This is a bakery by the bus stop. We catch the 718 to go to Gosia's apartment. Easy to remember because it's the Brooklyn area code.Resurrection Sunday morning, we got up and caught the 9:30 bus to Gosia's church which is held in a movie theatre--very Bethel West Pasco. It was a shorter-than-normal service full of singing and prayer. I was especially touched by all the men praying. Gosia stood behind me and Stacey whispering translation to us. We shook hands with some of the congregants and the pastor and his wife. Her mom met us there and her dad picked us up.
This was the small lunch (taught Gosia the word 'nosh') not to be confused by dinner that Gosia's mom served us. Later, Gosia's sister, nephew, grandfather (jadek), and grandfather's girlfriend arrived for dinner. Lesser eating followed by greater eating. Followed by, in my case, a nap. He is risen! He is risen indeed!
After I woke and a bit more talking (Grandfather recited a very funny poem in English and I was embarrassed at not being able to reply with another poem--in English or Polish)Gosia's sister dropped us off here at the King's Bath Garden/Chopin Park and we strolled around like the stuffed birds we were. Somehow I managed to fit in a waffle--strawberry jam and chocolate syrup. 
This was from the previous night at Starbucks, Gosia demonstrating Polish body language for 'being friendly'.Monday morning, Gosia bid us farewell at the elevator and her kindly father took Stacey and me to the Central train station. He waited with us on the main concourse, walked us to our platform, led us to the correct place where our car (wagon) would pull up, blocked out some old ladies and ushered us onto the train, and ultimately I think I saw his baseball cap on the platform as the train departed. What a sincere moment feeling the doctrine of adoption.
Krakow is about three hours from Warsaw so it was still mid-morning when we arrived. A quick cab ride to our Hotel Jan and check in was smooth. Stacey rested a bit before we set out to wander the Old Town (Staremiasto) open square, market, cavernous cafe where Stacey had her first pierogi, shops, and closed museums--Easter Monday is an all-Poland holiday.
The next day we went to a museum and looked at armor and swords and the DaVinci painting "Lady with Ermine". Then we walked down to Wawel Castle and contented ourselves with the exterior courtyard. Here, a successful volley in the on-going photo war Stacey and I have.
Hyacinths in the Wawel Castle courtyard, I kept commenting how good it smelled. We walked back and saw the remaining bits of Old Town, spring is in full bloom. And collected our luggage and walked to the train station. I think I'm turning into my mother. Happy to sit outside the train station for half an hour if that means I don't have to hurry and rush.
This is our sleeper cabin to Berlin. I love this picture. The bottom of the three bunks was occupied by a very nice Polish woman who has been living in Berlin for the last 14 years. We communicated in Spanish. Though the car was very hot, I enjoyed meeting her and rested decently.
Our room at the Hotel Pension Elba on BleibstraBen was so pretty. I took many photos of the curtains and accents. You can see Mooch next the photo of my nieces and nephew. Continental breakfast was vastly superior to those of my past hotel stays: fresh mozzarella, gouda, chevre, prosciutto, rolls, hot milk for coffee, boiled eggs, ripe strawberries, apricot jam...The unlit candles were green and the walls happy yellow. I told Stacey it reminded me of A Room With A View where I could envision all the pension guests sitting down to dinner together. In college art history, I particularly loved learning about Bauhaus. This colors my view of Germany in that I think all their design is so clever and graceful. Contextualizing it with my visit to the Warsaw Rising museum and, later, the Saxonhausen camp (see below), I realize Bauhaus fell just between the first and second world wars. An unusual time of peace for Germany and it shows what beauty can come of freedom from oppression. That's my semi-educated opinion.
Even this window display of a toilet is lovely. This doesn't happen in the States.
Wednesday, the day of our arrival, we joined a walking tour of the main sites in Berlin. This is across the street from a remaining portion of the Berlin Wall. These Berlin Bear statues are dotted around the city. Mooch makes an unusually energetic appearance. It was a great tour even though it was five hours long. Our very knowledgeable and good-looking guide Derek from Canadia kept us moving through the museums, churches, memorials and thinking through the 20th century.
Here's a memorial to the strike on June 17, 1953 by East German workers. It's juxtaposed with a large Communist mural on the nearby wall of the built-by-Nazis-currently-Finance-department office.After the tour, we went to the Staatsoper where Macbeth was showing. I can only guess that it was an Italian opera--the subtitles were in German so I never really knew for sure. The costumes were kabuki and space-aged style. Even though Stacey was enjoying it, we left at intermission to have dinner. Never found the restaurant Linsey told me about so wound up at Cafe So in Kreuzberg across the street from the Hebbel Theatre. The waitress was very kind about my English. And eventually we got back to the hotel safe.
The next day, we took a different tour by the same company to Saxonhausen, the capitol concentration camp run by the Nazis in WWII in that it was where the special prisoners went and where they experimented with gas chamber methods before deploying them to other camps. This is the first gate that read 'Work will set you free' which was likewise promulgated to other camps as those trained here went onto leadership in other more notorious camps like Birkenau and Treblinka. Very grim but something in me is satisfied by seeing a death camp with my own eyes. I've been told a lot, seen lots of pictures but to walk the same earth as thousands of murdered people is...real. Our tour guide Nigel was great to inject some levity where appropriate, commenting about the side mirrors on buses that are tourist catchers, and the best place for the loo.
Back in Berlin proper we went to the Deutsche Guggenheim where the exhibit was "Picturing America: Photorealism in the 1970s". Really cool. There was even a painting of the NY Guggenheim. The museum shop had a graffiti coloring book, and some great postcards. I picked up an Optrixx for Gosia, who said she'll use it in her classroom to indicate the student in charge.
Then we went to see what I thought was going to be a movie on Bull Dancing from Brazil at the Hebbel. Had I thought a little harder, I would have realized it must be performance and must be outlandish given that I only know of the theatre because Big Art Group has performed there. Anyhow, I really liked it but Stacey had major objections and this was (after a day apart) gainful in the emotional health and depth of our friendship. (Yay counseling! Yay Emotionally Healthy Spirituality!)
Thursday, we indeed took our separate routes through Berlin--I to the Bauhaus Archive (photographs of New York in the 1940s--I've decided there's a deep love affair between Berlin and NYC) and she through Tiergarten--and met up for lunch at Monsieur Vuong. Then I wandered through the Neue Nationalgalerie and neighboring sculpture sites, witnessing Berliners sun themselves and shop.
Here's Mooch with Alexander Calder's Tetes et Queue (Heads and Tails). We rendezvoused outside the Zoo Station and then got our last bratwurst before collecting our stuff and getting back on the train. This time, we were an HOUR early so had more than sufficient time to settle and chat and pray. It was Godsend, truly.The three-bunker was just ours on this return trip. And the conductor took very good care of us, bringing us coffee and tea respectively in the morning and making sure we knew which way to walk after debarking.
This is my favorite word in Polish: Uwaga--meaning 'Attention!' printed on the very cup of coffee furnished by the kind conductor.So, observing the Sabbath today as 1) directed to in Emotionally Healthy Spirituality and 2) commanded by God. It's been nice to drink tea and blog. Gosia's flipping through a catalog and Stacey is napping/journaling.
I love you, my dear readers, and hope you are edified and resting in the particular rhythm for your life. More to come, as it happens. Next stops: Turkey and Montenegro.
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