Finding family in Eastern Europe page 1
When Brian gave her the letter his grandmother had written, she came to the names at the bottom of relatives, and exclaimed that these people were still alive and living a mile away. Next thing we knew we were waiting outside their house as Elena went in to tell them their cousin from America was there! Sonja and Bozena are sisters living next door to one another - daughters of Edmund’s first cousin. Edmund and Mentie had stayed with their parents during their visit in 1972. Soon Elena returned, and through the translator told us that these were Brian’s cousins and they wished us to stay the night! Sonja and Bozena appeared, beaming with pleasure and welcoming us profusely. Bozena was practically dancing with joy as she took us both by the arms and led us into her home. She ushered us, along with Elena and Sandra into the living room, poured a celebratory drink, sat us down, and went to the kitchen for food. When she returned, the door somehow locked and then wouldn’t open. We were stuck in the living room! Not to be deterred, she brought juice and water in through the living room window. After several minutes of Brian working on the door from the inside, and Bozena’s husband on the other side, and jokes about making us spend the night, they got the door open, and we all got to talk. They immediately brought out their photos, and one of the first ones we saw was Brian as a baby. “This proves you are family!” they said. They also recognized the handwriting of Brian’s grandma’s letter. Even without the translator, it was obvious how thrilled and surprised they were at our arrival. Unfortunately our translator wasn’t going to be able to stay - her boyfriend was in the car, and he was “very busy”. She was not willing to go much beyond the time we had planned for, and so, too soon, she left us with no way to talk to the family.
We had her explain to them before she left that even as happy as we were to meet them and visit with them, we did not feel that we could stay all night with no way to talk. We stayed a while though, with a constant flow of food coming at us, and sat in their garden smiling at one another, laughing now and then. Bozena got up at one point and hugged Brian, patted his head and rubbed his cheeks, saying “Slovensko, Slovensko!”. They were, like Elena, so very hospitable and genuinely welcoming. When we indicated that we needed to leave before dark (by pointing at the sun, motioning sunset and pointing at Brian’s watch, they grew sad, and wrote “2006?” on a sheet of paper. We promised to write, and went to our car, followed by Sonja and Bozena and assorted other cousins, who all kissed me and shook Brian’s hand goodbye, then all waved as we drove away. I just can’t imagine what they said after we left! What an amazing and unusual experience. I was so happy for Brian to have met his family.
We drove about an hour as darkness approached, to a spa town called Rajecke Teplice. I had read about a spa called Aphrodite , and we stayed there. It was much more expensive than we would have liked, but we didn’t want to be driving around on those roads after dark looking for a room. We enjoyed the mineral baths after such a long day, and had dinner at their restaurant. Mine was, no kidding, translated as “moldy cheese in puff pastry”. I was starving after a day of nothing but snack foods.
Slovakian fish ice
We left the next morning for our drive to Poland and decided to take a scenic route rather than the direct auto way. First we stopped at Tesco in Zilina to pick up food for a picnic lunch. The employee Brian found who spoke a little English was mystified by his request for ice to keep our drinks cold, until she made the connection and exclaimed, “Oh - Fish ice!“ She then packed him a bag of crushed ice from the seafood department and we were on our way, water, coke and cheese staying cold on our fish ice.
We drove through some beautiful country, unfortunately marred periodically by hideous factories. We passed horses on the road, saw people working their fields, and school children crossing the street. We stopped in a town to admire a beautiful old castle atop a cliff, and both had an ice cream cone for 12 korunas. (Less than 50 cents for both). Not long before we reached Poland, we came up a hill and saw a lady with her two small sons leading her horse to the field. I so wanted to take their photo so we stopped the car in the road and asked (by pantomiming snapping a camera). She seemed agreeable so I hopped out and took the photo, then took a package of cookies over, which the boys seemed delighted to partake of.
We crossed into Poland and got just a glimpse of what borders in Eastern Europe may have been like once upon a time. They thoroughly inspected our passports, auto documents and car. We drove to Auschwitz through the rain which began in Poland, and spent an emotionally difficult couple of hours there. It’s so hard to fathom, even when there, the atrocities that took place. Seeing the piles and piles of eyeglasses, suitcases, shoes, and even crutches of the victims made it so real, as if it happened last year, not last century. After walking though the gas chambers, I felt I’d had enough, and sat down while Brian visited a couple more exhibits. We still had a bit of a drive following that, and came upon an accident. The cars are so tiny, and the roads are so harrowing there, that I was in constant fear of having a wreck. The one we encountered couldn’t have had a good outcome, and Brian drove even more carefully after that.
We arrived at Palace in Paszkowka and were very pleased to be upgraded to a palace chamber room. Evidently a Japanese tour group had taken all the rooms in the granary. I was as excited as a little girl to be staying in a palace - our room had at least 14 foot ceilings, and we had a private bath with a Jacuzzi no less! I went straight for that while Brian went down for some wine. As we were in the middle of nowhere, and didn’t want to drive at night, we had dinner at the palace restaurant. Nothing to write home about, but it was filling.
We got up early the next morning to a downpour, and tried to take the local bus into Krakow but missed it by standing on the wrong side of the road. Luckily the palace owner gave us good directions into Krakow and told us where to park, so we made it with no difficulty. It poured rain all day, which kind of cut short our sightseeing. But we did take in the square, the medieval Cloth Hall market, and Wawel Hill, as well as seeing the late Pope’s former church and an impromptu memorial to him. We had a great lunch at a vegetarian restaurant which I was thrilled to see. Soup, salad, and pierogies for me, and Ukrainian pancakes and salad for Brian, two mineral waters, and a juice came to about 19 zlotys - around six US dollars!
We decided to visit the salt mines next, mainly because they were indoors, and took a bus out to the mines. Miners hundreds of years ago had carved out of salt innumerable statues and hundreds of underground chapels. It was quite astonishing, as well as tiring, climbing down over 800 stairs is hard! We arrived back in the city in time for dinner. We had noticed a place with fondue earlier in the day, so went there. It was a bit posh, and we were worse for the wear, after a day in the rain and the mines, but we had a nice meal of cheese fondue and bread (notice the recurring bread and cheese theme?) despite my soaking wet socks.
Early rising again the next morning to make the drive back to Bratislava. It was a long tiring drive on mainly 2-lane roads, trying to avoid meeting a fiery death with the maniac drivers. Passing was a game of chicken, often with the black belching fumes of the truck we were passing blocking our view as we putted by. We finally made it to Bratislava, and got to the train station in time for the 4:14 train to Vienna, less than an hour away.
Vienna - Sacher and Lippizanners
We made it without incident to our Hilton by Ubahn and tram, and for the third time were upgraded. The room was enormous, with a bathroom bigger than some hostels we have stayed in. Unfortunately, the staff was not very friendly, and the other guest no better. Oh well, we were just there for the free beds.
We were about 10 minutes by tram from the main part of the city, and went to the old amusement park Prater for dinner at a beer garden. Both exhausted after the long day, we went right back to the tram stop afterwards. We had a red light at the crosswalk, so took the convenient underpass under the busy 4 lane street. When we resurfaced, we immediately heard a horrible sound and Brian told me to stay put, Of course I followed him, and we saw a girl who had been struck hard by a car while crossing the same street we had just crossed under. Brian saw her actually get hit, and I won’t provide details, but it was horrible. She was screaming and screaming, and her male companion was shouting at the driver… I forgot they don’t have guns there, and feared someone would be shot. Very fortunately the police showed up in less than 30 seconds, with an ambulance right behind. I didn’t want to be a gawker, so we left, but that accident haunted me the rest of our time in Vienna. It’s easy to forget to be careful when traveling, but you need to be even more cautious than at home when you don’t know the driving habits.
We spent the next two days sightseeing in Vienna, seeing the Hofburg Palace, the Haus der Musik (where a film crew was shooting - I think I was frequently in their view), the Opera (standing room tickets for 2 euros each) and the Lippizaner stallions morning exercise. Vienna is very easy to get around on public transport and has many beautiful buildings. Unfortunately it is quite expensive. Two cappuccinos cost what our entire lunch in Krakow did. Our last dinner of the trip - our tradition being a nice meal to conclude the trip - was at Wrenkh , a mostly vegetarian restaurant. It was the best food of the trip, by far. I didn't know bulghur could be so delicious!
As always, the trip had to come to an end, and Sunday morning we began the arduous journey back home, nearly missing our connecting flight in Paris. 20 hours of travel later, and we were back in Cinci. We crashed for the night near the airport - couldn’t have possibly driven the hour and a half home, and arrived back home the next morning, anxious to pick up our puppy!
