Castle Hopping

Hello from beautiful, 50 degree and sunny Wrocław!!! We had a very full weekend - it is great to be able to enjoy the outdoors in February!!!

Since Craig and I have never been too excited about car trips of any length (why drive when you can fly, right?) we thought we might want to get our butts ready - and to see if we would kill each other in the car - by taking a trip to a castle about 50 miles south of Wrocław before we head to Berlin next weekend. We really enjoyed the scenary. Nothing but two lane roads through tiny Polish towns so the trip took about 1-1/2 hours. It is much more agricultural than the area surrounding Wrocław - kind of reminded me of Iowa except much, much older!!! We didn't see any livestock but many fields looked like crops were already coming up. Amazing...!!

Our destination was Zamek Ksiąz just outside Wałbrzych Poland. It is the oldest restored castle in Poland and sits at the foothills of the Mid-Sudety mountains. The castle has been destroyed and rebuilt several times - the most recent after WWII where the destruction was most severe. The grounds were immaculate. We wanted to tour the underground passageways but they were not open. It certainly is a close enough drive come spring when the gardens will be much more beautiful. Heck, they even let people take pictures - unlike the folks at Wawel Castle!!

After returning home we discovered the Gophers were playing Iowa in basketball on ESPN (thanks to Craig's folks for mentioning it). Thanks to Slingbox we were able to enjoy another win over the Hawkeyes here in Poland!!! We love those afternoon games!!! Even with the seven hour time difference we could stay awake for the finish!!! This is almost the most excited I've been since I've been in Poland!!!

I've been meaning to share some tidbits of information so here goes:

1) Lasagna noodles cost $5.50/box!!!! I am making dinner for three 3Mers from the US Tuesday night and thought lasagna would be perfect. The food in Poland is pretty bland so I'm somewhat limited in what ingredients I can find here on a regular basis. Now that I think I've figured out tomato sauce I thought homemade lasagna sounded incredible - and all the ingredients are readily available. hmmmmm...it better be darn good lasagna!!!

2) No parking signs are everywhere in Poland. What I didn't know is that the no parking signs mean no parking on the street; however, parking on the sidewalks is acceptable as long as the car is not on the street and there is enough walking room for a single pedestrian to pass on the sidewalk. It also makes no difference what direction you park here. I still think I prefer parking in the garage where my stall is clearly labelled!

3) The bridge we cross daily to get to the Centrum was built in 1902. Since there were no cars or street cars at that time how did they know to make the bridge wide enough to accomodate four lanes of cars? The civil engineers of their day must have been much more forward thinking than the ones who planned the highways in Minneapolis!!!

4) I have a theory on some of the odd looking dogs I see around town. Back in the early 1980's when the Berlin wall fell I think every male daschund dashed across the Polish border and impreganted whatever four-legged animal that crossed their path!! I don't think I've seen a dog that doesn't look like it's part weiner dog since I've been here!!! I was reading a book that says Polish people love their dogs (almost more than kids) and the bigger and uglier the better! I definitely think so...

5) I ordered deli meat in Polish today! The lady laughed (politely) but I think I deserve points for trying!

6) I broke down and bought hot dogs today!!! Surprisingly, they are made from chicken since everything around here is pork (the other white meat)!

I got another letter from home this week (thanks Aunt Lois). I'm still waiting for the day when there is something in the mailbox more regularly - can you spell HINT????? For only 90 cents you can mail a letter to us and make me do a happy dance for the guards!!!

Have a good week!