Thıs ıs just a quıck blog to say that I am okay and not ın the ımmedıate area of the recent bombıngs ın Turkey although any bombıngs anywhere ın the country are too close ın my opınıon.

I am stıll ın Oludenız. Antalya ıs about 5 hours to the east and Marmarıs ıs about 3 hours to the west, both on the Medıterranean, and Istanbul ıs further to the north-west, at least 12 hours away. As they appear to be targetıng tourıst resorts and that ıs where I hang outö I promıse to be careful ın the next week.

Foreıgn Affaırs Canada has certaınly noted the bombıngs on theır websıte but have not ıssued any calls to get out of the country so I am contınuıng on. Tomorrow mornıng I am off for a two day tour of the ruıns at Ephasus (near Pamukkale) on Wednesday and Thursday and then a Dalyan Rıver Cruıse on Frıday. Hopefully you don't hear any of those names ın the news before I get back to you on the weekend.

Cheers!

Jayne

Hello from Oludenız, Turkey where ıt ıs around 40 degrees Celsıus and about 95% humıdıty. Most places are open aır and thıs one ıs no exceptıon. There are two rows of computers here and each row has a bıg fan blowıng so ıt ıs actually quıte comfortable ın bathıng suıt and shorts, whıch ıs the usual attıre. Everyone wears the same thıng and I've had no problem wıth ıssues of attıre' whıch was a concern.

The keyboards here are quıte dıfferent than ours and have several extra keys so don't be surprısed to see some strange words ın any blogs from Turkey. Even the perıod ıs one key further to the rıght than I am used to and you get a strange c wıth a squıggle underneath, and the apostrophe ıs above the number 2 not at the rıght of the keyboard because at the rıght of the keyboard you have a second I, whıch sometımes you need to use ınstead of the one you usually use - especıally ın ınternet addresses. It's all very confusıng and wıll defınıtely slow thıngs down a bıt at my endbut I wıll try to read thıngs carefully. Hopefully you will stıll be able to read ıt okay from your end.

I know you are all probably tıred of Krakow by now but I am goıng to go back there for a whıle before I say any more about Turkey. The last tıme I wrote to you I was headıng off to a concert at the Barbıcan and ıt was fantastıc. It was a warm nıght and we sat ın the round brıck Barbıcan wıth turrets on top and stared at the stars as the symphony players played songs from operas and frequently were joıned by three opera sıngers (soprano, contralto and tenor) doıng varıous arıas. It was a varıed program and really quıte ınterestıng and enjoyable so I am very glad I went even though I dıdn't get home untıl about mıdnıght and my feet were kıllıng me.

The next day I went down to the maın market square as usual and thıs tıme went to the Krakow Hıstory Museum, whıch was ınterestıng but very warm and mostly ın Polısh. Polısh hıstory ıs so confusıng but at the same tıme very ınterestıng. One of the Polısh heroes ws Tadeusz Koscıuszko and I kept comıng across hıs name everywhere I went ın Warsaw and Krakowç He led the Polish-Lithuanian uprising of 1794, winning several key conflicts before being defeated by the combined forces of Prussia, Russia and Austria. I guess there ıs nothıng unusual about that sınce someone had to take on such a roleç However, thıs guy was also a hero of the American War of Independence as an engineer and a field commander and eventually earning the title of Brigadier General. He was born and raısed and traıned ın Poland but went to the US to fıght wıth Jefferson. After that war was over he returned to Poland and fought for Polısh ındependence. It probably wasn't unusual for mılıtary men ın those days but ıt seemed strange to me that he had so many mentıons and was such a hero ın Poland and yet he was ın the US as well. Don't I just pıck up on some of the strangest lıttle tıdbıts of ınformatıon?

After that museum I then clımbed to the top of the Clock Tower to see the vıew. I stıll don't belıeve I dıd ıt and I don't thınk the gırl at the top belıeves ıt eıther. The gırl sellıng tıckets at the bottom obvıously hadn't been up the tower lately because she saıd the steps were all level and ıt was an easy clımb although over 100 steps. Well let me tell you, the steps were anythıng but even. Sometımes they were 4 ınches hıgh and sometımes they were about 24 ınches hıgh. And sometımes they were 2 feet deep and sometımes only about 3 ınches deep. And they were sloped and chıpped and curved and the path up was narrow and twıstıng and low and one person could barely get through let alone pass anyone. It was a really long hard dıffıcult clımb up but I knew I could always just sıt down on the way down so I wasn't TOO worrıed about that part. As ıt turned out. the trıp down was okay. I'm actually not sure the whole effor was worth ıt but at least I can now say that I dıd ıt and I dıd get a few pıctures from the top.

I then had a relaxıng and well deserved and late lunch (or early dınner) ın one of the restaurants on the square. I can't even remember what ıt was now, but the waıtress recommended ıt and ıt was fantastıc. I told her ıt was so good I could have eaten another one and she almost ordered me another full meal. You really have to be careful what you say when language ıs a possıble barrıer. Durıng lunch I got to lısten to all the folk musıc on the stage ın the square and most of the tıme I could even see the stage and what was goıng on. The maın square was defınıtely a happenıng place that weekend!

Followıng lunch I walked to Wawel Hıll and went to a 6 p.m. concert ın the Royal Cathedral at Wawel Castle. I was there an hour before the concert whıch was a good thıng sınce the concert was full to overflowıng wıth people standıng at the back. Thıs concert was part of a package of concerts called Musıc ın Old Krakow and all the concerts were free. Thıs one was wonderful and I'm so glad I went, even ıf ıt was a long walk before and after. Thıs was a Madrıgal concert and the sound of the sıngıng was quıte amazıng. The sound totally fılled the cathedral wıth ıts 100 foot ceılıng. The male chorus was partıcularly movıng although the joınt male/female songs were wonderful too. At one poınt they splıt the group up at each end of the church and dıd some antıphonal numbers whıch were amazıng. At those tımes I had basses wıthın 3 feet of me and tenors about 10 feet away. What awesome voıces!

I was so ınspıred by that one hour concert that I decıded to try another one and quıckly walked back to the maın square. I made ıt just ın tıme for the second half of a phılharmonıc quartet concert ın a downtown palace ballroom (started at 7 p.m.). I don't know what they were playıng as I dıdn't get a program when I arrıved but ıt was a lıvely set and they were very talented - 2 vıolıns, a vıola and a cello ıf I remember my musıcal ınstruments correctly. And followıng that I crossed the street and went upstaırs to the second half of a Chopın pıano concert that started at 8 p.m. - arrıvıng agaın just at ıntermıssıonç The pıanıst was very talented and the musıc was beautıful. However, I dıdn't enjoy thıs concert as much as the other two. It may just have been the lateness ın a busy day that accounted for that though.

Sunday was my last full day ın Krakow and I decıded I was goıng to go to the Wıelıczka Salt Mıne even ıf my feet weren't perfect yet. There are over 800 steps on the salt mıne tour and the route through the mıne ıs 2 km and the museum another 2 km. Thıs salt mıne has been ın operatıon sınce the mıddle ages or over 900 years accordıng to one brochure. It ıs huge and has 9 levels all wıth mıles of tunnels. We were well over 100 meters beneath the surface and luckıly they let us use the lıft to get back up at the end, but the mıne goes over 300 meters down and there are 300 km of tunnels. It's lıke a lıttle cıty down below wıth ıts own restaurants and shops and post offıce! I guess I should confess that I got to use the lıft on the way down to the fıst stop too so that saved me 300 of the 800 steps. And ıt was a lıft for a mıne, not the kınd you fınd ın a hıgh rıse. It was pıtch black when I went down by myself. Someone had to let you ın and out and ıt made lots of weırd noıses - all of whıch just added to the ambıance of course!

The mıne was a beautıful place and the mıners had done numerous carvıngs throughout the sıte. There were small chambers and large chambers and all of them unıque. There were dozens of chapels throughout but the maın one was huge and can seat 400 or 500 people as current weddıngs ın the chapel prove. The carvıngs ın ıt are ıncredıble. There are statues and pıctures and a large alter, all carved out of salt. The carvıng of Da Vıncı's Last Supper ıs three dımensıonal and exact ın all detaıls (wıthout the colour). The newest carvıng ın the chapel ıs of course of Pope John Paul II.

There were underground lakes and other chambers to vıew and beautıful steps up and down between the levels. The mıne ıtself was actually more ımpressıve than the museum but ıt was ınterestıng to see the dıfferent mınıng technıques and ınstruments used over the years, and how they got the mıners and the salt up and down the mıne shaft. Dıd you know that horses ın salt mınes don't go blınd lıke theır counterparts ın coal mınes? There's another bıt of trıvıa for you. Many of the horses stayed down ın the mıne for 10 years and then successfully returned to the surface as long as the return was done at nıght and sunshıne came gradually wıth the dawn. There ıs only one mıne horse stıll alıve today but she ıs apparently doıng well. Unfortunately I don't remember when they took the last horses to the surface but ıt wasn't very long ago.

The mıne ıs maınly a tourıst attractıon now but they stıll have to mıne the salt because the salt water ıs contınually flowıng ınto the mıne and ıt must be removed to ensure the mıne does not collapse - whıch of course ıs a nıce thıng to hear as you're down on your tour. The walls of the mıne are reınforced wıth wood and ıt ıs stıll the orıgınal wood from whenever ıt orıgınally was put ın place. Wood does not decay ın the salty envıronment so ıt's good for lıfe. More trıvıa! In places the guıde would tap on the wooden poles. They all looked the same but ın fact they all sounded dıfferent and you could play a tune on them - but the tune would change every day. Thıs was apparently because the mıne walls were shıftıng all the tıme and the pressure on the poles was changıng. The guıde also showed us poles that had sımply buckled under the pressure. Of course these poınts weren't all that reassurıng when you were down below. All ın all ıt was a really good tour and I'm glad I went. I even dıd ıt by just takıng the local bus to and from the town of Wıelıczka and walkıng to and from the mıne, as opposed to goıng wıth a tour group, whıch would have cost me almost twıce as much. And an extra benefıt of hte mıne was of course the temperature whıch was an even 14 degrees throughout, although the temperature seemed to vary ın my opınıon.

That nıght I had dınner on the maın market square agaın and then took a cycle rıde to another church for another concert. I can't remember what they call theır system but ıt's kınd of lıke a rıckshaw except that you get the front seat and the drıver pedals the bıke behınd you. I felt quıte decadent rıdıng down the Royal Route from the town square to the Castle and ıt was ındeed very relaxıng and enjoyable.

The concert was another free one and ıt was another madrıgal choır, thıs tıme from Sofıa. They dıd not do a varıed program but rather The Orthodox Lıturgy by Strumskı, whıch meant nothıng to me. It was good but I preferred the varıety of the prevıous evenıng. Thıs group also had more female voıces and never had the males sıngıng on theır own. I mıssed that part. However, agaın the sound and the settıng were ıncredıble. The Church of the Augustınıan Order was another huge hıgh vaulted church and ıt was beautıful. For an encore one of the choır members went up and played the huge pıpe organ whıle the choır sang. The church had a beautıful alter wıth dark paıntıngs surrounded by lots of gold angels and fıgures that were probably 8 - 10 feet hıgh. The alter had three or four parts to ıt and went almost to the ceılıng so ıt was huge and very ımpressıve. Further back ın the church there was a hıgh crucıfıx surrounded by more angels but thıs tıme they were ın dıfferent colours of pınk, blue, green and yellow, and there was a sılver sunburst out from the cross. It was very unıque and fıt well ın front of the alter's darker pıctures and gold statues.

I left the concert and walked home and packed. I had to catch a 2 a.m. bus to the aırport and then spent a couple hours ın the aırport and flew off to Turkey arrıvıng early Monday mornıng. But that ıs all for another blog sınce ıt's tıme for dınner and I can't mıss that. I'll get back to you sometıme next week.

Jayne

If I am keeping track of my days correctly, this is Friday, August 18th and I'm back in Krakow. As I sit at this computer I am on the second floor right beside the window and looking out over the Main Market Square which is filled with people. Starting today they have a Polish cultural festival underway and there are hundreds of booths set up to sell everything imaginable. I haven't even been to all of them yet. And there is a stage set up for entertainment and it changes about every half hour or so. The old market is definitely a happening place today.

It is also a hot place today, which is the main reason I have escaped into the internet cafe. And besides, I knew it had been over a week since I'd written and some of you would be starting to worry. So please relax as all is well. Now all I have to do is figure out where I left off last time and where I have to start writing from this time.

I finished my two weeks at Brusko Zdroj on the 12th and stayed there until the 14th when I could return to my usual place in Krakow. I never did get in a lot of sightseeing around Brusko Zdroj but what I saw was very lovely. The town centre was up the hill from where I was staying so I got a ride up with one of the hotel people, toured around and then walked back home. As usual, they have a wonderful little park or square in the centre of the city and it was very cool and relaxing. The buildings are old and they sell everything imaginable. The flowers are just beautiful and they are all over the sidewalk and street so you really can't miss them.

I continued my treatments right up to the last minute. I certainly had more flexibility in both feet by the time I was done and walking was getting easier all the time. I actually even walked out a couple times and forgot my crutches. I always went back to get them though because I definitely still need them for steps and I never knew where I was going to end up. The weather there turned quite cool and wet and it was very relaxing. I have to admit that now that I am back in Krakow and it's hot again and I'm walking more, the feet aren't doing quite so well. The left one is still very painful and it swells quite quickly. Luckily, the swelling goes down over night so I can start the whole process again the next morning. I told the insurance folks I'd give it a few days around Krakow and see if it gets any better. I guess I'll know that shortly.

But I'm of topic. I was supposed to be talking about my time in Busko Zdroj. It's hard to describe the health resort side of this place as it is huge. There must be 20-25 different sanatoriums in the lower part of the city. They all have treatment areas and they all have rooms. There are apparently several thousand rooms available and they are all like dormitories and they all have small balconies so everyone can hang their towels out to dry after their treatments. The buildings are pretty drab themselves, all white or cream or yellow in colour but the towels definitely liven the place up. The Marconi sanatorium is the original one and whoever built it decided at the time that it was not just to be a medical facility in the normal sense but was to consider the outdoors and nature. The park was originally developed on this basis and it is a beautiful park. All the other sanatoriums have sprung up around the outer edges of the park so the natural beauty is preserved.

On several occasions I sat in the park just watching the people or reading and it was indeed very relaxing. The Marconi is the only Sanatorium that can be seen clearly from the main part of the park. It is a large yellow and white building with stately columns out front and it looks very impressive - almost like an old plantation house from the southern USA. The area is very lush so there were lots of trees around - willow, maple, oak, birch and many others that I just couldn't easily identify. There are shrubs and ferns and beautiful flower beds with bright blasts of colour. With stately old trees and new young trees, I sat there at one point just absolutely amazed at how many different shades of green there were in front of me, and all set against a bright blue sky with a few fluffy white clouds. It was quite amazing..

While I was there a gentleman was playing his accordion softly. Then a violin started in softly at the other end. Both were beautiful and fit the mood perfectly (and I never thought I'd say that of an accordion, which is definitely not one of my favourite instruments!). All around, people were just sitting quietly on the benches or strolling along the pathways. I didn't often recognize the music being played but at one point I knew the violinist was playing the theme from Masterpiece Theatre. It was very relaxing. Even the birds were just sitting in the tree tops enjoying the day. There is a bandstand and seating but there was no concert on when I was there. The benches were simply being enjoyed for relaxation.

At one point there was someone singing, a beautiful rich male voice. I quickly recognized a few words such as Hallelujah and realized the sound was coming from the little church in the corner. It was an evening wedding and parts of the ceremony could be heard in the park. Following the ceremony the bridal party had many pictures taken in the park so we all got to watch. The many with the accordion even played Here Comes The Bride for them. And of course everyone from the wedding was very dressed up, which added a nice touch of class to the surroundings.

There were children around but most of the time they were very quiet. One young boy about 8 or 10 snuck slowly past me and closer to the lady playing the violin and then about 15 feet away from her he crouched down, I'm sure he thought for just a moment. Pretty soon he was just sitting on the pathway mesmerized. His little sister, maybe 5-7, came over and tried to get him to move along but he wasn't going anywhere. She bugged him for a while but eventually she just sat down beside him and they both watched and listened for a long time. Another young girl, probably about 8 years old and with the patience of Job was trying to feed the red squirrels. I bet she was there for an hour and eventually she was rewarded as two of them came right up to her and ate out of her hand. She was doing quite well until a young boy, the only rowdy one I saw the whole time was there, decided it would be more fun to try and catch one of the squirrels and that quickly ended the feeding time.

I'm sure I didn't do that whole situation justice but it really is a wonderful park and a relaxing place to be. If total wellness means communing with nature and sitting peacefully in a park, then Marconi had the right idea. I'm not so sure about his sulfide baths or some of the water they drink down there, but the rest of it was okay. Oh I forgot, you also had to appreciate the arts so music was a big part of the health diet. They had special music therapy sessions and they had concerts quite regularly. I went to a concert at the Marconi with piano, violin, percussion and accordion and it was packed to overflowing. The accordion is definitely more popular over here than it is back home!. I also continued to visit the library at the Sanatorium Krystina, the one that had the English books. There wasn't much of a collection but enough to keep my occupied.

Okay, speaking of music, there is a band now playing on the stage and they just did The Battle Hymn of the Republic. How Cracovian is that? There were a couple of other numbers that I recognized so they must have been doing a tribute to all the visitors or something. Oh well, it's a good way to break away from Busko Zdroj because I don't know what else I can tell you about it except that everyone walks or rides a bike and that means for miles each day. They are a very healthy people and the outdoors, even in the rain, is very much accepted.

Since coming back to Krakow I have simply been wandering around more of the city. Tuesday was my first day back and it was a national holiday of some sort so there wasn't a lot that was open. I just walked to the main square, had lunch, took in he Rembrandt exhibit at the International Culture Centre and learned a lot more about Rembrandt and his work. I've forgotten everything I learned so that's about all I have to say on that visit. Isn't that awful? As much as I like art and like looking at paintings, I just don't seem to have a mind to keep any of the details. It's kind of like that with classical music too, which is why you didn't get a detailed program from the concert I went to.

I also visited the Collegium Maius, which the home of the oldest university in Poland and the second oldest in Europe. King Kazimierz The Great established it in 1364 and it is now part of Jogiellonski University, formerly the U. of Krakow. The original buildings are obviously very old but they are very interesting as they are in a square around a court yard where the scholars could debate and discuss the topics of the time. One of the older grads of the school is Copernicus and one of this century's grads was Karol Wojtyla or Pope John Paul II. The University has an interesting and moving history even in this century. The Germans sent almost 200 faculty and staff to the concentration camps and many never returned. Most of the university buildings and materials were destroyed or looted. However, despite the ban on education, other faculty members and 800 students continued their education in hiding during this time. By 1945, the University opened again to 5,000 students and many new faculty members, many of whom came from Warsaw as the university there, and indeed most of the city, was totally destroyed. That wasn't the end of the University's problems though as Stalinism became part of Polish history and many professors were dismissed for their radical thinking. The University lost its autonomy and all research was stopped. In 1956, with the end of Stalinism, the University activities resumed as normal and the dismissed professors were hired again. However, full autonomy was not returned to the University for many years. Its 650+ years make for interesting reading. At Okanagan College we thought we had gone through a lot of changes in our 40+ years of history. We've got centuries to go yet!!!

And as I left the Collegium Maius I was drawn into a restaurant right across the street. The smells were just incredible and the food didn't disappoint. Trattoria Italiano was packed in the middle of the afternoon and I sat there and thoroughly enjoyed my plate of spaghetti, which the waitress had recommended. It was great! Food in Krakow comes in every form imaginable. Italian, Mexican, Chinese, ..... It's all here and it's all good. It's more expensive if you are eating in a place around the main tourist attractions but it's all good and it's all reasonably priced.

On Wednesday I started off by actually finally going to the Barbican. I have been by it dozens of times but never paid the money to go in and visit it. Well, I have to say that it was well worth the admission price of 5 PLN or less than $2 Cdn. What an impressive building. The Barbican is round with walls 3 to 5 feet thick - thinner at top than bottom so they had cannons at the bottom and guns at the top for defense.. It was built in 1499 as part of Krakow's defense system and I think this is how it worked. Wawel Castle was on Wawel Hill at the river's edge and surrounded by a wall. Then there was another wall around the old city and a lot of the houses and stores and shops were within the wall. That wall was surrounded by a 25 foot moat so that the whole city was surrounded by water and defense walls. The north gate, the St Florianska Gate, was the main traffic route into the city. The Barbican was about 25 feet outside that gate and all traffic had to go through it first. The Barbican is about 30 m in diameter on the inside and has two entrances; the one that leads to a draw bridge and the outside world and the one that leads over another drawbridge to the St Florianska Gate. The Barbican is in excellent shape and is currently the largest and best preserved building of its kind in Europe. Tonight there is an performance in the Barbican by Opera Krakow so, if I'm still awake and moving at 9 p.m., I may just go and see what the sound of an orchestra and opera singers would be like in such an old setting. The sky is currently clear blue so there should be little chance of rain.

I have to confess that I had lunch at McDonalds. Does it count that you'd never really know if was McDonalds except for the food? I was wandering down Florianska Street and simply checking all the doors off the street. Many of them are big double doors that used to lead to courtyards and the doorway was the entrance to the courtyard. There are small shops and restaurants and beautiful shady treed areas back in these recesses and it was back in one of these that I first smelled McDonalds. It caught me so much by surprise that I just had to have something so I did. And it was quite nice sitting in the shaded courtyard eating it. There are no being yellow arches or huge signs at either of the McDonalds I saw. I actually had to go back out and look for the sign to this one and later on found another one on another street. The gold arch is a true gold arch (not yellow) and it's very small and tasteful and the word McDonalds is simply in gold on the side of the building. It's easy to miss as it seems to blend into the style of old Krakow and yet it's easy to find if you know what you're looking for (or smelling for).
.
I had a quick dinner at a BBQ in the square and ended up at a table with a guy from New Zealand and a girl from Ireland, and then we were joined by a guy from Australia who spent last year in Banff. It was the first table of English speaking people that I've been at in a long time. Most of the time I just don't talk to anyone since they don't understand me. However, as nice as it was, I couldn't stay as I had to run to a piano concert. It was a Frederic Chopin Memoriam but the second half included other composers such as Mozart and Debussy and Rachmaninoff so it was a nice variety. There is another one tonight but it's in about 15 minutes so I don't think I'll make it to it before the Barbican concert.

Yesterday, I finally made it to the museum above the market stalls in the Old Cloth Hall and it was a great day to go because it is free on Thursdays. The exhibit is Polish artists and I was impressed. As usual I can't tell you any artist's names but some of the pictures and sculptures were amazing. The one I do remember was called Nero's Torches and it was one of the huge ones, probably 10-12 feet by 20-25 feet at least. The colours and the mood were incredible. The one side of the painting was all dark as Nero's people just started lighting the torches. The centre part was Nero and his court in all its white and gold and bright shining glory, and the other side was between the two contrasts as the ordinary Roman people watched what was happening. Nero's and his group were happy and jubilant and enjoying the sights and the other Romans were horrified at what was happening or looking on questioning what was happening. The torches being lit in the palace garden were Christians covered with tar and strapped to poles . Nero was killing these people to convince Rome that these individuals were the ones that tried to burn Rome and he of course was a good guy in saving them all. For all its horror it was an absolutely beautiful and almost mesmerizing painting. There were other great paintings but I don't remember any of the names. The other big ones often depicted wars or battles and the people involved didn't mean much to me. There was one with the Polish King giving Prussia (?) its independence and it had a lot of historical figures in it but alas, they meant nothing to me. Overall it was a very impressive exhibit and well worth the free admission.

I had lunch yesterday sitting at a table around the Market Square and taking in the sights and sounds. I ordered a salad, which I know is hard for most of you to believe, but I did and it was delicious. A curried chicken salad with just lettuce, tomatoes and celery plus the chunks of curried chicken and then chunks of camembert cheese and with a mild curry dressing. It was wonderful and so was the fruit drink that went with it.

After lunch I went to a museum on the history of Krakow and Christianity. It was interesting but nothing too impressive. They certainly had their quota of churches and bishops, and it was all tied into Polish royalty and the development of the country. The exhibit may not have impressed me but I must say that the Polish people certainly impress me with their religious fervor. Perhaps it is the same in all Catholic countries but it's new to me. Even young school children on their way around town will stop in at the churches and cathedrals to say a quick, or not so quick, prayer. Every church I stop at, no matter what time of the day, has people in it praying. I certainly am not aware of that happening in Kelowna, but it may happen at the Catholic Churches. It will be interesting to see if it continues as I travel through Europe. The churches are certainly impressive and beautiful over here and they are everywhere. At times you can find 3 or 4 in one block. The marbles and golds in the interiors are very impressive with the sun coming in the stained glass windows. I imabine they are equally imipressive when lit at night.

Now just to prove how important their religion is, let me tell you about my bus ride from Busko Zdroj to Krakow. It was another old bus but not quite as bad as the one on the way out. It was hot and bouncy and I was trying to watch the scenery and take some pictures but that was pretty hopeless. Anyway, at one point I looked up and the driver had pulled the screen down to protect him from the sun. There were three pictures on the screen. The largest was a huge big, black Harley Davidson logo. The second was a large picture of a horse and carriage like those touring people around the old city right now. The third was a smaller picture of Pope Johne Paul II and that did not surprise me at all. His picture seems to show up everywhere and no one seems to think it's unusual as to the setting.

Okay, this computer just told me I might no longer be connected and should probably try saving this right away. I hope it works because I'd hate to lose all this valuable info!!!

I'll just quickly end by saying that I am here in Karkow until Sunday the 20th. On the 21st I go for two weeks on the Turkish Riviera (I personally didn't even know they had a Riviera but there you go). I don't remember any hotel described that mentioned internet so I'm not sure how that will go. However, I bet there will be an internet cafe somewhere and I will definitely try to keep in touch. After that I'm looking at Praque for a week and then I actually have to do some work so will be meeting some OC folks in Vienna for a conference in Switzerland and some site visits.

I can't believe how fast the time is going. It's been almost two months and I've only seen 2 countries. I think my expectations were definitely out of line and a revised travel itinerary may be required. I will keep you posted.
Take care all!

Jayne

Krakow was as beautiful as I remembered it. I arrived on July 22nd by train from Warsaw, about a 2 hour journey. I then took a taxi to my room above Jordan Travel at 9 Dluga St. This location is less than one block from the main street that runs around the old city and the Planty that runs inside that street.

The Planty is a beautiful green space that circles the entire old city. At one point I believe it was the old 26 foot moat and the city wall and eventually it was turned into a beautiful park area in the middle of Krakow. There is a lot of greenspace in all Polish cities and towns and it is used a lot. In the evenings every path is busy and every park bench is full. And the people are all ages - families with little children, teenagers, seniors, ... At one point I decided that the parks were probably the coolest places to be. Most homes do not have air conditioning so in the heat wave they were having the homes would be very hot and the park would be a great escape at the end of the day. The parks were also a great escape for certain tourists during the day when a break was needed from the heat.

My room was a typical room - small with a single bed, small dresser, closet, table and chair as well as a small bathroom with walk-in shower. It served my purposes quite well and because it was on the top floor (fifth floor but 4th by their numbering) I had a beautiful breeze in the evenings and mornings and a beautiful big window that I could leave wide open with no fear of anyone getting near it. Other rooms in the place did not fare quite so well and I heard many people talking about the heat. The room next to me had windows but only into the hallway so they got no outside breeze at all but got all the heat of the day. My room was also at the back of the establishment which meant it was very, very quiet. The rooms that overlooked Dluga St, which many people thought would be the choice rooms, had to listen to the trams all night long. I had to move to a front room for my last night there and in one half hour period I counted 13 trams going by and they were noisy. The street had tracks going in both directions and it was a very narrow street with only one lane of traffic in each direction. I bet the bed wasn't more than 10 feet away from the northbound tram. Oh well, I just turned over on my right side and went to sleep. I really do now know what it means to "turn a deaf ear" to something - and it works.

Anyway, on the 22nd when I arrived, I didn't do a lot except get settled in and relax and make plans for touring. On Sunday the 23rd I took a taxi to Wawel Hill. It is at the other end of the old city and it wouldn't take 15-20 minutes to walk there normally but, since I knew I would be walking around the castle and through the exhibits for a long time, I decided to take a taxi and save my feet at least that much walking. And of course, being a good tourist, I knew the place opened at 10 a.m. on Sundays so I was there right around 10. Unfortunately when I went to buy my tickets I was informed that there was a special ceremony taking place in the castle courtyard and most of the exhibits in the church and the castle wouldn't open until after noon. What is a person to do except sit and relax (and have some refreshments because it was another hot, humid day) and there were hundreds of tourists all doing the same thing.

"The Lost Wawel" exhibit was open so I did that section first. It displays old pottery and weapons and armour and artifacts from the old castle and then the exhibit goes down into an excavated area where you look at the original walls and layout of the first castle (or one of the first). The first settlement on Wawel Hill goes back to the 8th century so there is a lot of history in this one place. First it was the home of bishops and then from the 10th century to the 17th century it was the home of the Polish kings. After a fire in the 17th century the official home of the King moved to Warsaw, which has been the capital ever since.

That makes me think of one of the great differences between Warsaw and Krakow. Warsaw was a seat of power during the wars and after WWII was completely destroyed. Krakow was not a seat of power and survived virtually intact from the wars so everything is original - or as original as possible considering almost every king wanted to make his own changes to the place.

I toured the Crown Treasury and Armoury that went for ever and ever up and down stairs. Unless I missed a section it was more armoury than treasury. In Copenhagen at the Rosenberg Palace the Treasury was full of incredible treasures with crowns and jewels but here there was nothing so fancy. Perhaps it was just a difference in the time periods involved and the older treasures from the 10th century just didn't catch my fancy as much as the more recent centuries. It was interesting but just not awe inspiring.

I also toured the State Rooms and the Royal Private Apartments. I know that the current Polish Presidents still use the Private Apartments at times. Lech Walensa certainly visit Krakow according to our guide. Well, let me tell you that his bedroom may have been huge and secure behind walls that were three feet thick, but it was not a warm, welcoming room and it was very plain. The bathroom had the required components but certainly not in a modern form. I would not have wanted to be a guest.

Other of the rooms were impressive just because of the history and paintings on the wall. The theme was definitely Noah's Ark throughout most of the staterooms and there were tapestries and paintings on the same subject everywhere. There were also other tapestries and paintings and sculptures throughout and they were very impressive.

The courtyard of the castle itself is large and outside the castle but within the castle walls, the outer courtyard is also large. The function going on in the morning was taking place in the inner courtyard and it looked like military or guards were graduating, from what I could tell. There were bands and speeches and guests everywhere. The inner courtyard and the church were closed at the time.

The Wawel Cathedral is beautiful but rather dark - again probably because of the age - and divided into many separate chapels. I only visited the Cathedral on my own and did not take the full Cathedral tour. Thus I did not see the Royal Tombs where most of the old (pre 17th century) Polish Kings are buried, or the Sigismund Bell, which is only rung on special Polish occasions.

After all my touring around, I had an early dinner at the restaurant on the lower end of Wawel Hill overlooking the Wisla River. Then I walked slowly back the royal way to the city centre and home.

On Monday I went down to the old city and took an electric train ride tour of the old city and other sights. The Barbican is from the 15th century and was at one of the gates into the city. It is circular and its walls are three feet thick and it looks almost perfect. It became a land mark for me and was often where I entered the old city through The Florianska Gate and by walking down Florianska Street.

The Main Market area was planned in the 13th century and is 200 x 200 m square. You can almost image all the trade that took place in this area over the centuries. Now there are cafes and restaurants and benches and open places for everyone to enjoy. Across the centre of the market area is the Cloth Hall. It is a huge building with dozens and dozens of small shops inside. They sell everything from jewelry to wood carvings to clothes and the place is always packed. The second floor is a museum and I have to admit that I have not yet been there so that will be for the next trip.

Just as you enter the Main Market from Florianska Street you have St. Mary's Church, which was built from the 13th to 15th centuries in a Gothic style and restored in the 19th century. After my little electric train tour which stopped just beside the Church, I decided to go in and take a look. And I'm glad I did because about 5 minutes later the weather finally broke and they had an incredible thunderstorm and the rain just came down in buckets. The Church very quickly filled up about that time!

Anyway, the Church is absolutely beautiful. It's one of those places you could sit for hours and never see everything that is to be seen. The alter is amazing on its own. It is carved and painted wood 11 x 13 m in size with 12 scenes and the two outer panels fold in to close off the centre panel and the outside part is carved into 12 scenes as well. It is from the 15th century and was folded up and stored during the wars so it has survived intact. That is the main alter but there are many other smaller alters at chapels around the building, in fact 20, if I remember correctly, and each of them is equally beautiful but just much smaller.

The Church has two towers on the outside and it looks quite strange because the two towers are not the same size or design. However, the taller of the towers was really a guard tower for the City where the guards could look over city wall into the countryside and ensure all was well. If an enemy was approaching the guard would sound the alarm by blowing a horn and that horn is still blown at noon everyday.

There are many beautiful churches in Krakow and sometimes there are two or three within the same block. I wandered past the Franciszkanow Church one afternoon and had to go in as I heard some beautiful organ music. I sat in the back and listened to the music and looked at the beautiful stain glass windows and it was very relaxing. Across the street at # 3 Franciszkanow St, there is a picture of Pope John Paul II in an upper window as that is where he would hold audience in Krakow. Apparently when he died the entire street had to be closed because of all the candles and flowers that were left there in his memory. They had a photo display of Pope John Paul II along the Planty and it was really interesting. It was very easy to see why the people loved him as his warm personality came out in every picture. "Papa Jon" as they called him, lived in Krakow from 1938 to 1978 when he was elected Pope, and he is very much a part of the city.

My little electric train ride took us through Kasimierz, the Jewish district of Krakow. Jews have always been part of Krakow and prior to WWII 25% of the population was Jewish. We saw their synagogues, old and new, and their cemeteries and markets and restaurants. It is a thriving part of Krakow and it would have been nice to have some more time to spend wandering around the district. Part of Schindler's List was filmed here.

I guess that is a perfect lead in to my other organized tour for Krakow. I took a bus tour to Auschwitz - Birkenau and although it was an all day tour, I'm not sure what I can write about it. 1.5 million people died here and the Polish people have done a great job of making it a memorial to those people and a reminder to everyone else just what can happen if we let it.

We went to Auschwitz first and toured through many of the buildings but certainly not even a small portion of them. We saw the gas chambers, the barbed-wire fences, the guard watchtowers, the signs saying "Halt! Stoj!" with the skull and crossbones above it. We saw where prisoners were tried and then hung or shot and we saw the torture cells for those who disobeyed. But the one thing that stays with you is the sheer size of the place. There are rows and rows of buildings in Auschwitz and I think they have made a specific museum of each one of them. One was for Polish Jews, one was for Gypsies, ... You would need days to go through them all.

At times we were passing displays of shoes and there were thousands and thousands of them, then suitcases, then hairbrushes, then eye glasses. It was a very touching and sobering sight - very memorable and well done. And throughout there were pictures of the camp and of prisoners who were there and their stories. And when you thought you'd seen so much already, they then take you to Birkenau.

I don't think I had ever heard of Birkenau. Apparently Auschwitz, despite how big it appeared to me, just wasn't big enough to hold all the prisoners. Auschwitz had been a old Polish army camp and it met their needs for a while. When they needed more space they had to build Birkenau. Very little of Birkenau is still standing. The chimneys for each of the wooden barracks still stand, rows and rows of them, but only a few of the barracks themselves are intact.

The first couple we went into were the latrines and wash areas. The others were the sleeping areas. You could see a lot of light through the boards on the walls and it was incredibly hot inside that day. I'm sure in the winter it was incredibly cold. The bunks were exactly as seen in the movies, just boards for people to sleep in - bunks three high all tightly pushed together. Over 400 people slept in each barracks.

And of course only the healthy who could be put to work were kept in the barracks. The train track went down the centre of the camp through the main entrance and stopped farther down the way. The sorting stations were beside the train track and the gas chambers (showers so the prisoners were told) were at the far end. It was obviously a well planned and organized process. One that is still hard for me to imagine even though I've seen the camps. It's almost too incomprehensible to even be believable, despite the fact I know it to be true.

Well, on that note, I think it's time to end this blog. We are in the midst of a thunderstorm at the moment so I am likely to get rather wet before I get home to dinner. And I shall be late too so my cold ham slices will be even colder!

Take care all, and I'll write again soon.

Jayne

I arrived in Warsaw on the afternoon of July 15th after a 7.5 hour train ride from Swinoujscie. I had a first class ticket for the train so was quite comfortable. Although there was no air conditioning, the breeze coming in the compartment kept it quite cool. For the first couple of hours I had the cabin to myself and for the last part there was one other girl with me. She spoke no English and I spoke no Polish so it was a very quiet journey.

I should back up and say that the train station in Swinoujscie is pretty small with only four tracks at most. It wasn't very busy when I arrived there hobbling along and trying to carry my luggage at the same time. Luckily there was a rather strange baggage handler available to help me with my bags. He was a young guy just trying to make some extra money and most people were seriously trying to ignore him. He was a bit odd but he was certainly well worth the 6 PLN ($2) he got from me. He told me when the train was coming in and said we had to start moving down to the end of the ramp. I followed him but I must say I thought he was perhaps wrong when no one else was heading in that direction. We went way down off the platform and along the stone walk beside the track and sure enough my car was the last car and it was way off the end of the platform. He quickly took my bag into my assigned cabin and came back and helped me up into the car - the first step of the train was about four feet off the stone walkway. I never would have made the train without him!

I couldn't figure out why they would put the first class cars so far from the platform but when we came to Poznan it became a bit clearer. At that stop we pulled into the station and waited for awhile. It was then apparent that they were adding cars on to our end of the train. When we left Poznan in the direction we had just come from it was clear that the added cars were the engines and first class was now back at the front for our arrival in Warsaw five hours later. And since there weren't many people getting into first class at Swinoujscie, I guess they really didn't inconvenience that many people. I just happened to be one of the lucky ones.

Leaving Swinoujscie there was thick forests on both sides of the track. Within half an hour that became cleared farmland. Occasional pine forests and patches of birch trees (or at least something with white bark) passed by. Sometimes the ground was covered by thick ferns and sometimes it just looked like sand. Eventually we ended up in farmland that looked very prairie like with lots of grain. Then it looked more like southwestern Ontario with corn and beans thrown in. At various points we went through orchard lands and closer to Warsaw the fields became beautiful patches of cooler with all kinds of produce - cabbage, red cabbage, beets, carrots, etc. - in the various sections.

I took a taxi to my hotel in Warsaw because I knew it wasn't near the train station. What I didn't realize was that it wasn't near anything. Jordan's, the group I booked through for Krakow, had recommended this place and I could see why it would work for them. However, it just wasn't going to work for me. The hotel came with breakfast which was fine but there were no other restaurants anywhere nearby. None of the tourist attractions were close and none of the tour companies picked up at this hotel. I went for a walk on Sunday and went way too far to get absolutely no where. All I did on Monday was rest my feet, check the internet and try to come up with a plan.

On Tuesday I moved to the Novotel downtown and it was in a much better location right across freom the Palace of Culture and Science, two blocks from the train station, and within a block of such famous restaurants as McDonalds and Pizza Hut and Subway. Stop laughing. The last two came in handy in the evenings after a long day when food was required. The hotel was also across the street from a huge internet cafe with well over 100 machines. It cost 4 PLN per hour during peak times and went as low as 1 PLN in less peak times. The Novotel had two internet stations set up and they were charging 15 PLN per 15 minute session. Needless to say they weren't very busy.

Tuesday afternoon I took my first city tour and went to the old city and the Royal Castle. Warsaw is a truly unique city in that 95% of it was destroyed during the war. What wasn't bombed or burned during regular fighting was systematicaly destroyed - every house, library, church, museum, palace, etc. was demolished because the people of Warsaw tried to fight back on several occasions and the Germans decided to leave them with nothing. Even the Royal Castle was blown up, the tour guide telling us it took over 100,000 charges to totally demolish the Castle to the satisfaction of the Germans.

Since 1945, Warsaw has been rebuilding, and reconstruction of the Royal Castle started in 1971. Everything in the old city and the Castle have been reconstructed as it would have appeared originally. The Castle was totally reconstructed by donations from Polish people around the world. Both the old city and the Royal Castle have been declared UNESCO's World Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites because of their authenticity.

I have to confess that I didn't see a lot of the old city because I was too busy looking at the cobble stone streets to make sure I had my feeet and my crutches in the right spots. And I had to keep up to the tour so I couldn't just stop and look around. The mail square was very busy and there were lots of small stores and shops throughout the journey - certainly lots of cafes and bars with open air seating. Most buildings were tall 4-5 story brick buildings. There were also many churches although some of them didn't really even look like churches from the outside and you could have just missed them as you walked down the street. Many of them didn't have any separate space or courtyard around them and their front seemed just like any other street front.

Parts of the old city wall remain intact and the Barbican from 1548 has been rebuilt as it was in that time. There are also many monuments throughout the old city, and if fact throughout hte whole city. I think they have a monument to every bit of history and they have a lot of history going back to the end of the 13th century. Did you know that Poland:
- and Lithuania had a combined parliament at one time - held in the Royal Castle?
- was the largest country in Europe? (which made it very attractive to invaders)
- had democratic elections for its presidents starting back in the 1700s?
- passed the first constitution in Europe and the second in the world in 1791?
- was erased totally from the map for 123 years and given to Russia, Prussia and Austria?
It's an interesting country with a lot of history and thus a lot of reasons for monuments.

The Royal Castle was quite interesting. It is full of paintings and historical pieces that the tour guides are very quick to explain as either an original that has been returned to the castle or as a substitute donated by some one or some country but what really should have been there was ....
The castle is early Baroque style and we viewed the King's apartments and parliamentary halls and some of the state rooms. It was beautiful to see but more remarkable to think that it had all been rebuilt and refurbished in the last 40 years. I was quite impressed.

On Wednesday I was going to take another tour with the same group but the tour guide discouraged me from doing that because she didn't think I'd be able to keep up with the other tour. I found that rather discouraging but went off on my own to explore. I started at the Palace of Culture and Science and I have to tell you I finished there too. It is huge. The Palace was built in 1955 as a gift from the Russians and it is still the highest building in Poland. I have no idea how to describe its style to you but it really is impressive. I looked at it from my hotel room so whether it was day or night, when it was lit, it was still impressive. The building covers over 3 hectares of land, has 33 elevators, and over 3000 rooms. It has banks, insurance copanies, research institutions, theatres, cinemas, museums, libraries, an institute of science and much more in it. I went to the 30th floor observatory for a view of Warsaw and it was quite impressive. I also took in a science exhibit they had going on and just wandered all over the place. I was absolutely exhausted when I left and only had the energy to make it to Pizza Hut before heading back to the hotel.

Now that makes me think of two things I should mention. Firstly, this Pizza Hut was right across from the Palace of Culture and Science so it was in a prime location but it was by far the largest Pizza Hut I have ever seen. I bet you could easily sit 200 people inside and another 100 outside. I had a small Hawaiian pizza and a Pepsi, which did come with free refills, and it cost me a total of 18,80 PLN or about $6.50 Cdn. But the interesting part was that they just don't come and go in this Pizza Hut and treat it like a fast food type of place. They come and stay for the evening. And they don't seem to eat pizza only like I did. They had salads and appetizers to start and then they share pizzas and other main course dishes and then they have dessert. There were no kids anywhere in sight or families. Basically it was young couples and middle aged people out for an evening. Now I was eating reasonably early, maybe 6:30 or 7:00, and maybe there was something on at a nearby theatre that everyone was going to run off to. That I don't know. I just know it seemed to be a different crowd and a different feel to the restaurant.

The second thing this reminded me of was the transportation system. The Novotel was kitty corner from the Palace of Culture and Science. Both of the streets at this intersection were main streets with many lanes of traffic. As well, the trolley system ran down both streets (in the centre between the two directions of traffic) and the buses ran with the traffic. There was a large traffic circle at the intersection and it was the most amazing thing to watch. Trolleys seemed to have the right away. There were street lights to control the movement of other vehicles but the corner was always in motion. And never once did I see a pedestrian on the road. You just didn't do it. All pedestrians had to go down the stairs, walk over to whatever section they wanted, and then walk back up the stairs. Now I'm sure I'm not describing this very clearly for you but people had to get from the sidewalks to the trolleys in either direction on either street so with the traffic circle and trolley set up, there were 8 sets of stairs in total. Now for those of us who really weren't up to doing stair or who had baby carriages with them or whatever, there were little elevators. Luckily the tour guide was telling me about these elevators and how you have to hold the button the whole time or you won't go anywhere, otherwise I might never have made it anywhere. They really just look like phone booths - open glass boxes about the size of a phone booth and you just get in and disappear. Then you get in another one and reappear. Well, after going down once and walking to what I thought was the correct exit and going up again and finding it wasn't the right spot, I just hit the button and disappeared again. Before long I felt like a mouse in a maze down below the street and a golpher at a carnival when peeking up above. You know those games you have where you try to hit the golpher as he pops his head up? Well, that's what it looked like. The more I rode the things the funnier it got and I'm sure people thought I was crazy afterwhile. After the first day I could never look out my window at the traffic circle without trying to guess where the next golpher was going to pop up.

Oh my, I do digress and I'm sure you now think I'm totally crazy. Alright, back to the sights of Warsaw. On Thursday I decided to try another tour company the front desk clerk recomended. I don't think the tour guide was too happy to have me along for the tour but I survived. We went past the Belvedere Palace but did not go in for a tour. It was built in the 1600s and remodeled in the 1800s and many famous leaders lived there. The most recent was Lech Walesa from 1990 to 1995. Now it is a museum but was not open on the day of our tour. We also drove by the Presidential Palace where the current President now lives. It was also from the 1600s.

Our main destination was the Royal Lazienky Park and Palace. The park was beautiful and the first statue we saw was to Frederic Chopin and right now it is the only one I remember. We walked through the park past several others until we came to the Palace. It was all I could do to keep up with the group so not a lot of time for looking at the park or the monuments or for taking pictures. The Palace on the Water or Palace on the Island was in a beautiful setting and I wish we could have had more time to enjoy it. The Palace itself was originally set up as a bath house and the theme throughout was water. It was quite interesting and unique, but not as spectacular on the inside as on the outside, although the historial background was amazing.

During the bus trip we also passed another buch of statues and monuments: the Tomb of the Unknkown Soldier, the Monument ot he Fallen and Murdered in the East, the Monument to the Heroes of the Ghetto, the Monument to the Little Upriser, the Opera House and others.

On Friday I decided to do some touring on my own. I caught a bus across the street and went to Wilanow Park and Palace. I actually got there in one try and got back again on the first try so I was really impressed. The park was beautiful and since I was on my own I actually had a chance to wander around the flower gardens and the park and down my the water. The Palace was huge and took a long time to tour but I rented a headset and had my own private tour in English that I could pause at any time to match my speed. It took hours to complete the tour but the paintings and staatues were beautiful and the furnishings quite amazing. As a king's summer residence it wasn't too bad at all. It was built in the 17th century and the gardens had beautiful Roman statues throughout. Since I had time on my own I actually got some pictures here so hopefully they will turn out.

Wow, I can't believe how long I've taken on Warsaw and it's now time to head back to the hotel for dinner. I guess Krakow will have to wait for another time.

I must say before I leave Warsaw, that I saw very little of it. I really only did two days of touring and you could probably take several weeks. It is a huge city with many different dimensions to it so I think it might require another visit sometime in the future.

That's all for now.

Jayne

Before I start on any discussion of Krakow and Warsaw, I have to make a correction from my last posting. At the end I was telling you about prices here in Poland and I noted that two weeks of accommodation and three meals a day cost 1054 PLN or $350 Cdn. I transposed some numbers there and the cost was actually 1540 PLN or about $510 Cdn. Even though the correction increases the cost by over 50%, which is a significant amount, you have to admit it's still pretty cheap overall.

I have now completed three days of treatments and I have to tell you that these people are tiring me out. I am getting lots of exercise though, and I guess that's a good thing. It takes me about half an hour just to walk between my hotel and the treatment centre. And then another half hour if I want to hit the library. Luckily all meals are at the hotel or that would be another hike. And then when I get into the treatments most of them are very relaxing but the "gimnastyka indywiduaina" is a real workout. By the time I get out of there I'm totally exhausted. I think I biked 10 km yesterday and did a thousand different point and flex exercises for my feet - some sitting with my feet on the floor, some lying down with my feet in raised slings, some just free let exercises. I never would have guessed that pointing and flexing in various positions could be so tiring. It's also pretty painful at times but the range of motion is definitely getting better so I guess it's worth it.

By the time I'd been through their routine once I decided it really wasn't much different than going to a physiotherapist except on a more intense level. I know when I've needed physiotherapy in Kelowna (usually for some baseball injury!) they add either heat or ice depending on the injury, then they might do some ultrasound, then hook you up to some electric gizmo for stimulation, then massage and then some exercises. In Kelowna one person looks after all of that but here in Busko Zdroj those are all separate therapies and as the patient you simply move from one area to another to get the treatment. The specialist in that area does just the one thing all day long with hundreds of people coming through so its like mass factory production with timers ringing everywhere you go. Anyway, that system explains why I'm having 35 treatments in 10 days. It's really just like 7 treatments each with 5 parts, and the exercise portion is long and strenuous. Of course it doesn't help that there is no air conditioning so when exercising you really tend to tire out quickly. Ah, but it will all be worth it in the end so I'm not complaining - especially when I get to finish most days with some sort of massage.

Okay, that took longer than I expected. I think I may just have to leave Krakow and Warsaw for another blog altogether - perhaps tomorrow when I have a day off from treatments. Now however, I have to get ready to head back to the hotel for lunch and then I have to come back here for more treatments this afternoon. Oh what a busy life I lead!

Perhaps I just have time to talk about foot. When I made my reservation for this place, my major concern was the three meals a day. What if I didn't like them???? I arrived on a Saturday afternoon. I had eaten my breakfast in Krakow and then took a two hour bus ride to Busko Zdroj - and that was an experience on its own. An old rickety bus with no suspension and no air conditioning on a hot muggy day. I was exhausted when I arrived and luckily they had a water machine in the lobby so at least I had something to drink. Dinner wasn't until 6 p.m. so I had to wait until then for anything further to eat. I went down promptly at 6 and there were about 8 settings already prepared. At each was a plate with 2 pieces of ham and 2 pieces of bologna (or something similar) - each about 60% the size of one of our slices, and some tomato slices. People were getting bread from a basket at a centre table and seemed quite content. I assumed this was kind of the appetizer / salad but I was wrong. This was the entire meal. Oh that's not true. There was also tea. Anyway, I ate it and survived quite well. Even decided it wouldn't be bad if I wanted to lose some weight.

Breakfast was the typical buffet I had been used to with cold meats, cheeses, breads, some different fruit, tomatoes and cucumber slices, hot scrambled eggs and sausages, some granola and other cold cereal, yogurt, juice, tea, coffee. I did just fine at breakfast so had no problems there.

At lunch time I went in and the places were set again. This time there was a bowl with a cold pasta in it and a plate with cucumber slices with sour cream on them. No one else was there yet so I started my pasta and it wasn't bad but seemed rather strange. A few minutes later the waitress came over and set a tureen on the table. What I actually had in the bowl was the noodles for my noodle soup. Once I added the liquid and its spices, the soup was actually quite good and I decided soup and bread and cucumbers wasn't too bad for lunch. And I think we had a glass of juice that day so that was better than tea. As I'm about ready to leave the waitress comes up again and takes my soup bowl and replaces it with a huge plate of potatoes and meat and gravy. It was delicious! So suddenly the light bulb came on and I realized that they had breakfast, dinner and tea. The dinner at noon has continued to be soup and meat and potatoes every day and always very filling. Somedays the meat is in a cabbage roll or sometimes it's in a dumpling but you still get potatoes. And several of the days the soup has been potato as well. Being a potato lover, that's fine with me but it does seem like a heavy emphasis on potatoes and I know some people who don't even eat potatoes so they might go hungry. Oh, and you get dessert with your noon meal as well so you're really full when you leave. The evening meal has continued to be cold meats and tea. The bread is always there and sometimes jams and other spreads. It never seems like much but after the huge noon meal I can't say that I've ever been hungry.

Oh I should say that they changed the evening menu last night and we had perogies. And of course it had to be last night because yesterday I couldn't make it to the noon meal because of an overlapping treatment so I went to a local grill near the treatment centre and I decided to have perogies. So yesterday was my perogie day and I must say that both batches were good. They were Russkie perogies so both batches had cheese and potato stuffing and that was fine with me. I've had others over here that were stuffed with meat and mushrooms and other things and I much prefer the standard potatoes and cheese.

Okay, that's enough for now. I must hobble back to the hotel for my tiny little noon meal. The weather today is cool and cloudy and it looks like it could rain. Hopefully it will wait until I'm back to my hotel to do so. After so much hot, humid weather the clouds are very welcome so I'm not going to complain.

Next time I promise you Warsaw and Krakow!

Jayne

Hello from Busko Zdroj, Poland.

I have had so many comments about my lack of postings that you have guilted me into writing something more. I have no idea what it will be but it's air conditioned in here so be ready for a long one.

My last post was on July 1st and so it has been over a month. I am still in Poland and will be for at least another week or so. Many of you have been asking why Poland and do I have relatives over here? Some have also been asking what happened to the Scandinavian countries I was talking about visiting? And others of you just want to know what's up. I think I'll just start from the beginning and take it from there as many of your questions will be answered that way.

Copenhagen was great. I think I told you a bit about my visit there in my last posting. Just to put things in order, I arrived on a Friday night and slept in on Saturday morning. I then had breakfast, got my bearings at the local tourist information office and then went shopping. Yes, I know that's hard for many of you to believe since you know I hate shopping, but I did head off to the shopping district. Copenhagen has a great pedestrian shopping area and it seems to go for ever. I was looking for a specific store recommended by the tourist people and of course it was way at the other end and several hours later. They did not have what I needed but sent me to another location "not far" from their shop. Another hour or so later I found the spot and finally made my purchase. You see I had to go shopping first because I didn't have a chance to buy a camera before I left Canada so I had to get one before I could do any sightseeing. With my shopping done, all I managed in the rest of the day was eating some dinner and checking out Tivoli and going home to read about my camera.

Wrong! Despite the fact that they assured me there would be English instructions, and indeed the list of what was in the box was itself in English, there was no English operating manual. So Sunday I got up and had breakfast and walked back to the shop where I bought the camera - and yes, I found my own way back there. Well, there isn't much open in Copenhagen so that was a wasted trip except for the fact that the Round Tower (Rundetaarn?) was only a short distance away so I went there to cross that off my list of places to see. It didn't open until noon so I was about an hour too early.

It was an incredibly hot day but I decided to be patient and wait. As it turned out I found a very comfortable park bench in the shade of several large trees beside the Round Tower and a local church. There was a lovely breeze blowing through and an old man was sitting in the shade of one of the buildings playing his accordion. It was quite enjoyable just sitting and watching all the people go by - many of whom were coming to see the Round Tower and also had to wait. There were a lot of ice cream cones been devoured in that hour.

Eventually we all made it into the tower and climbed the circular route to the top to have a wonderful view of the city. I tried a couple of photos but I certainly wouldn't say they did the city justice. Oh well, you have to start somewhere.

From the tower it appeared that there was a castle not too far away so I decided I'd head in that direction when I descended. I went through a beautiful park and then toured Rosenberg castle. The castle was fantastic and the treasury was very interesting with incredible jewelry and crowns for the past hundreds of years. From there I headed home via a route past the botanical gardens and then Tivoli yet again.

Now it's Monday and guess what I did today. I went back to the shopping area again to see the guys in the store about an English brochure. They made a few phone calls and promised me they would get the English version in on Tuesday or Wednesday. Of course I would have to go back and pick it up.

It was a very cloudy and rainy day but I decided to keep walking. The rain kept falling but it was so hot that you never really got wet so I headed toward the water. I reached Hojbro Plads and the stork fountain and the statue of Bishop Absolom, and then toured around Christiansborg. Christiansborg is the current government building and also the chambers for the Queen. It's built on the ruins of about four other castles so I toured the ruins of Absolom's 1167 castle and Copenhagen Castle (1400's) which are under the current building, and then toured the Queen's Reception rooms which were quite lavish. And guess what I finished the day with food and Tivoli Gardens again.

Tuesday was to be a long busy day. I was going to ignore the camera store (after having been there for the last three days in a row) and hopefully get a lot of touring done since I still had to see the Little Mermaid and the Opera House and Amalienborg and the Kastelet, to name a few things. I didn't actually see much but that's a whole other matter that I'll save for later. In the end I just phoned the camera store and they sent the stuff to the hotel by mail so I did get it. It wasn't a complete book but by any means but it did give me at least the basics.

And the moral of this whole story is do not try to buy your camera in Copenhagen. It will take up too much of your touring time, your manual won't be in the right language, and the camera will cost you about twice what it would in Canada. Oh well, that was simply the first lesson of my long holiday.

Lesson two came the next day and I'll give you the lesson first and the details second. The moral of this little story is simply beware of the bike lanes in Copenhagen.

Bikes are very popular in Copenhagen and they even have them available for tourists for free. And they have biking lanes for all the cyclists so you don't have to compete with pedestrians or with motorized vehicles - although on many occasions it is hard to see where one group ends and the next begins. In some cases the bike path is level with the sidewalk and in other cases it's level with the road. And in other cases, it has its own level. After several days of walking around the city, the idea of biking for a while sounded like a great idea. However, I didn't get a bike and fall off it or get hit by another bike or a car or anything like that so don't panic. No, I wouldn't do anything that complicated.

On Tuesday morning as I left the hotel I simply went about two blocks and then fell down. It just doesn't get any simpler than that. I know I stepped from the sidewalk down to the bike lane because I had to wait for a cyclist to go by before I stepped down. I guess I just missed the fact that there was another step down to the street because, although I went down, I didn't quite do it in the normal manner.

I knew it was bad immediately because I thought I was going to pass out and/or throw up and I broke out in a total sweat. I managed to get up off the street and hobble back to my hotel where I stayed in bed for the next few hours with ice on my feet. When the pain and swelling didn't go down I decided I had to go to the hospital. It took many phone calls to get insurance issues sorted out but finally I was off to the hospital and got there around 3 p.m. by taxi. They said it would be a long wait but I was prepared for that. However, within 30 minutes they took me to another room and shortly thereafter the doctor arrived to look at my feet and then ordered x-rays. I had those, saw the doctor again, he did his thing and I was out by 7:30. I thought that was pretty fast by BC standards and, since I wasn't staying in overnight, they didn't charge me a dime. Who knew that Copenhagen hospitals were the only thing that wasn't expensive!?!?

Anyway, I fractured a bone on the outside ankle on my right foot. My left foot, which both the doctor and I thought was broken, didn't appear to have any fractures but it was the one that was totally swollen up and it's the one that was really painful and did not want to be stood on at all. The doctor didn't know what to do with me since it involved both feet and I still had to move on. He wanted to put a boot cast on the right foot for 4-6 weeks but decided that wouldn't work because he might not get his boot back after I left. After talking to his colleagues they decided tape would do as long as I agreed to keep my feet up and stay off them for a couple weeks. They then gave me a pair of crutches and sent me on my way.

Generally speaking things were okay and with the crutches I could get up and down to the bathroom and the dining facility and in and out of cabs when I had to. However, it was very inconvenient and it was obvious that I wasn't going to be doing a lot of sight seeing. As a result, I decided Copenhagen or anywhere in Denmark or Scandinavia was not the place to be. Instead, I had to find the perfect place (cheap, comfortable and a great view) in Poland or somewhere to hang out for a while. And that is how I ended up in Swinoujscie, Poland, since the ferry goes directly from Copenhagen to Swinoujscie.

The only bad part about Swinoujscie is that I spent two weeks there at the top of their tourist season and had fabulous hot weather and I didn't make it to the beach even once. I just couldn't navigate down there on my crutches. Argh!!! They had a library and it had English books so I would take a taxi to the library to got some books, and then spent most of my time reading. And of course I sometimes also hit the little internet cafe about two blocks from the library. After about 10 days I started walking a bit more and eventually saw another doctor in Swinoujscie since the left foot was still swelling. He suggested more slow walking to exercise the left foot so that's what I started doing.

After the couple days of doing nothing in Copenhagen and then two weeks of almost nothing in Swinoujscie, I decided it was time to move on to Warsaw and Krakow. I knew I wouldn't be able to see a lot but I would be able to see some things so I decided to take the chance. In retrospect I now think it was the wrong decision but there you go. Maybe that was lesson three. Who knows. Anyway, I didn't see nearly as much as I wanted in either city and I spent a fair amount of time in hot non airconditioned hotel rooms with no view at all. Swinoujscie for another couple weeks might have been just as good and I might have made it to the beach eventually.

Anyway, my left foot was still swollen as of last week. The right foot has always been fine so I'm not too sure what that means. I went to another doctor in Krakow and he, in his limited English, told me to "walk less" and "keep leg up" so that's what I'm doing for the next two weeks in Busko Zdroj. I doubt that many of you have heard of this place but it is a health resort in southern Poland. They have everything available for me here. In fact they have a lot of things that I don't really want to try at all like cryotherapy to reduce swelling where they simulate temperatures of minus 130 degrees C while you stand around in your socks and gloves and head band. I think I'll avoid that one, even if it is just for a couple minutes. However, they do have massage and jacuzzi and exercise rooms and all kinds of other treatments that I'm sure will be most welcome.

I must say that I had to meet with a doctor first and before he'd even taken my blood pressure or listened to my heart or anything else he told me I had to go on a diet and lose significant weight because that was why my feet were swelling. Yeah, yeah, like I haven't heard that before. I promised him I'd do that as soon as I got back to Canada but right now I was on the meal plan at the resort so I had to eat what they put in front of me (and that is another whole blog on its own!). Anyway, he has me in 35 sessions over the next week and a half so I will be working hard in the gym or relaxing in the jetted tub or having mud packs on my feet regularly for a while.

Hopefully once this two weeks is up, my feet will be back to normal. And once everything is back to normal and I can start touring around again, maybe I'll have something more exciting to write about. And sometime while I'm here I'll post another blog about Warsaw and Krakow so you'll know what I did manage to see in those two places.

That's all for this time. All really is well over here, despite fractures and swelling and .... so don't worry. I just consider this as a time for me to catch up on some much needed rest after some hectic years.

And for anyone who is interested, accommodation and three meals a day for two weeks cost 1054 PLN and all 35 treatments totalled 302 PLN. In Canadian terms that's about $350 and $100 so it's not a bad deal if you can handle all this healthy stuff.

Cheers!

Jayne

PS - The internet here costs 3 PLN per hour or about $1.00 Canadian - definitely cheaper than Copenhagen!!!