Day 9 - July 6, 2018; Candy Galore

Have you ever wondered what happened to all the buildings that were destroyed in the war? Some of them were restored, others were left in ruin as memorials. 

Well, today, we visited the Castle of Warsaw, which was occupied by Nazis and then destroyed. Now, after several long years of rebuilding, repainting, and redecorating, the Castle looks as good as new. That is where we started our day today. The Castle was filled with riches to the brim, if you know what I mean. When the workers redecorated the Castle, I think they went overboard. Paintings and gold everywhere, probably not even in the same places it was before. What I loves most about the quaint red castle was the bookshelf in the King’s Study. 

There were three shelves. The first one was devoted to any extra books he had, the second one was filled with books about, The Dangers of Conference, The Dangers of Poison, so basically the Dangers of everything. The last shelf was reserved for the Bible only, because the polish people are very religious. What also piked my interest was the King’s Wardrobe. There, he would sit for up to two hours while he got dressed by only the finest of clothes, imported from France. Lastly, what was the most interesting was the King’s Bedroom. His bed was like a sofa, so tiny. He would sleep half-sitting, laying. I really don’t think that would have been that comfortable. I mean, he could have slept in another one of his 32 rooms. Did you know that it was very elegant for the walls of the castle to be lined in velvet? It was also very good in keeping out the cold during winter. 

After the Castle, Grandma and Isabella and I tried to go to the main bazaar on Aleja Jana Pawla to get fruits but were stopped because of road work. Instead, we got lunch, consisting of a cheese pizza (Isabella), cheese pastry (Grandma), and kebab (me). Later, when we got to the bazaar, using Waze and my navigation skills, (those were a long 30 minutes), we got small eggs the size of three-quarters of my thumb, raspberries, beans, white cherries, and wanted to get mushrooms. Sadly, the mushrooms were over the top expensive. 65 zlotys per kilo! That’s almost $16 per kilogram. Finally, we walked home and Grandma vowed never to walk of the big streets ever again; they are too dusty and hot for her. We got home, waited for Dad to come, and then set off to Isabella’s candy shop. I wrote about it in the previous blog. 

We took a short route to the old city, then walked through it instead of being on the big, dusty roads. Isabella then got made because Dad told her where we had eaten dessert without her. It was her fault. She didn’t want to come with us before. I marveled at some rainbow umbrellas hanging off a roof, whereas Isabella searched for her perfect desert. And she found it, it a cheesecake shop. Isabella got a small mint cheesecake with chocolate inside. Then, we walked over to the candy shop, where we watched in awe as three muscular girl made the lollipops. First, they made a huge design and covered it in white batter. Then, they covered it in a red and white border. They made small lollipops and handed them out to the kids in the audience. We got other lollipops for our friends, and I’m not saying who! When it was over, we walked around a new street, looking for a good dinner place. Dad asked Grandma if she wanted a beer, so we stopped by a good pizza place, “Flour and Water”. Dad got us a pizza for the table, and you won’t believe this. Isabella ate the mushrooms!

After we paid and started on the way home, Dad pointed out some drunk alcoholics and also some spots of red that were there the day before. When we came home, I drank all my milk, went to bed, but then woke up to talk to Sasha on Skype. And that’s how this day went down in history, July 6, 2018.

Day 8 - July 5, 2018; Zoo, Ogród zoologiczny, Зоопарк

Today it was so hot! So hot, that we barely got to doing anything at all. First, Grandpa called an uber to take us all, except for Dad, to the zoo. There, we got tickets and promptly went inside. It was very hot, and humid, too. I was annoyed at the amount of annoying school kids there. They were all yelling and getting in the way. My favorite animals were zebras, and four elephants, and some donkeys, and hunting birds. The donkeys were really cute because it was too hot for them, so they were rolling on the ground and scratching their backs, sending up puffs of dust. Actually, fun fact; during the war, the zoo was still running, mostly due to the fact that the ruling Nazis left it open in exchange for the pigs they grew to feed the army. Also, during the war, due to the shortage of food, city dwellers ate the animals in the zoo. 

After a while, we got so hot walking in the zoo, Grandma offered to get everyone a scoop of ice cream. I got mango sorbet, while Isabella got chocolate ice cream. She regretted it immediately. See, she always gets chocolate or Oreo ice cream because she thinks it looks cool, but she doesn’t really like it that much. Later, Grandpa called an uber again to take us home. We were two and a half kilometers away from home. We ate lunch and stayed home, waiting for the heat to cool down.

After it got cooler, we decided to go to a sculpture park Grandma found on the internet. Again, we called an Uber to bring us there. Grandma did not know where to go, so I had to turn on my navigation to get to the park. It was OK. 

The main feature of the park was a big loop around a grassy area, coupled with statues every fifteen feet, and a massive, Greek style two story exhibit museum.  The statues ranged from profiles of famous writers and philosophers to  modern works of art. After we finished touring the sculptures, we tried to get to another side of the park by going down some steps. Unfortunately, they led nowhere, so we had to take the long way to the other side of the park. There, we played on a playground and got an uber to take us to Dad. 

We ate dinner in a Georgian cuisine. It was so good! I had spicy lamb soup, Isabella had meatballs, Grandma had an egg hachapuri, Grandpa had spicy meat, and Dad had amazing walnut flavored sauce covered meat. 

After dinner, Dad, Isabella, and I walked to the old city. We went into a rainbow  🍭 candy shop. Flavors of every kind! You name it; they had coke, papaya, cappuccino, caramel, and even chestnut. Then we walked home. On the way, Grandpa called me because he couldn’t open the front door. It malfunctions. And that’s how this day went down in history; July 5, 2018.

Day 7 - July 4, 2018; Who Knew Salt Was Good for You? (Everybody)

Whew, what a day! Today we went to the Krakow Salt Mines. By we, I mean Grandma, Isabella and I. First, we ate breakfast at our hotel (Thanks Mom!), after which we called an uber to take us to the mines. The uber could not get into the space where we had parked, some sort of laws where preventing it. That meant had to walk to the closest area where the uber could park. Nothing like a morning stroll through a park with smokers everywhere. 

When we finally got to the mines, we decided to get our tickets. Initially, we had gotten them online, but we needed some sort of handheld ticket to get in. Grandpa walked us over to the “Online Registration” ticket booth, but the lady inside said something about not being able to do it, other booth, wrong company, blah blah blah. We went to find the correct booth, which was, as the lady said, near the train station. Here’s the thing, WE DIDN’T KNOW WHERE THE STATION WAS!!! The person in the booth just said, near the train station.

We had to stop for directions three times. During that fifteen minute period, Grandpa probably smoked I don’t know, like four cigarettes. He was soooooooooo stressed. When we finally went to the booth, it was closed. Finally, after a five minute wait, we went in and got some sticker to stick to our clothing so our guide knew who we were. Then we waited, and waited and waited. Eventually, our guide came and led us into the mine. We walked down stairs for what felt like eternity, but finally we reached the bottom. Our guide began telling us that we had to buy a sticker to allow us to take photographs. Ha! Who in their right mind would by a meaningless stamp for 10 zlotys? No really, please tell me. I took photos without the sticker and didn’t get in trouble. 

Every statue in the cave was made of salt. And no, it wasn’t the pretty white sparkling stuff e use in cooking snd baking, no. The whole salt mine was green-gray, but it was edible. The guide let us try some. It was salty. So yeah. We walked around for two hours, listening to the guide explain all the myths and stories of the mine. When we left the mine, we were so tired, and hungry. I gobbled down my tomato soup Grandpa got me in a manner of second. It would have been less, but the soup was very hot.

Then, we walked over to the train station, but the train was delayed by a few hours, so Grandpa had to call an uber again. We got back to the city, changed into better, more suitable for the hot summer, weather clothes, and went exploring. First, we stopped by Dad, who was working at a nearby Starbucks. Then, we went to a galleria, where we got Grandma a very fat horse for her collection. Afterwards, we ate at a very crummy Polish restaurant with Dad and drove back to Warsaw. And that’s how this day went down in history, July 4, 2018.

Day 6 - July 3, 2018; New Places, New Faces

The day before the Fourth of July, we had to take a long ride, of three hours, to Krakow. Krakow is a very beautiful, old city. While we were on the way there, I wrote my blog from the day before. When we finally got to the city, we got the whole shabam. First, there wasn’t an open parking spot anywhere. Then, finally having found parking, we went to see our apartment, but the people there said that we didn’t have one. That wasn’t a very good start to the day. Luckily, it got better....

After the whole mishap, Dad called Mom and Mom found somewhere for us to sleep for a night. Grandpa and Grandma and Isabella and I went to the main city square. Uh. Wee wee, magnifique! Oops. Wrong country. There was a beautiful chapel. Like something from a different time preserved eternally. Oooh. That sounded niiice. Though very cliche. Anyway, we walked down a random street and I got, with my own money, their famous baranki. After that, we had lunch. Soup, as always, after which we went to our new hotel Mom found for us. We stayed there for about half an hour - Grandpa had sore joints. 

Then, we went down a cutesy pedestrian street, looking at galleries and shops every fifteen seconds. When we finished the street, we stopped by their medieval castle. Poland’s capital used to be Krakow. 

Now, it is Warsaw. Grandma was the only one who wanted to go with us, so we climbed up to the top of a tower and then looked for Grandpa, whom we could not find. 

Then, Grandma wanted to drink some coffee, while Grandpa, Isabella and I went down to the Dragon’s Den. Oooooh! Aaaah! Grandpa complained. A lot. He has sore joints, yada, yada. After the castle, we decided to go to the Jewish Center, a part of the town where Jews used to live, but were sent to concentration camps by the ruling Nazis. There was also an old factory. Schindler’s here he saved many, many Jews during the Holocaust. Later, we decided to look for dinner. 

Grandpa and Grandma had been in that part of the city before, so they decided to look for the place where they had eaten. Sadly, there was no more room left for us, so we had to eat at a really good restaurant called “Barfly”. After a while, Dad joined us, since he had been working all day long. Later, we split up again so we could get ice cream. 

I had chocolate rocky road cake, while Isabella had Oreo and mint ice cream. Later that night, Grandpa and Grandma picked us up and we went to our hotel. Dad left us to go explore, but then came back in a few hours. And that’s how this day went down in history, July 3, 2018.

Day 5 - July 2, 2018; Sorry This Is Late!

First, a message: Hi, so I’ve seen that not many people have been writing comments. Please feel free to ask questions which I will try to answer in my next blogs. 

Anyway, enough with all the formalities. I am here to tell you about our day today. First, when we woke up, we had breakfast, yada, yada, but we did not leave the house until 11:02. The reason being was that grandma had slept for a long time, almost till 10. She later reported that she had not been sleeping well that night and had taken a sleeping pill. Also Dad had called and asked us to bring him some stuff. So, at 11:02, the brave travelers set off to Dad’s place at Starbucks. When we came there, I found 0.05 zloty. That’s about one cent. Then we went to a bazaar. We bought beli naliv, a type of really good apples, raspberries and wild strawberries, even though they aren’t in season.

Then, we went to to main square, where we were supposed to meet Dad at a Hertz place so grandpa could drive the car we got in Berlin. But we got lost. Surprise, surprise. Grandpa was getting really mad and stressed. Finally, we found the place. Whew. After that we went to an oriental fast food for lunch with Dad. Then, we went to some galleries, and finally, oh finally, we went to the store Isabella wanted. See, we had gotten Anya a gift. Please don’t tell! But now Isabella wanted the same thing. So they could match. Then we walked around the old city, but had to call a taxi soon, since grandpa’s knee started to hurt more. 

After we came home, Isabella immediately grabbed the iPad. I wrestled it from her, saying that I had to research high schools and stuff like that blah blah blah blah blaaaaaaaaaah. Then, I had to do the dishes because she had to write her diary. I had important stuff to do too. Later Dad came home. 

He and I went to the old city, got a pastry each. I had something with pistachios and strawberries. Dad had cheese filled with mango. Then we walked home through a park, stopped by a playground, and went home. All while Isabella watched movies.

And that’s how this day went down in history, July 2, 2018.

Day 4 - July 1, 2018; Guess I know what We’ll be Eating for the Next Few Day

Finally, the first day of July! This means only three more days to July 4th. Today, we had a really fun day in a new place called Torún. They are known for their gingerbread. No joke, it is AMAZING! In the morning, I woke up at six, so I could write yesterday’s blog. Unfortunately, I didn’t get far because we had breakfast: cottage cheese with strawberry jam, and milk to down it all. (See, I’m keeping up with my calcium, Mom). After breakfast, we got in the car for a two hour journey to Torún. During the car ride, I was writing my blog, and Isabella played games on the iPad and read and slept. 

When we finally reached Torún, I immediately loved it. Torún is so lovely, quaint and old with small, medieval style two story building and cobble-stone streets. We walked down main street enjoying the view and looking at their unique gingerbread molds spread around the city. Finally, we got to the main square. There, right in the middle of the square, was a gingerbread shop. 

We went in. Of course we did. Grandma got us two gingerbreads each. Isabella got two rectangular looking ones covered in chocolate. I, on the other hand, got two lovely wild strawberry filled ones. Hopefully, they were good. After that, we walked into a beautiful chapel. And you would never guess that the priest was a woman! Hehehe, women’s rights! 

After that, we walked around for a few minutes, just marveling at the emptiness of the city. There were also statuettes set up on every fifth house. There were usually four, so Isabella and I played a game that match what the statuettes were doing with our personalities and our cousins’, Sasha and Victoria’s personalities. 

Eventually, Dad decided to go to the Live Museum of Gingerbread. We waited in that line for 15 minutes. 15! But when we got there, there was only one spot left. 😞 I was disheartened. 

We went to the old, ruined castle after that, stopping by a playground and then after we saw that to get to the castle ruins you had to pay, we stopped by another playground. Afterwards, Grandma, Isabella and I went to another Museum of Gingerbread. It was very informative, especially when touched a gingerbread and the security guard lady screamed at me. There wasn’t a sign or anything!!! 

When we finished the exhibit, we decided to go to their most famous restaurant in the city. We were very greedy and got seventeen huge pierogies. We ate nine. I guess I know what we’ll be eating for the next two days. Then, we walked around for a few minutes and went home. On the way, we stopped by a rest area. There was a truck in a ditch. It must have been a bad turn. And that’s how this day went down in history; July 1, 2018.

Day 3 - June 30, 2018; Grandma and Grandpa Ho!

Today we had a really, really, really, really, really, extremely fun day. It started out with us being very healthy because we walked for 40 minutes to get our breakfast in the awesome Bulke przez Bibulke (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗). The moons are stars. Unfortunately, there was a line spanning half a  block to get to the store. 


Having no further options, we decided to eat at a Galirea Wipikof, also known as a Gallery Bakery. As many of my family members know, the doctor said I had to eat more calcium because I was’t growing enough. Therefore, I have to eat four serving of calcium daily. Phew, that was a mouthful. I, being the docile girl that I am (Just kidding 🙂) ordered ........ drumroll please........ a glass of milk and a pastry filled with cottage cheese. Isabella got orange juice and a sausage in a croissant, while Dad ate a cheese and bacon covered bread. 

After a long breakfast we definitely deserved, 😉 😉, we went to explore a completely new part of the city. First, we went to their Palace of Culture and Knowledge. We paid $13 to go up to the top, not knowing that there was a marathon up there. It was very crowded up at the top of the Palace. Also, if you do not know anything about the Palace, it was built during Soviet rule of Poland, and it was built in all the major cities under Soviet rule. Anyway, after the boring and crowded time at the top of the Palace, we decided to got with what Isabella wanted to do. There was a tarantula/poisonous spider/ scorpion exhibit in the Palace, so we decided to go there. Turns out, there is a scorpion that glows a bright turquoise color in black light. 

After the exhibit, we went to a store near the Palace of Culture and Knowledge. It had some nice middle eastern souvenirs; Dad got us some really cute owl keychains. Afterwards, we stopped by another store and got Mom a pretty present. Soon, it started to rain so we had to run into a cafe. There, I wrote my blog from yesterday, and Isabella read SEVEN PAGES in her book! Then, we went to the old city, got me a Polish sim card and went to a store Dad found in the other side of town. 


On the way, we stopped for lunch at “The Red Pig”

It was amazing. I had a proper Kiev’s Culet, a hollowed out breaded cutlet filled with cheese, minced mushrooms, garlic, and some sort of butter. Isabella, of course, ate spaghetti bolognese, and Dad had spicy Lamb burger with plum sauce. When were leaving, I asked for a balloon from our server and the man gave me it. After lunch, we walked to the store, but it was closed. 

Finally it was time to pick up grandma and grandpa from the airport and we went and picked them up. We are all so excited to see them again. Unfortunately, grandpa, when asked to go walking with us, declined the offer. When we got to the old city, Dad got us ice-cream, but not Soprano ice cream, because it was closed. It was okay, but definitely not as good as Soprano. Then, we went down the street, and there it was! 

The thing that was on my bucket list for so long now. I walked over to the guy who had tamed white pigeons and he put them on my shoulders. All 6 of them! 

Finally, we called a taxi to take us home because grandma was so tired. And that’s how this day went down in history, June 30, 2018.

Day 2 - June 29, 2018; I Really Hope I Won’t Turn Into a Bouncy Ball!

Hello, and welcome back to “Travel with Georgia!” Just kidding. Today, I’ll tell you about what happened today. Also, sorry for the lack of pictures; I still do not understand how to upload my photos from my phone onto the iPad. 

First, Isabella, the sleepy pants, slept for twelve hours straight. I don’t know why she was so tired. I mean, she slept for like four hours on the plane and three more in our rented car. While she slept, I was able to write my blog from yesterday. ( If you have not read it, you are not welcome to read this one beyond this point...... 😡)

After Isabella finally woke up, we had the opportunity to go to Starbucks, so Dad could work with coffee at constant supply. We pounced at the opportunity and soon enough Isabella, Dad and I were eating a chocolate muffin, blueberry muffin, and cinnamon bun, respectively 🍽. We stayed at Starbucks until about 2:30 p.m., playing games on the iPad, reading (this one was mostly me) and eating lunch. At 2:40, we got home, and pretty much did nothing for the next three hours, since Dad was working. 

After that, we went exploring again. First, there was a trek to the old part of the city. In case we got hungry, Dad got us raspberries from a nearby street vendor. They were delicious! I don’t usually like to eat raspberries, but I was gobbling them up like Isabella and Victoria usually do. 

We came to the old city and walked around for about an hour.  Then Isabella became hungry. I swear, eat like this for the next three weeks, we will not be able to get on the plane; they would have to roll us on. We looked for a good place and then Isabella remembered that she wanted to try plain potato pierogies.

I had really good borsht with some kind of fish pastry, while Dad had meat. Afterwards, we got Soprano ice cream again. Then we walked around the old city and started to walk home. On the way, we saw really cool street performers. Also, it is really cool here in Warsaw. ALL OF YOU HAVE TO COME!!!!!!! And that’s how this day went down in history, June 29, 2018.

Also, grandma and grandpa were supposed to come to Warsaw today but somehow, their flight got cancelled.

Day 1 - June 28, 2018; Poland, Pierogies, and All That Jazz

Hi. My name is Georgia Fishteyn. You may remember me from my blog in Vilnius, Lithuania 2017😀, and the same for Vilnius, Lithuania 2016 😛. Well, this year, we decided to change things up a bit and go to Poland. So here I am, writing this blog for you in our apartment here in Poland’s capital, Warsaw. 

On June 27, at 3:00, we took a car ride with Mom to the Newark airport. Sadly, Mom did not accompany us to Poland this year. Anyway, Dad, Isabella and I got out and were in a massive hurry to get to our gate, C98. When we were done with all the passport control, security check and all that jazz, we got to a small table in our terminal, very close to our gate. Isabella and I were sent to investigate our dinner choices. We settled on homemade cheese pizza, and watched in awe as the skilled pizza makers made our pizza in a matter of seconds. But, this was not nearly as impressive as the speed at which Madame Isabella, Monsieur Daniil and Madame Georgia, the renowned magicians made the pizza disappear! After dinner, we went to our gate and waited, and waited, and waited and then, waited some more. Finally, we were let into our plane. 

The flight was mostly uneventful, but I’ll tell you everything I did anyway. First, I watched a movie, then the flight attendants walked around with dinner. I don’t know why they call that dinner. So, I pretended to be asleep so the flight attendant would not bother me. Then, ice cream was passed around. It was okay. Yada, yada, yada. That was the most interesting stuff ever. When we finally landed, we were ushered out of the plane and sent to passport check. You know where we landed? You probably can’t guess. We landed in Berlin! Afterwards, we rented a car, which Dad had to drive for 6 hours to get to Warsaw. 

There, it was only around 2:02 p.m. We looked for our apartment and ended up finding a really nice one. When we finally carried all our bags to our apartment, we set to organizing them; we couldn’t get to exploring the old city because Dad had a call he needed to make for work. Now, since Dad ended quickly, we got to exploring. First, we walked for about fifteen minutes to the old part of the city. After that, we got Soprano ice cream!!! So, we walked around, eating ice cream and looking for coffee shops where Dad could work on workdays. After we found five coffee shops, we decided to search for something to eat. We went to an all polish cuisine. I had polish pierogies, filled with potatoes, cottage cheese and sauerkraut, while Isabella had a salad and Dad had a sznitzel. My pierogies were amazing! After that, we walked home. Dad pointed out signs and we read them, because Polish is easy to read if you know Russian. 

We were so tired when we got to our rented apartment, that we almost immediately went to bed. Isabella was so tired that she slept 12 hours! And that’s how this day went down in history, June 28, 2018.

June 26th, Starbucks in Millington

Last evening in NJ before Dan, Georgia, Isabella, and Michael and Anna start their adventure in Warsaw. Georgia will be writing this blog. Will miss you awfully back home! Rachel