I’ve been in the process of uploading old pictures to Flickr in an effort to make our collection there more indicative of our travels in Poland.

Ojcow lies just outside of Krakow. It’s a national park filled with rock formations and ancient castle ruins.

K and I visited Ojcow in late November 2002, for “Andrzejki” — the last night of partying before Advent sets in.

The first thing that strikes you about Ojcow when you arrive the bus station. There’s a tree growing through it.

We never learned why they built it around that tree. Maybe a rare tree? Maybe an ecological conscience? Maybe an architectural novelty?

Ojcow is in an area formerly ruled by the Austro-Hungarian empire during the partition of Poland. The Austrians declared that the Poles shall not build a single church on this ground. Occupied Catholic Poles being what they are (like most occupied people, very stubborn), they figured out a way to get around that. Such rule bending drives me absolutely nuts when my students do it.