Road Trip to Poland

June 29, 2015
Day 1: Boleslawiec, Poland
After a couple days of rest, my Mother-in-Law, Father-in-Law, Sister-in-Law, son and myself thought we would go see the Bastei Bridge outside of Dresden, Germany before we drove to Boleslawiec, Poland for a full day of Polish Pottery.

My lovely, many times wonky, GPS "Shondra" of course got us to the bridge...but on the other side of the valley!  While we didn't get to walk across the bridge, we got some amazing pictures of the entire bridge.

After the bridge, we made our way to Boleslawiec, snuggled down, ate some amazing food and turned in so we could re-charge for shopping the next day!

Bastei Bridge

July 2, 2015
Day 2: Boleslawiec, Poland
My Mother-in-Law has been collecting Polish Pottery for years.  I always loved her stuff and never dreamed I would be able to actually go to Poland to purchase some for myself.  I have a feeling it was a little like pottery heaven for my Mother-in-Law!

After a nice long day of shopping until we dropped, we went back to The Blue Beetroot to get our things.  Apparently with all the planning for summer, I had forgotten to book the second night...Luckily we had the internet and I found us a place in Świerzawa over Booking.com called

Gościniec Pod Gruszą, a little town closer to Krakow.  It was pretty amazing and the owner was such a nice guy that he called a local restaurant owner of the Villa Greta Pension and made arrangements for us to go eat since few people spoke English in this little place.

Actually, the hotel was only three months old so "Shondra" couldn't find it and the people were so friendly and helpful, they had a local family actually have us follow them to the hotel.  I pretty much love Poland!

The downstairs area where Colleen and I stayed

It was nicely decorated and very comfortable

Up the stairs, here is the loft where Keenan stayed

The upstairs looking into the bathroom

The bathroom was as big as the rooms!

Keenan crying because we drank all the wine!

Villa Greta Pension B&B/Restaurant

We chose to eat outside since it was so beautiful out

It was like a fairytale

They used the herbs from the garden to flavor their food!

It was a pretty special dinner with delicious food and gorgeous surroundings.  Again, everything happens for a reason.  We would have missed out on this very cool adventure if I had booked the Blue Beetroot properly.

July 3, 2015
Day 3: Krakow, Poland
On day 3 we drove to Krakow and enjoyed a wonderful dinner, got some wine and relaxed at home for awhile before going to sleep.  We stayed at a great Airbnb.  Our host, Adrian, greeted us, gave us the key and went on his way so it was very easy.  It was a nice place with everything we needed.

Living room (pic from Airbnb website)

The living room.  Keenan slept here, the bed folds out. (pic from Airbnb website)

Colleen's & my room

Mom & Dad's room

Very airy kitchen

Nice facilities!

Krakows main square with Cloth Hall and Town Hall Tower

Cloth Hall has been a place to purchase things since the 15th century

It was packed full of fun touristy things

Town Hall Tower

I just had to steal a hug!

Eros Bendato (1999), by Igor Mitoraj

Saint Mary's Basilica

Statue of Adam Mickiewicz, a famous poet

There were full grown adults hanging on this statue too....

I was pretty disturbed by the people's lack of respect for many of the historical things in Krakow.  The parents let their children use the statues as jungle gyms, but what was worse was that the adults were climbing onto the shoulders of the statues and taking selfies...The statue of Adam Mickiewicz, for example, the monument was destroyed by the Nazis in 1940.  It was restored in 1955 when most of the figures were recovered from a Hamburg scrap metal heap.  This monument had survived so much, only to be used as a jungle gym...it was pretty sad for me to see that...

Regardless, we went back to our place and rested up for our trip to Auschwitz the next day.

July 4, 2015
Day 4: Auschwitz/Birkenau, Poland
I am not going to go too in depth about our visit to Auschwitz/Birkenau this time since I have done that earlier.  This time however, they forced us to take a tour rather than explore on our own.  Since now I have done both, I recommend not taking a tour if you have a choice.  There was so much to see that we missed because we were herded in and out quickly and had to dodge other tours.  If you go after 3:00pm you can go on your own.  Below are some new pictures of the camps.  It was such a beautiful day, it almost seemed wrong to be in such a historically sad place with it being so lovely out.

After our day at the camps, we went to a very nice little place and had a good dinner then went back to Krakow to rest up for our journey back to Boleslawiec, then back to Germany.

July 5, 2015
Day 5: Boleslawiec, Poland
On day 5 we drove back to Boleslawiec and to the Blue Beetroot.  This time they gave us a different room, which was actually even nicer than the one I was used to.  We had a little more time for shopping, ate dinner and then went to sleep so we would be well rested on our journey home.  This was another amazing adventure and luckily we were going to be back with Jack!