“Why do you go away? So that you
can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and
extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to
where you started is not the same as never leaving.” – Terry Pratchett
In early November, my sister and I enjoyed short
visits to the Polish cities of Krakow, Gdansk, Warsaw, and Rzeszów, the city from
which our grandad left when he immigrated to Sydney, Nova Scotia with his
family as a one-year old.
We’ve never been closely connected to this heritage. My granddad grew up speaking the Polish language, and my dad understood but didn’t have much opportunity to practice it in Sydney or pass it on to us.
I fumble with my attempts to learn French, and regret
not learning a second language when I was a kid. I’ve noticed that kids have
few fears and little ego when learning language and other skills. I’m convinced
that fear and ego impede adult learners, like me.
Here's a brief recap of the itinerary and some
highlights of the trip;
Saturday November 2nd,
2024
Depart Toronto Pearson YYZ one hour late at
11:30p.m. for Frankfurt. A late arrival means its too late to meet the tight connection
to Warsaw. Automatically re-booked to a later flight and arrive at Warsaw late
afternoon on Sunday. Stayed at the cool
Moxy Warsaw Praga in the Old Praga district. We missed an opportunity to visit
the Polish Vodka Museum (https://muzeumpolskiejwodki.pl/en/), but did later sample some local product.
Some of the best memories are stumbled upon, and we
found a great restaurant with a variety of eastern European dishes within a
very short walk to the corner of the busy street where the hotel was located (https://www.facebook.com/Skamiejka/). Tried an unfamiliar dish, a Georgian soup, Kharcho, made with finely
ground beef (or chicken), nuts, and nice spices. Exceptionally good.
Monday, November 4th,
2024
A sunny day
that started at 5 degrees Celsius and rose to 10 degrees. A pleasant 30-minute
walk from the Marriott Moxy to Warsaw Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage site. We
enjoyed stunning views throughout old town on a day with a very blue November
sky.
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
A 3-hour, 10:45 a.m. train to Gdansk in the north,
on the Baltic Sea. Stayed at a nice hotel on the Motlawa River, in the scenic
old town. A gorgeous city where we spent much time wandering admiring and
photographing the amazing architecture drinking coffee and eating generous slices
of cake. The architectural style in Gdansk (Danzig) differs from other Polish
cities, as the city was 90% destroyed after the Nazis began their invasion here
in 1939.
Later we enjoyed a very nice meal of halibut at
Zafishowani (https://www.zafishowani.pl/menu).
Still in Gdansk, I grabbed coffee at 7:00 a.m. (CET),
which was 1:00 a.m. (EST) on the east coast of the USA. The 2024 U.S. election results were being
reported. Spent the morning further
exploring the old town and further snacking at coffee shops, then caught a late
afternoon train to Krakow. Arriving we were hungry and tired, enjoyed a brief walk
and a good, simple Italian meal near the hotel.
Thursday, November 7, 2024
Proceeded on a self-guided walking tour of Krakow,
an exceptionally beautiful city with a pleasant 10 degrees Celsius on this day. The Royal Castle (wawel.krakow.pl/en) sits on a hill overlooking the Vistula River. Stunning views in all directions. Some
vendors promoted their river cruises. Along the river, there were lots of
runners, cyclists, dog walkers, chess players and more. I could spend a lot of time in Krakow eating
perogies, borscht, and other cuisines, while meandering along the river.
The site of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau is
a 1.5-hour drive from Krakow. At this site Nazis killed 1.1 million people,
mostly Jewish but also Poles, Romani, and Russian. This felt like a tour we should do (https://krakowdirect.com/auschwitz-tours/), but next on our short itinerary was travel to Rzeszów, the city where
our grandad had lived.
As the day wrapped up, we again walked the river as
people commuted home from work on bicycles and scooters, or walked or jogged. A
young woman tossed a ball to her dog Milka who was very excited with his
retrieval duties. He brought the ball over
to me, so I joined in, earning a new friend, and we chatted with Milka’s owner.
Publicly eastern Europeans tend to be more reserved than North Americans, but
of course very friendly once the ice has been broken.
Later an evening meal at a Ukrainian restaurant.
Nice cabbage rolls, breads and beet soup. The owner was a big, beefy gentleman
who looked more like a miner than a restauranteur, and likely had been a miner
in Dnipro, where he mentioned he and his family had immigrated from. Many
Ukrainians have immigrated to Poland since the Russian invasion, and I was
curious about his circumstances. His
English was far better than my Polish or Ukrainian, but our conversation was
difficult and minimal.
Friday, November 8, 2024
Left the Sheraton Grand Krakow for a train ride to Rzeszów.
This morning was cooler, misty and damp.
More traditionally November-like than most of weather we’d experienced.
Arrived in Rzeszów just past noon and immediately
bought train tickets back to Warsaw for Saturday, so we’d be sure to be back
for our Sunday morning flight. I thought Saturday trains might be busy, and Rzeszów
is a smaller city (population 200,000) with fewer services. We had an initial
panic when the agent said Saturday capacity was sold out, but we were able to
book a 4:00 p.m. Saturday train back to Warsaw.
Tickets in hand, an Uber took us to our hotel, and
we set off exploring. Of interest was
the Stary graveyard along the river.
November 2nd was All Souls Day, when many graves are visited
and decorated with flowers, candles, and incense. This Friday in November was very
gray, but the remembrances placed were colorful.
We wandered the graveyard, and while it was unacknowledged
between us, we looked for the family name. We hadn’t come to Poland to deeply
explore the roots, but to spend some time in the city and country where our
ancestors had lived. As it turns out, we didn’t see the family name anywhere. I
did see something close to a friend’s name at Wolnosci Place (“Freedom” Place).
There were lots of people about on this Friday afternoon,
and I couldn’t help thinking that we were just 100 kilometers from the
Polish-Ukrainian border, and 200 kilometers from Lviv, Ukraine. Ukrainians were
fighting not far from us for their freedom, and their right to exist as an
independent, democratic country instead of a colony.
Leaving the graveyard, there was an interesting
market with fresh, natural local vegetables, some great coffee and sweet shops. Later an evening meal on the town square with
halibut and French fries, a nice, modest euro-style serving compared with large
North American sizes.
Saturday, November 9, 2024
Another cool weather day. Some nice local donuts on
the market square. Later had a fantastic chickpea shashuksa at Fisk restaurant
on the market square.
After checking out of the hotel at 1:00 p.m.,
walked down to the area of the train station, and then to the Galeria Rzeszow,
with four levels of shops and food, lots of high-end brand names, and
international brands as well as local. It was a good place to kill time prior
to the 4:32 p.m. train to Warsaw.
On the walk to the Galeria a huge Soviet-era sculpture
dominates a traffic circle. The Monument to the Revolutionary Act is quite a
sight. The locals describe it with a
crude term.
A walk to the train station and back to Warsaw, at
the Courtyard Marriott Airport Warsaw, which enabled a short walk from the
hotel for our 9:45 a.m. flight Sunday morning to Zurich, then Toronto and back
to Atlantic Canada.
Reflections
Collect moments, not things.
This was a quick trip to connect somewhat with our
Polish heritage, filled with discoveries and memorable moments. It was easy to
travel by train around Poland, and we’re lucky as native English speakers that
this language is spoken or understood by so many people around the world. I’ve
added “Good Day” (Dzień dobry) and “Thank You” (Dziękuję) to my list of
international phrases. Google translate helped for some conversations.
This was a short trip covering four beautiful
cities. we’re richer for the experience.
