Carol's Travels

This morning we had a delicious buffet breakfast at Hotel Kossak, then we went on a walking tour with a delightful city guide. We walked on the nearby castle grounds and toured the ornate church there. In the huge courtyard they often hold concerts. Next, our group of eight rode on two golf carts to tour the old city which escaped damage during World War ll. I think it is interesting that when the city walls were torn down, that land became a green belt of parks.  

 

We walked though the largest town square in Europe. Restaurants, a cathedral, and specialty shores surround the square. In the middle, local venders sell their wares. At noon a trumpet sounded at the church, and people in ethnic costumes paraded around the square.

Miina took some of us to a local restaurant for lunch. Linda and I split our orders and shared with each other: mushroom and onion dumplings and fresh strawberries and cream dumplings.After that, Miina showed us her favorite ice cream shop. I ordered a 2-scoop vanilla walnut and strawberry ice cream cone.

After that, Linda and I walked through a pottery shop and an ethic clothing shop. We ended with a walk through the local art faire in the middle of the square. Then we walked twenty minutes back to our hotel and rested a while.  

This evening we thoroughly enjoyed a Chopin piano concert near the town square. Miina had arranged this at our request since I played some music composed by him when I was in high school. It was special to hear his music played in Poland since he was born near Warsaw. Witold Wilczek, winner of numerous competitions in Paris and Rome, played an hour concert consisting of nine very technical pieces. Several of us gave him a standing ovation. He played a short piece composed by his grandfather as his encore. This was a magical and emotional concert for me since both of my parents had been so encouraging when I took piano lessons.

My Overseas Adventure Travel trip to the Baltic Capitals, Poland, and Russia began at 8:30 A.M. when Paul drove me to the nearest airport, SJC. I was to fly the first leg of the trip to Seattle where I would meet my sister, Linda. We would then fly to Amsterdam and on to Kraków.  

My plane left an hour late due to fog in Seattle. Linda’s plane left later than mine. We both managed to make the flight in Seattle with time to spare. We were seated next to each other, and we enjoyed watching movies and eating the mysterious food concoctions. I thought that vegetarian meals might be better than what was on the regular menu. Wrong! She said her kosher meals were quite good.

After that long flight we had a short leg to go from Amsterdam to Kraków. Four of our group were driven to the hotel where we checked in and met our guide, Miina. I think she will be an excellent guide. We were served wine by the hotel during this meeting. Then we went to a very gourmet dinner which included duck, creme brûlée, more wine, and other unusual things.

Finally, we went to our rooms to hopefully sleep well tonight!

We found out yesterday that our flight from Shanghai to Beijing had been cancelled. Kristy told us last night that we would have to leave the hotel this morning at 5:45 to catch an earlier flight. Our very reliable bus driver was at the hotel early. The hotel had prepared some bags with rolls, fruit, and yogurt for us to eat on the way to the airport.

It only took the bus twenty minutes to drive to the airport instead of the usual forty minutes because the traffic was so light. There was a long line to check in to our plane. Our guide told us that the guide from another tour company had not confirmed his clients’ flights, and so there wasn’t room on the earlier flight for everyone. Some had to stay back at the hotel! That meant that they would miss their connecting flight home! We were glad that our guide and Jason at China Focus had been on top of everything.

We had to sit in the middle section of the Boeing 777, but I didn’t mind. We were in a seat on our way to Beijing! When we arrived there, we had to sit in the airport until mid afternoon until we boarded our flight home to San Francisco. I didn’t mind, though. We would be on our way home soon.

We were lucky to sit in our upgraded economy plus seats again with no one sitting in the middle seat between Paul’s aisle and my window! The movie selection wasn’t as good as it was on the flight going to Beijing. I enjoyed watching the Age of Adeline, but Paul Blart, Mall Cop 2 was rather silly.

We were served a breakfast omelet, soggy potatoes, a grey sausage, yoghurt, and a croissant. These were the worst two meals that I think I have every been served on a plane. Breakfast is not my favorite meal, and having three of them today was pure torture.

I started coughing shortly after leaving Beijing. I put on the face mask that Larry and Anita had given me. I hope it kept other people on the plane from getting the cold.

After zipping through customs and claiming our baggage, I called Kevin. Divi was in the car too, and I talked with her a bit. After a while they arrived at the pickup spot. On the way home, Kevin stopped at Trader Joe’s so I could get some groceries. Among the groceries was some refrigerated pizza dough. I made a pepperoni and mushroom pizza for dinner. I have been wanting pizza for weeks, and it tasted mighty delicious 🙂

Oh yes, Divi seems to like the panda apron and pen that I brought back for her. Kevin seemed to like the brick tea we bought at the tea factory. I hope he likes this special tea as much as our group did.  

China was very interesting to visit, but there is no place like home 🙂