Day 54 - Relaxing day in the city

Today started with a nasty rain. But what can you do. With the right gear, simply continue. Georgia and I got out for a walk. We made a customary story at Danija shoe store. I am kind of indifferent to the selection though I keep looking at the crocs. Georgia usually picks out a few pairs of the ladies shoes and tries them on. Next was the stop at the bookstore where I confirmed once again that there are very few books of Max Frei in Lithuania. Maybe that's why the author had found home here in Vilnius. After that the final stop before lunch was Zaislu (I am sure I am misspelling the word "childhood") planeta. We wanted to get something for Iluisha. After trying to ellicit some suggestions from the unusually unhelpful salesgirl, we headed back to the racks and Georgia picked out a nice-made believe set for the boys.

We met for lunch with Dan at Tiko's, just opened crepery in front of Vocieciu fountain - facing the Old City Kebab/Bistro which still exists in the transitory state. They have a cheery decor like in the kindergarten complete with the multicolored plastic chairs. They don't have anything to drink other than their line of 4 fountains selling watered down drinks. We got one with the trace of lemonade in water. They also have to get their operations straight. 4 people operating crepe friers and it still takes over 10 minutes to get your food. The crepes themeselves were interesting - extremely thick to the point of gelatinous. It was a bit like eating a chinese rice cake. We could not decide whether it was pleasant or not, but having placed the hefty blobs on the bottoms of our stomachs we headed back home for Georgia's nap.

I escaped and went to my third home away from home - the felt shop. Had a lively discussion with a sales lady. Apparently Larisa does not own the place, Regina the designer does. Larisa used to work in a physics research lab before the science all but collapsed here. Then she went to work on the projects financing and projections for the office of Labor in the Parliament. There she worked herself into a stroke. Among other things she lost her ability to read. In 6 months she did learn to read again but did not want the stress of her old job. So she used her skills to help Regina turn her half-dead business in Vilnius into a much more successful venture. Still she does not want to be a partner because she is trying to enjoy her life the way it is.

We talked a bit on the subject of Jews here. Based on her background she was surrounded by them in her prior jobs. She feels a major part of her got cut off when most of them took off. She is very emotional about this. She promised to hook me up with an author of another ghetto memoir, which won lots of awards. That person lives in the house on Subacius where Jews used to hide (ultimately unsuccessfully) during the war. She was haunted by the visions of how it must have looked until she started doing her research and ultimately wrote the book.

The music scene was a bit off today. There was a musical group of young kids playing elevator jazz in front Paris cafe on Didzioji. And there were two guys under the influence of something playing something unidentifiable on the guitar on Pilies. Where is the smell of teen spirit and the beautiful accordeon lady? However we did see two guys from Spain, dressed in the folk costumes. They are making their way across Europe performing Valencia music just like last summer. I wanted to take a picture with them but they were different ones and it would not relay the right kind of de ja vu.

You know it is a vacation when this is the first thing you eat after the nap:

In the evening it got warm and sunny. We went for a walk with Vitalik and his family. We tried the Cathedral square but there was too much life threatening activity with bicyclers, skateboarders and frisbee throwers trying to play in one place. So we went to the youth park. After initial hesitation Vitalik and Dina allowed Ilyusha to play in a puddle. It is one of the best childhood experiences a sober adult, like me, could just salivate over. He really enjoyed it and jumped all over it. We made a few videos.

After that we tried to finish the evening in a graceful ambience of the "Kiss" as rendered by Max Raabe in my favorite restaurant Graf Zeppelin. But both of the kids had rebelled so we had to take it back to our home, where we quickly ate the desert and split. Georgia got beautiful bunny shoes from Dina at the Cathedral square. She tried them again on in front of the mirror before her bath and was very pleased.

Day 54 - Relaxing day in the city

Today started with a nasty rain. But what can you do. With the right gear, simply continue. Georgia and I got out for a walk. We made a customary story at Danija shoe store. I am kind of indifferent to the selection though I keep looking at the crocs. Georgia usually picks out a few pairs of the ladies shoes and tries them on. Next was the stop at the bookstore where I confirmed once again that there are very few books of Max Frei in Lithuania. Maybe that's why the author had found home here in Vilnius. After that the final stop before lunch was Zaislu (I am sure I am misspelling the word "childhood") planeta. We wanted to get something for Iluisha. After trying to ellicit some suggestions from the unusually unhelpful salesgirl, we headed back to the racks and Georgia picked out a nice-made believe set for the boys.

We met for lunch with Dan at Tiko's, just opened crepery in front of Vocieciu fountain - facing the Old City Kebab/Bistro which still exists in the transitory state. They have a cheery decor like in the kindergarten complete with the multicolored plastic chairs. They don't have anything to drink other than their line of 4 fountains selling watered down drinks. We got one with the trace of lemonade in water. They also have to get their operations straight. 4 people operating crepe friers and it still takes over 10 minutes to get your food. The crepes themeselves were interesting - extremely thick to the point of gelatinous. It was a bit like eating a chinese rice cake. We could not decide whether it was pleasant or not, but having placed the hefty blobs on the bottoms of our stomachs we headed back home for Georgia's nap.

I escaped and went to my third home away from home - the felt shop. Had a lively discussion with a sales lady. Apparently Larisa does not own the place, Regina the designer does. Larisa used to work in a physics research lab before the science all but collapsed here. Then she went to work on the projects financing and projections for the office of Labor in the Parliament. There she worked herself into a stroke. Among other things she lost her ability to read. In 6 months she did learn to read again but did not want the stress of her old job. So she used her skills to help Regina turn her half-dead business in Vilnius into a much more successful venture. Still she does not want to be a partner because she is trying to enjoy her life the way it is.

We talked a bit on the subject of Jews here. Based on her background she was surrounded by them in her prior jobs. She feels a major part of her got cut off when most of them took off. She is very emotional about this. She promised to hook me up with an author of another ghetto memoir, which won lots of awards. That person lives in the house on Subacius where Jews used to hide (ultimately unsuccessfully) during the war. She was haunted by the visions of how it must have looked until she started doing her research and ultimately wrote the book.

The music scene was a bit off today. There was a musical group of young kids playing elevator jazz in front Paris cafe on Didzioji. And there were two guys under the influence of something playing something unidentifiable on the guitar on Pilies. Where is the smell of teen spirit and the beautiful accordeon lady? However we did see two guys from Spain, dressed in the folk costumes. They are making their way across Europe performing Valencia music just like last summer. I wanted to take a picture with them but they were different ones and it would not relay the right kind of de ja vu.

You know it is a vacation when this is the first thing you eat after the nap:

In the evening it got warm and sunny. We went for a walk with Vitalik and his family. We tried the Cathedral square but there was too much life threatening activity with bicyclers, skateboarders and frisbee throwers trying to play in one place. So we went to the youth park. After initial hesitation Vitalik and Dina allowed Ilyusha to play in a puddle. It is one of the best childhood experiences a sober adult, like me, could just salivate over. He really enjoyed it and jumped all over it. We made a few videos.

After that we tried to finish the evening in a graceful ambience of the "Kiss" as rendered by Max Raabe in my favorite restaurant Graf Zeppelin. But both of the kids had rebelled so we had to take it back to our home, where we quickly ate the desert and split. Georgia got beautiful bunny shoes from Dina at the Cathedral square. She tried them again on in front of the mirror before her bath and was very pleased.

Day 53 - Picnic in Kernave

In the morning we had an agent come over with a prospective apartment renter. The apartment owner was supposed to join them in the walkthrough but she was late as usual. We considered doing a scene from the Monster (the Italian version) but decided to be civil. I asked that the agent and her client wait for Nona in the kitchen while we were watching cartoons in the living room. After staying in the kitchen for 1 second, they headed out on a tour around the apartment without our permission. It was rude since it is still our apartment. Should have done the scene from the Monster. Nona and Gintaras came when they were already leaving.

Gintaras asked us if our visit to Poland last week was to attend the festival of the Jewish song in Krakow. They really figured us out. I said no, the roads are so bad that we could only get as far as Warsaw, and that in 8 hours. He went into the speech on how great the Lithuanian roads are.

Georgia and I decided to visit Meno gallery on Vilnius gatve 39. I was looking at the logo - the cute face with a tongue sticking out and for some reason thought it was a gallery that contained art made by the children. It wasn't so. The current exhibition was located in a few rooms. The mood that the pictures convey was depressing, dark, and remotely pedophiliac. We both decided that it sucks and got out.

On Wednesdays, there is a book fair in the same building so we visited that too. It featured a bunch of sellers selling mostly Lithuanian books within the same price range when they are sold in the stores. There were a few old books in Russian but nothing in a good enough condition to ask about the price.

The next point of the day was the Lithuanian Art Museum at Radvilu rumai on Vilniaus g. 22. They had 3 beautiful pagan crosses outside. Inside was a very nice exhibition of the Lithuanian folk art, including the clothing from the different regions, some handicrafts, furniture, and such. And many more crosses and for some reason a good collection of St. Georges killing various dragons. Georgia really enjoyed it. I don't know where it was the subject matter, which as a bit more concrete and less abstract than the other places she had been too. And maybe she is getting used to being dragged to museums. She asked lots of questions and maintained interest throughout the entire visit.

After that we picked up some food for lunch at the Wok and headed home to have lunch together with Dan.

A new page in the story of the souvenir sellers on the upper Pilies who lost their booths:

Later in the afternoon we drove to Kernave forest, the same place we did the photo shoot, for some shashlyk. It was a big crowd: us, Andrew, Natasha, Dustin, Alicia, and, Nina and Kolya, Alicia's cousin and his wife. Georgia, Kolya and I went to pick blueberries and raspberries while the rest were setting the table and warming up the coals. Incidentally while Georgia and I got like 10 berries after 30 minutes of picking, Nina and Kolya got the entire basket and a bucket after the same time period.

We had a really good time and somehow 6 hours went by incredibly fast. We picked berries, went to the river and walked around the forest. There was a swing for everyone and a slide for Georgia. In the end, Dan and I went to Kernave and got some ice-cream for everyone to have with their blueberries, which were on the sour side. It was awesome. Georgia had the most energy left at the end.

In the evening Andrew, Natasha, and Dustin came over and we spent a few more hours hanging out in the kitchen. They were talking about possibly moving closer since they go through the drive from Ekaterinburg every summer anyway and would like to explore Europe some more.

Day 52 - New food outlet at last

In the morning we planned to go to the children's art gallery with Georgia on Vilnius g. 39. But on the way I stopped at the felt shop to show Larisa my hat. Spent an hour there as she continued opening up my eyes. She was really good with Georgia and offered to her a free reign of the shop. Georgia was free to do entirely as she pleases. How many store owners would do such a thing. I got some wool to make a few more hats and a scarf. It is all in the labor since the wool costs less than 5% of the cost of the finished product.

Next we walked a bit longer among the stores in that area and finished on the playground there. Then Dan met up with us and we went to the restaurant we found a while earlier - it is called the Moon Valley and is located next to the Coffee Inn on Didžioji gatve. The waiters are really nice and the guy spoke really good Russian. The food was really good but we waited for a long time for it and it was the most expensive lunch in this country. It does not look like such an expensive place. So I would recommend it with the reservations.

After Georgia's nap we did letters and I was shocked to see her read a few words by herself. This was equialent to her taking her first steps. So cool.

Then Vitalik and his family came. Vitalik and Dan went out to get pizza. Vitalik brought a menu from Cili Pica for our growing collection. We will now be able to boldly go the same place Lithuanian had been going all this time. They also brought Lithuanian version of the caramels called "korovka." Not to say that our trip to Riga was in vain, but next time we will get this candy locally. They also brought marzipan candy surrounded by a shell of dates. The murderers.

It is enjoable to watch the kids grow over such short time period. They had been kind of upset about Ilyusha who does not speak still even though he turned 2 recently. Dina asked him to say a a couple of different words today and he did, perfectly, like he was practicing saying them for months. Georgia impressed us too, again today. Prior times she started crying whenever Ilyusha tried to take her doll stroller with Marty or her own stroller. But today she did not mind so much the former, and actually herself offered the latter with a bow. But after Vitalik left she asked if they would come again because she is not sure she would be able to take it anymore to see her Marty being taken away :) But it was a step forward today.

Day 51 - Nothing more than felting

It is midnight and I just came back from the felting marathon. Will have to write the details tomorrow. But I do now posess designer quality felt hat, somewhat made by me.

OK, continuing this the next day. Somehow the entire day was filled with felting. I left home at 10 in the morning and arrived ready and willing to the felting shop. The owner was going through the inventory of the beautiful hats and other things that were brought by the designer Regina from Klaipeda. I wandered around looking at even more incredible designs. She is really talented. In time Larisa got to me and explained how to do the first felt cloth. Below is somewhat technical. Recommend to skip.

She laid out a towel and put out a little bamboo mat you would use to make sushi. On top of that she put a something like a white cheesecloth made from a former curtain, she left a half of it open to cover the design. Next she showed how to split the felt rope (all the thread pointing in the same direction) and pull out pieces and lay them out in small overlapping rows vertically and horizontally. Next she gave me some brightly colored threads (cotton, linen, synthetic, and wool) to put on top as the decor. I am still not sure how each type of thread responds to the felting process. It seems like the wool fully integrates and looks like it was painted on, while syntetic curls up. Next we covered the whole thing with the cheese cloth, sprayed with a mix of water and liquid soap (1 spoon of soap to 1L of water) and gently rubbed down with soapy hands. We checked periodically if design is sticking to the cheese cloth When the design set, I rolled the it up into the sushi mat and rolled it back and forth. Repeated for a really long time on the different sides and eventually without the cheese cloth. Finally I rubbed it with my hands to make the design mat shrink. Then I washed off the soap and laid it out flat to dry. Took about 2 hours the whole thing.

I thought it would be it as a prep for the evening class but then I accidentally asked Larisa how to make the 3-d stem of the flower. So I was in for another 2 hours. She showed how to gently roll the felt rope with soapy water while leaving the tail of it dry and intact to be integrated with the flower. Once the stem is formed, the process is similar to how the mat is made. Except a stensil has to be made so that the plant has 2 sides (or a pocket inside). It is a little weird to remember which side is outside of the flower and which side is inside. And once the felting is complete, it is necessary to cut the flower to open it up. Larisa tried to explain how to do it but I still don't not get it. Next it is necessary to stretch out the petals to make them appear more realistic.

During the time I was at the studio Regina came to the store. She is a tall, strong looking girl, looking very young for her 36. She has a tatoo on her arm, funky haircut with colors and like a true believer of the art was dressed in felt jacket and had a felt hat. Regina hanged around, keeping an eye on my work and occasionally coming over to correct me. She is clearly a natural born designer and is able to see things much differently than Larisa. She has advanced intestinal cancer and was getting a chemo earlier in the morning. I kept asking myself with a diagnosis like that what is there to keep you doing what you are doing. Regina was really upbeat, very welcoming to the customers, talking to everyone, very involved. And she smells faintly of pot, which may be a part of the answer. Another part could be that she has 4 kids, the littlest one not quite 2 years old. A bunch of ladies came during the day to buy mostly the thread. Only one customer actually bought the finished product.

After a short break at home during which I barely even got to see Georgia because she was asleep, I went back in for the class to make the hat. While another girl Laima was setting up I wandered around the store, listened to the customers and Larisa. She really took liking for me and tried to "open the eyes of the blind kitten".

There were 3 students all together. Elena, the 11 year old Belgian girl from the family of 5 chilren. Her family travels continually. She would most likely win if we were to compare the countries we had been to. She speaks English, Dutch, and French. The other student was a Russian middle school teacher called Inna. She speaks Russian, French and Lithuanian. Regina speaks Russian, English, and Lithuanian. We had fun time figuring out in which language to teach. Any way you put it, one person would be left out. So she spoke English and Russian. I spoke English with Elena and Russian with Inna, and Elena spoke with Inna in French. By the time we got around to talking about hats it was already past 8pm. More technical stuff coming up.

Regina showed us how to measure our heads' circumference and the distance from the swirly on the back of the head to the eyebrows (the height). Then we plotted the numbers on the graph paper. X axis is the width, Y for the height. Take the circumference and add one cm to account for tightness. Divide the number by 4 and plot both coordinates on the plus/minus side. Divide by 2 and add that number to the number plotted (this amounts for 50% of length lost due to the wool shrinking). From the final number subtract 2cm on both sides to account for the hats being tight (did not do it because we were not doing that design). So I had 55cm circumference. Plus 1 cm it is 56. Divided by 4 it is 14. So it was plotted on the positive and negative side. Then add 7cm on both sides, that makes it 21. So together the length would be 42. That would be for one side. For two it would be 84. Minus 33% due to shrinkage, it makes it the 56cm initially calculated. For the sides we plotted 10cm on the negative Y axis and marked -15 as the bottom point of the hat to account for shrinkage. The top was easier. Simply take the height and add 50%. We drew large arches to connect the points in the shape of a hat. Next we cut out stensils in firm plastic using those dimensions.

After that the process was the same as with the 2 things I did before. I really wanted to replicate one had that Regina made and she helped me with that. I had a really hard time visualizing the final product with the decorations from a bunch of thread. Inna was an old timer, this being her 4th class, so she expertly laid out silk pieces on the base. It was confusing to lay out multiple layers. Hopefully I will remember it when I do it at home for Georgia.

Next we felted the hats for almost 2 hours. Having a cup of tea and the conversation during the break helped. Started with the edges to make them set and moved slowly to the actual hats. And finally rubbed the hats with soapy hands to make them shrink to the right size. Regina was working on all our hats during this time to help us out. After that she put the hats on the dummy heads and shaped the final product on still wet hats. It was very exciting. Dan came to collect me at midnight while Regina was still working on it. Ladies were planning to have a drink of wine after that to call it a night.

Day 50 - Back to Vilnius

Dan and I woke up really early today and wandered around without any particular purpose. Then he suggested that we go and get breakfast for everybody. So first we went to get some hot blueberry buns. Unfortunately the place was still closed at 8am. The girl who sold the buns yesterday was there already and she too was waiting behind the closed doors. We waited for 20 minutes while watching other people pass by stealing glances at the bun place. We also watched people from the bar next door. 5-6 of them were really drunk, hanging out on the street outside and trying to strike a conversation with the passerbys. I wondered about their plans for today. On one hand, it is Sunday so they probably do not have to go to work. So are they going to stick around and fill up periodically?

With those thoughts we took off and got some muffins and coffee at the Coffee Heaven. Soon we were on our way. There were few cars on the road so we were able to get to Bialistock fast.

Asya, Alik, and Marian had a feast prepared. Everything was plentiful and delicious. We were preparing for it for a few days and were able to consume most things on the program without thinking about the consequences. It is very neat how well Dan and his mom understand Polish. I was blanking out on most of it. Dan's mom was having the conversation, and Dan was translating for me. Asya packed a giant to-go bag, which we dove into much sooner that would be indicated by lunch.

As we drove we noticed that Polish drivers do not use the system of signalling other drivers about police on the road. I don't think it is a bad thing to warn others about the police. It does serve the purpose of alerting other drivers to be more careful. A note to whoever is traveling and reading our blog: the road between Bialistock and Lithuania (67, and then 16) is teeming with police. And once you approach the border from the Lithuanian side, there are some cops with binoculars watching for the Lithuanian drivers who enter Poland without their lights on. And they only stop nice cars.

By 8 we arrived to Vilnius. We went straight to Alicia to meet with her and the crew from Ekaterinburg. It was very good to see them. Georgia got a lovely bag filled with different kinds of hair clips and two Russian alphabet books from Natasha and Andrei. We decided to agree on the plans for the rest of the week tomorrow.

As we were driving back to our apartment Georgia was pointing out the sights we were passing: "Here is a statue of Vitautas, and here is Gediminas." She said that she wished she could meet Gediminas. I told her that he was around about 700 years ago and is no longer available to talk to. She asked if Alicia met with him. Dan's mom was relieved the comment was not about her :). Georgia said very seriously that Grandmas Lisa and Anna are not that old, they are still pretty new.

Day 49 - Daytripping

Today we decided to take a drive to see the scenic delights outside Warsaw . On the list there was Żelazowa Wola, a place where Chopin was born, Lowitz the cradle of the Polish Christianity, and love inspiring Arkadia park. These descriptions were carefully researched on the Internet and did not come from my behind, though after today trip it is clear they had come from someone else's back parts.

Żelazowa Wola had a large and promising parking lot. Immediately upon our landing, a Pole came over and collected 6ZL for parking. We are more and more convinced that a more dignified way to earn living than begging or becoming a policemen would be to become the parking toll collector. Any random person could do it. We strolled to where he pointed, which was supposed to be a beautiful park with Chopin's birth home on it. Our printed and online sources indicated that this place is home to frequent recitals. The only recital we heard was the sound of the drill. The park was under reconstruction. There are two massive construction projects on both sides of the park which were producing all the noise. The birth home itself is a small house at the end of the long valley for which you have to pay at the entrance of the valley. Having been taught by example at Rundale so-called Palace in Latvia, we did not pay and were not sorry when we did reach the home. We considered some handicrafts at the parking lot. Some guy had adorable devils, but based on the prices he might be raising money to fund NASA. It was beyond non-negotiable.

So next we went to Łowicz. The start looked very promising with a pretty town square faced by the key structures. The churches were huge. However they were all closed, so we decided to move to the second part of the program which was visiting the "quaint village with the most unique souvenirs in the whole World." We spent several hours walking around in the noon heat and looking for the village. But other than an impressive and extensive array of a typical provincial shops there was nothing interesting to look at.

So on to the last location. Arkadia had the familiar parking toll collector happily collecting the dues from 6-7 cars parked nears the entrance. We looked inside the park but did not see anything remotely romantic, maybe it becomes apparent after you pay for parking. And maybe not. So we decided not to take the risk.

We tried one more thing - Kampinos National park which boasts a real sand dunes and bogs. But having encountered the same parking rule, it just did not seem like fun anymore. Plus, as much as I could understand the park attendant, she said not to expect the big sandy beauties like on the beach but just a little sand covered by the roots. And we could take the stroller to the park down the wide road used by the car vehicles. We were not that impressed with Byelovezhe Puscha, the last remaining virgin forest in Europe. And this, by all indications was not going to even come close. So we headed back to Warsaw.

Georgia was amazing the entire trip. This amount of time in the car is hard for any adult not to mention a 3-year old.

We drove to Lazienkowski park. It looks like a version of the Central Park. We dragged to the nearest coffee shop to feed Georgia and me and went straight back to the apartment. It is was nice to relax at last.

After a break we went out again to take a look at all the fun that was gathering in the square. Georgia had fun splashing in the mermaid fountain again.

They built out stage on the market square and a bunch of young Jazz musicians were testing out the equipment. The pianist and bass player were very good. There were so many people. And more were coming. It was nice to see so many dressed beautifully. We went to confirm that our breakfast watering holes would be operational tomorrow while picking up odd street bite to eat here and there.

Next we went to the market in the "New City." They still had the booths up. There was maybe 20 visitors there now. What a waste. To get them out of their misery we had some smoked cheese, and regular and blood sausage sold for symbolic prices. And we also had kvas. Georgia tried the latter and to our enjoyment really loved it. She nearly downed a cup all by herself. Some of her most impressive accomplishments this summer relate to her opening up to trying eating different foods and liking most of them.

By 8pm, we were ready to call it a day. The market square had filled up completely. The concert was so so. Each next piece sounded like the one before. And it was very loud. But at least we had the best seats in the house. They sensibly finished by 9pm. Now we will pack and prepare to go back to LT tomorrow. It was very nice here.

Day 48 - Warsaw Zoo and Podwale Piwna Kompania

We started the day by walking down Krakowskie Przedmiescie a few blocks to get to the same hot bun place we spotted yesterday. On the way we witnessed a joyous sight: not one, or two, or three, but five girls immaculately dressed in white carried trays with hot buns into the bun place from several directions. They were only one kind of buns – blueberry but they were still hot from the oven. Having a cup of coffee with a blueberry bun at 8am while watching the city wake up and go to work is a wonderful way to start a day.

Next we checked with the information office about getting to the Zoo. Apparently it is right across the bridge from the Old Town, about 20-25 minute walk away. The bridge is being repaired so it is pedestrian traffic and local buses only. Nice and quiet.

The Zoo is the best one I have ever been to in terms of the user experience. The place is immaculately maintained, the animals' living enclosures are small enough that it is possible to get around the Zoo in a half a day. But they are generally big enough for the animals to have some opportunity to stretch out. Except the tigress – it was housed in two adjacent cages slightly bigger than those in Kaunas, but it had a friend – a German Sheppard it grew up with. There are plenty of areas to sit down and grab a bite to eat. The pavilions with smaller animals like fishes, reptiles and birds are small and diverse enough to capture the interest and not appear boring. The playground is the most intelligent and interesting that I have ever seen. We spent over 2.5 hours at the Zoo, a record for Georgia and she still seemed pretty willing to continue.

Georgia fed ducklings for a little while and then sternly told us that we have to go before we get screamed at by the security for feeding the animals. She certainly had the experience getting screamed at by the various employees of museums and exhibitions.

Dan did some feeding this time. The male peacock that was in the middle of his performance of exposing all the feathers in his tail lost out to a piece of bread.

The Zoo is located in the part of Warsaw that is called Prague. It is supposed to be the new and happening area, like the meat packing district in NY. After the Zoo we tried to find the that area but failed. But I liked the working class neighborhood, bohemian or not it had an interesting and unique character. Targowa street resembled Santiago because it was very wide and filled with multiple shops, street vendors, beggars. Zabkowska street, in contrast, was barely repaired, with scenic little shops with amazing smells, narrow streets, and dilapidated courtyards. The single gallery of the area is in the former vodka factory to add special scenic element to the area.

It started to rain and we decided to go back. On the way we stopped in an eatery with a very well pronounced proletarian character. We thought it would have nice local Polish fare. But when we came in and saw the old aluminum plates, borscht with macaroni swimming inside, the little window to get your food, and old people who filled up all but a few metal tables and chair, we decided to try our luck in another place. The smell of the place also encouraged us to keep going.

A short walk after we were happily settling into the same place we went for lunch yesterday. It was great to sit down and relax with a good bite to eat. Georgia, the little trooper, ate the chicken soup for the second day in a row without complaining, while we busied with a more substantial fare of sausages and enormous ravioli covered with bacon bits and oil.

Next we took a short break at home while Dan was on a phone call from work. By 4 pm we walked out to the Nowe Miesto, or the part of the city outside the wall. We found ourselves navigating there to for the last two days. There was a little market place in the old Rynek of that part of the city. About a dozen booths featured the local beer, kvas, cheeses, meats, and handicrafts. The stuff looked pretty appealing but there were no other visitors. Mind you it is Friday and people are at work and the place is a bit out of the way, but still it was a bit of a downer to be the sole visitors. We decided to try back on the weekend or later in the evening when people come back from work.

We took a 2 story horse-driven tram around the old town. Georgia had been asking about it for some time and we finally gave in. It was nice to sit down and watch the city go by. Georgia enjoyed pointing to the frescos, carvings, and castings, which normally were hard to see from the ground, especially for her. She held my hand very tight and whenever I reached out to see something more tried to pull me back in so that I won’t fall out.

After that we walked around some more before dinner. We tried the narrow street where we found the Museum of Caricature. Dan wanted to walk into an alley that seemed interesting but some Polish woman stopped him saying that “it is zydiwsky area and no one is allowed there.” She laughed too as she said it too. Once again I would not help feeling that the obligatory lip service that is paid to the honor the memory of the Holocaust reaches very few ears indeed. And given the chance more people than not would join hands to finish the job so admirably started some 50 years ago.

We finished the day at Podwale Piwna Kompania on Podwale 25. It is absolutely the best restaurant we had been to this whole summer. An entire courtyard filled with tables, fast service, and really good food in enormous quantities and at very reasonable prices. I am going to list all the dishes, please feel free to ignore, it is mostly a message to myself to re-read and cherish in the future. For starters we had beer and grilled smoked cheese. Definitely to try at home. I had my favorite – the blood sausage. It was fried too, which is the best way to have the blood sausage. Dan had Peanut Honey BBQ ribs which filled the entire plate and rested on a bed of side dishes. Dan’s mom had a duck which was also very good. Her side was a roulette made from the old bread pieces that were somehow put together with herbs and some adhesive (maybe an egg?) into a sausage shape, and baked, and sliced. And even Georgia completely focused on her fish, and for once ignored the French Fries completely. She also offered her fish to all of us to try, which is a nice new development.

After that we could barely drag ourselves to the mermaid fountain in front of our apartment and watch Georgia run around and splash. After watching her play for a bit we decided to call it a day and went back in. It was a really good and busy day.

Tomorrow we are planning to get out of the city. I am also preparing myself for what will happen on Sunday – when Asya’s hospitality will become unleashed. But there will be a ray of sunshine in the sea of consumption – on Monday I will make my first felt hat.

Some more cute sights of the city. This is the entryway to the restaurant past the old city wall. Only the wall is Polish, restaurant is Thai, and the name is Indian.

Sculpture on the College of Drama balcony.

Day 47 - More Warsaw

We started the day at the Coffee Heaven - the first joint on the way that seemed to be serving the breakfast fare and was open. There was a crowd of tourists behind us in line and the staff of 4 where 1 worked despite the lack English while the other 3 stared. Finally we got our food and sat outside to eat. Coffee was good, everything else so so.

We started walking on Krakowskie Przedmieście planning to cover as much as possible as we saw Dan off on his planned runaround. On the way we walked into what we were looking for - a fresh bun place. We could not resist getting one. Coffee Heaven no more.

At noon, Georgia, Dan's mom and I sat down at St. John's church for the organ concert. The Catholic priests that run the place have a well organized hook up where one rounds up the people outside, the other sells them the ticket, and the third escorts them to their seats. They also lock the doors on the inside once the performance starts. The organ is about 40 years old and enormous. I am not sure whether the problem is with the reconstructed building (it was warm inside unlike in most old churches) or the organ itself, but the sound from past notes was audible even while the organist started on the next round of notes. It was making some pieces caucophonous and unpleasant. St. Casimir in Vilnius is a totally different game. Georgia and I had enough after the first two pieces by some unknown Polish composer and started trying to get out, but the place was locked. Luckily the final piece was a world known one (damned if I know the name) and we could listen to it.

We ate a nice lunch at Zapieciek and went home. Georgia was ready for her lunch and I wanted to read a novel. Dan's mom got out for a walk and Dan went for the second round. At around 2:30 we got a call from the apartment office saying that they have to move us right now because the next resident is coming for our apartment. I just had enough time to pack us when they knocked on the door. The good thing is that they moved all our stuff to the next floor where the next apartment was.

If I thought the last one was luxurious, it now seemed like a dirty hole compared to this current apartment. A huge living room connected with the kitchen and dining area. Three windows are facing the market square. There are 3 bedrooms on the floors above. And three full bathrooms. All the furniture is brand new and beautiful. And the brown friends do not seem to have made it this high. It is so nice that when Dan and Dan's mom got here they did not want to get out once it was time to get out for the dinner walk.

We did get out after all and walked around from 4 till 8 with a dinner break in the middle. The city is so large it is difficult to cover substantial areas on foot. We got as far as the printing facilities for the paper money and other secure papers. We wanted to go out at night but were too tired to. Now it looks like we had made our time switch afterall. Then again it is an hour back - 6hr difference with EST so it is nearly midnight again.

Day 46 – Arriving to Warsaw

Dan and I are sitting in the outdoor café in the Rynek Square of Warsaw with our laptops. He is having a beer and I am having a tea with endless side trappings. It is drizzling out in preparation of the heavy thunderstorms planned for the rest of our stay in Poland. Georgia and Dan’s mom are at the apartment getting ready to go to sleep. My Mac, which is does not know it yet, but will be retired upon return to US is not picking up the wireless in the square. But Dan is connected so maybe I will be able to push this blog entry out if I finish it before his powersucker runs out juice.

Today we took off a little after 7am. We planned to stop on the way at Bialystok. The trip was exciting and filled with adventures.

First, as we got in the car, we found that Dan’s mom accidentally threw out our food for the trip (pretty much all the perishable contents of the fridge, plus some freshly made pancakes, candies, fruits, and other delicacies into the trash container. On the worse note, the gifts for the Polish relatives suffered the same fate. And the trash container had been recently emptied and all the goodies landed on the bottom. Dan was able to get back the gifts. So that wasn’t so bad but Dan’s mom was pretty unhappy about it.

On a note to be followed up later, Dan asked how much money everyone had. In case we get pulled over by a cop.

Next, as we were exiting the city, I was questioned about and found that even though I packed 2 rolls of toilet paper and a pack sterilizing pads for the kitchen, I forgot to pack the map. So we had some exciting time trying to figure out where to go so that we don’t end up in Byelorussia. The GPC was really helpful in Riga but for Poland did not offer any other options than through Kaunas.

Finally, as we were getting ready to pull into the nearest settlement to get some food and maps, Dan got pulled over by a traffic cop. Dan’s prophetic question earlier was getting realized before our eyes. This was a “SchoolBus” type of pulled over – the cop was driving towards us and turned on the happy lights as soon as the eye contact had been made. We were going about 50km over the limit for the area and the cop’s fine-tuned body machinery had made that determination on the spot. Dan made his very first in life negotiation out of the speeding ticket. The cop seemed to be uncomfortable to be in a predicament brought about by Dan’s morning remark. So he asked how Dan’s wife would feel about a speeding ticket. Dan said that she would call him a goat, or “kozyol,” which is more colorful. The cop could relate to it. They settled for 150LT, Dan gave him 200, the cop returned 50.

Having paid the dues to the road toll collector, Dan continued at the same speed and soon we arrived to Alytus, where we got some food, directions, and now that it had been made necessary, the money.

Soon after that we arrived to Bialystok. We stopped at Dan’s uncle Marian. It is always good to see him. Even though he is 90, he is holding up amazingly well. He sang an old Byelorussian song for Georgia, did the swap of goods with Dan, and treated us all to really awesome cheesecake and peaches. Then his daughter-in-law Asya got into the game and in the spirit of last year wanted to keep us for dinner, supper, and anything else that comes later. She came in laden with bags with food for us to take to Warsaw so that we would not have to shop. And she brought some more food to consume during lunch. It was clear that she analyzed their reception last year and determined not to allow any more mercy. I have never seen this amazing level of hospitality. Especially considering we drop in there once in a blue moon.

I went out with Georgia on the playground to escape the Armageddon at Marian’s place. When we came back, I found out that we were given a respite until Sunday when we will pass Bialystok again on the way back from Warsaw. Possibly because her husband Alik is away until the weekend and cannot join in on the fun. So I have something to look forward to in terms of starting the dieting for in preparation. Not like the latter is doable in this country.

Finally, after 3 more hours of driving on the roads that intermixed between a 2 lane highway for a few kilometers, a one lane filled with trucks and tractors, and finally a single lane shared by the vehicles going in the opposite directions.

We are staying in the 1 bedroom apartment right on the old Market square in the heart of town. Turns out that the company we worked with apartmentsapart.com had made a mistake by telling us that there is Internet connection in the apartment. In reality only the apartments that face the square have the connection, and ours faces a quiet backyard. I discussed it a bit with their rep and they promised that tomorrow we will get a 3 story apartment 2x the size, that has some rooms, which face the market square. For the same price. Maybe it was my fragile state that did it, and maybe it was Dan’s mom who came in a bit later and asked in perfect Polish if there is anything she could do, and maybe it was Dan who also strolled in and asked in a very “you better be prepared for the consequences” way if everything was OK. The apartment we have now is luxurious, starting with the location, impeccable entry way, and all the trappings inside. The only minus are the little brown friends who live in the kitchen. But with all the buildings in the square having restaurants in them it is probably an unavoidable evil.

We walked around and settled in something like “In Pana Michala” restaurant. The local non-alcoholic beer is practically identical to the real thing and tastes amazing. Even Georgia was willing to try. The food is nothing to write home about.

The city has a really friendly pleasant feel, similar to Vilnius. We really did not get this vibe in Riga. People are walking around here pretty late with their kids, everyone is casual and comfortable. In Riga, there were too many shaven heads and Bentleys, and ladies primed up as for the job. Here is it just relaxing. Every few meters there is someone playing some instrument resulting in a nice cacophony of sounds. Our coffee shop just lost the electricity and even that did not slow down the lively conversations all around us.