ulica Floriaลska Edits
polska
My always obsession...
Krakow with Tom
My friend Tom and I had to go to Krakow on the same day, both of us having ridiculously early appointments (before eight, I believe).
We did the obvious: took the same bus, took care of our business, then met back up at the rynek for coffee and conversation.
I finished a little earlier than Tom, so I took a few early-morning Krakow pictures. It was probably the only time I was in the Old Town that early. K, who studied in Krakow, insisted that there was no better time to photograph the city.
I got one picture that's especially significant now: the waiting room in the Krakow train station, which is no longer the waiting room for the train station as the whole station has moved. Not photographing the whole ticket area, waiting room, and platforms is one of several photographic regrets.
Most of the everyday places that made up my reality in Poland during my first stay (96-99) exist now only in memory. I have few photographs of the apartment I had -- in fact, only one that I know of. I have only a handful of images of the Nowy Targ bus station, where I spent countless hours waiting for hundreds of busses. The Krakow bus station is the same -- gone.
That's probably why I have so many pictures of our children that are seemingly everyday events -- nothing special. Because in a few years, they will be special: reminders of what a normal, say, Tuesday looked like in our family.
Evening Walk
Return
Five years ago, I came back a little later with the kids. On our departure day, we found a nice place to sit and wait in Krakow airport.
Today, we recreated the picture -- sort of:
We made it home, though, safely and relatively painlessly.
And so our Polska 2022 adventure is over. Reflection to follow, but I've been up now for 27 hours, so I'm going to bed...
Final Evening
Last Day in Jablonka 2022
Here in Jablonka, we began our last day with rain and temperature keeping us indoors. It never rose above the high-50s, and it rained all morning before taking a short lunch break to prepare for an afternoon and evening of rain. Depressing weather to go with a day of mixed feelings: ready to go home, we're both a little sad to leave the adventure here.
In the meantime, K flew out of our local airport heading to Newark for a funeral. In New York, it was sunny and lovely, and K got to see a friend she hadn't seen for years. Still, the motivation for the trip was a tragedy. A mixture as here.
With the weather as it was, we had few choices this last day in Jablonka. We watched some television, talked, packed -- and repeated it all.
And for dinner: kiszka heated on the stove Babcia uses for hot water.
Random Bit for Future Smiles
A regular during our stay here was was the Magno-Z commercial: we got to see that a few times during our month here. The Boy groaned each time it came on, but he still sang along with it.
Commercials, it turns out, are a great source for learning a language.
Bike Ride to Bory
Family Ognisko
One of the things that must happen during a trip to Polska (from the point of view of our children anyway) is an ognisko in Spytkowice. We tried three times this visit -- three weekends -- and got rained out each time.
It looked like this time we'd get rained out as well, so we did the simple and obvious thing: moved the ognisko to Jablonka, where there's a covered gazebo. Problem solved. Ognisko complete.
Around Jablonka
Last Market Day
Today was the last day at the jarmark for us. To be honest, I could have done without: there's very little I'm willing to buy there, but I'm always willing to snap a few pictures with my phone, which is so much less obtrusive than walking around with a camera.
The Boy finally made a decision: he did indeed buy a knife. He's been worried about whether or not it would make it on the plane, and my assurances that it would be fine as long as it was in our checked luggage finally convinced him. The actual selection process was typical: he handled this one, opened that one, examined a third, went back to the first when a fourth caught his eye.
In the afternoon, we went another bike ride. This time I took him through the forest before heading up along, mixed-surface climb that he declared at the end to be the hardest climb he's ever done.
Finally, in the evening, I headed back to Lipnica Wielka on a solo ride with the intention of riding to the base of Babia, then crossing over to Lipnica Mala to come back down. However, I made it halfway through LW before I realized it was foolishness to think I could make that ride: I know the climbs that awaited, and I knew my legs didn't have it in them.
Of course, I stopped by one more time to see how dom nauczyciela was going: it is, in a word, gone. Nothing remains but a hole where the basement was.