June 7 Last Day of sightseeing

Well, the final full day of my trip has arrived. All I have to do tomorrow is get to the airport for my direct flight to Toronto, and the arms of my eagerly awaiting wife (I always was an optimist)

I actually tried to spend money today!

I thought a perfect memento of my trip to Poland would be a pirogy maker (Different strokes for different folks). I have looked throughout my journey, with no luck. Kitchen gadget stores just aren't a Polish thing.

I did visit a big, modern mall, and I did find a kitchen store, but no pirogy maker. They did have fancy rolling pin, that you could adjust, so that the dough is a uniform thickness, that you can dial. It would be great for making pie dough. Unfortunately it as only six inches long, otherwise it would be mine.

I also wanted to do something entertaining tonight. I had two favourite choices. One was an international volleyball game between Poland and Brazil, two of the top teams in the world. The other was the final concert of the Polish Philharmonic.

I was out of luck, both were completely sold out.

My third option was a noon organ recital at a church. That was available, and it was excellent. The organ was huge, the acoustics perfect. It was a great experience; what a sound. I guarantee nobody dozed off.

I also visited the Royal Castle in Warsaw's Old Town. It had been dynamited by the Germans as they retreated. Good old Germans. It wasn't rebuilt until 1980, and I bet it looks better today than it ever did in the past.

To be honest I have seen more castle rooms, over the last few weeks, than I can remember. About half way through the tour today, my eyes started to glaze over, and I knew I was ready to return to My Ol' Kentucky Home, or, even better, My Ol' Dundas Home.

It has been quite a few weeks. I learned a lot of history, saw some wonderful architecture, and art. I have certainly come to understand the suffering of this part of the world over the last century. It makes me appreciate what we have in Canada. Most of us don't know how fortunate we are.

Till the next trip; hope you enjoyed my blog

Ralf

PS for those of you interested, give me a week, or so, and I will add my final thoughts, and I will add some photos. I still haven't figured out how to do this on the run.