Farmers Market and swapmeet a la Mojecice

What we thought was a craft sale was actually a weekly farmer's market with second hand items on the side.  I was so  happy that Les and Dzunia left me there shopping while they went and bought carrier pigeon food.


Carrier pigeons are Dzunia's husband's hobby. 


So, here are some photos of the market.

These are curtains that are found in every window in Poland.  and of course, in Baja since I have one in my teaching material room at home!  Each one has a different print,  almost always white.  I think they are gorgeous.

The most fun I had was in the second hand stuff part of the market.  Here is my Prague vase on the table (front middle) and it is now in my suitcase, ready to head to Mexico when we go home.  Sunday we head to Prague and this will be my memento.

The blog isn't letting me load any more photos LOL  - I guess I have reached my limit for the day.  I also got a dark blue German vase that is incredibly pretty,  a straw decorative dish and 7 Polish table cloths/runners for my Baja amigas!   


Now it is almost time for lunch and Les's sis is busy making golomki -  ground meat with mushrooms wrapped in cabbage.  The aroma is making my stomach growl!


My gums are still bothering me - not letting me forget dentist Dr. Monster,  just in case someone was wondering.


Tomorrow, I will be making a lasagna for the family.  Italian food is not found anywhere here,  yet.  So they all remember my lasagna from last time...


Pa pa to all (bye bye in Polish)

We are here in the south in a town called MOJECICE.  It is not where Les was born but where he lived until he was 14 and moved to Wales to live with an uncle.


The drive was so picturesque with haze or earth fog rising up from all the fields.

We woke up at 4 am and car was packed and we were leaving at 4:30 am.    Everything was pretty much ready, just needed to be loaded in the car.  We have lots of presents for family.  Car was full!




The drive went really well, a combination of smaller country roads and at the end "freeways".  All was great but at the end Les was very tired and twice entered a road with a vehicle coming way too fast for him to do so.....we were so close to his sister's house that it made zero sense to stop driving but if I could've, I sure would've!




Here is some of the architecture we saw as we neared Mojecice.  I love this old style and a lot of it is apparently German since Poland was taken over by Germany (among other countries) back in the day.

More later!   Off to a craft sale!  Pa pa (bye bye in Polish)

Tomorrow we head south!  Just as well because the temperature here has dropped dramatically and I am not prepared jacket-wise.

I took a walk in the opposite direction today because Les saw another bike -  this town is crazy about biking!  There are designated bike only paths going in every direction.

I am not surprised that art is all about biking too.

Beautiful shadow of the lamp post

even the trash bins are really pretty!

Les's brother invited us to dinner tonight and he outdoes himself every time he cooks!    Today was chicken, baked potatoes and 3 different salads,  and a Polish cheesecake to boot.  It was so good, so good.

Here we are getting ready to share a meal:  all three brothers!   tomorrow we see Les's sister, it is an 8 hour drive and we are so looking forward to seeing her and 2 of Les's nephews who work in Germany but have a long weekend, so they are coming over.

The boys are drinking a Czeck beer that Peter gave us.  Pretty smooth they say.  Thanks Peter!

And so ends a great day with dreams that tomorrow will bring us safe travels.  We will start out at 4 am  since it is bright as noon then.

Oh my gosh.


I went to a dentist here today.

Mind you, I tried to take care of this tooth back in April when my sister told me I had bad breath due  to tooth decay.  I have very healthy teeth. well,  I did have very healthy teeth all my life.  This tooth hurt just a tad when I touched it but nothing serious.  She, who has suffered with really bad teeth all her life said:  get this tooth seen to right away.

So, I went to a dentist in Vizcaino who told me that particular tooth was fine and fixed another one she said was bad.

Tooth still bothered me, only when touched.  While in La Paz, I went to a dentist who told me the bothersome tooth really needed to come out, the crown then remade and that this would take 4 days.  We were about to leave for Europe so,  she said it would "probably" be OK and to see her in September when we got back.

Tooth was the same but seemingly getting just a tad worse, so we found me a dentist today.  I suppose none of you have had a tractor in your mouth before????  I do NOT recommend this woman. ever.  and her reviews online were 5 stars!!!  Bunch of liars!!!

I sat in the chair and this is what I looked like,  smiling,  happy.  I am not afraid of needles or anesthesia or dentists.  Take a quick pick, I  asked Les.  That is Dr. Monster behind me.

So, I take my glasses off.  Smile for hubby.

That, my amigos,  was the last smile for hours today!  Because then she stuck her fingers in my mouth and brutally moved her hand around to check my teeth.  I mean, she went up and down and around and around like a friggin tractor.  I went to mention to LesDr.  that she could be gentler and she SHUT ME UP.  I think I went catatonic right then.

I had to have the tooth removed she said,  My eyes got huge.  To be honest,  I later remembered that Dentist Dr. Sam had indeed removed a tooth I broke many moons ago.  He was so gentle that I did not remember it at all.

Dr. Elizabeth pulled my tooth.  It was barbaric and there are no more photos.  When we come back in 3 months, she will put a crown?  who the heck knows what she will do BUT it is already paid for or there in no way in this lifetime I would even consider her getting close to my teeth.  I speak very little Polish but she will get a talk from me.  Trust me,this woman will hear  if not heed, the be friggin gentler message.

On a lighter note,  I slept for hours afterwards.  Very nice siesta.  Then we ate out at a restaurant minutes away on foot.  Here is a paiting of the eatery - it has existed for 20 years.

Nice view of the outside from our table.

This is how the check comes to the table.

Dra. Monster never said anything about pain meds so Les just bought me some ibuprofen and it works well.

It is more discomfort than pain, at this point.

We leave for southern Poland on Thursday, we have timed it to be after the rain.  It poured this evening...I made a video but it doesnt want to download from the ipad so here goes a photo...you can imagine the sound of it!

No kitchen at ll today!

It was a lovely day here today and the first thing I suggested was that we take a walk to burn off all the calories we have been adding on.


The trees and flowers are beautiful!

At the end of the walkway, is the port with many boats

and it is incredible how Poland has taken up cycling!  There are paths everywhere and far from cars, which is great.   Les has to keep reminding me to stay out of their way!

From the walk, we decided to go out for breakfast, we both had Polish crepes called naishliki.  Ohhh so gooood.    I am actually a very lucky woman since Les makes these for me on special days when we are in Baja.

We came home and relaxed for a bit, then Les went to run some errands with his brother and then we all went out to lunch at the same restaurant we ate at yesterday and we all ordered the same dish!


Big difference, the restaurant was empty and quiet and the food as good we expected.

So, I had the pork breaded cutlet with plums and three salads and baked potatoes.

The menu is in Polish and German -  no English at all.  Jeez!  And the prices are so low, so so low.  It is 3 zloty to the dollar.

From the restaurant, we went home and took our naps (no such thing as a vacation without naps), chatted with Les's brother and wife.  They went home, Les and I went looking at houses for sale (curious as to what is out there) and met  a wonderful couple who showed us their home.  When we get back from our travels, we are going to look them up.


From there we went to dinner at our Slovakian friend Peter, his Polish wife Marzena (mah jena) and son Adrian's house!  I told you we didn't go near the kitchen today LOL


Their home is at the end of a longish road and in the countyside.  Not finished yet, it is going to be incredible when done.


I will make a separate entry with some photos since I guess I have reached my limit here.

Polish Mother's Day

I have been blessed this year to celebrate Mother's day on May 10th in Mexico,  May 12th USA and today was May 26th in Poland.


We all went out to lunch in a neighboring village called KRUKANKA.  Because 9thankfully) the drinking and driving laws are so stringent, Les contracted a van to come pick us up at 1pm,  his brother Marek would be here to go with us.  From town we went to Les's other brother's house to pick Maciek and Krystyna up.  We drove 15 minutes o an incredible road that is lined by a thick, very green forest.   Once in Kruklanka, cabbie parked and waited for us to have lunch.


Beautiful restaurant called Under the Bison since there are wild bison in the mountains above.

This was right in front of the restaurant, to the right, and you can see the bison statue.

This was on the other side, also in front of the eatery

Les had a typical Polish dumpling called PYZY. I tasted it and it was really good!

Everyone had two courses.   First for me was tomato soup and Redds fruit beer  to drink. 

My second course was breaded pork with baked plums, which were on some sauce.  HEAVENLY guys, just heavenly.   It came with 3 different salads and each one was better than the previous:  cole slaw, cucumber with onions and beet salad.  It also came with the famous Polish potatoes.

The cab then brought us home to this incredible view!

Les went for his siesta while I downloaded photos...it is a hard life but someone has to do  it!

Saturday May 25th in Wegorzewo

So, we have been hanging out with family for the last couple days and pretty much taking it easy.

Well, Les climbs up and down the stairs at least 5 times a day, so he really is NOT taking it easy.  Just to get to our apartment there are 2 flights.  It is great exercise for sure.


I went for a walk today and the weather was just perfect.  Wegorzewo is the lake region in the far northeast of Poland.  Everywhere you look there is water!


I took a walk down to the port today to buy some books and postcards.  Check  out how pretty it is here.

The number of boats that went by was astounding.   Seems like everyone sails here.  Boats can be rented and lots of tourists do just that.




Then we went to the grocery store and look what I found:

We are in such a small village and so far from Mexico,  I am AMAZED.




Lunch and a nap and then we looked up my Polish teacher from 2009!  She is such a sweetheart and speaks not a word of English so she really got me started on my way.  I can understand 95% but am just starting to speak (this is probably our 4th trip here since Les and I met.  It is - trust me on this - a very hard language.

I thought I would mention some interesting tidbits from our traveling so far....


England has very small fridges.  Less than half the size of ours.  Not sure why?  Not sure if this is true all over including London, but all the refrigerators I have seen are very small.


Poland does not have sheets like we do.  They have cotton covers that envelope a blanket-like cloth.


Pillows here are square and big.


Polish families seem very kind to their kids.   They are ever so gentle with them when walking down the street, talking to them in stores.  I've never heard yelling.


Beer is really popular and there are so many varieties now:  beer with rum, beer with any fruit you can imagine, beer with tequila even.


I found out today that college here in Poland is FREE.   I may start exporting La Bocana and Abreojos kids LOL


Life is inexpensive here.  You can live well with American dollars.

Wegorzewo, day 1 with family

Hello everyone!


We are in the northeastern part of Poland now.  It is called the lake region because everywhere you look, there is water.


First thing we did is visit with Les's brother  and of course the PIWO came out fast!

Then we went to a supermarket called Biedronka or ladybug.

and the first thing is to buy a grocery bag and look what I found:

We went to dinner at Les's brother's house and he did the cooking since his wife was at their clothes store working.


Life is good  amigos, real good and tomorrow is another day!

GDANSK

We have had a wonderful day in Gdansk,  Les and I have eaten some pierrogi which we both love! Believe it or not, we ate it twice today.


We arrived by plane and it was a bit stressful since Bristol airport was packed, we had our 2 big suitcases and 2 small ones,  I had a very heavy purse with my computer.  Our suitcases are 95% filled with gifts!!  So many family members and we want to share some love with all of them.  It took me months of planning from buying something special for each one starting way back in April when I went to San Diego, to  getting each one wrapped by Julia in La Bocana.


The walk to our gate seemed endless, but eventually we arrived.  Packed flight but arrived 5 min. early.  Then we took a cab to the train station where we bought our tickets for Wegorzewo tomorrow
, left all 4 suitcases there and went for a bite to eat and my whip cream cappuccino.  It was as decadent as it sounds!

From the PERRO NEGRO café (don't you love the name?)  we walked far far far to our apartment.  It was hard to find and in the end it ended up being right next door to the tourist information office we went to. 




The apartment is really clean, the location is just  perfect:  right in the town center, next to so many wonderful restaurants and stores.   At $30 a night, wow.






The building is on the left, at the end of the street -this is the happening spot in Gdansk.

The apartment itself is spotlessly clean,  fully equipped and has super fast internet (Blanca is thrilled!!!)  


But all thru the streets, there is free internet.  And when I go by Costa (thanks Genesta for telling me about it) or Starbucks, my phone starts pinging hahaha  I am automatically logged in.

What is very different here in Poland is that all the light switches,  ALL of them, are on the outside of the room, so the bathroom light gets turned on outside the bathroom.

Poland is all about the trees.

The bed is part of the livingroom.   There is a hallway to the bathroom and to the kitchen.  It works.  We approve.

Boat making in Lyme Regis

This is an incredible building with lots of workers.  Sure wish we had something like this for the teens who aren't going to college in Baja Sur...

Les wanted to go in and do some work.  It really looked like all were having fun.