The Quarter Century Mark

Well folks, it's official. I'm 25 years old. Wait a minute . . . it's not yet my birthday in Canada and I don't think I was born until noon so I guess I've got at least 12 hours left of being 24. Not that it really matters. They say the older you get, the less important birthdays are and you never feel magically older like you did when you were five turning six. But for me, 25 feels like some kind of milestone. I am now well established in the mid-twenties and the big three - o is hanging over my head. I know that people older than me think that 30 is unbelievably young, but I think you can all remember at one time thinking that 30 was old. Five more years for me . . .

I'm in Poland right now, Warsaw to be specific. We arrived to a hustling bustling pace full of buses and trams making public transport so convenient. The one problem was that we didn't quite know how the system worked so we guessed and after a few errors, eventually made it to Nathan's Villa Hostel where there is no checkout time and there is free laundry - if you can find your stuff in the gigantic pile after the airdrying is finished. It's not quite the Circus, but it's not bad. Last night's situation was better because the drunken idiots didn't stay in our room. It wouldn't have bothered me, but one of my ear plugs fell out and I couldn't find it. And those of you who know me well know how grumpy I am when I wake up . . .

Our first morning wasn't too eventfull. Meridith had some flight problems to deal with - namely her flight home being cancelled. She found a way home, but needless to say, neither of us is too impressed with the airline. Finally, we headed up to the Stare Miasto, the old city. If you look at pictures of Warsaw just after the war, it's just a huge pile of rubble. But the incredible thing is that they rebuilt pretty much everything. The old city looks pretty much the same as it used to. The old wall - the Barbican - with its turrets and gates stands guard around the old buildings. Buskers and tasteful vendors try to make some money off the tourist trade. A statue of an armed mermaid stands guard over the square where cafes seat their customers in the sun and artists sketch and display pictures for sale. The Warsaw cathedral, an archdiocese cathedral, stands in this part as well. At the south end is the completely rebuilt Royal Castle which once housed the royal line. Almost completely demolished by the war, it was rebuilt in astonishing grandeur. It's weird seeing a new building in that style.

. . . Okay, now it's actually the day after my birthday. I had to put my entry on ice because of the flock of internet vultures swarming around my head. I mean, at a youth hostel, who gets up early to email except people like me? It kind of annoyed me that my birthday started off that way.

All right, back to the first full day in Warsaw. We hopped some trams and tried to go see the gigantic Jewish Cemetary. However, in our ignorance, we did not realize that it was Rosh Hashanah and therefore all Jewish things were closed. So we went back to the old city. We went up the viewing tower of St. Anne's church and took in a panorama of the city. Since we always seem to visit the centers of cities, it's cool to see the broader landscape. After I ate some pierogis and Mer had a salmon pancake, we went to the Palace of Culture, billed as a 40 storey montrosity (not sure how many storeys, I may be making that number up). It was Stalin's gift to Warsaw. They joke that the view from the top is the best in the city because it's the only place where you can't see it. Yeah, it's pretty ugly. We wandered around the base to the KinoTeka, the movie theater. We wanted to go to Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist. What could be more Polish than seeing a Polanski movie? Unfortunately, it was dubbed in Polish and we had to go see Bill Murray in Broken Flowers instead.

Wednesday morning, we headed to the Eastern side of the river to the Russian Market, advertised as Europe's largest outdoor market. It takes place every day at an old stadium on the ground leading to the stadium and on the upper ring of it as well. The lower level was all clothes - plenty of sequins. Up, we found everything from shoes to crystal to lighters to jewelry to garage sale booths. It was busy and active.

Mer's Lonely Planet recommended an eatery just north of the old city. We went there because it looked traditional and cheap - which it was. A bunch of middle aged woman serve up homemade Polish food in a hot little kitchen. We ordered soup and stuffed pancakes, which turned out to be twice as much food as we needed.

Next stop, the reconstructed Royal castle. It was simply amazing to see the ornateness of the re-creations. A lot of paintings and treasures had been hidden during the Nazi occupation. Wealthy Poles at home and abroad had contributed a lot of money and treasures. It was so much to take in. In the basement, we got to see some old artifacts from everyday life. There was also a special exhibit of mortars and pestels that a Polish man had spent his life collecting.

Since it was free on Wednesdays, we went to the Ethno Museum. It was cute, somewhat old museum. It featured a room full of the different ethnic outfits. Nana, I took a lot of pictures for you. Another room went through some of the seasonal festivals. There was a harvest display with wheat weaving and huge wheat wreaths. They also displayed Halloween type costumes which were very ornate. Then there was a collection of small Christmas houses that the people would carry with them when they went carolling. It was all very interesting and I wished I could read Polish so it would make more sense. One of my great grandfathers was of Polish descent and I kept wishing I knew more of my heritage on that side of the family so I could make sense of the things I was seeing. Many times as I traipsed around Warsaw, I thought of Grandpa Wilson and how he'd get a kick out of the fact that I'm in Poland.

We stopped in Holy Cross Church. A statue outside depicts Jesus carrying his cross. It's one of the symbols of Warsaw. It was time for evening prayers so we sat down in the back. It was special to see the church so full for a midweek thing. Old and young were on their knees, responding with memorized prayers to the prayers of the kneeling priest before the altar. We prayed that the prayers might not be empty words for them, but full of life. I looked over and saw the pillar where Chopin's heart is interned. He was buried in France, but his will left his heart to Poland.

That night, we couldn't get into the park to see the Palace on the Water because the gate was looked. But it didn't dampen our excitement at the loss of our drunken roommates. We were quite happy to see them leave.

And on my birthday, we dashed to the Jewish cemetary where 250 000 lay. Gravestones are clustered and leaning on each other because there is just no room to contain them all. Some of them were Holocaust victims and others were famous and wealthy citizens. I wished that I could read some of the ancient Hebrew headstones. It was peaceful in there. We also stopped into the adjacent Catholic cemetary where we could hear mass being sung in the nearby church. The contrast between the cemetaries was interesting right away as I saw the crosses protruding from every stone.

We went back to the little Grandma-ish eatery with its plants and lace curtains. We ordered the pierogies, not being sure what kind of pierogies we were getting. When she passed them to me, I saw a reddish color emanating from the inside and feared that my birthday lunch would be filled with beets. Thankfully not! It turned out to be STRAWBERRY, one of my favorite fruits, smothered in cream and topped off with white sugar. So good. That was a special little birthday gift to me.

We squeezed in a quick visit to the Warsaw Uprising Museum. This is a very well down museum with interesting information and a good mix of multimedia aspects. It chronicles the uprising against the Nazi occupation through the efforts of the Home Army. I loved how it told the stories of very ordinary people who stood up and did extraordinary things. Then the ones who lived returned to normal lives. There were tales of the courage of boy scouts and girl scouts risking their lives for the cause. It truly is a remarkable story which reveals the amazing character and determination of the Polish people. I need to do more reading on it. If ever you are in Warsaw, check out this museum.

We found our platform and boarded a train for Czestochowa, the spiritual heart of Poland, where the Black Madonna is housed in a hilltop monastery. A very nice large man in our train compartment hoisted our large backpacks up to the luggage racks. Four seats on each side facing each other in our compartment. We stared at each other and out the window at the landscape as it became more hilly and the bluffs of trees thicker. Eventually, we were the only ones left in our compartment and had to get our bags down ourselves. When I travel, I am always so amazed and so blessed at the acts of kindness people bestow on me. Very rarely are people mean. It's made me want to be more giving, especially to foreigners unsure of what to do.

Our home here is the House of the Pilgrims, situated behind the monastery. We have a cute little room where fold-down couches serve as beds. We have our own shower and they provide fresh towels so it's quite a treat for us. It's such a safe feeling place, with a nun at the front desk. The doors are locked at 10 PM so we weren't out late celebrating my birthday. We took our chances and ordered off a Polish menu. It was a nice way to end the busy day of travelling and running around to see last minute things. It was nice to relax and eat pizza and have a large jolly man with a moustache take my plate away. It didn't really feel like my birthday most of the day and in a fit of female emotion, I cried on a bench as Mer tried to comfort me and strangers tried not to stare too much. But those last moments of my birthday were precious as Mer and I laughed and had a good time. Thanks so much to all of you who sent me birthday greetings. Each of you are precious to me and I thank God so much for you.

I'm really enjoying Poland. The people are intriguing and friendly - even though we don't speak any Polish. I have only one phrase in my arsenal - Thank you - which I believe is one of the most important words in any language. All throughout Warsaw we saw a mixture of eldery and young, healthy and infirm. There are a lot of disabled people here. Cripples, amputees, the blind, deformed . . . it's very sobering to see. I think I've finally run out of words for this post. My next post will tell you all about the pilgrimage of a Mennonite and a Lutheran to go see a Catholic Madonna.