Hangin' in Białystok

So after my Warsaw adventure, I returned to Białystok for a while. There I met up with more family that I hadn’t seen in forever! Mostly, I hung out with my cousin, Artur, and his cousin, Marcin. Here are some highlights from my time spent there!

I helped my aunt make a babka ziemniaczana for dinner which is a baked dish made from grated potatoes and bits of bacon and onion. It is really yummy!

delicious babka ziemniaczana :)

I spent a day with another aunt visiting a castle and jewish synagogue. At the end of the day, I got to play with my aunt’s adorable kittens!

Synagogue

Castle 

Kittens!!

I went out for pizza with Agnieszka one day! It was soo good! It was called the American pizza 

Awesome pizza from Savona 

Picked fresh fruit and my favorite: pożeczki! I also took pictures of lots of pretty flowers!

fresh picked pożeczki!

flowers from my aunt's garden

flowers from my aunt's garden

 My family took me to the museum Wsi where we went on a nice walk.

Cool carvings at the museum

I went to Swięta Woda with Agnieszka and my aunt for the afternoon. It’s a sanctuary where a lot of people come on pilgrimages. There is a hill with a lot of crosses as well as a holy water spring.

Crosses on crosses on crosses... 

Agnieszka and I

Holy water

I bought some delicious desserts at the bakery. Then, later that day, I went on a 18 mile bike ride with Marcin and Artur. I am gonna miss days like this!

polish donut, ptyś, and eclair 

Marcin and I 

Artur and I with our bikes

Żaneta and I took yet another walk through the city.

Enjoying exploring my beautiful hometown :)

Happy to be in Białystok :)

Sad to be leaving soon :(

Warsaw Trip

So Monday and Tuesday I spent in Białystok. On Monday, I had a friend, Agnieszka, over for cake and tea which was fun!

Polish sweets :)

On Tuesday, I spent the day with Żaneta and we hung out in Białystok. We did some shopping in town, had kebabs for lunch, and then visited her friend and cousins. At her cousins’ place we played some more WiiU and then this cool board game called Carcassonne where you had to build kingdoms, roads, etc. and fight for them. 

Beautiful day in Białystok

On Wednesday (June 25th), we took a bus to Warsaw together and I stayed in Warsaw until Sunday. Warsaw is a really cool city and there is a lot to do and see!

Thursday, we started off at the park Ujazdowski, then headed into the center of town. There, we saw lollipops being made before our eyes, walked by where the president works and lives, then went to meet another cousin in the old town.

Uzjazdowski park

Standing on the sun! Here in front of the Copernicus Statue are all of the planets orbiting around the sun

"White House" in Warsaw

Warsaw- On the left is the Kolumna Zygmunta, which people commonly use as a meeting place  

Under the Kolumna Zygmunta, there happens to be a free walking tour that begins here (every day at noon and 6pm). After finding our cousin, Piotrek, we decided to tag along with the tour group for a while. The guide was very knowledgeable and easy to understand. He gave the tour in English, but he was definitely a polish guy. He told us a lot of fun facts that really made this tour interesting!

Marie Curie's house. Fun Facts from the Tour Guide: Marie Curie was the first woman to get a Nobel Prize twice (in Chemistry and Physics) and her husband also received a Nobel Prize, and on top of that, her daughter and her daughter's husband received a noble prize. Her second daughter was the black sheep of the family (no Nobel Prize), but she married someone who received a Nobel Prize. Imagine the level of conversation at the dinner table when the family got together, lol. 

As we were walking through town, he would point out significant streets and buildings. Then, we went to grab some lunch at the oldest milk bar in Warsaw, where the Dalai Lama even ate at once. 

Next, I went to the Wilanów Pałac, then got some delicious hot chocolate and szarlotka (polish apple pie), and ended the day in Konstancin- where there is a healing place where people come to breathe in special salty air. 

Wilanów Palace

Konstancin

On Friday, we went to see the national stadium in Warsaw. It was built for the Euro2012 and now is used for more than just soccer games. In the woods next to the stadium, we found a lot of hammocks which was pretty cool! We ended up chilling there for a while.

At the national stadium

Hammock forest

We walked along the Wisła to another park, where we found even more hammocks! Then from there, we went to one of the biggest parks called Łazienki Park. In this park there are peacocks who just roam the park and squirrels who are not afraid to come up and take food from your hand! I had so much fun feeding the peacocks and the squirrels! :)

Feeding a peacock!

Feeding polish squirrels

Afterwards, we went to Piotr’s house for dinner and later we went for some ice cream.

On Saturday, I went to Copernicus Science Center with Żaneta and Paweł which was really fun! This museum has all sorts of interactive displays.

Just relaxing on a bed of nails

In a giant bubble!

In the evening, I met up with some more family from Warsaw. It was nice to reconnect and hang out with family that I haven’t seen in forever!

On Sunday, after mass, I took a bus back to Białystok.

In front of the Pałac Kultury waiting for my bus

Back in the hometown,

Magdalena

Road Trip: Częstochowa, Kraków, Wieliczka, Auschwitz, Wadowice, Kalwaria Zebrzydowska

This past weekend was a long one for most Polish people because Thursday was a catholic holiday called Boże Ciało (Corpus Christi) so pretty much everyone had the day off. We took advantage of this long weekend by taking a road trip to Kraków to visit my aunt’s friend and her family. 

On the way to Kraków, we stopped by Częstochowa, which is known for the monastery Jasna Góra, which houses a famous painting of Mary (Black Madonna painting). Many pilgrims come from all over the world to see this painting and pray.

Jasna Góra

Czarna Madonna

After that stop, we continued until we got to Kraków in the evening. 

Then, on Thursday morning, we went to mass and took part of the Boże Ciało procession through town.

Boże Ciało procession

Then, we visited a church called Sanktuarium Bożego Miłosierdzia (Sanctuary of Divine Mercy) that was consecrated by John Paul II when he visited Poland in 2005. We also visited the John Paul II Centre.

Sanktuarium Bożego Miłosierdzia

 John Paul II Centre

Next, we explored Kraków! There were a lot of horse drawn carriages everywhere, and it was pretty lively (filled with tourists).

Karolina and I

Horse drawn carriages in front of the Mariacki church

hanging out with my cousin (Artur)

Artur and I climbed up to the Smok Wawelski (Wawel Dragon) statue. Smok Wawelski is a dragon that is famous in polish legends. This statue breathes fire every couple minutes, which is pretty cool!

Artur and I with the dragon

Friday we had a very busy day. We started off in Wieliczka, where there is a huge salt mine. We took the stairs down to the mines and got down to depths of about 130 meters underground. We had a great tour guide who has been giving tours here for 30 years. He showed us a lot of salt sculptures and we could even taste the walls, lol. There was even a chapel and restaurant down there! We spent about 3 and a half hours touring the mines and the museum. At the end, we took a super fast elevator that took us back up to the surface in about 30 seconds. 

Salty statue

largest underground chapel- some people have weddings here

salt chandelier

tons of salt- looks like cauliflower

with some giant salt statues

After that, we next stop was Auschwitz. 

Auschwitz

It was difficult to read some quotes from that time and to see pictures of everything. There were also many displays of items that were taken from the prisoners… piles and piles of shoes, glasses, brushes, hair… :( I am glad that I got to see it all with my own eyes... I remember reading about this place in school, but seeing it really makes the horrors of this place come alive… seeing the gas chambers, crematoriums, photos of the prisoners, their clothes… I can’t even believe that some humans could be so cruel and heartless. 

Auschwitz

Auschwitz

Auschwitz

After Auschwitz, we headed to Wadowice, which is the hometown of John Paul II. We saw where he went to mass, and after mass, he would go for kremówki with his friends. So, now bakeries sell papieskie kremówki (papal kremówki) in this town. 

John Paul II's hometown church

We were so set on finding some kremówki to try! It was quite an adventure though, because we got there after 7pm, so most bakeries were already closed. The ones that were open were out of kremówki, and restaurants that were open were out of them as well. The restaurants would tell us where they bought their kremówki, and we would head that way. We explored all of the bakeries and restaurants in the vicinity, and we were soon losing hope. We found one last bar/restaurant that was still open and decided it would be our last try, and what do you know, they had tons of kremówki! :) At that point, we didn’t even ask about the price, we ordered some for here and to go! And funny thing was that this bar/restaurant was located right near the church, where we started walking around when we first  got into town… lol. So we basically made a huge circle in town searching for kremówki.

Me with my kremówka- so worth the wait! :)

After our delicious desserts, we went to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, which is a small town that is famous for it’s monastery. We barely made it inside to take a look in the church. They were closing the doors at 9pm, and we luckily got there a few minutes before.

Kalwaria Zebrzydowska

So Saturday was our last full day in Kraków, so we spent it exploring the city. It also happened to be Wianki, which is a huge festival that includes music performances, fireworks, and other attractions.

We went to Zamek Wawelski, a market, old town, love bridge, my friend Karolina’s dance show, Kazimierz (jewish district in Kraków where we had zapiekanki), and ended the day with the fireworks and music by the Wisła river. 

Me with my familyy at Wawel Castle

Found this on the love bridge...lol (Ja = I)

Artur and I with our zapiekanka (giant toasted sandwich) 

fireworks from the spectacle on the river

Overall, I had a wonderful stay in Kraków and hope to be back sometime!

Back in Białystok for a few days,

Magdalena