We got back on Sunday night, and I’m still too lazy to finish uploading photographs. Soon, I promise. (You’ll like the video of the snail.)
I’ve stayed remarkably busy the last couple days, although I couldn’t exactly say with what. Just errands, mostly. There are a half dozen people that I really ought to call / email, but I’m going to put it off once more and go to bed early instead.
David stubbed the crap out of his toe this evening. Poor guy.
I only have about 13 hours left before my flight home. Recap on the last few days:
Thursday, Nick and Dan left for their own mini trip to Gdansk, and David and I spent the day with David’s mom. I took a pretty good little picture of a snail on the back patio, but that’s about it for photography for that day.
Friday we went to a little cabin outside of Warsaw that belongs to David’s grandma. It was really pretty, and she had lots of stories about what it looked like 50 years ago. This morning we walked down to the river, a few minutes away on foot. David pretended that he was going to throw me in the water, and his grandma scolded him, poor guy. (I thought it was pretty funny.)
David’s mom picked us up from the cabin and brought us back to Warsaw, where we caught part of the dress rehearsal for a play that she directed, being performed in the park. Then the three of us went to the train station to pick up Nick and Dan, coming back from Gdansk, and after a quick meal, we headed back to the park for the actual performance. During the first part, David, Nick, Dan, and I walked around the park with David’s nephew, who picked up almost every stick in the park and used it to shoot laser beams at me. We sat down after intermission to watch the rest of the show, then all piled into the car to head back to David’s mom’s house for the night.
Time for this girl to go to bed — not that I really need to be rested up for the flight tomorrow. With 10 hours on the plane, I’ll have more than enough time to catch up on my beauty rest.
Another busy day. Before we left on our adventures, David’s mom made us omelets, which were unlike American omelets in that they also contained flour — they were a bit like a very thick crepe. She also restocked on bread, since we ate most of it yesterday, and by we I mean Dan. Among the various breads that she bought, she picked up a package of sweet bread called Dan Cake. Perfect!
Our first stop was at the Summer Palace. I managed to get a few pictures inside before being admonished by one of the museum people to put my camera away. (Usually that sort of thing would mortify me, but I have to say, it was totally worth it.) Much of it had been restored, and a lot of the pieces of furniture and artwork were of a really astonishing level of workmanship. There was one particularly impressive dresser or desk — not sure exactly what it was, but it had many small drawers on top and a few larger compartments on the bottom — on which every door and drawer-front was inlaid an intricate picture of animals or a country scene, made from semiprecious stones, with the rest of it overall made of or inlaid with tortoiseshell and brass. The craftsmanship involved in making that single piece of furniture is just mind-boggling.
Next, we visited the Museum of Industry inside the Palace of Culture and Science, which were established / built during the Communist era. Apparently the Palace of Culture and Science is one of the prime examples of social realist architecture — lots of Greco-Roman inspired statues of people wielding jackhammers and such.
Then we ran a somewhat silly mission to the mall to look for sunglasses for one of our party (who didn’t want to spend more than $30, so the mall isn’t really the place to go, at least not in a major city). The trip was not in vain, however, because at least we got dinner — then it was off to purchase subway tickets to get across town in time to see The Magic Flute, which was playing as part of Warsaw’s Mozart festival. It’s the first time that I’d seen any opera performed live, and I thought they really did a great job. And since we didn’t get our tickets until we got there, we ended up lucking out with 7th row seats that someone else had cancelled — not quite close enough to see the spit flying out of the singers’ mouths, but still pretty darn close.
We met up with Raymond, David’s mom’s partner, for a ride back to the house, and he offered to let Dan drive. Dan is a car man (an automotive engineer), and the vehicle is a natural-gas-powered 4×4 with some significant maintenance issues — so between it’s quirks and Dan’s driving, that was quite an experience all in itself.
David’s mom made us an amazingly delicious late meal of breaded chicken, mashed potatoes, and mashed beets. I didn’t think I was all that hungry, but I devoured everything on my plate. Then Raymond favored us with a few tunes on the guitar — he’s pretty amazing, and it was really inspiring to watch him play.
Pictures are here.
Today’s pictures are here.
Sorry I’m not writing more, but it’s time for bed. (I’m not adjusting the time settings for my blog — it’s actually 12:40am for me. So goodnight!)
I’m putting photos from my trip here.
Yesterday, two of David’s friends from back home, Dan and Nick, arrived in Warsaw. We went to the old royal park and wandered around for hours, where a squirrel tried to climb me and where a bird almost landed on David’s foot while we were sitting on a park bench. (Nick’s photos are here.)
Today we’re heading to the old part of town, then meeting David’s grandma. She’s making dinner for us. Then we’re going to the Mozart festival to see The Magic Flute, if we can get in.
So, um, I’m in Poland.
David left on Thursday for Warsaw, and after sitting around twiddling my thumbs for a day, I decided that I wasn’t going to let him have all the fun. So Friday I bought a ticket, Saturday I hopped on the evening plane, and now here I am!
The flight was pretty uneventful. I managed to get a fair amount of sleep, and I watched about two-thirds of Horton Hears a Who. And I saw some silly things along the way, like the guy out on the tarmac at Heathrow who was taking a nap on an empty baggage train, and the plexiglass barrier in the airport shuttle that was clearly labeled “extruded plexiglass,” just in case passengers needed to know.
Now I’m at David’s mom’s house, hanging out with the two of them and David’s young nephew, who beat me two-out-of-three in Rock, Paper, Scissors (although rightfully I should’ve won that last round!). I think we’re going to his grandfather’s theater tonight — hopefully I won’t fall asleep halfway through the production.
This is more or less what I’ve been up to the past few weeks:
Things that I haven’t really been doing:
I’ve been thoroughly immersed in a project for law school for the past few weeks, and aside from that, I’ve been very occupied with David. Sorry about the lack of posting — I promise to improve in May.
Things I’ve managed to squeeze into the last few weeks:
