Warsaw

On our way back to Berlin we decided to spend a day in Warsaw. We had heard that the city wasn't spectacular, but really enjoyed our time there. The city has an interesting history. Towards the end of WWII, shortly before the Soviets came into the city, the resistance in Warsaw staged and uprising against the Nazis. Though they initially made some impressive gains, the Nazis quickly regrouped and the resistance ultimately failed. Hitler, however, was so furious at their attempt that he ordered that the city be demolished, which it was-systematically block by block-until nothing remained. In fact, when Dwight D. Eisenhower saw the place he said the destruction was the worst that he had ever seen.  Since then it has been rebuilt, as you can see. The old town was beautiful and we even had a born-again from Texas approach us to talk about Jesus. In fact, that may be the first time I have experienced such a thing in Europe. 

 

Jaxon was especially excited to find this soccer stadium. Poland and Ukraine recently hosted the European cup, and when I told Jaxon we were going to Poland the first thing he said was, "Are we going to go see a match?" Unfortunately the competition was over by the time we got there, but at least he got to see the brand new stadium. 

 

I finally got my picture of a nun. I loved this, there were nuns running around all over the place in Poland. This one was really nice to the boys, but then she got a little grouchy with Jonas when she saw him hit Jaxon.  Scolded by a nun.

We stopped by this famous Warsaw bakery, A. Blikle,  and bought some paczki, a sort of Polish doughnut filled with rose-flavored jelly. Everyone loved them, except for Jonas who apparently doesn't have the taste for roses.

The Palace of Culture and Science. This was Stalin's personal mark on the city.

We got into our hotel in Berlin late in the evening. I was excited for the hotel because everything is from the former East Germany, down to the television shows on the old fashioned television in the reception.

Last day in Krakow

We had breakfast included with our hotel, and I just had to get a picture of what we ate in the morning, particularly the hot dogs and the pickles.

Daniel humored me and we visited one the synagogues near our hotel.

Jaxon became a champ at picking out the Star of David. After we left the synagogue he saw this hub cap and said, "Hey, look mom! It is the Star of David! Take a picture!"

Next we finally visited Wawel Castle Hill.

Dragon bones were hanging at the entrance of the cathedral.

Love these markets.

Later in the afternoon we headed to the ethnographic museum. It had a great little exhibit. The one problem was that there were about 3 museum personnel per visitor, so you could kind of feel some hovering...

Teacher Jaxon

Teacher Jonas

Jonas and Jaxon were especially impressed by this work of art.

The kids had requested going back to Pad Wawelem, the restaurant from the previous night, so we headed back there after the museum. The evening before we had fed the kids before going, as we didn't know what to expect. But this time we ordered of the kids menu. I had never seen kids portions like this before!

This guy (I'm not sure who he was) actually asked us if he could get a picture with our boys. He loved that Jaxon was wearing a Cristiano Ronaldo jersey and Jonas was wearing Lionel Messi jersey.  These guys are Jaxon's heros (and Jonas is therefore equally excited) who are both soccer players in Europe.  Apparently they are also arch rivals which of course Daniel and I had no idea about. 

We headed to the Old Town Market for one last evening after dinner. The kids loved the puppet guy

Enjoying one last ice cream

Daniel was really impressed with my photography skills in this picture.

Wieliczka Salt Mines

The next day we headed to Wieliczka Salt Mines. We are starting to consider ourselves salt mine connaisseurs, seeing as this is our third salt mine in just over a year. You can see Daniel's enthusiasm.

The unique thing about this mine was that they miners were artists and the mines were full of elaborate carvings. See that sticker on my shirt? That is that $3 I paid to be able to take pictures, so I took advantage of it. 

They even carved an underground chapel, apparently the deepest chapel in the world. Or so the tour guide said. I haven't fact-checked it, but none the less the chapel and its carvings were spectacular.

We returned to Krakow afterward and Jaxon enjoyed having the pigeons eat out of his hands.

Next we went to an amazing restaurant called Pad Wawelem. This was the most brilliant thing-a nice restaurant with a two-story kids play area. The family room was separated enough from the play area to make the dining experience truly enjoyable.

And the food. When Daniel ordered the Officer's Platter, he didn't really know what he was getting himself into.

Really, I don't think that he has eaten this much meat over the past year. I clearly shouldn't have ordered my own meal, as this was enough to feed four people.

A valiant effort, but he couldn't quite make it through. And even with that he wasn't hungry for the following week.

Weighing ourselves on the way out.