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.
Second day in Krakow I made a day trip to Czestochowa. Two and a half hours by train, and 20 minutes walk, and I was at Jasne Gora, the Church and Carmel grounds. The basillica is beautiful, but the chapel is what people come to see on pilgrimages. I arrived just 30 minutes before they were to reveal the famous painting of Matka Boza of Czestochowa. The revealing was accompanied by trumpets and a rolling dim. Many people shuffled on their knees in reverence around, back, and behind the small chapel altar where the painting is housed. It's hard to tell from te pictures, but the painting's dress was adorned completely in gold, silver, and jewels. It's very moving to finally see something that is such a part of your cultural history.
The sunset on the train back wasn't bad either.
Day 1:
Arrived in Krakow to find no snow or clouds ... what joy! Ciocia Ala finally found me after about 20 minutes, even though I never moved from my spot in front of the station. At home she got me into a Polish series called "M jak miolosc." The next day she came with me to wander around old Krakow. We visited St. Anne's, shopped in Sukiennice, heard the "Hey now" played from the top of Church of Mary (Kosciol Mariacki - absolutely gorgeous!!) and caught a tram to Wawel castle to walk the grounds. We managed to then get into a modern art exhibit by Israeli artists at the Museum Naradowe (take a look at Justine Frank's work, odd but interesting).
Sukiennce
Marion Church
Wawel Cathedral 
First day in Warsaw:
First mistake was that Lidia and I left home without hats (to later find out it was -10C ... no wonder we were cold!). We visited Lazienki Palace which was absolutely gorgeous covered in snow (translated: Bath Palace). Then off we shivered to Holy Cross Church (my grandmother saw the cross fall during the Nazi destruction of Warsaw from across the Wisla river) and St. Anne's Church. In Stare Miasto (Old Town, which was completely rebuilt after the war) we saw King Zygmunt's Column, King's Palace, and the siren of Old Town square. 
Tomek, nice guy, took Lidia and I out to eat for some good Polish food and Zobrowka (best Vodka) and then to the Cultural Palace, built by the Communists as a gift to the Poles after the war, for some higher views of Warsaw. A guard tried to get us in after hours, but his friend wouldn't open the gate for us, and that guard was 30 zloty poorer than he could have been.
Second day in Warsaw:
Lidia and I went to the Warsaw Uprising Museum to meet Ciocia Hannia, my grandfather's cousin, and to see the museum. She was a letter carrier for the resistance during WWII. Even though she's completely bent over with age, we had a hard time keeping up with her, and when she wasn't grabbing us by the hand and whisking us away in moment we were losing her in the next.
These are some pictures of my cousin, Maria, and her son (as well as others living in the house in Milanowek (outside of Warsaw). There was snow everywhere and it was FREEZING!!!!!!!!! Minus 10C when Lidia (blonde girl pictured) and I were touring Warsaw and minus 12C the next morning. That's not including the windchill, and there was definetly a wind blowing.
I met Lidia in Brussels and we spent most of our free time together there as well as in Warsaw. It's great to have a travel buddy who knows their way around town.
Cousin: Maria
her son: Juzo
Lidia and the other boy, Staszu, is Etyda's son
dog: Kormusz ... very loveable and great with kids, but the biggest pain to walk when it's icy outside as he wants to get in a fight with every dog, and possibly person, he sees outside of his yard.
