Warszawa

Warszawa
Spent last weekend -- February 17th to 19th in Warsaw. I had a meeting with the Fulbright staff who run the Fulbright program in Poland -- wonderful people. Met three young women who were working on their doctoral degrees in various topics related to Poland and/or Jews or Jewish women in Poland.
Terrific lunch with them and all the Fulbrighters (Jackie is still raving about her veal chops).

Checked into our hotel --Mamaison Residence Diana -- beautiful studio apartment - at $64 a night.

Saturday began with coffee and sweet cream-filled rolls before our scheduled tour. We signed on for what we though was a bus (van) tour and turned out to be mostly on foot. Tour began in Lazienki Park which is a massive garden area south of Old Town Warsaw. Park Houses Lazienki Palace, Monument to Chopin, Temple of the Sibyl, Threatre on the Island, Myslewicki Palace, and Belweder Palace (pictures in that order below)

After walking through this hugh park (about 90 minutes) it was back in the van to follow the "Royal Route." The street Nowy Swiat (New World) leads toward Old Town and as it does it merges into  Krakowskie Przedmiescie and the beauty begins. Staszic Palace (Polish Academy of Sciences) with statue of Copernicus, Church of the Holy Cross, Warsaw University, Church of the Visitation, Namiestnikowski Palace (President's Residence), Carmelite Church and Adam Mickiewicz.

Krakowskie Przedmiescie ends in Old Town at Zygmunt's Column and the Royal Palace (Zamek Krolewski). Places of significance in Old Town are Church of St. Martin, Cathedral of St. John, Jesuit Church, Old Town Square (Rynek Starego Miasta), and the Barbican & City Walls.

Because we were short on time, we had to chose between New Town and the Jewish Ghetto. Sorry New Town but the Jewish Ghetto is a must see. Created by the Nazis in 1940, Jews were "walled-off" from the rest of Warsaw and in 1942 the Germans began to liquidate the ghetto deporting 300,000 to Treblinka. The Ghetto Uprising began in 1943 and lasted one month. The Nazis razed the whole area after they surpressed the uprising. Pictures are of: Umschlagplatz (railway siding from which Jews were loaded into cattle cars and dispatched to death camps, Monument to the Heroes of the Ghetto (pictures 2 & 3), ZOB Bunker and marker (pictures 4 & 5)(where hunderds of Jews are buried -- no one knows exactly how many -- committed suicide rather than go to the death camps).

Obviously, these pictures were taken over our two and one-half days in Warsaw.
The train ride from Wroclaw to Warsaw and back was five hours each way but it was clean and comfortable and relatively inexpensive. The weather in Warsaw last weekend was snow with a mixture of snow and rain on Sunday.
Great experience!
Wonderful city!

February 17

Well, most things are improving except the weather and our relationship with Citi Bank.
The University provided us with another room that is next door to our current room. This gives as a bedroom, bathroom and small kitchen in one room, and a living area, kitchen, and bathroom is the other. Much more comfortable.

We are finding our way around the city nicely, although it would be much more enjoyable if the weather would cooperate -- It has ranged from -10 degrees to 20 degrees (F) since we arrived.
We have found several grocery stores and eating places within a few blocks of the university, and a wonderful place called "The Arena" which is similar to an indoor farmers market but the vendors sell virtually everything.

Our only problem so far is with Citi Bank. Apparently, in Poland they don't give the same consideration to "bank drafts" or "cashiers checks" that we do in the U.S. We opened a Citi Bank account here in Wroclaw on February 2nd and deposited a cashiers check in the account along with some USD's. We kept checking our account online and finally went to the bank on Friday February 9th. The bank told us to could take up to 3 months. I emailed Citi Bank in Warsaw and they told me I could expect payment by March 7th or 8th. I emailed Graystone Tower Bank in Carlisle and after some research I was told that Citi Bank NA (New York) cashed the cashiers check on February 9th and they attached a copy of the cancelled check. I email Citi Bank Warsaw back with a copy of the cancelled check and told them that they  should be receiving payment from Citi Bank NA on February 10th and I expect to have it deposited in my account by February 13th. We will see how that goes. Can't figure out why it took Citi Bank 8 days to draw the money in this age of electronic transactions. Perhaps this is another reason why are banking system is operating "on the edge."

Took our first daylight trip to the rynek (town square) in Wroclaw. The place is both beautiful and amazing. It was about 10 degrees yesterday (Saturday) morning and the were selling fresh cut flowers in covered stalls in Solny Place which is a smaller square just off the southwest corner of the main rynek. I uploaded some pictures here. I did upload them to my facebook with descriptions of the pictures.

We are headed to Warsaw (by train) next Friday morning. 6:00 AM departure and 11:36 arrival. The meeting is a noon about 1.5  kilometers from the train station (Warszawa Centralna). We are staying until Sunday so we can do some sightseeing in their Stare Miasto (Old Town). The hotel recommended by the Fulbright Commission was very inexpensive ($63 per night) and the online pictures were very nice and close to Old Town. Should be fun!

Getting to Wroclaw

Getting to Wroclaw was easier than we anticipated. We flewContinental out of Harrisburg to Newark. Left Harrisburg around 1:30 and got to Newark around 2:15. Had to go through security again because we changed to the international terminal. Left Newark around 4:30 on Lufthansa. Terrific flight and they actually served us dinner and breakfast. Arrived in Dusseldorf around 6:15 AM (that would be 12:15 AM eastern time). Had a five hour layover (got in a good nap) and left Dusseldorf for Wroclaw around 11:30 -- again on Lufthansa (they  served us lunch on a 90 minute flight!! Arrived in Wroclaw at 1:00 PM and were met at the airport by Bill Minsker, Wojtek Jemiolo (a Wroclaw student who to took a class from me at Shippensburg) and Michal Gruseka (a Wroclaw student who will be studying a Shippensburg at year).

They delivered us to our "apartment" which turned out to be a dorm room with a kitchen area and a private bathroom. Bill and Wojtek are working on finding us something a little larger. Got unpacked, rested and went to dinner with Bill, Wojtek and Michal at a restaurant in the Rynek (main town square) named Restauracj Oregano. Excellent food and very inexpensive (total bill with adult beverages with 178.4 zloty.($1 = 3.13zl)

Met with the Rector Thursday morning -- Professor Bogdan Fiedora. I met him on my first visit to Poland four years ago and hosted him when he visited Shippensburg. He is a wonderful man, great conversationalist, and has been a terrific Rector (serving two terms which  is the maximum allowed.)

We did get WYFI and network installed on the computers and Jackie's I-Phone.It seems they have different WYFI connections for campus and living area even though they are just across the street from each other. Wojtek gets all the credit for this happening.

Visited the bank (CITI)(took about 2 hours to open an account), got tram/bus passes and stopped at a grocery store Thursday afternoon. A four month unlimited bus & tram pass was . ($97)Food is not expensive at all, and restaurants, as I said before, are very inexpensive-- Jackie and I treated Wojtek to dinner Thursday since he was a tremendous help with the bank and getting the tram/bus passes. Dinner for three without adult beverages about $27.
 
On Friday, Jackie and I were guests of the Rector at the 65th anniversary celebration of the University. Nice affair. Very formal. Understood very little but did recognize my name in order to stand up and be recognized. Wine and food that followed was outstanding.

I still don't know what I am teaching but I believe that whatever I am teaching it will be on Tuesday. I am supposed to find this out on Monday February 6th at a meeting with the Vice-Rector for International Studies. Classes start Tuesday February 7th,

Anyway, we are  well and waiting for it to warm up. First planned trip is to Warsaw on February 16th to meet with the Fulbright staff. We will spend that weekend tourning Warsaw.

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To New York City for Visa

Because we live in Pennsylvania, we had to go to NYC for visas. We decided to go by train from Harrisburg. Left on Sunday morning December 11th and the train trip was great. Checked in to Fairfield Inn & Suites on 37th Street, about two blocks from the Polish Embassy. Walked to TKTS and got tickets to Memphis (50% off). Had a great dinner and a good nights sleep. Got up Monday morning to visit the Polish Embassy. Was very easy process and the lady who processed our paperwork was terrific. In fact we had so much time before our train back we did the tourist thing - Rockerfellow Center just before Christmas -- pictures and all!

Got the train back to Harrisburg and about an hour into the trip I received a phone call from the Embassy -- we forgot to leave our Passports (who knew??). I told the lady I would mail them tomorrow (December 13th) Priority Mail. Sent them Priority Mail on December 13th. They did not arrive in NYC until December 20th and were not delivered until December 23rd. The Polish Embassy must have learned from out experience because they returned them by Fed-Ex. on January 9th.

Can't wait for the air travel adventure.