Fiona and I took a look at a few of Poznan's "Must Sees" ... as well as indulging in massively sweet hot chocolate, cofee, and rasberry desert with white chocolate. Toooooo much almost ... almost.
Stary Rynek Square
Parish Church
Cafe
Cathedral and Gold Chapel
Maria Magdalena School (Dzidzia's school) and the Great Theatre
Tomek took the day off Monday 19, and we packed in a full day of touring the old Sczaniecki family estates (my mom's side of the family). It's a fact of life that wars happen and people and places are lost.
We first visited Srocko (more of less squeezed through a gap in the fence) and the parish church nearby. Communists pretty much destroyed the house and it is left with an ugly attachment, and crumbling walls. This house was to be for my grandfather as Laszczin was going to go to Jozef, the oldest son (who was taking care of the place until my great-grandfather died).
The family's estate in Laszczin was at least being used; now as a children's home housing 42 children from 6 to 14 years of age. We stopped at the church behind the property and found a little funeral chapel where my great-great-great grandfather and his wife were buried (Ignacious and Fillipina Sczaniecki, 1857 and 1864). The fireplace, part of the stairs, and a few light fixtures are all that remain of its pre-war beauty.
Szczanca was the last place we visited, named after the Sczaniecki family. The school had a room where much of the family history had been cataloged and pictured.
Fiona, Tomek, and I went to mass Sunday in Giezno, about an hour and a half, maybe, drive from Poznan where there is a Cathedral that has had a long and rebuilt history. Pictured too are the Gniezno doors, with intricately carved wood panels.
After completely stuffing ourselves at a restaurant (we all took boxes of food home, for once I wasn't the only one) we sightsaw a bit on the way home.
Fiona and I fulfilled the "lazy Sunday" and watched Boys Don't Cry ... slightly different than the American movie, as it's a hilarious comedy series with gangstars, and love stories between sheltered boys and call girls ... words just can't explain.
Arrived in Poznan to Tomasz Sioda (my mom's cousin) and family: Eva, Ruszek, Fiona, Michal. This city for some reason gives me a definite British feel. I'm not sure if it's because some of the houses and gardening look more British or if the American music playing almost non-stop, and at all peak times, influences my observation.
I spent most of my time with Fiona, who is a year younger than me. Her parents own another house just down the street where most of the younger crowd hang out. Turns out Fiona likes to pour a mean mixed drink and get me ready to go to a discoteka (not the best tournout and with a lot of thrashing dancers, minus the moment where Wojtek and Fiona toppled to the floor, priceless). 
Polish train tidbit:
IC (intercity) - take it whenever possible, or else you get stuck on a ...
POS - doubles your train journey time, and you only want to take a ...
OSO - for short trips because they've got hard seats and stop at every station
My train to Poznan from Krakow took almost 7 hours, when in comparison, it only took me 3 hours to get from Warsaw to Krakow, and they're about equally distant.
There's not much that I want to say on this. Being there is enough and the history is known. What got me the most was home normal Auschwitz I looked. The blocks were red brick and looked nicer than many of the current blocks seen in Warsaw of Krakow (from the communist era). Even the crematorium, built underground and covered with grass, from the outside, looked like a perfect place to have a picnic. The only "minor" details were the barbed wire fencing and the horrendous crimes that took place there. But other than a few pictures, and Block 11, evidence of those crimes almost seemed to have disappeared.
Auschwitz II - Berkinau, was more haunting. Here was the infamous rail line and the massive crematoriums. Only a few barracks remain, most had burned down leaving only the heating chimneys, hah, standing. You can feel the despair in the expanse of the place, with the rows and watch towers, the trees hanging back at the very edges hidden in fog. Auschwitz I was paradise in comparison.
Even the birds don't sing.
My second trip into Krakow's Old Town was centered around museum trips, as Thursday was free admission for Naradowy Museums. Late start again as usual, but never unpleasant with Ciocia Ala. We first went to her parish church, beautifully adorned, and saw an old Polish style wooden church.
We then made a stop at the modern church, built during and against communist rule, called Arka Pana. It has in fact an ark built as the roof of the church. All of the details of the church have specific meanings that attest to the Poles fight for religious freedom and against oppression. An older gentleman approached us and explained much of the history to us. Turns out he was one of the church builders. The sacrament is housed in a sphere of rock, but most unusual is the shining orb set in it that was given to Pope John Paul II by Neil Armstrong's wife ... a piece of lunar rock.
Next on my list was to see Wawel Cathedral, from the inside, since it was already closed by the time we got there 2 days before. One ticket gets you into the Cathedral, Polish king tombs, and up the narrow and very badly lit stairs to Zygmund's Bell.
After Wawel, I walked up through the old town, past St. Peter and Paul's, made a little visit to Sukiennice again (and bought more boots, omg, i can't stop), saw the Krakow History Museum (not worth it), and went to see an art exhibit that caught my eye of Jan Stanislaw and Stanislaw Wyspianski before catching the tram home to Nowa Huta by the Barbakan (old remnant of the walls that used to surround old Krakow).
After stuffing myself silly with pierogies Ciocia Ala made, we went to visit her sister, Marila, and family (Dariusz, Kamilla, Kasia, Karolina ... Ciocia Ala also pictured). She's very similar to Ciocia Stasia.
