Packing the car

Iwona was heading back to her native Poland after spending two years in the Netherlands. Sandra and I decided to go with her and spend a week touring around Poland with her as our guide. So directly after Iwona finished her Dutch Language exam (which she aced of course!) we picked her up and loaded up all her stuff ("Don't worry Jim, I don't have that much stuff" - famous last words) and began the drive to Poland.

Hotel in Frankfurt

Just before we left for Poland I was checking on the web about the papers I would need for the rental car, and happened to notice that Canadians need a visa to visit Poland - hey nobody told me that! Well no time to get on now so we decided to head for the border and see how we would make out. We made it to just Frankfurt, just before the border at about midnight. We decided to stay the night and try the border in the morning.

Well although the line up was not long, they wouldn't let me in, despite Iwona's charm. We would have to go back to Berlin to get a visa - sigh... It was a half hour back to Berlin, and we found out that the Polish consulate would be open Monday at 9am, so we got a room at the Hotel IBIS in the east part Berlin and walk around Berlin for a while (first time for Iwona). We went to Pizza Hut for dinner, and took the metro back to the Hotel. European championship soccer final match was on; France vs. Italy, so we watched that (2-1 for France) and then went to bed.

Bahnhof	Towers of Beauty	Perfect Self-Timer Shot
East Berlin Taking the S-Bahn
Put your left hand up, put right foot out, ...		The west side of Berlin

We went early to the Polish consulate and after some very persuasive talk from Iwona they had it ready by 10am . We drove to the Polish border at Dresden and got through no problem. It was still quite far to drive to Iwona's parents house and the road was a bit rough. We stopped for dinner along the way and arrived at her house in Waziska Gorne at about 8pm. Iwona's parents were really happy to see her. We had some champagne, wodka, and piwo (beer).

Iwona's Family

Next day Goshka (Iwona's sister) joined us and we went to pick up Anka (who used to be an au-pair in Holland too) who had always told us she lives in the Forest. Well she wasn't kidding - the roads got successively smaller until we were on a dirt road in the middle of the dense forest. Then all of a sudden there is this big house - Anka's. The four of us stopped in Mikowov for lunch.

Anka's House

Anka had a bit of a disagreement with a man in the supermarket which was fun to watch, then we went to visit Auschwitz - scary place. Then we drove to Wisla where Anka and Iwona used to study. Just after we had our first Goffre (waffle, fruit, whipped cream) a huge thunderstorm arrived nearly blowing over our picnic table. We drove all through the mountains and eventually back to Iwona's parents.

Next day we went driving again, unfortunately Goshka had her exam and had to student. The four of us went to Krakow and did a tour of the city including the castle and the dragon. In town I had a Kebab, two hours later we walked by the same Kebab place and there were about 40 police officers standing around it. Apparently they didn't have a proper permit so they were being closed down (and it takes 40 police to do that evidently) (it was a really good kebab though) We then drove to Zakopane which is a sort of resort type town. Everybody wants to rent a room in their house, but one look at our car and the price went up a lot so we parked the car and Anka and Iwona walked up the street and found us a good place. We went for dinner and I got my first taste of Polish Kielbassa sausage fried on an open BBQ. Wow, I'm hooked it was great!! We went out in the evening dancing for a while (watching Iwona and Akna talk to all sort of guys!!)

Auschwitz Gates with "Work will set you free"		Anka, Goshka, Me, Iwona, Sandra
Mountains by Wisla	Making Dinner	Lucky bell in Krakow Castle
Krakow		The Dragon!!

Following day we took a bus from Zakopane up into the Tatra mountains. From there you do a 9km walk up to the lake. There were an amazing number of people doing this walk. We ate at the top (bigos - a type of stew) and then walked back down with a bit of light rain but mostly nice. We ate again in Zakopane and then went to see the movie Magnolia at the theater. Except for a couple of very naughty Polish girls who kept talking (!!) it was a great movie.

Staying in Zakopane	Hiking in the Tatra Mountains	Lake at the top of the Hike
Zakopane	More Zakopane	Anka just can't get enough cheese

The next day we headed back to Iwona's stopping along the way at a salt mine and took a tour. It was amazingly big. It went over 300m deep and had about 9 levels. Some of the rooms were big enough to play soccer in and everything was salt: floor, ceiling, walls (go ahead, lick it). Later we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner.

Salt Mine

Big Hall in the Mine

Play in the Salt Mine Orchistra

In the morning we went and bought a computer for Iwona and her family. Later we dove to Katowice and did some shopping. It is a very industrial town but interesting. We bought some mango tea, tapes and a T-Shirt. Went back to Iwona's parent and had a Polish lunch (soup, chicken and cabbage, and some chocolate cake that I bought! In the evening we had kielbassa on the BBQ - it was so good!

Iwona's Street	Kiebassa in the Back Yard	Iwona's Parent BBQing
Iwona's Parents House	Iwona's favorite car	Good Friends

Next morning we had to leave to go back to the Netherlands. Said goodbye to Iwona and her family and then drove mostly straight back to Amsterdam. We arrived at about 11pm - grand total of 4200km driven. What a trip!