How Time Flies

Blog Update: What follows is not the original. After spending over an hour typing and inserting remarkable pictures the blog site crashed during the save. I was able to copy the text from the draft format. Kind of sucks but it is better than starting over!!!


No fireworks, picnics or baseball games here in Poland on the 4th of July but thanks to our good friends, Gareth and Basia, we will enjoy a Polish barbeque and sparklers tonight!!! I promise to be careful with the matches!!A lot has happened since I last posted. We've been to Paris, enjoyed ourselves at a Polish wedding, saw the whole month of June pass us by without a trip anywhere, had a visitor from our sister state to the east and survived the worse weather in Polish history (at least from my perspective)!!!

Let's start with Paris...I have to start off by thanking some "man" friends who helped convince Craig Paris really isn't all that bad - which it wasn't! Craig surprised me with an all-day photographic tour of Paris with a professional photographer. It was the greatest!!! She took us to non-tourist parts of the city so we could have a real flavor of the city. Yes, we walked down the Champs Elysee, saw the Arc de Triumphe, visited Notre Dame (twice) and took lots of pictures of the Eiffel Tower but the real winner was the photo tour. I must admit the Eiffel Tower is amazing from afar but felt rather commercial or "State Fair midway-like" with cheap souvenirs and assorted vendors haggling you when you are up close. But Paris would not be Paris without a visit to the icon would it? As a lover of all things Princess Diana I have to tell you we did sit at a sidewalk cafe right over the tunnel where she died...how cool was that???

We took a very long walk (12 km) to visit James Morrison's grave. Pretty amazing cemetery with the likes of Chopin, Sarah Bernhardt and Oscar Wilde all buried there. You could spend hours wandering through the cemetery - it is truly spectacular!

I haven't had a chance to sort through all my Paris pictures (it takes awhile because I took nearly 500 pictures)! I will post pictures this weekend. Come back soon for updates!

On to the Polish wedding...wow!!!! As I've mentioned in earlier posts Polish weddings are traditionally two-day affairs - and they mean it!!! The wedding was held in Wałbrych which is about 50 km from Wrocław. As out-of-town guests the bride and groom were responsible for paying our lodging costs (and you thought weddings in the States were expensive)! It is Polish tradition to bring flowers to the wedding as a special gift to the couple; however, Angelika requested that in lieu of flowers all guests were to bring dog food...huh??? Seems they were going to donate it to a shelter. The couple opted for a full Catholic mass so we settled ourselves onto the very hard pews for an extended service. We knew we were in trouble when there were chairs placed at the altar for the bride and groom to sit on during the service. Craig counted how many times we stood, sat, kneeled but believe he quit when he ran out of fingers! Remember, the ceremony was all in Polish so we were clueless - on top of not being Catholic!!!

Following are some ramblings about the ceremony and reception:
- I'm told the red light on the altar means "Jesus is in the house". I thought Jesus is always in the house.
- I understood little of the sermon. I caught car, love and their names. That's it!!- You present your gift (and dog food in this case) to the bride and groom during the receiving line. It is not expected to receive a thank you note; however, we did get a parting gift of a liter of vodka so I guess that counts!
- They didn't kiss at the wedding. Is it because they lived together or the priest was shy?- As the couple leaves the church you throw rice and coins. I would think getting a złoty thrown at your head might hurt, but both were unharmed.
- Interesting tradition: When the couple arrives at the reception the parents toast the newly married couple who respond by taking a shot of vodka and then throwing the shot glass over their shoulders. I'm not sure who cleans up the broken glass.- Guests toast the bride and groom with a shot of vodka (often)!
- Games and dancing are required. I particularly liked the birthday game where the guests must stand up and join in a circle to dance when the month of their birthday is called.
- Craig wore a cowboy hat and did a solo dance across the dancefloor.
- Bouquets are not thrown.
- Hot meals are served at 6:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m., midnight and 3:00 a.m.
- The reception hall is lined with tables of food. In between hot meals, servers bring cold food to the table constantly.
- There is never an empty bottle of vodka at any table.
- Just as in church Craig lost count of how many shots of vodka he had. I had one shot (to toast the bride and groom) and mixed my second one with orange juice. I was vodka-free until we left the reception at 1:30 a.m.
- The bride and groom left the reception at 4:30 a.m.
- The wedding continued the next day at 11:00 a.m. Vodka was at every table. Food again lined the reception area and a hot meal was served.

In the US there is a game show called "I Survived a Japanese Game Show". Well, I can now say "I survived a Polish wedding"!!!!

So what has been going on in Wrocław?
- During the Jimi Hendrix festival a world record was set for the most guitars being played at one time. Pretty awesome time
- A basketball dribbling world record was attempted recently.
- A package sent to me from Iowa was opened at customs in Warsaw. Suspected contraband I think.
- We have been experiencing torrential rain. The river outside our apartment is up at least 10 - 15 feet. It is fortunate we live on the 4th floor (5th floor if we were in America - I'll explain at a later date)! Noah is not building an Ark but there has been flooding in parts of the city.
- My dog has taken to attacking big, black dogs. I've solved the problem by carrying a water bottle and squirting him when he gets the urge. It works flawlessly.
- Earlier this week the dog and I were out for a walk when a man pulled alongside us on his bike and asked if he could take a picture. Since he was speaking in Polish I thought he wanted a picture of the dog (that has happened more than once). But this guy wanted to take a picture of my feet. When in Poland do as the Poles do I guess. He took out a white sheet of paper, lined up both my feet on the paper and took a picture of my un-pedicured feet. Ok.......

What's up for us???? Next weekend we head to Dublin, Ireland for a Bruce Springsteen concert. We have tickets to visit the Guiness beer factory and will otherwise wander the streets and take pictures. Oliver will celebrate his third birthday while we are gone by the way.

Right now the plan is to celebrate our anniversay in Budapest. Who would have thought our 27th anniversary would be spent in Hungary??? We are planning a "car trip" since it is only about an eight hour drive. Interesting to note I will NOT drive many places in Poland because there are only two highways; however, I can handle one hour on Polish two-way roads. Once we hit the Czech Republic it is clear sailing to Hungary!!

In August we will be in London to meet Erica and Jeremy. We are going to a U2 concert in Wembley Stadium (oh my gosh...Wembley Stadium. That's where the Beatles played)! We are spending four days in London before returning to Poland. We also plan to take them to Prague before they have to fly back. Any bets we can talk Erica and Craig to ride the London Eye with me and Jeremy?

We have plans for a week vacation in Rome. The plant is shut down for two weeks in August (of course it doesn't coincide with Erica's visit) so it makes perfect sense to spend our time in yet another incredible place doesn't it? I don't think we will have any problem keeping ourselves busy for a week in Rome.

In September I want to take the train to Gdansk (not driving those darn Polish roads)! Michael hopes to be able to fly over in September so maybe he can join us.

In October we are ending our stay in Poland and returning to the soon to frozen tundra of Minnesota. Guess my blogging future is "50 something woman looks for a job"!!!

I promise to post pictures this weekend. I've got some awesome shots!!

Enjoy your long holiday. Putting it in perspective Poland has only been free of communism for 20 years!!! Be thankful!!!