Welcome to Warsaw!

June 24th—Today was a travel day to Warsaw, Poland. We were so excited to be going here to see our friends, Dominika and Michael, whom we met in Croatia. Poland probably would not have been on our list of places to visit had we not met these wonderful people. Anyway, we left Krakow at 12:00 and arrived safely in Warsaw at 2:55. We were greeted by Michael at the train station. He drove us back to their apartment in Grodzisk which is about an hour (in traffic) west of the city. The apartment complex is very nice inside and outside. It sits above a super market and is across the street from their family work, Metal Market. Upon arriving at the apartment, we were then greeted by Dominika. We actually didn’t stay in their apartment, but a neighbors of theirs who actually lived in the US for 14 years. Their neighbor owns 2 apartments in the complex and one was vacant so the lady was so nice to let us stay in it for 2 nights. Dominika had put some essentials in our apartment like milk, juice, and bread. It was just unbelievable how hospitable they were from the minute we arrived. We were invited to Dominika and Michael’s apartment for dinner around 5:30. When we walked in, they had the dining room table set up and ready for us. We first started off with a vegetable soup and then had chicken, potatoes and summer beans. These beans were very similar to green beans. We had ice cream with a strawberry sauce for dessert. It was all so good. We spent the evening talking about our lives and our countries. Dominika grew up in the town and it was interesting to listen to her stories of growing up during communist times. She even took us on their balcony and showed us a rock with a plaque on it that sits in what is now the parking lot. She said that used to be a large wall where people were executed by the Nazi's. It was so much fun to share stories. They even pulled out their wedding video and we watched it during our dinner. It was after 10:00 before we left their apartment to put the kids to bed. Dominika and Michael followed us back to the apartment to make sure that we had everything we needed. We said our “good nights” to them and all fell into bed.