Don's Trip to Europe (and a real lot of pics from Poland)

[Maciek]

Will you be visiting any other places in Poland, Don? Except for Bydgoszcz, I mean.

[Don]

Will you be visiting any other places in Poland, Don? Except for Bydgoszcz, I mean.

No, that's about it.  We get to Bydgoszcz a couple of days before the wedding and leave for Budapest the morning after the wedding.  I hear the wedding is a 12 hour affair that won't end until 5 AM; sounds like some sleeping will be done on the train.

[Maciek]

Well, looks like you're in for quite a cultural shock (the wedding party, I mean)... And if the music is going to be anything like the typical Polish wedding party fare - brace yourself!

BTW, that's pretty eccentric - going all that long way only to stay a few days in Bydgoszcz and then straight to Budapest. Not that I have anything against Bydgoszcz, or Budapest for that matter - both lovely cities and all (and probably good idea to humor your son's future in-laws too ). But, you know, I wouldn't place Bydgoszcz on the top 20 Polish towns to visit.

You'll be missing so much...


Oh, I think I'll just post a few more...

[Maciek]

There you go (aren't you lucky that we're on the same forum ):


   
  Some more coming up in the next post .

[Maciek]

I know I'm not convincing you, Don. These are just for those out there who like looking at nice pictures ("just for fun" in other words)...

The Wieliczka Salt Mine

[Maciek]

The Dunes of Slowin National Park (Slowinski Park Narodowy)
   

[Maciek]

(Anything to get my post count up )

Wroclaw (Breslau) - I'm going there myself in a couple of days. They also happen to have a great opera house.

[Maciek]

Fortunately for all of us, I don't have all the time in the world either, so these are going to be the two last batches (I'll have to do Warsaw separately):

Malbork (one of the best preserved gothic castles in Europe):



Gdansk:


Czestochowa:


Zamosc:


Cracow:


The Tatra Mountains:


Some more from Wieliczka (perhaps the most amazing place in Poland):

[Maciek]

OK, this is the last batch (I promise! ).

Warsaw (my home ):


Cheers,
Maciek

[dtwilbanks]

Have a great time, Don!

[Don]

Have a great time, Don!

Will do!

[Maciek]

My wife and I are vacationing in Europe next month.  To say it's an expensive trip is putting it mildly.  We'll be going to Poland, Budapest, Prague and Italy.

The entire month of June.  My son is getting married north of Warsaw near the Baltic Sea.  Since we haven't ever been to Europe, it seemed foolish to go to Poland but nowhere else.  So we expanded the trip.

My main problem is what to do about smoking, since the air travel takes forever.  Maybe I'll just sit on the wing and puff away.

Excellent!

Where in Italy are you going?

Venice, Florence and Rome.

That last part is where I really envy you. I really love Italy - if I had the chance I'd move there right this minute!

Have a great time and congratulations to your son once again!

Cheers,
Maciek
(the Harry of tourist photography )

[Lilas Pastia]

Maciek, these are all wonderful! It must take a couple of months to visit all these places properly.

The picture of the row of houses in Gdansk reminds me of some images in Murnau's Nosferatu!
And what is this salt mine? It looks like a crypt, or a church, and what are these Musikverein-like chadeliers doing there?

[Maciek]

Maciek, these are all wonderful! It must take a couple of months to visit all these places properly.

Thanks, André. You're probably right - I still haven't properly visited many of them myself.

The picture of the row of houses in Gdansk reminds me of some images in Murnau's Nosferatu!

Yes, there's a place around there that looks exactly as if taken from Nosferatu - including old abandoned warehouses... (Creepy, come to think of it...). Two years ago we had lunch with my wife right opposite to it. This is roughly the view we had:


Gdansk was a Polish-Prussian town so the architecture is very "Germanic". It's one of the most beautiful cities in Poland.

And what is this salt mine? It looks like a crypt, or a church, and what are these Musikverein-like chadeliers doing there?

It's the oldest mine in the world to function ceaselessly since the Middle Ages. The pictures are from the "tourist attraction" part created at the end of the 18th century!

Here's some more info:

The Wieliczka Salt Mine, in the town of Wieliczka, in Poland's Kraków metropolitan area, has been in continuous operation since the 13th century, and still produces table salt. It is one of the world's oldest operating salt mines (the oldest is at Bochnia, Poland, 20 kilometers from Wieliczka).

The mine reaches down to a depth of 327 meters, and is over 300 km long.

The Wieliczka salt mine features a 3.5 km tourist route that includes statues of historical and mythical figures, all sculpted by miners out of the rock salt. Even the crystals in the chandeliers are made of salt. Also featured are beautifully carved chambers, chapels, an underground lake, and exhibits that illustrate the history of salt-mining. The salt mine is justly referred to as "the underground salt cathedral of Poland."

Some 800,000 visitors view the mine every year.

Over the centuries, visitors to this site have included Nicolaus Copernicus, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Alexander von Humboldt, Dmitri Mendeleyev, Bolesław Prus, Ignacy Paderewski, Robert Baden-Powell, Jacob Bronowski (who filmed segments of The Ascent of Man in the mine), Karol Wojtyła (the later Pope John Paul II), former U.S. President Bill Clinton, and crowned heads.

During World War II, the salt mine was used by the occupying Germans as housing for war-related production plants.

The awe-inspiring, ancient labyrinthine salt mine helped inspire the Labyrinth scenes in Bolesław Prus' 1895 historical novel, Pharaoh.

In 1978 the Wieliczka salt mine was placed on the original UNESCO roster of World Heritage Sites.

Maciek

[carlos]

Maybe you should visit this place also,named Oswiecim.
This happen there in May-June 1944. To the right,slave
labor; to left, gas chambers.

[dtwilbanks]

Maybe you should visit this place also,named Oswiecim.
This happen there in May-June 1944. To the right,slave
labor; to left, gas chambers.

You're a cheery guy, Carlos.

[knight66]

Maciek, What stunning photos....all in the best light and weather conditions. I have long had the salt mine on my list of places I NEED to visit.....my appetite is whetted. This summer we are bound for Finland and Estonia. Jane wants her Venice fix in the autumn, a friend has asked me to Barcelona next March then Jordan to see Petra in April....all I need is money, good health and to lock my son into a cupboard each time we leave on holiday. Not much to ask really.

Mike

[Maciek]

Maybe you should visit this place also,named Oswiecim.
This happen there in May-June 1944. To the right,slave
labor; to left, gas chambers.

(Actually, you're confusing Oswiecim and Auschwitz. Those are two different places. The Auschwitz camp was next to Oswiecim.)

Yes, I was thinking about that too - it's on the UNESCO list as well (as is the Warsaw old town, Cracow old town, Wieliczka, Zamosc etc. etc.). Only, since it's not a Polish site, I didn't think it would fit. (You could just as well make a small detour and visit one of the Soviet concentration camps, or maybe the Katyn forest. And there are more Nazi concentration camps on the way to Hungary and also in Italy.) Also I don't think it would go very well with a wedding party - it's a really depressing place, absolutely ghastly. I don't know a single person who has been there that wouldn't be depressed for a couple of weeks. What are your thoughts/impressions about that, Carlos?

[knight66]

What are your thoughts/impressions about that, Carlos?

Splenetic no doubt.

Mike

[karlhenning]

Splenetic no doubt.

When his tour bus stopped at Niagara Falls, he hopped in a cab for Love Canal.