bit of sheetrock dust, it was definitely the most warm and inviting environment that we have encountered for the entire trip. They have a gorgeous garden out back that bests every garden I have seen in Royal! I was a little sad that it wasn’t fall, because they have all kinds of fruit trees in the backyard, and TH always talks about how delicious they are. TH’s mother (whose name is pronounced Yahn-ka, but I am not sure how to correctly spell), had prepared Polish cheesecake and poppyseed cake. We had already tasted both in Krakow on Thursday, but her homemade treats were so much better than the ones we bought in the store! I tasted Polish milk for the first time, which has only strengthened my belief that European milk is much sweeter than American milk.

It was a perfect way to end the day, sitting in their living room, talking and laughing over the tasty treats they made for us. I was probing for all kinds of stories about TH as a child, as I suspected that the was rather mischievous, and I wasn’t disappointed! I won’t be revealing them to you here because I have a sneaking suspicion that he would not appreciate having them discussed on this blog. We had such a wonderful time, and our gracious hosts were smart enough to realize when my eyes were beginning to feel a little bit heavy, and took us home in a timely manner to tuck us in for the night.