Days 50, Warsaw, Poland

Day 50, July 31, 2014

For photo album of 2014 Poland, Click HERE

It was poring rain as we left Riga, Latvia.  As we climbed into the sky, lightening flashed around us and the ride was bumpy, but fairly short, only a couple of hours.  We arrived in Warsaw around 3:00.  By the time we picked up our rental car, bought a few groceries (wine, cheese,and grapes to share with our hosts) and drove out of the city towards our SERVAS host destination about 26 kilometers southeast of the airport, it was just after five.  When we arrived at our address, there was a green iron gate closing the driveway separating the street from a long wooded driveway, with no house in sight.

There were some Polish words on the gate which we did not understand and could not translate without a WiFi connection, nor could we call as we did not have a phone.  I thought the words could have been a beware of dog sign.  As we knew our hosts were expecting us about this time, Russ honked the car horn a couple of times,  Two large dogs rounded the corner from the end of the driveway and bounded toward the gate barking.  Well we got the dogs' attention.  We waited for awhile hoping the barking dogs would bring forth some people, but it didn't.

Even though the dogs were barking, they weren't snarling and even though they were big, one a golden lab and the other a strawberry blond shaggy sheep dog that resembled a Starwars Wookie, they looked benign.  Russ examined the gate and discovered it was not electric and with a little effort it could be slid open.  Despite my vocal reluctance to move inside the gate, Russ slid it open far enough to insert himself, and I stayed in the car outside the gate in case the dogs decided to eat him.  The dogs continued to bark, but followed after him as he turned right onto a pathway and disappeared a short distance from the gate.

Soon from the far end of the drive a man and woman started to walk towards the gate and car.  Russ intersected them at the path, and I could see that introductions were being made.
Later I found out there was a small cottage on the pathway from which Jaycek's contracting business operates.  The staff contacted the house.  The other thing I found out was the sign on the gate did not say Beware of Dogs, it said Open the sliding gate....hahaha!

Anyway, we made it inside the compound and met our lovely hosts, Jacek, engineer/contactor and Hanna, retired psychologist, also post war baby boomers who grew up in the flattened war-torn Warsaw during the Soviet times.  They had much to share with us and we were eager to learn about their lives.  Today they live in a rural area with property that is large enough for three homes including one in which their daughter, husband, and three grandchildren live.

 Hanna immediately made sure we had something to eat.  We arrived between their dinner (around) three and their (supper) between 7:00 and 8:00.  She had prepared some wonderful cold salmon with dill and eggplant, tomato salad and hot cauliflower with creamy herb sauce.  It was delicious and much appreciated.  After dinner, we continued our  conversations seeing some of the local sites (rivers, parks, saltaire park where people enjoy the humid salt mist sprayed on pine boughs).

Our bedroom turned out to be a spacious attic apartment above the cottage that Russ first found when we arrived.  We had everything we needed and it was a very pleasant retreat.

All is well with the Worrall Travel R's in Warsaw, Poland

Days 48-50, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland

Day 48, July 29, 2014 (Vilnius, Lithuania)

Serendipity Strikes!

See the complete Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania Photo Album HERE

We made arrangements yesterday, for an early 9:00 am  tour of the Universities library.  Once a religious monastery, later turned secular, it is home to an old ceiling fresco and early 16th century books and manuscripts.  When we arrived, there was some confusion as there were no tours that day, certainly none in English. Russ expressed our disappointment to the lady at the desk who was finally able to round up an English speaking woman who offered to open up the doors of the main library for us to take a look.  Once Russ told here he was a retired professor from University of California, Berkeley, she decided to take us on a personal tour. So the three of us walked through the empty halls and galleries. It was lovely, without an over abundance of scripted history and overwhelming information.

Our guide took us to the top floors where the first observatory in Lithuania was built.  It was a leather incased telescope that had been built by the same optics company that made Sir Issac Newton's telescope.

We walked backed to our little attic apartment which had been a wonderfully located AirBnB complete with fresh vegetables from the backyard garden, expressed our appreciation and thanks to our kind host, Nina, and were on the road to Latvia by 11:00 a.m. and across thae border into Latvia.

On our way we stopped at another lovely castle Rundale built by a Russian duke married to a Latvian duchess.   It was designed by the same architect Dark clouds were forming and by the time we had our little walk about, raindrops were falling.  It continued to rain throughout the afternoon.  We took the scenic route along the Baltic beaches of Jurmala to Riga, but because of the thunder, lightning, poring rain, we didn,t see much and had no desire to walk in the rain with the lightening strikes and flooding streets.

RIGA
We are staying in a flat above the trolly line that runs directly to old town Riga.  Our host Laura welcomes us at 7:30 pm.  We have a nice chat with Laura and her boyfriend over our dinner before they retire for the evening.  When we inquired, Laura showed us where we could go for haircuts in Riga.  After two months, we are looking shaggy.  As both of them  work, this turns out to be our only contact with them during our stay.

Day 49, July 30, 2014

After breakfast, Russ and I take the trolley into Riga where once again we suck up the old town atmosphere.  I think one of things I love about all these old cities is how they build the outside walls of their homes right up to the sidewalks or streets and along the perimeters of their property, with only heavy gates on the street.  When the gates are left open,, one can peer inside to lovely open courtyards that are private and once very protected from medieval invaders.

As other cities, there are an abundance of churches, cobbled streets, remnants of city walls, and open squares where outdoor entertainment is predominant. We enjoy lunch in a street cafe, Pelligrino with lemon later in the day, along with some Latvian ice cream, and take a canal ride on an old Art Deco boat that ABBA had once ridden in.  Their music played as we wound our way through the canal and surrounding river.  Between our late afternoon cruise and haircuts, we layed on the shady slope of the river bank and took a delightful little nap.  

We went to a nearby MacDonalds for a wrap and ice tea for dinner.  As I was ascending the stairs to the water closet, a MacDonalds employee climbing the steps behind me brushed against my back.  I felt the brush, but didn't pay much attention, until it happened a second time and I turned around and looked at her questioningly.  She smiled and showed me the remnants of my park nap (grass on my back) that she couldn't resist brushing off for me. Haha!

We had made appointments at 7:00 pm for haircuts, and after a relaxing clip, we head back to our flat.

Day 50, July 31, 2014 Thursday

HEADING For POLAND

Our plane for Warsaw does not leave until 2:50, so we spend a leisurely morning repacking liquids for flight, eating breakfast, blogging, etc.  We will leave here shortly for the airport.

All is well with the Worrall Travel R's

Day 47 - Vilnius, Lithuania

Enjoyed the many churches in Vilnius.  This one, Church of Saint Theresa was built in baroque style in 1250.  Vilnius is capital city of Lithuania.  There is the modern business part of the city and the old town which we spent our time.  In the old section of course there is an old castle, university, many churches, presidential palace, embassies, winding streets, outdoor cafes, and lots of flowers.  

Met some traveling Aussies, about our vintage.  They are in last three weeks of a six month odyssey.  Lots of kindred spirits wandering around the world.  Tomorrow before we head to Riga, we will be touring the University Library and hope to find a geocache or two.

All is well with the Worrall Travel R's in Lithuania.

Day 46 - July 27, Castle in Trakai, Lithuania

We enjoyed a relaxed morning on the back deck overlooking the lake and a delicious breakfast at Tomas's Lakeside home.

See the complete Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania Photo Album HERE

 Tomas prepared omelettes with a fresh tomato and cucumber salad, finished off with yogurt and fresh berries. We got a kick out of his stories about elderly folks taking balloon rides and how difficult it is to get them in and out of the basket. The folks that can't climb a ladder or hop in, crawl inside the basket before the balloon is inflated. Once the balloon is filled with hot air, the basket rights itself and the old folks are inside. I wonder how they position themselves so they don't wind up in a heap on the basket floor and standup! I think we better take a balloon ride sooner than later so that we can climb in.

Once we said our thank you and goodbye to Tomas and his wonderful hospitality, we headed to the Castle Trakai. Destroyed many times by invaders, crusaders, and wars this Castle has been restored, and while it may closely resemble the floor plan of the original, the new red brick (not distressed) modernizes it's appearance. Located on an island in Lake Trakai, the setting is fairy tale beautiful. There were lots of locals enjoying sailing, boating, and swimming here today. We toured the castle and had a nice lunch along the lake trying the local meat pies, beer and wine.

The drive to Vilinius from Trakai, with a quick stop at a market, took us under an hour before we reached Nina's quaint home with lovely garden. Not quite sure and checking the address, we pulled up across from a cute little house we thought might be the correct one. Before we could check the address a woman came out of the house and waved at us and opened the driveway gate.

Our host, Nina had been watching for us. We will be spending two nights here in her upstairs attic apartment. The rooms remind me of the little apartment we rented out in our first home on Lawton Avenue in Oakland. We have a kitchen, bath living room, and dining area with sofa beds in the living and dining areas. Nina had a large' fresh tomato and cucumbers from her garden on the dining table to add to our supper.

Tomorrow we will explore old town Vilnius.

All is well with the Worrall Travel R's inVilnius, Lithuania

Day 45, July 26 - into Lithuania

Saturday, July 26 - Paddling in Latvia - Borscht in Lithuania
See the complete Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania Photo Album HERE

After a very relaxing afternoon and evening canoeing and enjoying some wine at the "ranch" in Latvia, we continue to skip through the countryside to a small lake TrakaiVilnius, Lithuania.. We will circle back to Latvia at the end of our Baltic exploration when we return the rental car to Riga, Latvia and our flight to Warsaw. Soon we will be crossing another border into Lithuania. We have found a radio station this morning that seems to have choral folk songs. Our road trip across Latvia is enhanced by the music, even though we have no idea what the words are or the language it is. I guess that is the beauty of music, melody, and harmony. It has it's own global language.

The border into Lithuania is so nondescript, we don't even realize that we have crossed over until we check our gps location on our offline map. Thank goodness for our geocache mapping program. The maps are not as specific as Internet maps, but good enough. We do not have internet while we travel and are dependent on Cafe or accommodation wifi.

The first little town, Varasai, is situated on a bluff above a pretty blue lake. A circular lakeview walk way spirals down to lake level. It's a good time to stretch our legs. Our trip today is slow and dusty because of summer roadwork.

We find our AirBnB on Lake Vievis north of Lake Trakai and meet our host Tomas at his lakefront home. We are his first-ever guests. It is warm today and he is making us a cold borscht soup for dinner before leaving for a hot air balloon excursion that he and his club are leading for tourists. We are loving meeting all of these interesting people.

The borscht is delicious (pickled beets, smalled diced cucumber, onion, hardboiled egg, dill, milk, and keifer).  When Tomas leaves, we clean up and take an evening swim in the lake.  It is cooler and clearer than last night's lake.

All is well with the Worrall Travel Rs on Lake Vievis in Lithuania

Days 44, A night at "Canyon Ranch" in Latvia

Log Housekeeping Cabins - Canyon Ranch in Latvia

For all the photos Click HERE.

Friday Morning, July 25

Signe prepared crepes with cream cheese, fruits and jellies for breakfast before we took our leave around 10:00 am. We headed south from Tartu towards Latvia,, leaving the predominantly blond headed people and flat lands behind. The countryside south of Tartu developed some rolling hills and by the time we crossed the border into Latvia, the road undulated through small hills and valleys. While many people ae fair haired, we see many more people with darker heads of hair and many red heads. Not sure if the reds are natural or not as most of them are women. The building structures look much as they did in Estonia. Newer buildings are bricked. Older buildings are often plaster or unpainted wooden buildings. Churches vary more from the single tall steeple to two symmetrical steeples on eithe side of the enty door. Latvians have their own language, but unlike the Estonians who have reclaimed their native language as primary, the Latvians seem to speak primarily Russian.

Crossing the border was a non-event. We took a photo of what was once a stately border crossing building. Now it sits empty, with no sign of human life around as we whizzed across the border. It is quite nice not having to go through immigrations and customs in each country that has signed onto the Schengen agreement. It is disappointing though not to collect stamps for these countries into our passports. At one point just prior to crossing the border into Latvia, we could have turned left and crossed into Russia, but make sure we turn right!

Our Airbnb stop tonight is going to be a lakeside resort with log housekeeping cabins, so we stop in a town with a market to buy some dinner and breakfast provisions. The only other stops were to take photos of things we thought were quaint and to find a geocache in the old White Castle in a rural countryside that is in a terrible state of disrepair.

After seeing the end products of reconstruction on several Russian palaces nearly demolished in WWII, we know it can be done, but it sure looks hopeless. Thank goodness there are people who can envision it back to grandeur and are willing and capable of doing so. This castle however, perhaps due to its location in the middle of nowhere or perhaps the lesser nobility of the aristocrats, it dosen't look like reconstruction is fully funded or eminent. If it hadn't been for the geocache, we would not have even found the place.

Late in the afternoon, we arrived at Latvia's "Canyon Ranch" in Berzgale. We got a little choked up as memories of Mom and Dad and their place in Sierraville bubbled to the surface. There are four new red roofed log cabins situated in a meadow by a large pond with a fishing deck. On the opposite side of the road from the pond, the owners have a farmhouse and professional kennel built on a knoll overlooking a beautiful lake. Storks are plentiful here, and there is a nest in fron of the farm house with five large birds, the parents who fly off, and three large juveniles who flap their wings, but do not fly from the nest. Irena tells us they migrate to Africa in the winter.

The owners Irena and Anatole raise Malmutes for dog sledding. They have nine for their own team and breed them to sell puppies. There are no puppies here today, but the Malmutes sing to us in howl harmony when we walk close to the farmhouse. The kennels are clean and the dogs well kept. The cabins are winterized and we can just imagine this area in the snow, frozen lakes, and guests with visiting dog sled teams (kennels by each cabin) dashing through the meadows and forested roads in the winter.

Once we are settled in our cozy little cabin, we changed into our swim suits and walk across the road to the lake. After a brief swim to cool off (temp in high 80's) we use the little red guest canoe to paddle around the lake, take a small walk with our neighbors from Saint Petersburg who speak very little English, but enough to invite us to see an old peasant house. We enjoy their company, but cut our hike short when the biting flies and mosquitoes begin to attack us at the peasant house. We scurry back to our cabins. After showering and applying cortisone to our bug bites and some repellant, we sit by our cabin with a glass of shiraz and watch the sunset, before we eat dinner and snuggle up in our beds.

All is Well with Worrall Travel Rs