tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17421833569939259532024-03-07T21:15:00.617-06:00bimbosentryinto21stkI have been asked to join the early 21st century by some cousins that want details about our upcoming trip to the Czech Republic and Poland, the land of our ancestors. The June trip will include the Wilebski cousins of the patriarch (Frank), his trophy bride (Joan), Susan Dorothy (little miss shy) and myself. Wish me luck and take it easy on the criticism. If you have any suggestions or technical advice, feel free to offer it up.
FredFred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-59073580704617868802011-04-29T06:50:00.005-05:002011-04-29T06:54:44.390-05:00Virginia Rail in Loring Park<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDX_DTOxwwu-ydFONJ0X_vYPgMCoQMqM_TgkrYprpE-Rb3olYwi0qNKEd_q9dccTHK0m83gHPEdB04AYN5GGpatKmli5TRxq1AIt7M3ixCJQxeWRya1GwoMmQ2EoV964VxGERG_Dp5U04/s1600/Virginia+Rail+with+lunch.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDX_DTOxwwu-ydFONJ0X_vYPgMCoQMqM_TgkrYprpE-Rb3olYwi0qNKEd_q9dccTHK0m83gHPEdB04AYN5GGpatKmli5TRxq1AIt7M3ixCJQxeWRya1GwoMmQ2EoV964VxGERG_Dp5U04/s320/Virginia+Rail+with+lunch.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600972127914372178" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT6Td1wdxwcEC2s7BJ6jqQxetBo2YoHcIKHuhJBePYou_RG_OwhQMS2aZ7YLcm4h2Xv1QpYVEJOEgH3p5A4lFqXZPTq1I50GCFOTST-fcJbG730-4BnL4tC-2VDT8MSuhACf0zlHNn454/s1600/Virginia+Rail+2.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT6Td1wdxwcEC2s7BJ6jqQxetBo2YoHcIKHuhJBePYou_RG_OwhQMS2aZ7YLcm4h2Xv1QpYVEJOEgH3p5A4lFqXZPTq1I50GCFOTST-fcJbG730-4BnL4tC-2VDT8MSuhACf0zlHNn454/s320/Virginia+Rail+2.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600971991373973186" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-yz9_8csy1b5rW0JWRVH6Ug4RizYoKBsyzRq4FqCrziDQBviG5x9m88uPlpVNWeJjSutmubh_mRBdXtaODzYOj_24TSG8wE152G9TJPq9HFcinlyLs292Cuow3mhg2PCQca9KLHDWgK4/s1600/Virginia+Rail.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-yz9_8csy1b5rW0JWRVH6Ug4RizYoKBsyzRq4FqCrziDQBviG5x9m88uPlpVNWeJjSutmubh_mRBdXtaODzYOj_24TSG8wE152G9TJPq9HFcinlyLs292Cuow3mhg2PCQca9KLHDWgK4/s320/Virginia+Rail.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600971850651479698" /></a><br /><br />I found this guy in the North pond in Loring Park on Monday. Having only seen one in my life, I was pretty surprised to see it in an urban environment. And, it was not as secretive in terms of its movement, parading around on the edge of the grass and digging through the dead leaves for a worm lunch.Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-34599662507014592302009-04-05T17:35:00.002-05:002009-04-05T17:38:57.137-05:00Norlands in America Part 3 - Henry Norland<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPTmJqcSlqG0fjcT0BByj1tS4tm4yAm7lAqDKf9Nf7wI_LoyF2CFYR36yNN8A9TbJTItGf0L0aIzcfQSDteqHHUCWeom_KRPlDJs5jf7MWT59A3sRrLm1PgXLvXJmdY0bvcAmIRoA7n00/s1600-h/P2+-+Nornald+-+Henry+Norland.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 217px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPTmJqcSlqG0fjcT0BByj1tS4tm4yAm7lAqDKf9Nf7wI_LoyF2CFYR36yNN8A9TbJTItGf0L0aIzcfQSDteqHHUCWeom_KRPlDJs5jf7MWT59A3sRrLm1PgXLvXJmdY0bvcAmIRoA7n00/s320/P2+-+Nornald+-+Henry+Norland.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321340409810561298" /></a><br />Henry (Olofsson) Norland was a brother to my great grandfather Olof (sometimes referred to as Ole or Ola) Norland. The narrative below was written by his grandson Howard.<br /><br />Henry Norland - as compiled by Howard Norland<br /><br />Henry (Heindrick Olofsson) came to America from Sweden in February 1868 with his brother, Ole. In the fall of 1878 the brothers came to Kittson County, Minnesota, where they settled on farms on the banks of the Two River. <br /><br />In 1902, Henry moved with his family to a homestead in Manitou Township, Koochiching County, Minnesota. He later bought a farm in Canada. In addition to farming, Henry was a construction worker, and helped build the International Bridge at International Falls, Minnesota. He was fatally injured in 1920, when a team of horses he was driving was spooked by a car. The reins became tangled around the wagon axle, Henry fell off, and the horses backed up and sat on his chest. He died on September 22, 1920. (This information gathered from The History of Koochiching County, History of Kittson County, and recollections of Stella (Norland) Searles. All three brothers changed their last name to Norland, but the date and location of that change is not known.<br /><br />CENSUS: 1880 census: T9, Roll 624, Pg 4, S.D. 3, E.D. 215, Line 36: Kittson<br />County, MN, Town 161, Range 47.<br /><br />PROPERTY: Land records in the Koochiching County court house show that Henry homesteaded land in Sections 33 & 34, Town 160, Range 26, recorded 30 Dec 1901.<br /><br />OBITUARY: From the Rainy River Record, Rainy River, Ontario, July 15, 1992,<br />quoting an article in the Rainy River Gazette of October 14, 1920. <br /><br />HENRY NORLAND Brief mention was made last week of the death of Henry Norland, who died as the result of an accident on September 18th. Mr. Norland had been at work clearing on his son's homestead and was on his way home, when he was passed by a car driven by Norman Brown, manager of the bank at Rainy River. The horses were spirited and ran away after the car had passed, one of the reins caught around the hub and this wound around the wheel and threw one of the horses backwards and Mr. Norland forward, the horses stepped on Mr. Norland chest and afterwards fell on him. Mrs. Brown happened to look back and saw the accident and help was secured and the injured man was taken to Rainy River, where Dr. McBane attended to him, but his chest had been crushed in and he lingered along until shortly after midnight of the 21st. Mr. Norland was born at Oferborg, Sweden, on July 21, 1851, and came to this country in 1857. (Ed. Note: Should be 1867)<br /><br />He was one of those sturdy pioneer who have made the great west and he kept up the work until the last. He was a linguist, speaking several languages and a recognized leader of men.<br /><br />A member of the party under the noted Gen. Custer, who later with his troops was massacred by the Indians in 1876, he helped in making the survey for the Northern Pacific thru the Rocky Mountains in the early seventies. (He was) in charge of the construction of the Great Northern Railway bridge across the Red Lake River at Crookston.<br /><br />Leaving the railway he went to work as general foreman for the Crookston Lumber Company and was with the Shevlin companies for years, during which time he constructed three large mills for that company, the mill at St. Hilaire, also the Rainy River Lumber Company mill at Rainy River and the first mill at this place. Besides he constructed the large dams in Thief and the Red Lake rivers near St. Hilaire and was (one) of the foremen on construction of the first paper mill at International Falls as well as on the Shevlin-Clarks mills at Fort Frances.<br /><br />He was married in 1881 to Miss Carolina Stroberg, and he then moved to Crookston, where he served for two terms as county commissioner of Polk County. Those were the days of the (scrambled) and Mr. Norland was one of the leaders under the then world known Ignatius Donelly the Sage of Mininger. When Red Lake county was set off from Polk, Mr. Norland became the first sheriff of the county and served for two terms.<br /><br />He took a homestead near Manitou in the Rainy River district in 1901 and lived there until he moved to Spooner in 1906, where the family lived until the fire of 1910, since which time they have lived on the Canadian side near Pinewood. At the time of his death he was serving as reeve of his community.<br /><br />Quiet spoken he seldom told of his achievements, tho he was a lover of the frontier and hated the sham of modern civilization. Besides his wife, he is survived by the following sons and daughters, Mrs. Mittendorp(sic) and Carl of Manitou, Fred of Central, Otto and Stella of Pinewood, Oscar and John of Edgerton Alberta. One son, Edwin, lies in Flanders fields, where he fell while fighting with the Canadian boys.<br /><br />The funeral was held on September 25th at Pinewood, Ontario, and he was<br />laid at rest in Longmore cemetery, a large floral offering from the Shevlin<br />companies thru Mr. Mathieu, testifying to the esteem in which he was held by<br />his former employers. The news of his passing is sad to many old personal and political friends all over the state, who sympathize with bereaved family. --NORTHERN NEWS.<br /><br />GENERAL: The "Compendium of History and Biography" for Northern Minnesota, of 1902, mentions that Henry came to the area around Hallock in the spring of 1878. On 22 Aug 1879, he filed a homestead claim on the following property: S 1/2, NW 1/4, Sec. 1, T161, R49W and N 1/2, SW 1/4, Sec. 1, T161, R49W. (Thompson Township, Kittson County, MN).<br /><br />CENSUS: 1900 Census: Rocksbury Township, Red Lake County, MN. SD#7, ED#330, SH5, Line 70. Lists Henry, Cary, Linnous, Johnnie, Freddie, Eddie and Stella. OIccupation listed as 'Farmer'. Also states that he owned the farm. This listing also shows Fred, Wilma, and Nina Turnquist, as well as Jonas and Carolina Stroberg. Wilma Turnquist was Henry's sister-in-law. Jonas and Carolina Stroberg were Henry's father-in-law and mother-in-law.Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-13116710734860693332009-04-05T17:21:00.007-05:002009-04-05T17:41:25.511-05:00Norlands in America part 2 - Erik Norland<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtlDmp0FPq546B0_M-SM3VJ-NJRz_fvNxy_Aj_D8-ebPIp7ROaH9SgdkiAF8FmwU1zouqr2bLWBQocXjM87_JZ3NYspvOsDmkcgmwTOP-hzjTwrrWN2MDHQ2QgpvppwiJcWtRzZv_zCeo/s1600-h/P64+-+Norland+-+Erik+Norland.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 238px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtlDmp0FPq546B0_M-SM3VJ-NJRz_fvNxy_Aj_D8-ebPIp7ROaH9SgdkiAF8FmwU1zouqr2bLWBQocXjM87_JZ3NYspvOsDmkcgmwTOP-hzjTwrrWN2MDHQ2QgpvppwiJcWtRzZv_zCeo/s320/P64+-+Norland+-+Erik+Norland.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321339309468264242" /></a><br /><br /><br />A half brother to my great grandfather was viewed by many as one of the original white settlers in Kittson County. Information about him is contained in the articles that follow.<br /><br />Erik (Eriksson) Norland<br /><br />The article below describes the journey of the Norland Brothers in the spring and fall of 1878 as they migrated from the Iowa - Southern Minnesota area to Kittson County, Minnesota.<br /><br />From the "Compendium of History and Biography"<br /><br />In the growth and development of Kittson County, Minnesota, the settlers of Swedish birth have played so prominent a part that much space is deservedly given them for a review of their lives in this volume, and it is a special pleasure to mention the first pioneer of the locality of that nationality. Erick Norland, who settled on his farm in Hallock Township in May, 1878. Mr. Norland, was born in Sweden, November 16, 1843, and was the second child and the only son in a family of three children born to Erick and Christina (Olson) Erickson. <br /><br />He went to America in 1869, and worked in Iowa and southern Minnesota, and in the spring of 1878 went to Moorhead, and from there, in company with his half-brother Henry, and another companion , made a trip down the Red River to Winnipeg, returning to Pembina. <br /><br />The three men started afoot through Kittson and Marshall counties, which were then almost wholly unsettled, and for about a week they tramped, wading through water and rafting across swollen streams, sleeping wherever night overtook them. Although this was not a pleasing introduction to the country, our subject decided the possibilities for farming were good, and he then filed a claim to the land which he now owns in May of that year, choosing land on the banks of the Two Rivers. This has proven a most productive locality, and he never has regretted his choice. In September, 1878, he again started from Moorhead, taking his wife and household effects in a flat-boat, his half-brother, Ole, and family accompanying them. They moored the boat at the mouth of the Two Rivers and a home on our subject's claim was established for all. These were the first Swedish families in the county, and our subject's home became the stopping place for the Scandinavian immigrants. He became known and proved himself a true friend of the pioneers, and by his knowledge of the country was of invaluable service to them in assisting them to select suitable locations. During these early days he did all in his power to induce the visitor to that locality to become a permanent settler, and might be styled the 'father of his township". He has accumulated a good property, and follows diversified farming with most pleasing results. His improvements of his farm include a complete set of farm buildings, and modern machinery is used for garnering and disposing of the products. His residence is located in Section 2 of Hallock Township, and affords every comfort and many of the luxuries of life.<br /><br />In 1872 occured the marriage of Mr. Norland and Miss Emma Backman. Mrs. Norland is a native of Sweden also, and with her husband enjoys the reputation of extending hospitality and good cheer to all who enter within her home. She is a lady of culture, and much credit is due her for the fair share she has taken in the management which has resulted in their comfortable surroundings.<br /><br />Mr. and Mrs. Norland have no children, but their family circle is completed by a child, who bears the name of Ella, who makes her home with them. Mr. Norland, although a gentleman of public spirit and devoted to the upbuilding of his community, takes little part in public affairs aside from lending an influence for good. He does not seek public office and is not a staunch party man politically. His business relations always bear close investigation, and he is deservedly popular.<br /><br />Records on file at the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul, show that Erik Norland received his final naturalization papers from the District Court, 11th Judicial District, Kittson County, Minnesota May 28, 1883.Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-73008289605844897212009-04-05T17:12:00.006-05:002009-04-06T09:03:34.168-05:00Norlands in America - Ole and Sophie<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgScKTLXBtzXmLOtpI9IGg2kaoBNuX6X2nnGmxh7ZzBeBSqKb2S6R1qzeSIGsAhH_99wgvgeIHvaAqJ2advo2OiAr13FCfi_g78oU3qaMhQdEU8_ipqE5218jTHVBdednqIsXQB5e5mBq4/s1600-h/P60+-+Norland+-+Ola+and+Sophie+Norland+family.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 258px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgScKTLXBtzXmLOtpI9IGg2kaoBNuX6X2nnGmxh7ZzBeBSqKb2S6R1qzeSIGsAhH_99wgvgeIHvaAqJ2advo2OiAr13FCfi_g78oU3qaMhQdEU8_ipqE5218jTHVBdednqIsXQB5e5mBq4/s320/P60+-+Norland+-+Ola+and+Sophie+Norland+family.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321335070368266146" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg80YfUvBQulVSOiRG19y4I1SwYV_2vts-X5D0y-9Ku_Hg5wh4_nXaByyjmol5qjJG23ZcN95ZV2cFl-HA7VM2zwvxgVy6Arv1l8S7BDtezVCH_sq41BQVbcv_k9P6Vno81bhPU_eFkgBs/s1600-h/P4d+-+Norland+-+Sophie+Anderson+Norland.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 142px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg80YfUvBQulVSOiRG19y4I1SwYV_2vts-X5D0y-9Ku_Hg5wh4_nXaByyjmol5qjJG23ZcN95ZV2cFl-HA7VM2zwvxgVy6Arv1l8S7BDtezVCH_sq41BQVbcv_k9P6Vno81bhPU_eFkgBs/s320/P4d+-+Norland+-+Sophie+Anderson+Norland.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321334834197413058" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmjzdbQpec0XzHDRhBFlQVw6QpUACmp3G1ypfuN9r3wPE924oheRO1Q7Wlz0KUJ_k4KA43KfV2D6qMvbTH5E6y2kphLMa9elV4vN2d7KgAahGNOzKNv2hkd38l2mlnxNrN7WzJaJZdPss/s1600-h/P3+-+Norland+-+Ole+Norland.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 216px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmjzdbQpec0XzHDRhBFlQVw6QpUACmp3G1ypfuN9r3wPE924oheRO1Q7Wlz0KUJ_k4KA43KfV2D6qMvbTH5E6y2kphLMa9elV4vN2d7KgAahGNOzKNv2hkd38l2mlnxNrN7WzJaJZdPss/s320/P3+-+Norland+-+Ole+Norland.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321334652948305298" /></a><br />Olof (Olofsson) Norland and Sophie (Anderson) were my great grandparents and some of the very early (white) settlers in Kittson County in Northwest Minnesota. Here are a few pictures of them and a brief narrative of their emigration and lives in America.<br /><br />Olof Olofsson was born on February 6, 1849 in Sveg, Harjedalen, Sweden. The first born child of Olof Olofsson and Kerstin Olofsdotter. His other siblings were Henrick (Henry) Olofsson and Anna Olofsdotter. He also had half brothers and sisters as a result of a previous marriage of Kerstin Olofsdotter to Erik Eriksson. Erik died at the relatively young age of 33 in December of 1846. Children of that marriage were; Margaretta Ersdotter, Kerstin Olofssons, Erick Eriksson & Gunilla Eriksson. Subsequent to Erick’s death Olof’s parents were married on March 25, 1848 in Sveg, Harjedalen, Sweden.<br /><br />In February 1868 when he was 19 years old, Olof Olofsson and his brother Henrick emigrated to the United States. Shortly thereafter in June of 1869, their half brother Erik Eriksson followed them. For reasons unknown, upon arrival all three of the brothers adopted the last name Norland.<br /><br />Although the path they took and where they settled at this time is yet to be determined, we do know they were in the vicinity of the Iowa - Wisconsin border area by 1873. In this year it is believed that Olof married Sophie Anderson in Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin. However, other towns which have been mentioned in that area where they may have lived, worked or were married include MacGregor, Marquette and Cresco Iowa. No official record of the marriage has been found. Sophie was born in February 6, 1859 in Ratvika, Dalarne, Sweden.<br /><br />While Olof and Sophie lived in this area, they had two girls. Their first child was named Lillie Christine Norland. She was born March 23, 1876 in Marquette, Clayton County, Iowa. A second daughter Annie Norland was also born here on August 1, 1877.<br /><br />While still living in Hallock Township, Olof and Sophie had two more children, Eva Margaret and Oscar Norland. Eva, born on March 26, 1880, is widely believed to be the first white child born in Kittson County. Oscar was born on May 4,1882.<br /><br />Shortly after their child Oscar was born, Olof and Sophie Norland relocated to a homestead in Hazelton Township bordering the Middle Branch of the Two Rivers. Ownership of this farmstead eventually passed to their oldest daughter and her family and today is still maintained by Marten and Lilly (Norland) Sjostrand’s descendants. <br /><br />It was in Hazelton Township where their last five children, all boys were born. In order of birth they were; Axel Theodore born September 7, 1884, Arthur born March 13, 1887, Harry born November 10, 1897, Otto Ferdinand born August 18, 1891, and Alex born November 10, 1897.<br /><br /><br />Somewhere around the time of the last child’s birth, the family moved to the village of Lancaster, about 10 miles to the North. The house where they resided is still in use today and is located just to the South of the school’s recently constructed new auditorium.<br /><br />At this time, Olof was known to have taken to heavy drinking and would frequently come home in an agitated state. On many occasions, Sophie would leave the house with her children and hide in the adjoining barn or in a haystack to avoid abuse. At some point Sophie tired of the situation and asked Olof to leave.<br /><br />Olof consented and ended up living with his daughter Eva and her family. This was at a farm located at the North edge of Lancaster in Granville Township. In 2009 this farm was owned by Faye Lyberg and is located just across highway 59 from the Lancaster Riverside Golf Course.<br /><br />Olof died in Lancaster, Minnesota on December 23, 1913 as a result of drowning in a shallow pool of water while intoxicated. Perhaps not the most glorious end to the life of an early pioneer.<br /><br />Sophie, who was often referred to as “little grandma” given her diminutive stature, continued to live in Lancaster in the small house across from the school. She survived by renting out a room in the house to students and others, and of course assistance from her children. She died on February 24, 1936 at her oldest daughter’s (Lillie Sjostrand) home, her previous residence in Hazelton Township.<br /><br />Sophie (Anderson) Norland’s obituary follows:<br /><br />At the home of her daughter Mrs. Martin Sjostrand one of the old<br />time pioneers passed into the eternal rest on Monday, Feb. 24.<br /><br />Mrs. Sophie Norland was born in Ratvika, Dalarne. She came to this country in the latter part of the seventies and was married to Ola Norland at Prairie Du Chien Wis. In 1879 the couple came to Kittson County, floating down the Red River from Fishers Landing with some household goods and enough lumber to build a shack. Their first stop was at the old Ambrose Jerome place at the mouth of the Two Rivers. Like all the pioneer people they met with hospitality and they remained there for some time until they could get established on the homesteads. The two brothers Ola and Erick each took up homesteads, the latter near Hallock and the former in the town of Thompson. Mrs. Norland like many other pioneer woman suffered a lot of hardships. She worked hard, raised a family of sturdy children and helped make a home for herself and her loved ones.<br /><br />Her declining days has been spent in Lancaster surrounded by her children<br />and grandchildren a fitting end to a lifetime of hard work and sacrifice. Mrs.<br />Norland was at the time of death 77 years and 18 days of age. She is survived by six sons: Oscar, Axel, Harry, Arthur, Otto and Alex. Also three daughters Eva, (Mrs. J. Langford) Lily (Mrs. Martin Sjostrand) and Annie (Mrs. George Hansen) of Thief River Falls. Funeral was held last Thursday, interment being made in Union Liberty Cemetery in the town of Thompson. Peace be to the memory of a good wife and mother a pioneer. <br /><br /> May our Heavenly Father greet you<br /> On that glorious distant shore<br /> True some day we'll all be with you<br /> Have patience Dear and weep no more<br /> End of sorrow will come in Heaven<br /> Rest in the palace, your Lord hath given<br /> A.T.N.Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-41478061102193659712008-03-08T15:54:00.005-06:002008-03-08T16:40:36.486-06:00The Robel Family Emigrates<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNKJf_n6rfBb1ZRemQr2Nc3gY8RME-412l0cI9XcpKHWBC8prscnQYkEKsFerMvSNGsfeh-JY9dq40f7RNyvIzmdYpsaIPsGRgNtAqPKfU0wwmtwuXPx0pS3CgAQZAXdXYviM0iz85_G4/s1600-h/Tony+Robel%27s+wedding.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNKJf_n6rfBb1ZRemQr2Nc3gY8RME-412l0cI9XcpKHWBC8prscnQYkEKsFerMvSNGsfeh-JY9dq40f7RNyvIzmdYpsaIPsGRgNtAqPKfU0wwmtwuXPx0pS3CgAQZAXdXYviM0iz85_G4/s320/Tony+Robel%27s+wedding.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5175503404184383842" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUZUmDMSudqELH5ebyCfaW787igI_IsVLyAk8R9m2v5Twz3jq0Y9YwjPvfB5BfZX-jDTlJ_R5ZlWxdQ9uKJlVbdM_KgwLYt_O5NucA92FP8enXQeSJsO1z3UDbMCKMG_FXo4Lq5joYWzo/s1600-h/Robel+brothers0001.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUZUmDMSudqELH5ebyCfaW787igI_IsVLyAk8R9m2v5Twz3jq0Y9YwjPvfB5BfZX-jDTlJ_R5ZlWxdQ9uKJlVbdM_KgwLYt_O5NucA92FP8enXQeSJsO1z3UDbMCKMG_FXo4Lq5joYWzo/s320/Robel+brothers0001.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5175502648270139730" /></a><br />Well, after decades of neglect I have started to update my family history files. In looking over the plastic tubs of books, artifacts, pictures and correspondence, I just have to say the task seems overwhelming at this point. But, with all of the information I have received recently and the new research that has been accomplished by cousin Kathy (Wilebski) Schafer, I thought it was time to get back to it.<br /><br />In looking at my notes and the "facts" that I had in my files, I see that it's time to set the record straight in terms of a lot of rumors and other assorted stories. Since Grandma Mary is somewhat of an icon for our family, I thought I'd start with her and pull the facts together as best I can. As I was piecing things together this morning, all I can say is it was very interesting. And if you recall all of the stories that Grandma was famous for, it may provide the flavor you need for the facts that will be presented.<br /><br />First off, Mary Robel was born in a little village named Komorowka in what is today the Ukraine back on April 19, 1888. Many of you also know that her family was part of a settlement of Czech families that relocated here at the urging of the Catholic church. Her roots and that of our Chod ancestors are from the Klenci, Czech Republic area.<br /><br />In any event, due to a number of factors such as the occupation by foreign forces, lack of economic opportunity among others, Mary and many of her siblings were forced to find greener pastures. Apparently America/Canada offered those opportunities.<br /><br />FYI, from what I have found, Mary was the 6th of 7 children of Fredrick Robel and his wife Maryanna Nejedli. Of the children, the first 2 boys remained in the old country, John and Jacob "Jack". The remaining 5 children emigrated to America and Canada.<br /><br />Of the remaining siblings of Mary, the oldest was Thomas who went to Winnipeg. FYI, this is the grandfather of our Hallama cousins who live in Grande Pointe, Manitoba. And without their help in this effort over several decades, would almost certainly not have occurred. Thanks to Agnes, Mildred and Ed for all of their patience and contributions of knowledge. For the record, Tom came over at the age of 14 in September 1898. <br /><br />Following Tom in order of birth were Veronica, Anton "Tony" Robel, Marianna "Mary" Frances, and William "Frank". <br /><br />According to the Hallamas and Jennie Koss (Robel), Tony Robel followed the year after in 1899. And lastly Frank Robel came a little later with his sisters Mary and Veronica. Another tidbit about Veronica is that she ended up in Chicago and died at the age of 19. I have included a picture of the Robel brothers that came to the new world so you can see if any of the current batch of cousins and offspring bear any resemblence. Also Tony Robel's wedding picture. I will continue more on Grandma Mary's adventures in the next blog.Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-64168729329770114002008-02-10T13:33:00.000-06:002008-02-10T13:38:25.441-06:00Simon Wielebski and Marianna Donajkoska marriage record<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTOzQnzINCsi1gFAlOHL-7R0UV71pLxhH4eisKSn9111_nRUgIUo-mQ6Kb5EuawM8TTjFiTm9v5jJR-RvIkdpPK-5VTLaasxh6lOONSfhUuazvgZSyL-CcR2y-k1FbMQcnW1wHFi3gE40/s1600-h/another+copy+Simon+and+Marianna+wedding.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTOzQnzINCsi1gFAlOHL-7R0UV71pLxhH4eisKSn9111_nRUgIUo-mQ6Kb5EuawM8TTjFiTm9v5jJR-RvIkdpPK-5VTLaasxh6lOONSfhUuazvgZSyL-CcR2y-k1FbMQcnW1wHFi3gE40/s400/another+copy+Simon+and+Marianna+wedding.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165437938947242882" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt6jmasFDsfhi8PsQR_oOjeAwLspgC43BEZfsYpW1z_SkN79iiuUvmd5iBL1XdrFq89LS6N2s7I-weD0GRhUBcuKnxWfA8yTw-vG7Uaeh66fIoAQwQIPMxXIimd2lUzd-FQY58ma_FA3w/s1600-h/2nd+half+another+copy+of+Simon+Marianna+wedding.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt6jmasFDsfhi8PsQR_oOjeAwLspgC43BEZfsYpW1z_SkN79iiuUvmd5iBL1XdrFq89LS6N2s7I-weD0GRhUBcuKnxWfA8yTw-vG7Uaeh66fIoAQwQIPMxXIimd2lUzd-FQY58ma_FA3w/s400/2nd+half+another+copy+of+Simon+Marianna+wedding.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165437818688158578" /></a><br />Another artifact along with the translation from Kathy. This one is the marriage record for Simon and Marianna Wielebski<br />___________________________________________________________________________________<br />Year and Day of Marriage-- Feb. 20, 1843<br />Name of Priest performing Marriage--Antonius Ryttersky?<br />Name of the Couple and Location --Simon Wielebski and Marianna Donajkoska<br /> Laskownica<br />?? In relation to parents--juveniles (meaning young man, youth)<br />Age of man --28<br />Age of woman --21<br />Consent of parent/guardian--parents<br />Dates proclaiming banns of marriage-- 5, 12 (Dec. 5) 19, 2 (Feb. 19)<br />Witnesses to the marriage--Valentinus Dunelski??<br /> Michael Bettu ?? (writing is illegible)<br />____________________________________________________________________________________Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-43210349504060730212008-02-09T15:15:00.001-06:002008-02-09T15:21:09.585-06:00Antonia Januzek's birth record<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIAhqH_zNfC1U3qCkRD0qPdOmKu8b8dec8Kj-R5pY2wnThztQ2BuexLM0qg9byCDLC9tsChIH9NcJ5bavLUAdSB9C28zYTIwePT0_VLSu0Iu_IVyFFgrn0jiYvTrnt-ayHSlxMrSlpePQ/s1600-h/2Antonia+Januzyk+birth+parish+Kosztowo+(Wyrzysk).jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIAhqH_zNfC1U3qCkRD0qPdOmKu8b8dec8Kj-R5pY2wnThztQ2BuexLM0qg9byCDLC9tsChIH9NcJ5bavLUAdSB9C28zYTIwePT0_VLSu0Iu_IVyFFgrn0jiYvTrnt-ayHSlxMrSlpePQ/s400/2Antonia+Januzyk+birth+parish+Kosztowo+(Wyrzysk).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165093216282131298" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUix84lSOBx6Woi8k7AgmFW0bcWtoAKnEPGBsR0VHMQES4I40fW_tkgzcEjreznU3souYsdM0WprplwOUclf0aQoJ6ejJBN5jaDXEZAcBbAYhZX9P2e-yZ1ae_SJGrt6_9urakfmOhT8M/s1600-h/Antonia+Januzyk+birth+record+1860+LDS%232201309.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUix84lSOBx6Woi8k7AgmFW0bcWtoAKnEPGBsR0VHMQES4I40fW_tkgzcEjreznU3souYsdM0WprplwOUclf0aQoJ6ejJBN5jaDXEZAcBbAYhZX9P2e-yZ1ae_SJGrt6_9urakfmOhT8M/s400/Antonia+Januzyk+birth+record+1860+LDS%232201309.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165093091728079698" /></a><br />Here is the birth record of great grandma Antonia Januzek with translation of Polish again by Kathy Schafer.<br />________________________________________________________________________________<br />First half of document:<br /> <br />The first 7 is the number of entry, the i.d. is the repeat or ibid. sign for the month of January recorded above, <br />Day 17, Hour 1 noctis (means 1 in the night) all referring to date and time the child was born.<br /> <br />The next two columns indicate if it is a boy or a girl born-- the first half a legitimate boy child, the second half, an illegitimate boy child. Second column, first half--a legitimate girl child, the second half, an illegitimate girl child. The priest has numbered each individual column for the month. So Antonina is the 4th legitimate girl born in the month of January. Boys in January are counted separately. Apparently, those who died at birth as in the girl entry above Antonina were not numbered. <br /> <br />Name of the place from where they came -- Kosztowo. The day of baptism -- 17 January.<br />Name of the recipient of baptism --Antonina.<br />Column off the end of the page is ibid. of the name of the priest written above performing the baptism.<br /> <br />2nd half of document:<br /> <br />The married name and the maiden name of the father and the mother --Thomas Januzyk and Marianna Budnik.<br /> <br />Religion of father and of mother -- Catholic.<br />Society status and profession of father -- auriga means charioteer.<br />Name and society status of Godparents-- Michael Malich, col. (abbreviation for colonus which means farmer) and Hedwig Buchholz? or a feminine form of Budnik??? fam. (within the family?)<br />Possibly Hedwig Buchholz was correct and not a form of Budnik, her occupation being within the family but not necessarily of the Budnik family.<br />___________________________________________________________________________Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-73571907215689385422008-02-09T11:28:00.001-06:002008-02-09T11:35:17.984-06:00Franceszek's Birth Record<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirP3ZPrPgA2kNnrOai3AzORADgvBfSd4Usg1FS4y79Yq1Zc6enERi8yPghgW0Mi1haRI2bkfYY5CX9BITP0BHPkdzquknEyp4K0akvmV25pvLeh3g9tgwM1p-yXBZF-1kVtjqguRRRMuk/s1600-h/2nd+half+Franceszek%27s+baptismal+certificate.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirP3ZPrPgA2kNnrOai3AzORADgvBfSd4Usg1FS4y79Yq1Zc6enERi8yPghgW0Mi1haRI2bkfYY5CX9BITP0BHPkdzquknEyp4K0akvmV25pvLeh3g9tgwM1p-yXBZF-1kVtjqguRRRMuk/s400/2nd+half+Franceszek%27s+baptismal+certificate.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165035092489714498" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj12RuT5Fx0LgbVlxn7b7mk-Gh1qV7DFJ_4TvNJQC8zcXOfWT9VeZRHanDcosXac-jm6khyphenhypheniIGte6pFzzs151QwtR2_F959XRcJ_MTLrBWImfaydlK6FDM9jK1Suy2Zic3AHBIR__hdzXU/s1600-h/Franceszek's+baptismal+record-Zelazno.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj12RuT5Fx0LgbVlxn7b7mk-Gh1qV7DFJ_4TvNJQC8zcXOfWT9VeZRHanDcosXac-jm6khyphenhypheniIGte6pFzzs151QwtR2_F959XRcJ_MTLrBWImfaydlK6FDM9jK1Suy2Zic3AHBIR__hdzXU/s400/Franceszek's+baptismal+record-Zelazno.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165034985115532082" /></a><br /><br />I also wanted to pass along "Frank's" birth record which Kathy found shortly after we returned from Poland. As you have gathered from reading the blog post of that trip, we did get a chance to visit the village of his wife, Antonia Januzek. Frank's place of birth was not very far away, but alas we did not have the information during the trip.<br /><br />Also, we did visit another neighboring town where Marianna Donajkoska was born. Again, all within 15 miles of each other.<br /><br />I guess this is pointing to another trip back there to visit the ancestral villages. We'll see.<br /><br />_____________________________________________________________________________________<br />Zelazno (Z with a slash) is the village listed as Franceszek's baptismal village which I found today. I went to the museum and two films were in and I slowly viewed the first one which took 3 hours. Then the second one I noticed Joannes Wyliebski and Catherina Lewandowska and photocopied that since these names were given to me in the Dalke information from Wisconsin Wielebski's. So I thought could this be the film they are on and I fast forwarded to 1854 to November 15 and there was a Franciscus but the second page was missing. I scrolled forward a number of frames and the other torn page was there and there were the parents names Simon Wilebski and Marianna Donajkoska. I was so excited that I found the certificate--FINALLY! On this reel it is funny almost all the different spellings of the name Wilebski that we have seen I think are on it. I have to go back and spend another days work on it. I have it until August 19 in Roseau. I ordered another one also which I have until August 22 for the same area Sadki (Sadke). So I will see what more I can find. <br />There was only 45 minutes for me until I had to pick up Katie at school so I wasn't able to do an extensive view today of this reel. I found Franceszek, Thomas and a child born inbetween Thomas and Francescek names Michael. But not John, Peter or Agnes. So they must have lived in some other village first before they were here. But I'm happy that we found Franceszek at any rate. _____________________________________________________________________________________Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-34897927256116355812008-02-09T10:59:00.000-06:002008-02-09T11:11:51.506-06:00Simon Wilebski's birth record from October 1815<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOqR_aI7PZpKjmMQ0rF_5bM7-dzpCLrHXddXmtxRuApvnIoZFAOgqFfgdQ1qH6yBorotHAbBoQw0Yez4Dids8PjgPuPI244OWQyuyhlLZ2vjSkGoRs2GzcTg25-WOkUele2HnWv6CXnfo/s1600-h/1815+Simon+Wielebski%27s+birth+record+Pawlowo+Jutrosin.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOqR_aI7PZpKjmMQ0rF_5bM7-dzpCLrHXddXmtxRuApvnIoZFAOgqFfgdQ1qH6yBorotHAbBoQw0Yez4Dids8PjgPuPI244OWQyuyhlLZ2vjSkGoRs2GzcTg25-WOkUele2HnWv6CXnfo/s400/1815+Simon+Wielebski%27s+birth+record+Pawlowo+Jutrosin.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165027876944657186" /></a><br /><br />Here's another document which I may have passed along to a few of you. It is the birth record of Simon Wilebski, who is Frank Wilebski's father. That would be my great great grandfather.<br /><br />The translation provided by Kathy (Wilebski) Schafer is also included. Without her diligence, help and contacts, I don't know where we would be in this quest. Mega thanks again Kathy for making this a reality.<br /><br />You may also notice that Simon's parents are listed, that of Casper Wielebski and his wife Margaretha Nawrot, who are my great great great grandparents, and yours of course too. Note he was a shephard. The previous post includes their marriage record.<br /><br />FYI, this is just the tip of the iceberg so to speak. Kathy has researched many of the LDS films that were a part of the Poznan project. And we have records regarding many many more of the Wielebski clan from Poland and those that came to the new country. Stay tuned and again hats off to Kathy.<br /><br /><br />_______________________________________________________________________________<br />Anno Millesimo Octingentiesimo Decimoquinto-- In the year 1815 <br /> <br />die vigisima secunda Octobris -- day 22 October<br /> <br />Ego Caspar Crzembke, Vicarius Ecclesiae Parochiales Jutrosimensis -- Casper Crzembke, Vicar of the Ecclesial Parish of Jutrosin<br /> <br />baptisavi Infantem nomine --baptized/baptism of the infant named<br /> <br />Simonem -- Simon<br /> <br />Caspari Wielebski, Ovilionis, et Margariltrae de Nawrot<br />-- Caspar Wielebski, shepherd and Margaretha Nawrot<br /> <br />legitimorum Conjugum filium de villa Pawlowo --<br />legitimate union family from/of village Pawlowo<br /> <br />Patrini fuere -- Godparents<br />Laurentius Wielebski et Marianna Nawrotowa de villa Pawlowo --<br />Laurenty Wielebski and Mariianna Nawrot of village Pawlowo<br />_______________________________________________________________________Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-87074172974620145902008-02-08T10:53:00.000-06:002008-02-09T10:59:06.757-06:00More artifactsCarrie suggested that I start posting some of these artifacts on my blog site. So, I will starting with this one. This is the marriage record of Caspar Wielebski & Margaritha Nawrot. These are the parents of Syzmon Wilebski, who is my great great grandfather. That being said, this is my great great great grandfather and ggg grandmother. How's that.<br /><br />The rest of the comments below are those from our cousin Kathy (Wilebski) Schafer who continues to dig into the LDS films to find this stuff. Hope you enjoy.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIje1NtWPGYL9K1GaTskfK22tpCB0qxANMg73VuuLCrNADmupDNLVcM4XvMzxuH1aK4HXt3mqx5ezr9V9yfqznWGZ07Gn9sdnWznGCvw2V3Te9zd1ptunASw6-T_66t-6tqTol9Iy3I-4/s1600-h/1807+wedding+Casper+%26+Margaritha+Wielebski+Silec+Jutrosin.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIje1NtWPGYL9K1GaTskfK22tpCB0qxANMg73VuuLCrNADmupDNLVcM4XvMzxuH1aK4HXt3mqx5ezr9V9yfqznWGZ07Gn9sdnWznGCvw2V3Te9zd1ptunASw6-T_66t-6tqTol9Iy3I-4/s320/1807+wedding+Casper+%26+Margaritha+Wielebski+Silec+Jutrosin.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5164654165746066898" /></a><br /><br /><br />As far as the wedding translation--<br />Village Silec Day 25 October. The next line Pramilsis pramittendis, nulloque impedimento detecto. I haven't looked the words up but I think it means parents permission given, no impediment detected to make the wedding null or void. I am only guessing on this for now--later I may try find out more the exact meaning. Ego Vincentuis Laniowski--I, and name of priest, performed the blessing of Matrimony for Honorable juvenile Caspar Wielebski from Silec and Margaritha from Szymanki. The word behind Margaritam I wrote to Teresa Knap to ask about--it is written in Polish I think because of the slash across the second letter l. I don't think it means her last name but instead I think it means her position in the community but I am not sure. The base word Wladac (slash through l and mark over c) in Polish means to rule in my dictionary. Also wladza (slash through l) means authority; power; rule-- and with e with a tail instead of a at the end-- it says to be in authority or in control. The last part rzonka may be a feminine form of woman child or daughter, I've heard that before in other words denoting the feminine or woman (I looked and the Polish word for woman is zona) so because of the Honesta before Caspar and that word behind Margaritha I think it means her family had a role in authority in Szymanki. Or otherwise a role in managing the estate in Szymanki. Shepherds also could manage herds of estates from what I have read with different degrees of importance on the estates. The Wielebski's from Caspar down were listed as Ovilio or Shepherds on the baptismal records. <br />The bottom names are the witnesses. Testes fuerunt. Andreas Nawrocki/Nawrot was a brother I think.<br />So for now much of this is guessing and until I hear back from Teresa Knap (which may take some time) she doesn't always answer her e-mails--I will let you know for sure then. Kathy <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />Notice Silec (in some places Sielec) spelling instead of Siebec (which I had on Magdalena and Agnes' birth records). You will have to change it--sorry. I had misread handwriting of "mano" in the Latin-- it should be "mane" which meaning morning. So the hour born was in the morning. I figured that out before I had sent the last e-mails. <br /><br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-22501544310076982272007-11-11T09:04:00.000-06:002007-11-11T09:13:57.204-06:00Thanks Mom!!On my last trip to the Northland, Mother and I went for a little drive around the country. Our last destination of the day was Florian. I of course wanted to see if the last marker was in place. As we headed South, Mother remarked how the last time she remembers being at Florian was when Dad played softball. Guess that would be a mere 70 or so years ago by my calculation.<br /><br />Upon arriving at the Florian cemetery, we saw the marker for Antonia was placed and the extra etching on the "front" side was completed. So, for all intents and purposes we have finally accomplished what we set out to do about 15 years ago. <br /><br />FYI, the final bill for the 2 markers came to $6,217.81. I did receive about $150 extra from various cousins as a result of the flowers for Aunt Ella's funeral. And, most recently (last week), I received a contribution from Mother in the amount of $500. I also believe a portion of the reunion fund will go toward reimbursement of these costs. But, that is up to the current holders of the funds, Peggy and Joey.<br /><br />Any interest in trying to do something similar for Frank's brother Peter and his wife who are buried in Kroze. Or something a little more elaborate for Grandma Mary Wilebski? Let me know, and of course open the checkbook.<br /><br />FredFred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-68238838546965751162007-08-22T20:01:00.000-05:002007-08-23T10:06:07.866-05:00Florian<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj74AdkIZdTeJq1ADbUJVPJvgmFpF7PPcpvlePg8tEuLlHpiBFdDEYDOvDmW-EEWNIRLktyWkB5JVSimanvW6OrjVEVi_ya0x7a3dPKs2sRieuTUqpeB2f6GxoiaJNtXMOQJsubD877oFU/s1600-h/Florian+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%2310.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj74AdkIZdTeJq1ADbUJVPJvgmFpF7PPcpvlePg8tEuLlHpiBFdDEYDOvDmW-EEWNIRLktyWkB5JVSimanvW6OrjVEVi_ya0x7a3dPKs2sRieuTUqpeB2f6GxoiaJNtXMOQJsubD877oFU/s320/Florian+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%2310.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101704517165940946" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnnh9JtjPmRIvlebRFBD7l98AnMnpnC_sHSxO6DumumWYB6UEBqaFUK8je_dPM7fB49OaMPQl22bkujw1g0Rp43A0K5bgELaLHiL-qtwOI91vVozYbgTz1VLJseCMHGs1uwUN3mpQGGQ0/s1600-h/Florian+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%239.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnnh9JtjPmRIvlebRFBD7l98AnMnpnC_sHSxO6DumumWYB6UEBqaFUK8je_dPM7fB49OaMPQl22bkujw1g0Rp43A0K5bgELaLHiL-qtwOI91vVozYbgTz1VLJseCMHGs1uwUN3mpQGGQ0/s320/Florian+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%239.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101704285237706946" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2yRqed_hwJKuWU9bdlu44samHdVPTxgv7jCaa0Lzcfyq95DIyfwK_MxJINsh0iNS-79bQ5gTez73wWdljxm1_vwG28l8n8xzZfg8GzbLVkf2uqzfQKDRMcW1VgtmmwLXzfTvPp2O-NhY/s1600-h/Antonia+(Januzik)+Wilebski+original+grave+marker+base.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2yRqed_hwJKuWU9bdlu44samHdVPTxgv7jCaa0Lzcfyq95DIyfwK_MxJINsh0iNS-79bQ5gTez73wWdljxm1_vwG28l8n8xzZfg8GzbLVkf2uqzfQKDRMcW1VgtmmwLXzfTvPp2O-NhY/s320/Antonia+(Januzik)+Wilebski+original+grave+marker+base.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101704040424571058" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMHgcf1MjAdLisE-4pm90fG1_gIC_Wu2zyae39oMql-Nx-7-rBWbKs9RGmMyKSneBtMwpXuMq1hLuH3K28SdfS9hsCrfN_oVxWIlrmjGIJDayWxCJD5sA-MKD9l8NanUd41d7mK_JgnD8/s1600-h/100_6512.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMHgcf1MjAdLisE-4pm90fG1_gIC_Wu2zyae39oMql-Nx-7-rBWbKs9RGmMyKSneBtMwpXuMq1hLuH3K28SdfS9hsCrfN_oVxWIlrmjGIJDayWxCJD5sA-MKD9l8NanUd41d7mK_JgnD8/s320/100_6512.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101703636697645218" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSaij77n-mzQ9MB89J8l9zkWFAjjSnihMxdljN_s-H35J7EW4VcypKRxA7FvbAHB5NMxDFezQtBX_kyNGUgeJjnzdFtFNECPJWu4BbUOJiWQIhQFisZKuTRCUAU_b1n2L-iEd9op9RZ4Q/s1600-h/Florian+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%233.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSaij77n-mzQ9MB89J8l9zkWFAjjSnihMxdljN_s-H35J7EW4VcypKRxA7FvbAHB5NMxDFezQtBX_kyNGUgeJjnzdFtFNECPJWu4BbUOJiWQIhQFisZKuTRCUAU_b1n2L-iEd9op9RZ4Q/s320/Florian+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%233.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101703477783855250" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvpWPZMkDF_QoLisGmcgSaySqskbSA4nljdU8OACP8FkLmi29Z_NtWav7uTNwtg9FlJzgCW2H6a0U0EWdcTJ-wL3ArCkKvd8K7x1jCYJF6qlSKox5TNJcQLIa752crtFznflT4Pwdazkg/s1600-h/Florian+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%232.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvpWPZMkDF_QoLisGmcgSaySqskbSA4nljdU8OACP8FkLmi29Z_NtWav7uTNwtg9FlJzgCW2H6a0U0EWdcTJ-wL3ArCkKvd8K7x1jCYJF6qlSKox5TNJcQLIa752crtFznflT4Pwdazkg/s320/Florian+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%232.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101703263035490434" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4cwpGCI5C7WXSDr6Lk16RL8kQqqoD5UG4EYF4kI1Qv9SdkraWb7w6__n_Krnu6M6JpVQJPIUZ0t4wcMp2X05rEyf5JEeZDf_5KPa-Sji7QLlY5E_JEpN8xT8O-fonGm5vrmHRXvEHZUM/s1600-h/Florian+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%231.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4cwpGCI5C7WXSDr6Lk16RL8kQqqoD5UG4EYF4kI1Qv9SdkraWb7w6__n_Krnu6M6JpVQJPIUZ0t4wcMp2X05rEyf5JEeZDf_5KPa-Sji7QLlY5E_JEpN8xT8O-fonGm5vrmHRXvEHZUM/s320/Florian+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%231.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101702958092812402" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBpe5QCnjAppbhv9sNJRpeYIghCat8Kk67glVJwWVtLYxUXJoGyHuhUxICeLpMyh9ShoYZIRLK4bchI7Cd1KvylMff8LfYARcA7yEIjI2yw1Ma1aqmhsx3OPRJtZ5bkDWlstbJBv1hWq4/s1600-h/Antonia+(Januzik)+Wilebski+original+grave+marker+(close+up).JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBpe5QCnjAppbhv9sNJRpeYIghCat8Kk67glVJwWVtLYxUXJoGyHuhUxICeLpMyh9ShoYZIRLK4bchI7Cd1KvylMff8LfYARcA7yEIjI2yw1Ma1aqmhsx3OPRJtZ5bkDWlstbJBv1hWq4/s320/Antonia+(Januzik)+Wilebski+original+grave+marker+(close+up).JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101702648855167074" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_AeKuwToj_yngTdIxY03AvFnrxghwvQJdfi21K1o7IC1DNTgMEbP0uxZooVVt7AloFdJME8vKanfjoDFe-ZfdmHAxJBYQdfopnm31pZM29i49wOrZqWmE4kh8j9AeorsRcS80DckyPv4/s1600-h/Antonia+(Januzik)+Wilebski+original+grave+marker.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_AeKuwToj_yngTdIxY03AvFnrxghwvQJdfi21K1o7IC1DNTgMEbP0uxZooVVt7AloFdJME8vKanfjoDFe-ZfdmHAxJBYQdfopnm31pZM29i49wOrZqWmE4kh8j9AeorsRcS80DckyPv4/s320/Antonia+(Januzik)+Wilebski+original+grave+marker.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101702361092358226" /></a><br />Having spent several hours placing Franczek's marker with the help of Joey and Peggy, I pleaded with them to accompany me to Florian. Since I had never been to that cemetery and only vaguely knew what to expect via cousin Kathy (Wilebski) Schafer, I was pretty nervous. As always, Joey and Peggy agreed to follow us down there. <br /><br />Upon finding the cemetery, I looked around trying to find the existing grave marker. I at once saw a cross that looked identical in shape to the one that was on "Frank's" grave at Kroze. And, since I saw it in amongst other relatives such as the Kuznias and Kazmierzcaks, I was 90% certain I had found it. But, I told our placement guy, I wanted to be sure.<br /><br />Kathy had indicated that Mike Kuznia, who lived nearby, would be there to meet us. Alas, no one was around, so I ended up going to the rectory where I met the deacon. I explained my plight and he provided a map of all the graves. This was a good thing since upon finding Antonia's name, it was on the opposite side of the cemetary.....Thank you lord Jesus!<br /><br />When I finally located the site, Joey and Peggy were pulling up in their Sunday go to meeting sedan and joined us. I also went back to the deacon to see if we couldn't have a local "expert" tell us if we were doing things correctly according to their rules. The deacon called Mike Kuznia and he promptly showed up with his son in law in tow. Mike was a great guy, and of course knew about us and our family since Tom Wilebski was married to his aunt. He explained that before uncle Tom left for St. Paul and the railroad job, he was a carpenter in the Florian area and also was responsible for many of the early cement grave markers in the area. Who would have known?<br /><br />O.K. so far so good. But again we were faced with the dilema of the original cross. When we tried to jiggle this one loose, it would not budge. Darren shoved his shovel down a couple feet behind the cross and hit cement. His and our thoughts were they have poured a huge slab of concrete and that we would never be able to budge this baby. The prospects that were available to us then were not all that great, since we would be forced to put the new marker on the other end of the grave. And that meant it would be almost out of view and under a row of spruce trees. Realizing the goo that oozes from spruce trees unabated over the months and years, gloom descended upon our small group.<br /><br />Thankfully, Peggy kept insisting that we move the existing monument, or at least try to see just how much trouble it would be. I have to say knowing Mrs. Peggy for as long as I have, I have come to appreciate her mild mannered insistence. I'm sure the Stennes guy rolled his eyes, but we listened to Peggy and it was a good thing. As we came to find out later, the cement that Darren hit was the outline of the grave. And here's the funny part, or unusual at least. Since there were some very dramatic sand storms in this area during the depression in the late 20's and early 30's, the graves had accummulated an additional foot and a half of dirt since Antonia was buried. Amazing!<br /><br />Upon digging out the original cross, we found additional inscriptions. Joey was quick to get a bucket of water and clean it off so that after we placed it, it could be read. I've included a couple of pics of the before and after.<br /><br />The only other issue that arose was in connection with the placement of the new marker. Since the majority of the "fronts" of the markers faced East, that would mean to comply our marker would be viewed primarily by the spruce trees and would not be viewable to someone entering the cemetary. So, the dilema was how could we circumvent this implied rule without offending the locals. The Stennes guy came up with a solution. He said that for a few hundred more U.S. dollars, he could bring the stone back to the shop and put some limited wording on the back side to comply, while still retaining all of the good stuff and the picture on the side most people would see....our "front" side.<br /><br />Executive decision made amongst the cousins and the stone was heading back to the shop for the additional lettering. While the stone did not get placed on Monday, we are led to believe it should be done in the not too distant future.<br /><br />Should any of you ever have the opportunity to make it to this graveyard, you will probably notice there are more of our relatives buried here than at Kroze. Although other than Antonia and Paul, there are no others with the last name of Wilebski. But, you will see a ton of Kuznias, Kazmierzaks, Prices, etc.<br /><br />FYI, Peter Wilebski's son Paul buried not too far away from Antonia.<br /><br />Hope you enjoy the pictures and the story of the end of this 15 year quest to honor our great grandparents. And yes, we can use any donations you can spare to reimburse the family member that fronted this endeavor.Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-82019029333932352952007-08-22T19:20:00.001-05:002007-08-23T10:08:01.008-05:00Kroze Marker Placement accomplished!!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLsLp1AoiKtjoKBrb0LxHp4CniOAJu2v2z85y9kbEWykj0OBjAYDJEnqVLn7agZDK___Cs-N7x0Nk3FUfvKDOQIfhzT3-qb4fmVdEx2Hunz8pkx7T2_vv2zjVDhy1j4j-pHCUS5cWoVbE/s1600-h/Kroze+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%2323.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLsLp1AoiKtjoKBrb0LxHp4CniOAJu2v2z85y9kbEWykj0OBjAYDJEnqVLn7agZDK___Cs-N7x0Nk3FUfvKDOQIfhzT3-qb4fmVdEx2Hunz8pkx7T2_vv2zjVDhy1j4j-pHCUS5cWoVbE/s320/Kroze+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%2323.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101691391745884226" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimOOH-zVUmF5ASN5rouqFPRtex4LBEtK5TB0w-iWy1eCwusgKIRoi-1pv1x2X-0602CX3Oyz1QRBcIeiSsu7Fc7Mz5d-AZJIJoq3QZJUz9PByddJ_SfQchmmZUAWtvD0hK1COH7nv5amo/s1600-h/Kroze+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%2321.JPG"><img style="float:left; 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margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOST11f0Aq7L1dHWbRShW0cjgMO_xs-5BqOVCIL6BClRnERCK3TYArGJkB_YEXlCB0pSZpzBXdorWIF-OpEXV4r6Gr2PJ7-gtN8jh-w-M3ypS2N0aIW-8VQz5fVHT8XewCkuJahx-41Fo/s320/Kroze+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%2314.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101690902119612434" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXiRfAhgAcWXxGpWfTVKWLF0yJ8ErJtrPKQc-sTaD6VwtAucAHCyDHnB6RQGYsJgv92z4JIqYBEtAgy65WU9UzWuKJTy9t2fbrWC73APRI9q9FuZWrRH3ZensJKScBsVurS2LgjZwOZLI/s1600-h/Kroze+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%2311.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXiRfAhgAcWXxGpWfTVKWLF0yJ8ErJtrPKQc-sTaD6VwtAucAHCyDHnB6RQGYsJgv92z4JIqYBEtAgy65WU9UzWuKJTy9t2fbrWC73APRI9q9FuZWrRH3ZensJKScBsVurS2LgjZwOZLI/s320/Kroze+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%2311.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101690665896411138" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJQJyX6Jw9lMXEVnbEuk9EkGKoG9fZn_3xkXfQp62bAbSyjrxxS4m74JgROEvtYFeyY3FOpgw8wufol02X3JOA3L32MStfUlSTJ4mZcavf8sXyxCSmH4VYuqhcJdh_fuo_wd6mdcO8iE/s1600-h/Kroze+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%238.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJQJyX6Jw9lMXEVnbEuk9EkGKoG9fZn_3xkXfQp62bAbSyjrxxS4m74JgROEvtYFeyY3FOpgw8wufol02X3JOA3L32MStfUlSTJ4mZcavf8sXyxCSmH4VYuqhcJdh_fuo_wd6mdcO8iE/s320/Kroze+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%238.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101690506982621170" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHVTyHW5w2RIbp36htgVNaqnNXNqbFTTkNho-3jgVtw1iCJr2uyIfwc2l3lHOXjeKv78hOZQH0KSynjcMv3tBt6RVy2jC8aWLGH9hzPDw9MpQRyyKlhocVYVRzhGWiSxTVzpCITRJCApk/s1600-h/Kroze+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%232.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHVTyHW5w2RIbp36htgVNaqnNXNqbFTTkNho-3jgVtw1iCJr2uyIfwc2l3lHOXjeKv78hOZQH0KSynjcMv3tBt6RVy2jC8aWLGH9hzPDw9MpQRyyKlhocVYVRzhGWiSxTVzpCITRJCApk/s320/Kroze+cemetary+grave+marker+placement+%232.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101690283644321762" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcufPTWa9PqzGHKTW0u2GIny4FDp6a-tehh6TKNGz3FpV_Ry0wyHId8LA6OC_Uh7rG6_KrUtwNLihLFchSvtwvB67zmMHl_1nk1KghJTYDghNDbhjKBzsYROs8iEyjyBUZzs5yvrTPP7k/s1600-h/Francszek+Wilebski+original+Marker+(close+up).JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcufPTWa9PqzGHKTW0u2GIny4FDp6a-tehh6TKNGz3FpV_Ry0wyHId8LA6OC_Uh7rG6_KrUtwNLihLFchSvtwvB67zmMHl_1nk1KghJTYDghNDbhjKBzsYROs8iEyjyBUZzs5yvrTPP7k/s320/Francszek+Wilebski+original+Marker+(close+up).JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101690103255695314" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghWqfbYazZP9ZdVAxNEsR-7MkqAyPR0AD-PASqZuz0WLEcUdh1jz_4sfA0jACICNGjC49m1JnIxvPO4BNxbjklSIOPQyfHQjiR85ypPPeIUPZTaiY8Ie4dYhgPEfddNk-xOpfmue83smQ/s1600-h/Francszek+Wilebski+original+Marker.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghWqfbYazZP9ZdVAxNEsR-7MkqAyPR0AD-PASqZuz0WLEcUdh1jz_4sfA0jACICNGjC49m1JnIxvPO4BNxbjklSIOPQyfHQjiR85ypPPeIUPZTaiY8Ie4dYhgPEfddNk-xOpfmue83smQ/s320/Francszek+Wilebski+original+Marker.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101689854147592130" /></a><br />After almost 15 years, the deed is finally done. I was beginning to think just this month that is was not to be with all the fits and starts this project has had. In fact we had 2 different placement dates, and if it wouldn't have happened this Monday, well who knows if it would have gotten done this year.<br /><br />First off, I want to thank everyone that has provided input on this project. I truly appreciate all of the proof reading and comments. Your support, whether monetary or morale was appreciated more than you may realize. <br /><br />So how did it finally go on Monday? Well, Joey and Mrs. Peggy agreed to meet me at the Kroze cemetery early Monday morning. It was a cold and blustery day for the middle of August. Our point man Darren Nelson of Stennes Granite arrived about 9am with his son Tanner riding shotgun. After a brief consultation, Darren pointed out the marker was fairly heavy, something on the order of 800 pounds. And, that getting it to the gravesite of Francszek would be a somewhat "monumental" (pun intended) task if he could not manuever the truck with overhead crane closer. In effect, we would have to get it there by hand cart. Neither Joey or I were too enthused about that prospect. The problem as we saw it was that to get the truck closer to the gravesite required us to find a path across existing graves. And many of those were from around the turn of the last century, before those cement enclosures were being used. In other words we were concerned that the weight of the pickup and several ton of granite could possibly cave in an existing grave. Since the majority of the Wilebski clan is not exactly in good graces with the Kroze congregation, we were somewhat concerned about the prospects.<br /><br />After much discussion, the decision was made to try get the truck closer to the site and take the chance it would not fall into any existing grave. It worked, perhaps due to some unknown force. But again, we didn't damage any graves in the process.<br /><br />Upon looking at the grave with the original cross, we reiterated our desire to salvage the original marker. This cement cross was constructed by Frank's son Tom, who we found out made quite a few of these monuments prior to his leaving the area to become a carpenter for a railroad in St. Paul. <br /><br />Darren from Stennes was more than happy to move the existing marker, but was concerned that it would break if we tried to do so. Again, Joey and I agreed to take responsibility if it broke. But we were somewhat nervous. As with everything this day that went right, we were able to free the existing original marker with ease and place it at the back of the gravesite while we installed the new memorial.<br /><br />All of this went quite well. Throughout the process Peggy was our final word in the placement and alignment of both the new memorial and the replacement of the original cement cross marker. Mega thanks to her and Joey for being there, as I am not sure it would have turned out as well if I were there on my own.<br /><br />I have attached a few of the pictures of the process for your viewing pleasure. <br /><br />Oh, almost forgot to tell you that decades ago when our family was still a part of that congregation and our family worked to raise money and clean up the cemetery, a map of the graves was obtained. Suprisingly, Frank's brother Peter Wilebski is buried beside him, but there is no grave marker. For those of you wondering about Peter, he was perhaps the most instrumental person in terms of establishing the Polish community up in Kroze, or Richardville Township. He was the one who enticed Poles, many of which were originally from the Posnan area in Poland, to move farther North. This he did with letters to Polish language newspapers in the Chicago area, and of course via word of mouth to those who had already moved from Chicago to the Wilno/Ivanhoe (Minnesota) area. It's a shame this pioneer of the community lies in an unmarked grave. <br /><br />FYI, this is also the father of our grandfather Joe's second partner, Antonia. We also believe that Peter's wife is buried not too far away in yet another unmarked grave which is labeled Mrs. Wilebski on the handwritten chart. Perhaps once we finish paying for these 2 stones for the great grandparents, we may want to think of some way of identifying these individuals too. Just a thought.<br /><br />The next blog entry will relate to our Florian experience.Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-22586813245553732272007-07-04T12:22:00.000-05:002007-07-04T12:53:06.405-05:00Praha and home<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHEVb7f9OyGS_XlurPnVfe7cruupcyfmH8J6y0WlZwnfH6a4S-dkGHemma87iayvrI9-_nNe0RqQYIQYDonNBv5v80F4-7mDR1E4Rug5EpILw2epwv3BrgEng-h3Wx0Bo4T5inyZJoApk/s1600-h/Prague+airport+%239.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHEVb7f9OyGS_XlurPnVfe7cruupcyfmH8J6y0WlZwnfH6a4S-dkGHemma87iayvrI9-_nNe0RqQYIQYDonNBv5v80F4-7mDR1E4Rug5EpILw2epwv3BrgEng-h3Wx0Bo4T5inyZJoApk/s320/Prague+airport+%239.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083399456078406466" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZuxUxMYw4XdX3YbnyCNg5STZfQJw5iwHXHKYMOZqlHNDTQHPJZERvIpLTdZEWJwx_E7tWUTRlF1GVzqduV7U-d_TzwpLCQUsC1t31HFx_Cyqe40WQ2i3Gh21V-JYZ7x33oj3XQmNexgU/s1600-h/Prague+airport+%2311.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZuxUxMYw4XdX3YbnyCNg5STZfQJw5iwHXHKYMOZqlHNDTQHPJZERvIpLTdZEWJwx_E7tWUTRlF1GVzqduV7U-d_TzwpLCQUsC1t31HFx_Cyqe40WQ2i3Gh21V-JYZ7x33oj3XQmNexgU/s320/Prague+airport+%2311.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083399314344485682" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz5GMtotrCsl_CMk_lXX0SfkjRViA2X2X0nHjC-PDEIfUOnvM1AKJ-wzgKu3rECvBBktrrj09Vnazo6y07llkQGvkWjdUnO6MrZJJ7L5ysNfnFR7z2E34FEZ0fJ6w_5WvmfDkP1Vrkdlo/s1600-h/Airport+hotel+in+Prague+%231.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz5GMtotrCsl_CMk_lXX0SfkjRViA2X2X0nHjC-PDEIfUOnvM1AKJ-wzgKu3rECvBBktrrj09Vnazo6y07llkQGvkWjdUnO6MrZJJ7L5ysNfnFR7z2E34FEZ0fJ6w_5WvmfDkP1Vrkdlo/s320/Airport+hotel+in+Prague+%231.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083399164020630306" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijT8TWREdGDZbaQmMfKBwSb2_AC1kP6CJUfL0-EHiwC6pItyLqPLO8uavJp2CBHOK-DnTYIhhEX5DKMFr0XfPpRB3wKKwb1vdONXloOfraFxGo3_Af4vhGyquZ4xJFCb4WTZgt_Nw2Ddg/s1600-h/Prague+Susan+the+aspiring+ballerina.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijT8TWREdGDZbaQmMfKBwSb2_AC1kP6CJUfL0-EHiwC6pItyLqPLO8uavJp2CBHOK-DnTYIhhEX5DKMFr0XfPpRB3wKKwb1vdONXloOfraFxGo3_Af4vhGyquZ4xJFCb4WTZgt_Nw2Ddg/s320/Prague+Susan+the+aspiring+ballerina.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083398983632003858" /></a><br />Our last full day of Eastern Europe was again spent in Prague, or Praha as the say it over there. We were able to connect with Nancy Hugg once again for pivo near the Charles Bridge and got to meet a couple of her friends from Minneapolis who were visiting. Nancy was in the process of packing stuff and giving away things she had acquired during the last year. She was scheduled to take a couple of weeks of travel and then back to Minneapolis on the 15th.<br /><br />As we strolled around this last day, it was with a little less enthusiam. Perhaps the most came from Susan and Joan when they realized they could still do a little more shopping. I have one picture here of Sue as she posed in front of a statue dedicated to failed ballerinas everywhere. Although many of you know the story, for those of you that don't, Susan was an aspiring ballerina in her youth. Unfortunately that all ended when her brother dropped a six pack on her ankle. And now you know the rest of the story.<br /><br />Although I was just too tired to take any more pictures, I regret not taking one of a 5 person construction crew in Old Town. We watched as 2 people on the 3rd floor with a hoist and wench attempted to bring up a single bag of cement on a wooded pallet. The other part of the story is there were an additional 3 men on the ground supervising the loading of the one bag and watching it as it inched skyward. Both the patriarch and I looked longingly at the situation and dreamed of being the paid union steward for this local organization.<br /><br />We got back to the hotel fairly early and spent the rest of the day improving the Pivo economics at the hotel. We continued imbibing and playing pinochle. The only incident of the day was when Susan erected a beer glass barricade which I very appropriately crashed into. Dinner was sumptuous as usual.<br /><br />Saint Joan has a bit of a phobia about being on time for our flights, so we were out the door on the hotel shuttle bus that took us a whole 2 blocks a few minutes after 7am for our 9:35am flight. In retrospect, it was a good thing we did go early. We stood in line for close to 45 minutes where only 2 agents were working. Mind you there were only 6 other people in front of us. Finally another agent opened up and "helped" us. First she gave us hell for using their web site to try and get our reservations confirmed. Then we were scolded for trying to get seat assignments via the same method. After about 15 minutes she checked our bags, somewhat grudgingly and gave us our boarding passes. As we left her station, she abruptly left. This left the orginal 2 agents with what was now a line of about 80 passengers waiting to check in.<br /><br />And it gets worse. As we looked at the boarding passes, she issued 2 to me and none to Joan. Guess this was retribution for Joan trying to be so damn nice to this chicklet. I sensed a little anger in Saint Joan's eyes as we looked on in disbelief. Armed with what could have been unmentionable 4 letter words in her arsenal, Joan proceeded back to the counter to one of the 2 agents and promptly got our correct boarding passes. Hey, the look in her eyes would have been enough to scare me. As it turned out, the temporary agent had the last laugh. She issued 3 of the baggage claims to me and none to Joan and Frank who each had 2 bags. At MSP, it was determined that 2 of Joan and Frank's bags did not make it. <br /><br />In a nutshell, I think much of the Czech economy still operates in union mode with a small dash of the old days of communism thrown in for good measure.<br /><br />Prior to boarding the plane we did a little more shopping to get rid of those Czech Klotchies. A few reasonably priced $40 airport t-shirts and we were ready to roll once again.<br /><br />Shopping was again at the top of the list for Susan when we reached Schipol international in Amsterdam. Frank and I went to the gate and waited. We were a little amazed to see the lines to get on the flight. After waiting for a short period, the Patriarch instructed me to go find the shoppers and hurry them up. I did and we were able to make our plane. A couple of things of note were that Northwest had apparently cancelled some flights and people were waiting to get home on standby. And, for some reason security and the interview process you go through in Amsterdam seemed a little more tight than usual. Perhaps it had something to do with the recent Glasgow event, but we will probably never know.<br /><br />And such ends the cousin's trip to the Czech Republic and Poland. As I may have said before, it was a once in a lifetime trip and very enjoyable by all measures. And, regardless of my comments in these blogs, all members of our crew were great to travel with. I'd do it again, but I can't imagine every getting another invitation after all of these shots.<br /><br />If anyone wants a CD of all the pictures, just let me know and I'll ship you one.Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-79292540676223543522007-07-04T10:53:00.000-05:002007-07-04T11:23:23.988-05:00Posnan - Berlin - Prague<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv5gm4dRdXeexQ_CTk3uE59E8WJDnS9nHt_NV84KRR2pn3CarlC58_MSC_bb267IfA3UNu0HrxK4mhJwl5ZqIGGOqWpsfSRsRfP5LIT1QjaAHXAHatY60VYOi7rkp25YPZnyKn6OM6GAs/s1600-h/Volta+river+scenery+%2314.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv5gm4dRdXeexQ_CTk3uE59E8WJDnS9nHt_NV84KRR2pn3CarlC58_MSC_bb267IfA3UNu0HrxK4mhJwl5ZqIGGOqWpsfSRsRfP5LIT1QjaAHXAHatY60VYOi7rkp25YPZnyKn6OM6GAs/s320/Volta+river+scenery+%2314.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083377452960948994" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8oAsIQLLYOXAyUkym4kmHri28DiaehYV2Z7G4gvIKPpIYRE_ZGP5MamveMBZCFy4TVPHNLuOAC0PAsNxohwP12ree-9xY1cieSAdVGr5vtMgXq5MuWUkbRRpddMdtR0KqwjzgLy7fWM4/s1600-h/Volta+river+scenery+%2313.JPG"><img style="float:left; 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margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEQa6P9XzYX0cMVA6JPBHDDlfr7VdjM3bGAsbQ7m1ZJISWS1-DH-Ae9n3Z87TDOKl0O-9893QuyBQBEypdwKonz4OJV0rwuQEEkxkBDagHBOLvWqVnVM2xPVRgkdUQN2_NOVxS3cN1lWc/s320/Dresden+bound+cubemate+%231.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083376344859386514" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilcplZdsyD3AQUMupzetnZYCsR2pkppAMrbwpz-YkkiO9SM2Ss6HfJmLi4k8fpdbPNWp4D48e-23PEVo09Q07vHtpLGbxe9LwvqhDruD4LiCnCJ9dp3QRIiBTB2wkDKqGYPLvQyrRdZLc/s1600-h/Frank+being+helpful+at+the+Berlin+staion.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilcplZdsyD3AQUMupzetnZYCsR2pkppAMrbwpz-YkkiO9SM2Ss6HfJmLi4k8fpdbPNWp4D48e-23PEVo09Q07vHtpLGbxe9LwvqhDruD4LiCnCJ9dp3QRIiBTB2wkDKqGYPLvQyrRdZLc/s320/Frank+being+helpful+at+the+Berlin+staion.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083376228895269506" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiQ5NbDUPZ9Aoe_Zqb4_WtDqABsG1fXMNlST_6zGp1ByPC04EF8ZeY3N7iBl0wDVG6J6bg4KMe-TpUSvpkAruJOC3j7ZvvYDELgTUWtWYlTG2HSFOVlrzL8mh_Tif0MuaqYc6wGtlmdAU/s1600-h/Berlin+train+station.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiQ5NbDUPZ9Aoe_Zqb4_WtDqABsG1fXMNlST_6zGp1ByPC04EF8ZeY3N7iBl0wDVG6J6bg4KMe-TpUSvpkAruJOC3j7ZvvYDELgTUWtWYlTG2HSFOVlrzL8mh_Tif0MuaqYc6wGtlmdAU/s320/Berlin+train+station.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083376100046250610" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBY_SNnMWj5c-_4tn8KN-F-qaMARn5A5MBHDHAELXJMVLRCwANdqbIhrDqJfeSlVz-h-tak6gGacGv7PyWT79ZdaM_WjyW60cUzhQ2LN9D7j5DWgtjYC9yj4x8hX6vv72bgUXTvYu0IiU/s1600-h/Posnan+train+station+goodbyes.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBY_SNnMWj5c-_4tn8KN-F-qaMARn5A5MBHDHAELXJMVLRCwANdqbIhrDqJfeSlVz-h-tak6gGacGv7PyWT79ZdaM_WjyW60cUzhQ2LN9D7j5DWgtjYC9yj4x8hX6vv72bgUXTvYu0IiU/s320/Posnan+train+station+goodbyes.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083375679139455586" /></a><br />Monday the 25th was another travel day for us. We were greeted early by another knock on our door from Maria wanting to see us off. All 5 of us walked to the train station with bags in tow. Since Dominic was not with us, the conversation between us was tough at best. Maria however had a dictionary and tried her best. We just looked dumb and smiled a lot.<br /><br />As we waited for the train to arrive, Maria looked at our tickets and tried to tell us something. It was in vein, but we did find out after the fact. Basically we had reserved seats and a compartment, but we jumped on the wrong car. Eventually we found out otherwise and walked the 3 cars back to find our seats. Maria kept pointing in that direction and smiling, but alas we were clueless. I wonder what she must think of her American visitors?<br /><br />Our train ride this day back to Prague took us through Germany, Berlin being our first destination. If I didn't mention it before, the Berlin train station was something out of Futurama. It had a minimum of 5 levels and shopping galore. Very modern and functional. Much like the Germans themself. "This train VILL be on Time!<br /><br />While the girls shopped a little more, Frank and I waited for the train. He must look like a local because this little old 90 year old lady came right up to him with a problem about where her train was going to depart from. Frank took it in stride and helped the lady out. I think these acts come from living with Saint Joan a little too long. Nevertheless I have a picture of the Patriach and "Eva".<br /><br />On our last train ride of the trip, we got on a bullet train and this time our tickets were pretty much of the first come first served nature. We ended up standing for the first few minutes until things settled down. Eventually we found this nice young German kid that invited us into his cube. His cubemate wasn't exactly all that excited about the idea of us 4 joining them, but then again we didn't speak the language, body or otherwise so we barged in. As we tried to converse with these 2, it was obvious they were from Dresden. What wasn't so obvious was which one was most interested in Sue. I've attached the pictures and perhaps you can make the determination.<br /><br />As the younger man was getting out at Dresden, he told us to watch for some nice scenery just as we pulled out of the station. I've included a picture of that city from the train. In addition, I snapped one more picture of Susan at the station as she tried to hide behind a bottle of pivo. I didn't want to hurt her feelings, but let's face it, it's going to have to be a little bigger bottle.<br /><br />The last few hours were pretty uneventful as we rolled along the Volta river valley into Prague. Other than me tipping the garbage can where someone had poured part of a beer. It was a mess, but Saint Joan cleaned it up and we stealthfully moved to the cubicle next door.<br /><br />We arrived a little after 8pm as I recall and navigated the Metro back to our stop at Devijka, then on the 119 bus to our airport hotel. Another fabulous meal and our travelling days were short in number.Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-90597726758354827312007-07-04T09:25:00.000-05:002007-07-04T10:19:41.074-05:00Another Sunday day trip in the country<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0FFZDB1kgX2hZmhyzCEQ0_tjfku3cKMrc5OS_mV_E60wj4hDCKLJiPH68srKDYOgZEjmFPPukVT9QV4Btrr76O6olHZM2nHr0g472jwEEfnpVrieQx9s4NbJXm2Olv7blexzhEnrmKzU/s1600-h/Christine+Wielebski+with+daughter+and+son+with+dog.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0FFZDB1kgX2hZmhyzCEQ0_tjfku3cKMrc5OS_mV_E60wj4hDCKLJiPH68srKDYOgZEjmFPPukVT9QV4Btrr76O6olHZM2nHr0g472jwEEfnpVrieQx9s4NbJXm2Olv7blexzhEnrmKzU/s320/Christine+Wielebski+with+daughter+and+son+with+dog.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083360079818236498" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilRPUYaGT_aBcK2RiAGic0BDq_8b5wYIrkWlIHCrkE7hqWdKVUHA-IsP9NoZj-xKVgpUhxIOL5fOqU8AX00n9KcHy_hpwiN3KxCLSQG5oyMAUcQc-bMwmsQGT1ZiiGINDbGKx6iKrqQh8/s1600-h/Christine+Wielebski+family+%26+Maria+and+Dominic+%232.JPG"><img style="float:left; 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margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0_A3hmz_fl1j6oC5eW4Rmp2if5aozdcvavUZdeZT6aNx8gr9upttcoC0BfDUwQqh3cUO8hzknN7icvYGoCIpgsiSWldjcO21vYyypfAtCErMXqmPhisD2UdTw7veVVsymPLTzWSxUfJA/s320/Kosztowo+cemetary+Budnik.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083357829255373218" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBE_oHrL5ed2VyjxCsyPajYLijnDIjJ5yIyhmbF7RknoGK14Yt8wLshxFV7MNuPb-xBFjcH28gbJWfZeLXXc6XealahWrM3w8ZFaVCur79ikVCxSFpD-AsmTJliXuAfPvqCsxIvcYI82k/s1600-h/Kosztowo+cemetary+Januzik+%236.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBE_oHrL5ed2VyjxCsyPajYLijnDIjJ5yIyhmbF7RknoGK14Yt8wLshxFV7MNuPb-xBFjcH28gbJWfZeLXXc6XealahWrM3w8ZFaVCur79ikVCxSFpD-AsmTJliXuAfPvqCsxIvcYI82k/s320/Kosztowo+cemetary+Januzik+%236.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083357674636550546" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN9dOEGCfey3YKMd97XC3GsR0KcMnvM6oNlargItH_syb35BBk1n3JO_FgLXD5FRIq8LKrpBZDnw_CGd6xYG5ocon4bkgtK4i2xN_xr1hWeG5Sl2pOlVRVeVNUG57RAYk7bkw-mBHkW0k/s1600-h/Kosztowo+cemetary+%231.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN9dOEGCfey3YKMd97XC3GsR0KcMnvM6oNlargItH_syb35BBk1n3JO_FgLXD5FRIq8LKrpBZDnw_CGd6xYG5ocon4bkgtK4i2xN_xr1hWeG5Sl2pOlVRVeVNUG57RAYk7bkw-mBHkW0k/s320/Kosztowo+cemetary+%231.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083357477068054914" /></a><br />Well, Sunday arrived and as we groggily chomped down our breakfast buffet, the knock on the door signaled the arrival of Maria and our translator for the day, our cousin Dominic. We pulled ourselves together and headed downstairs to the awaiting red van, complete with driver.<br /><br />Our mission this day was to find the home town of Antonia Januzik in Kosztowo, then on to towns nearby and Szubin where the Wilebskis may have been from, and a few towns at the end of the loop where the Soberiaski (Frank's ancestors)family was known to be from.<br /><br />After about an hour, perhaps an hour and a half of twisting and winding roads in the country, we arrived at Kosztowo. We pulled right up to the church where it was time for 10am mass to begin. There were 2 gentlemen in the parking lot, probably in their 60's who were smoking their last cigarette. It reminded me of Kroze from my youth. Through the help of Dominic, we had a conversation with them. They pointed out the cemetary was a couple of meters down the road. We also learned that one of the men's wife's family was Januzik. So, we knew we were at the right place.<br /><br />We decided to go to the cemetary first and then back to the church after the last mass that dismissed at noon. FYI, great grandma's hometown looks like it had a population of less than 500, maybe even less. It was surrounded by farmland and rolling hills with a little river flowing through it.<br /><br />We hit the jackpot at the cemetary. There were 6 Januzik gravestones. The oldest one I have attached. And based on everything we know, this person could have been a sister or other close relative of great grandma. We also saw another Januzik relative name of Budnik, in addtion to Michalecs, Jaszczaks and Urbaniaks. Funny how these familys seemed to move together when they migrated.<br /><br />We spent quite a bit of time here and as we approached the van again, Maria had packed yet another picnic lunch for us. She kept feeding us all the time, even though we didn't see her eat that much. I wonder if they have been reading about how overweight us Americans are and wanted to play into the reality? Who knows, we chomped down more goodies and unknown protein balls with bread. At this point, the passport pictures were starting to look good.<br /><br />Since the ladies needed a rest stop and we still had almost an hour to kill before the church would be vacant, our driver headed toward a town with a "nice" bathroom with paper. We ended up at a BP station out in the country. It was kind of ironic, but as we drove to this rest stop, I saw a sign post that said Glesno. That triggered something and I mentioned to Frank that we should probably stop there on the way back since it was only 4 kilometers off the main road.<br /><br />Upon arrival at Glesno, we stopped at the church. But, it too was closed up, so we proceeded to the cemetary nearby. Although we were looking for Januzik, we did stumble across another name from that side of the family, Budnik. So, it was worthwhile to make this short sidetrip. It is also here where I got a shot of Maria with her pink purse she picked up when she was in the U.S. several years ago. It is the "Mrs. Timberlake" item I mentioned in previous posts.<br /><br />Since it was now noon plus, we headed back down the road a few miles back to see the Kosztowo church. It was abandoned by now, at least as far as people and priests were concerned, so we had our run of the place. I have included a couple of those pictures so you can see where great grandma and her family in all likelihood liveed and worshipped in the 1800's.<br /><br />From Kosztowo, we headed toward Szubin. This is a relatively large city, so we were fortunate to find the community cemetary on the edge of town as we approached. It was huge and with 6 of us looking for ancestral names, we still came up with a blank. However, we did see headstones of Jaszczak, Masloski, and Gorski.<br /><br />We now headed for a town that was the baptismal village/church of Frank's Sobieraski ancestor. Even though we had one of those LARGE maps of Poland, this village was not on the map. Our guide and Dominic however figured it out and before long we were at the church and its cemetary. Unfortunately, we came up empty in terms of that name. We went to the neighboring town, whose name I forget at this time and walked through another huge cemetary which was even larger than that of Szubin. Again, a blank. But, we did stop for a bottle of wine and some flowers for our next stop along the way.....Maria's daughter's place.<br /><br />Based on how small Maria's place was in the city, we didn't know exactly what to expect out in the country. We were pleasantly surprised to pull up to a large 3 story house which was gated and had a huge yard. We were greeted by Maria's daughter's husband and ushered to the second level of this very large modern house. Apparently the husband's parents live on half of the lower level, while Christine (Maria's daughter) and her family live on the next 2 levels. It was quite nice to say the least and now I know why she kept insisting we go out here to see her daughter. I think it was more for us to see just how well she was doing. Whether they have money, the husband's parents are supporting them, or they are up to their eyeballs in debt we don't really know. But, they certainly have a decent place.<br /><br />We again were served another 15 courses on different china, followed by a choice of 6 different deserts in the loft area. We swapped stories as best we could and found out their son whose name I fail to recall is in line to compete in the upcoming olympics in Vancouver. He has a bunch of huskies (?) outside in a pen which are part of the olympic sport of skiing and something else. So, we promised to watch him in Vancouver if that turns out to be the case. I will have to get the last name from Saint Joan the next time I see her so we can post this little tidbit of Wilebski family success stories. Well, we can hope can't we?<br /><br />I'm posting a couple of pictures of the family so you can tell me if there is any resemblence to any of us. <br /><br />Since we were heading back to Prague early in the morning, we bid goodbye to our relatives and headed back to Posnan. At the hotel, Maria followed us in and gave us more gifts and we gave them a couple of thank you notes. Well, it was the thought. I hope we hear from them again, since they were absolutely the most gracious people. Perhaps we can talk them into visiting us on this side of the pond in the not too distant future.Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-16583363434527701792007-07-03T19:04:00.000-05:002007-07-03T19:39:01.116-05:00Touring Posnan<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwB5pcKecMn3ujQQElwkrZ7lU9RuHsDhzluB80l_6EsemgXbxAhBcQ4hIATlODMK7dcWQs4lkX26OHb_6w1zkeqIR88Os9QI3erif2sa086Gjf0oBQSFv_iT9pese0doHBxdMNi_LU0EU/s1600-h/Posnan+Cathedral+%234.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwB5pcKecMn3ujQQElwkrZ7lU9RuHsDhzluB80l_6EsemgXbxAhBcQ4hIATlODMK7dcWQs4lkX26OHb_6w1zkeqIR88Os9QI3erif2sa086Gjf0oBQSFv_iT9pese0doHBxdMNi_LU0EU/s320/Posnan+Cathedral+%234.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083133627667554674" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUUFVbQ01uePMr1HWT4eT4BVO6ew1TyS96etGSGNmUDYvhLGu0F8YKNvw1eG8zcc_8LlrZ-_Y33w83blSntJcpreNbLg78183Wfxk03oPKAAvWx121Ef9VkbVi4li0X3boJV6xZCP_9ro/s1600-h/Posnan+Cathedral+%231.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUUFVbQ01uePMr1HWT4eT4BVO6ew1TyS96etGSGNmUDYvhLGu0F8YKNvw1eG8zcc_8LlrZ-_Y33w83blSntJcpreNbLg78183Wfxk03oPKAAvWx121Ef9VkbVi4li0X3boJV6xZCP_9ro/s320/Posnan+Cathedral+%231.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083133425804091746" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvra-f4jzxqmZHr38HbyPbHm5tB7txuGCoGosG9KoeuYIXP8goAJ0grt05m-ps7HvlrXBy62NGR9kKlDxdwMXpIoHpYJH_p0KIAKKd7BUitps08Ezr09EFjKQjG-wCMI0LReDfMx04gig/s1600-h/Susan,+Iron+man,+Frank+and+Maria+Wielebski.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvra-f4jzxqmZHr38HbyPbHm5tB7txuGCoGosG9KoeuYIXP8goAJ0grt05m-ps7HvlrXBy62NGR9kKlDxdwMXpIoHpYJH_p0KIAKKd7BUitps08Ezr09EFjKQjG-wCMI0LReDfMx04gig/s320/Susan,+Iron+man,+Frank+and+Maria+Wielebski.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083133236825530706" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJa2KwfByqpouULNRrkcSpQJHMgZDanV3IKFxor1kj4ndbN7rmOfsju9tuTmra2aBEY6pLVK1ZXpho5vJmQuaHiMVEROJzr1M64Y5E6rF9LCJNLNDfr8t68sDjM3eZ7zKjWypGSGnPtBI/s1600-h/Posnan+church+interior+%231.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJa2KwfByqpouULNRrkcSpQJHMgZDanV3IKFxor1kj4ndbN7rmOfsju9tuTmra2aBEY6pLVK1ZXpho5vJmQuaHiMVEROJzr1M64Y5E6rF9LCJNLNDfr8t68sDjM3eZ7zKjWypGSGnPtBI/s320/Posnan+church+interior+%231.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083133009192264002" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXaY706eXA_XVWjRgCQvlBnC7qQk37CxbxqsYraPUw9uqitbn-QRqoaeF2putK8FHNJmDjWO7uspFyQIUIbzAgXY7vdl2ELEBre3eVcTQLNgTWa-kvK4CUAd13mhYBRaLzkVVm9-cB9tQ/s1600-h/Posnan+shopping+mall+%232.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXaY706eXA_XVWjRgCQvlBnC7qQk37CxbxqsYraPUw9uqitbn-QRqoaeF2putK8FHNJmDjWO7uspFyQIUIbzAgXY7vdl2ELEBre3eVcTQLNgTWa-kvK4CUAd13mhYBRaLzkVVm9-cB9tQ/s320/Posnan+shopping+mall+%232.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083132777264030002" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYKdtZV0RxxfHSqfrFRCFrohDiXu6wefV7DYehwG_klovLDyXxgkAGHiRPjMpYs5cFCwzZ-jCODPNOr9pbKsIqxqz6ibAL2D44a7FYSsJqKCve3sHYv0dO3XWiKNWz2YvHY8LfUtTBHy0/s1600-h/Downtown+Posnan.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYKdtZV0RxxfHSqfrFRCFrohDiXu6wefV7DYehwG_klovLDyXxgkAGHiRPjMpYs5cFCwzZ-jCODPNOr9pbKsIqxqz6ibAL2D44a7FYSsJqKCve3sHYv0dO3XWiKNWz2YvHY8LfUtTBHy0/s320/Downtown+Posnan.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083132472321351970" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt0EQwo01L1G9XLA_Qymb_ovGRA3pSvTM7oWT2TK-OndH4oRXW7xVSXtW9wrBc-rRGfjGRy5S_czENc3VFKcXzkkbtJXwpncY87A8gV0qh3DcEpjoP0roIUcHQ6-m4nTHe6hTJTcpNx6M/s1600-h/Woodrow+Wilson+monument+in+park.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt0EQwo01L1G9XLA_Qymb_ovGRA3pSvTM7oWT2TK-OndH4oRXW7xVSXtW9wrBc-rRGfjGRy5S_czENc3VFKcXzkkbtJXwpncY87A8gV0qh3DcEpjoP0roIUcHQ6-m4nTHe6hTJTcpNx6M/s320/Woodrow+Wilson+monument+in+park.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083132283342790930" /></a><br />Saturday we awoke to a huge breakfast at the pink chalet. It was massive and under no circumstances could it be confused with a healthy diet. It was at this point when we reached for the warm sausages wrapped in bacon that we thought we may be starting to look like our passport pictures. Oh well, I guess it makes sense given the heavy Slavic food we always have on our tables at family reunions. <br /><br />We had not finished the last of our sausages, tomatoes, assorted meats and cheeses, and breads when Maria arrived with Dominic and Marta in tow. They were ready to go and wanted us to get moving so we could really appreciate the city. Our translator Natalia arranged to meet us at the old square.<br /><br />We again walked through the park just across from our hotel as we made our way to the downtown area and eventually the tram. As we were walking through the park, we notice a large monument honoring Woodrow Wilson. I don't know if it was coincidental or not, but we also saw one in the main train station in Prague. For those of you history buffs out there, we need some further insight into the relevance of this American president in Poland and the Czech Republic. I've included a photo of us marvelling at it. And that of the newer part of Posnan close to the train station.<br /><br />We were taken to an older part of the town where it was apparent if you were a tourist, this is where you were directed. It was a large square surrounded by restaurants, much as you would find in any European city. On this day they were having some sort of regional displays and there was a huge stage set up for bands. We positioned ourself in front of a clock which chimed and had 2 goats butting heads at noon. It was a big deal to most, but I concentrated on drinking my beer while the rest of the group watched the display. I'm sorry I don't have a picture, but you can imagine a couple of sorry looking wooden goats almost butting heads as the clock tower chimed.<br /><br />Incidentally, from what I have been told by everyone, Posnan was pretty much leveled during WWII. So, what we did see was reconstructed. I hate to use the old adage, "chamber of commerce 1952", but that is really what the majority of the town was all about. But, if you didn't know any better, you'd think some of the structures and churches had been there for centuries.<br /><br />We saw several churches and the Posnan cathedral. I have a few shots of the interior of one and of course the cathedral. You'll notice near the base there is yet another statue of Pope John Paul II. But then again they are everywhere. We were warned by "Clavin" that the poles take him very seriously and we should not make any jokes. It seems to make sense in that 80-85% of Poles consider themselves practicing Catholics. Need I say more?<br /><br />Eventually we made our way through this older part of town and on to a very swanky shopping mall. According to our translator, the guy that put the deal together bought this old brewery for a couple of Klotchies and now given how successful it is, there are people demanding a "do over". The shops are very upscale and according to our translator, the hottest shopping mall in all of Poland. Well, it may be Polish pride, but it certainly does rival MOA, albeit on a smaller size.<br /><br />After the mall we had another person called "Dorothy" join our group. She was intent on showing us many of the historic sites. All of which was translated via Natalia. Dorothy also informed us that an uncle(?) or friend of hers has a film about WWII that he produced, and asked if any of our group wanted to see it. I and Susan begged off and headed back to the hotel, while Frank and Joan went on yet another excursion out to the suburbs of Posnan. You will have to get their take on that sidetrip. As for Susan and I, we rounded up some Pivo and we started using the bird call I picked up in Krakow. We sure had the locals looking for a crazy bird up and down the lane. The patriarch and Saint Joan arrived at dusk exhausted. But, they told us we were on for the trip to the country side the next morning and we had hired a driver and a van so we could all go, including Maria and her grandson Dominic.<br /><br />So ended another day of power travelling.Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-64202558769478052852007-07-03T16:18:00.000-05:002007-07-03T17:07:14.490-05:00To Posnan<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-v2gJbbK6bADgsMs2EYtIQtMrGFNGTcvNqkP5lzcYj4Hkp8wmC1RtZuOV6Ehs6KXYBdTOu8VBmsuTz7-sDwbWbEjF79oGGIsKTrqYvBZ-8XgoRhFW-xz5Mm9yViAlZL4tfu480KPgY0M/s1600-h/Maria+Wielepski+and+grandchildren+Dominic+and+Marta.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-v2gJbbK6bADgsMs2EYtIQtMrGFNGTcvNqkP5lzcYj4Hkp8wmC1RtZuOV6Ehs6KXYBdTOu8VBmsuTz7-sDwbWbEjF79oGGIsKTrqYvBZ-8XgoRhFW-xz5Mm9yViAlZL4tfu480KPgY0M/s320/Maria+Wielepski+and+grandchildren+Dominic+and+Marta.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083093602867323138" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilCn-iqfpB2iwjl-69EZivIxnbpRi0RZn6eG1eWnuLBhlnC54b4c7T4nMkpc6z-Q16f6MUwBa1xm0Q1xTES3x_0G7p2PSupMsaxf84o9vqFpupmztiBaJiZRIxHREmgOBMmFi1YDtlQ8c/s1600-h/The+pink+room+in+Posnan.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilCn-iqfpB2iwjl-69EZivIxnbpRi0RZn6eG1eWnuLBhlnC54b4c7T4nMkpc6z-Q16f6MUwBa1xm0Q1xTES3x_0G7p2PSupMsaxf84o9vqFpupmztiBaJiZRIxHREmgOBMmFi1YDtlQ8c/s320/The+pink+room+in+Posnan.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083093426773663986" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJG82HegC7Ajw5OuAkx-BHsQnb4D94QZNB3i-CN_IbKsmpDiF-NGgy78CqatzEQXKK7XefokMGK9j6c1NuNESCRAZOvmvALusddzeAK_PqYHGqxgD11jKoE8KqHcBu-3d0xnfLc1lxf8M/s1600-h/Krakow+to+Posnan+train+ride+%236.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJG82HegC7Ajw5OuAkx-BHsQnb4D94QZNB3i-CN_IbKsmpDiF-NGgy78CqatzEQXKK7XefokMGK9j6c1NuNESCRAZOvmvALusddzeAK_PqYHGqxgD11jKoE8KqHcBu-3d0xnfLc1lxf8M/s320/Krakow+to+Posnan+train+ride+%236.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083093220615233762" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0u6-rgYLFnvwy2xmUAYjjoCExikgh6EUA2Ti5peXT_AoDKv9wPAZqlsID0rajo0nHy_fglvchxxFnAt1hc7-NrdC3qA0NFOXHV7Z5iRP_ri_Nw2_aFbKKMXIaE9BNx2fpa3fGu_N_JN4/s1600-h/Krakow+to+Posnan+train+ride+%235.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0u6-rgYLFnvwy2xmUAYjjoCExikgh6EUA2Ti5peXT_AoDKv9wPAZqlsID0rajo0nHy_fglvchxxFnAt1hc7-NrdC3qA0NFOXHV7Z5iRP_ri_Nw2_aFbKKMXIaE9BNx2fpa3fGu_N_JN4/s320/Krakow+to+Posnan+train+ride+%235.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083093040226607314" /></a><br />Early on Friday morning (22nd) we bid our farewells to Jim and Sheila. They were heading for Warsaw to look for some of Jim's family roots and then on to Budapest for the remainder of the month. The Wilebski cousins however were off to see the ancestoral home of the Wilebskis and Januziks in the Poznan area.<br /><br />The train ride from Krakow to Posnan was long, but it again provided a glimpse at the countryside. A lot of agricultural areas, a few fading factories that may have been holdovers from the communist regime, and some large cities. One thing in particular that struck us was the little garden plots on the edges of the bigger cities. They weren't all that large, but every family in the city must have had one. And, in addition to the vegetables and fruit trees, there would always be flowers. In some cases these little postage stamp plots were almost entirely comprised of flowers. I've included a couple of pictures from the train ride.<br /><br />As previously mentioned, we were a little unsure what to expect in Posnan. Frank had been in touch with our distant relative Maria Wielebski and we were under the impression that she would be lining up a room for us. Yes, we were a little apprehensive during the 10 hour ride, but we were here for an adventure, so we were ready for anything.<br /><br />Much to our surprise when we got off the train in Posnan in the late afternoon, a nice young man came up to us and asked us if we were from the U.S. Perhaps Posnan is not high on the tourist spots, since I don't think there were 4 others that got off with all of the luggage we had. Saint Joan even carried off an additional acquired piece of "baggage" which she toted down and up the train station. Joan, Joan, Joan!<br /><br />In any event, the young man was named Dominic and his grandmother is Maria. She along with her grandaughter Marta were also there at the station waiting for us with presents, food and flowers. Introductions and hugs ensued, but the English was very limited since Dominic was their interpreter, and his English left a lot to be desired. On the other hand, it was a hell of a lot better than the combined Polish our group of 4 spoke. We already knew the pivo part, but after that we were pretty much at the mercy of the country and its citizens.<br /><br />They shuttled us into awaiting taxis which took us to our room. There we unpacked and tried to converse with our relatives. I probably already mentioned that Maria's favorite color was pink, so thought I'd pass along a picture of our room with St. Joan and Susan toasting their morning beverages. That's the partriach taking yet another of his mini naps sprawled out on the bed in front of them.<br /><br />Anyway back to our arrival. Dominic told us that Maria had been cooking all week in antipation of our arrival and that we were to go to her apartment this evening for supper. Although we were bushed from the travel, we pulled ourselves together and asked them to give us an hour to get ready. Given we had no gifts in hand when we met our relatives, Frank and I were designated to go get some flowers and drink to give our host. We dutifully did just that and when we returned with the goodies, our loyal guide Dominic was waiting for us with tram tickets in hand.<br /><br />We ended up several miles away at a very nice apartment building. As we understand it, the apartment is used by Dominic and his father during the week when they work and Maria stays there all the time. It was cute but very cramped. <br /><br />As soon as we arrived we were shown to a table with all kinds of china settings. As we came to realize, these multiple rounds of china place settings is the custom here. A dishwasher salesman would be in heaven, for sure. Maria served up about 15 different dishes. Many were starters like pickled mushrooms, dill pickles, assorted meats and cheeses, breads,and of course an absolutely excellent mushroom cream soup. Best I have ever had for sure. Then it was on to courses of sausage. One the girls didn't exactly care for was dark in color and didn't suit their palates. When asked what kind of meat it was, we didn't really get a good answer. So, that is probably part of the reason why they didn't care for it. I think they referred to it as "pudding".<br /><br />As we were finishing the 15th course and toasting with a small glass of wine (too small for me), another young girl arrived who we were informed was our interpreter. Her name was Natalia. She was a cute young blonde thing and her English was a major improvement over Dominic's. But, it was still quite a stretch at times to complete the conversation. We chatted for several hours about family and of course the Wielebskis over there in Posnan. It still is not clear just how Maria's family and ours may be related, but then again we need more research. I'm guessing that cousin Kathy (Schafer) will continue down that path until we get a definitive answer.<br /><br />I've included a shot of Maria with her grandchildren Dominic and Marta. They were all great people and even if we never confirm them to be relatives, they treated us like royalty our entire time there. <br /><br />Eventually we concluded our conversations and made plans for the next few days. One of the unknowns was that of trying to get to the Januzik and Wilebski home villages. Renting a cab for the day seemed to be the way to go. But, since Maria wanted us to see Posnan and be our guide, we decided to see the city the next day while we firmed up plans for the countryside.<br /><br />We made it back to the pink palace and crashed immediately thereafterFred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-22616126687282498082007-07-03T13:48:00.000-05:002007-07-03T14:32:46.461-05:00Day trip to the village of Frank's ancestors<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij1IW6DFwSVBq3JT_nwcM2WAFYs1CfpdYRSc0ktIquPmDyN0vl4ItdBvHqqo4YFDRT6oRlJE-J6BdjaW-fEH2-3VbVtSGsbdVuakDJS9Q-YvBLQDs00MCChxQ8D_2WgRLdVcqZohPbv9Y/s1600-h/Krakow+to+Spytkowice+bus+ride+%232.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij1IW6DFwSVBq3JT_nwcM2WAFYs1CfpdYRSc0ktIquPmDyN0vl4ItdBvHqqo4YFDRT6oRlJE-J6BdjaW-fEH2-3VbVtSGsbdVuakDJS9Q-YvBLQDs00MCChxQ8D_2WgRLdVcqZohPbv9Y/s320/Krakow+to+Spytkowice+bus+ride+%232.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083051267374686402" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWWziJL7Um4BMNsjEUWbtW78VvL2l1sfv3RcWGCEPVB1runWG2MezmwMEcjJ-qjJF7QrCCX5QSjwDbt-k7DOxc2G9LCWMi_l5qDhXupHChAv03QmJteJPl19oRALjNi8nDg9cyNe5x-cc/s1600-h/Spytkowice+graveyard+%232.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWWziJL7Um4BMNsjEUWbtW78VvL2l1sfv3RcWGCEPVB1runWG2MezmwMEcjJ-qjJF7QrCCX5QSjwDbt-k7DOxc2G9LCWMi_l5qDhXupHChAv03QmJteJPl19oRALjNi8nDg9cyNe5x-cc/s320/Spytkowice+graveyard+%232.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083051121345798322" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsYSY_qmPdUs3X5qOTfdecEDCYnqSlYaTSFOp4BDmfF9lX_bYXc4gc1_F7Uq8veYLrft1wam4Lix7MHw8zKE0H3Uox5ptVDU5CzToopoo5k-USG6zOmIWKW0O5NQKgDchxTJcO92OamkI/s1600-h/Spytkowice+%238.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsYSY_qmPdUs3X5qOTfdecEDCYnqSlYaTSFOp4BDmfF9lX_bYXc4gc1_F7Uq8veYLrft1wam4Lix7MHw8zKE0H3Uox5ptVDU5CzToopoo5k-USG6zOmIWKW0O5NQKgDchxTJcO92OamkI/s320/Spytkowice+%238.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083050923777302690" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdOEa55ho819EupUJEbHRDmJ3nPDe2Gh0Dj4tjxF_EcOQpy6QgavHsZhfNwb0z96SsqSKD5P9WoO7E3wuFYZYLBUN8ZEwx27wRKRi7sDMW8C6WmV9auJnKHvXKhLPSxFGzP2HEwtEE2q8/s1600-h/Negotiating+for+a+cab+too.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdOEa55ho819EupUJEbHRDmJ3nPDe2Gh0Dj4tjxF_EcOQpy6QgavHsZhfNwb0z96SsqSKD5P9WoO7E3wuFYZYLBUN8ZEwx27wRKRi7sDMW8C6WmV9auJnKHvXKhLPSxFGzP2HEwtEE2q8/s320/Negotiating+for+a+cab+too.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083050747683643538" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0OXsycLb1cHc0ZAeLo5H9sv-NzWDMbrbhGjkihiUgtgVY1sCUiHl4NgyacGXdkAANFRW0v9k0koRGqtEWCRabaSmgTvusw0PQKet0J3S9SO0UHSGiQqZZ6ix3W16qWvc0u8OYD_1XGoY/s1600-h/The+car+we+ended+up+renting.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0OXsycLb1cHc0ZAeLo5H9sv-NzWDMbrbhGjkihiUgtgVY1sCUiHl4NgyacGXdkAANFRW0v9k0koRGqtEWCRabaSmgTvusw0PQKet0J3S9SO0UHSGiQqZZ6ix3W16qWvc0u8OYD_1XGoY/s320/The+car+we+ended+up+renting.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083050545820180610" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUF2rqDpK1T6ykKbx4l37qXTthiAg3uMOW0LTrTqsPIbMsok4zNBrEtF_L15n73aDYwu6JFVnn-z56vOCkbt_u2wqNiFbeJ09AjjjxW20md6ljIIxmPDEGArc_FAfWUuhNyKhnEdwwRfA/s1600-h/Car+we+wanted+Frank+to+rent+in+Rabka.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUF2rqDpK1T6ykKbx4l37qXTthiAg3uMOW0LTrTqsPIbMsok4zNBrEtF_L15n73aDYwu6JFVnn-z56vOCkbt_u2wqNiFbeJ09AjjjxW20md6ljIIxmPDEGArc_FAfWUuhNyKhnEdwwRfA/s320/Car+we+wanted+Frank+to+rent+in+Rabka.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083050013244235890" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUHAggdR2eK8wANijpR-lmGoVAPTIAquVwO8Oj_ZIEwJia6xyOHd_fPVlLu_LcH6BwYXIHQbbJNJ-t96WJyg4sqTqBYPYWbmynXciyJRSpbmkGu86jHVgPNFPIsOPqst37J7pmwidqZ5Q/s1600-h/Group+of+kids+in+Krakow+Plaza.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUHAggdR2eK8wANijpR-lmGoVAPTIAquVwO8Oj_ZIEwJia6xyOHd_fPVlLu_LcH6BwYXIHQbbJNJ-t96WJyg4sqTqBYPYWbmynXciyJRSpbmkGu86jHVgPNFPIsOPqst37J7pmwidqZ5Q/s320/Group+of+kids+in+Krakow+Plaza.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083049862920380514" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ8djrdRacSwMjZT4WZmQcUWveScuS3FX6cxnwRyGNKK3PaDxIMcNHmAVls1ES_KATClNG55pYu9eBq2i47efPpqO8cTsSv6vED99F66Oo3SBN8RmM55ktsI8-Z0VtWQpE2FitOC2oERU/s1600-h/Breakfast+in+Krakow+Plaza.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ8djrdRacSwMjZT4WZmQcUWveScuS3FX6cxnwRyGNKK3PaDxIMcNHmAVls1ES_KATClNG55pYu9eBq2i47efPpqO8cTsSv6vED99F66Oo3SBN8RmM55ktsI8-Z0VtWQpE2FitOC2oERU/s320/Breakfast+in+Krakow+Plaza.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083049712596525138" /></a><br />On thursday the 21st, it was again the 4 cousins that started the day with a light breakfast in the square in Krakow, watching another group of kids parade by. The plan for the day or should I say destination was a small town where Frank's ancestors the Gorka line came from, named Spytkowice. Getting there however took some work.<br /><br />First there was the bus from Krakow to Rabka. That was the easy part. Then it was trying to find a taxi driver that would take us the rest of the way from Rabka to Spytkowice. We found the taxi stand and of course numerous drivers, but as is always the case, the farther you get from a major city, the more difficult it is to find someone who speaks English. Thank goodness for the younger generation. Note to fellow travelers. If you can't find an adult that speaks English, start looking around for a kid or someone under the age of 25. Almost all of them can speak some English. It has been our experience that while most know it, many are embarrassed by their lack of skill and so some feign ignorance. If you are desparate, like we usually were, they will come to your rescue.<br /><br />Anyway, I've thrown in a picture of the car we wanted Frank to rent for the ride, and of course the smaller one we got. There is also a picture of us trying to negotiate with the cab driver. Essentially we wanted him to take us to the neighboring town and wait for us, since there were no cabs at that distant town. Frank and Susan, with the help of a couple of youngsters, did successfully get this across, and before long we were on our way to Spytkowice.<br /><br />Spytkowice was a lovely little town and it took no time at all to spot the church. They even had some of the information about it in English, so they must get a tourist or 2 from time to time. From the church we walked about another block to the cemetary. But, alas, we could not find any graves of the Gorkas.<br /><br />We ended up getting a little lunch at the neighborhood hotel/disco which was sandwiched between 2 schools. At least one of which was parochial. We seemingly ordered a little too much, but then again it's difficult in this Slavic land to ever get the weight watchers portion. The kluski and perogi were good here also.<br /><br />Having seen the majority of the town, we walked back to our awaiting taxi and road back to Rabka to catch the bus. We were in luck as the bus back to Krakow was waiting, so in we went. It was a little uncomfortable on the bus that afternoon, given the heat and humidity. Needless to say, they are not big on air conditioning over there and if you or your neighbor don't have good hygiene, well you can pretty much get the picture.<br /><br />One of the passengers that staggered on the bus took a seat opposite Susan. Given the 90 degrees and no air circulation, it was a little humorous and perplexing to see him in long pants, a shirt and long-sleeved wool sweater. But, given his condition, I don't think it mattered too much. An older woman with babushka sat next to him also. During the trip, he kept blowing kisses to Susan. The older woman seemed to approve, as long as it wasn't her that was the object of his affection. So you see, it doesn't seem to matter where we go, Susan has that animal attraction that has men of every nationality after her. If he wouldn't have gotten off a couple of stops before ours, who knows what may have happened. An addition to the cousins perhaps?<br /><br />As is usually the case, by the end of the day we were all pretty much fading. I include a shot of the Patriach and Saint Joan of trophy bride fame to give you an indication of our energy level. <br /><br />Another dinner at the Vulcano, some cards and pivo, and it was another good day in KrakowFred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-91301541532789192522007-07-02T19:10:00.000-05:002007-07-02T20:10:13.843-05:00Salt Mines and Schindler's Factory<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje4aymcVQCbLA-qEBFtNlD7VDQTnzGr1UYy9Q2SagFghXVpzYgO62wpfYRwnRAhbQW-fTxGixy_pEZwss_Ax-ZUFHkvUIRXuLQlRkn6yhZcE33XqScXR06P-CoRXqZz-c-PVY-ezznUaw/s1600-h/Paraplegic+fan.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje4aymcVQCbLA-qEBFtNlD7VDQTnzGr1UYy9Q2SagFghXVpzYgO62wpfYRwnRAhbQW-fTxGixy_pEZwss_Ax-ZUFHkvUIRXuLQlRkn6yhZcE33XqScXR06P-CoRXqZz-c-PVY-ezznUaw/s320/Paraplegic+fan.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082765737948848194" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRe2vyz9GPrI8rHnqPWiw5_dWcZdm7-DbwpFFXT7pleClkLPRWYr3gNrbG6K2qJENY2YnhGpeFGs-zQ3jIieJaQPtvgojX9TPFmCsswfNxP9ZTDfmV-vWHM0vOp7Y-lYQ-memjBLFCfzw/s1600-h/Pizo+stop+in+Krakow.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRe2vyz9GPrI8rHnqPWiw5_dWcZdm7-DbwpFFXT7pleClkLPRWYr3gNrbG6K2qJENY2YnhGpeFGs-zQ3jIieJaQPtvgojX9TPFmCsswfNxP9ZTDfmV-vWHM0vOp7Y-lYQ-memjBLFCfzw/s320/Pizo+stop+in+Krakow.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082765548970287154" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2THKvTxLZhaph3QrMtbXs5NqaDox7zejc4ilCLAkzKjEduN4Od3X4KRuT0_umwK2FaIl6N2pk_22tG6duhPUz_r9vGzQUYy88dB7ULVaE4vb7O3KzwqSpzE-zf133k11l6lg53vtf46w/s1600-h/Susan+at+popo+doctor.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2THKvTxLZhaph3QrMtbXs5NqaDox7zejc4ilCLAkzKjEduN4Od3X4KRuT0_umwK2FaIl6N2pk_22tG6duhPUz_r9vGzQUYy88dB7ULVaE4vb7O3KzwqSpzE-zf133k11l6lg53vtf46w/s320/Susan+at+popo+doctor.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082764784466108450" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjwgbB8jyph28MAnC1ioOI6qhTtVwEUqLAss2VvDJIySMxtyS7wqXmfBB_59iMHfwcZmLx-bxEnhXbOUQu9g8EmfXUAf9rUZqwAsCvfKMP8QczkQtMUhA4s9BojXaqmNDFPxdfMcHQsyw/s1600-h/Schindler+factory+%236.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjwgbB8jyph28MAnC1ioOI6qhTtVwEUqLAss2VvDJIySMxtyS7wqXmfBB_59iMHfwcZmLx-bxEnhXbOUQu9g8EmfXUAf9rUZqwAsCvfKMP8QczkQtMUhA4s9BojXaqmNDFPxdfMcHQsyw/s320/Schindler+factory+%236.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082764299134803986" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib7P6Aic8-7ZaqJHgE4h83Xw9ZqCLj9p6LQAQ4f_IvsIs38oqBhYRhPKuf9KVAWIHbrMnIR2i7rzaQSB88RjFXhhJOhWujZb3E-nVbxIesLIUvmXIWcSIvyJFhagEL4-Qlf7e4RmXeDlg/s1600-h/Schindler+factory+%235.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib7P6Aic8-7ZaqJHgE4h83Xw9ZqCLj9p6LQAQ4f_IvsIs38oqBhYRhPKuf9KVAWIHbrMnIR2i7rzaQSB88RjFXhhJOhWujZb3E-nVbxIesLIUvmXIWcSIvyJFhagEL4-Qlf7e4RmXeDlg/s320/Schindler+factory+%235.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082764140221014018" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE9Lsyigl8aS2NXdy8-ieUm_wttHnrWUO14JsD66GtQ9fWsuv2ecU9DkssvzRMSFi-WGSFcJZOqpbjc2IKIlPXIBiV5JgGKE4o8d3PsiP7Nk1pze-_NotxmykjamkFsRPZxb61hgZJJts/s1600-h/Schindler+factory+%233.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE9Lsyigl8aS2NXdy8-ieUm_wttHnrWUO14JsD66GtQ9fWsuv2ecU9DkssvzRMSFi-WGSFcJZOqpbjc2IKIlPXIBiV5JgGKE4o8d3PsiP7Nk1pze-_NotxmykjamkFsRPZxb61hgZJJts/s320/Schindler+factory+%233.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082763977012256754" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhunyUCHjjn8Qn6x0tkIdLvi7m6KAAqoD5ZC1E5LMoUvv8LFs9tdhtXgN7jHL3OGlAMx355oHzBKmFNHIq2onNdq9zgUtuV_wwVJ9YkzL7bNC2LjNMngGUF3hPJqVm9Co6mkNAITzdWoyk/s1600-h/Schindler+chair+monument.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhunyUCHjjn8Qn6x0tkIdLvi7m6KAAqoD5ZC1E5LMoUvv8LFs9tdhtXgN7jHL3OGlAMx355oHzBKmFNHIq2onNdq9zgUtuV_wwVJ9YkzL7bNC2LjNMngGUF3hPJqVm9Co6mkNAITzdWoyk/s320/Schindler+chair+monument.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082763792328663010" /></a><br />On the 20th, the cousins Wilebski decided to stay close to Krakow. The plan for the day was to visit the Salt Mines a few miles outside of the city, and if time permitted the Oscar Schindler Factory of Schindler's List fame. We made both of them. Sheila and Jim on the other hand took a day trip to Dachau, which we understand was quite moving.<br /><br />The Salt Mine tour was pretty incredible. We went down about 400 steps into the bowels of the mine. As we made our way down, every few hundred yards was another stop to see a shrine or something carved out of salt. Perhaps the most impressive of the lot was a giant room about 40 feet in height they called the great hall. It was entirely carved out of salt and had multiple salt chandeliers, statues and pictures. Again, all out of salt. Even Pope John Paul II was immortialized in salt via a free standing statue. <br /><br />After the Salt Mines, we caught the bus back and dropped off just before the river at what was termed the Jewish Ghetto. This is where we walked about a half mile to visit the site of Oscar Schindler's factory. The place is currently undergoing construction, but a limited amount of historic information is available. Like Dachau, as you read about the factory and the holocaust, it is difficult not to be moved recognizing that each life that was saved most likely spawned several hundred current descendants. <br /><br />Prior to heading over the the Schindler factory, we stopped at a "po po" physician for one of our travelling members. This was followed by a Pivo stop, which also had some pretty tasty perogis.<br /><br />Upon hooking up with the other 2 members of our group, we again went to the Vulcano for dinner and followed up with Pinochle. <br /><br />One small side note was that during our stay it was quite humid and we needed fans. One of these was on a stand and rotated. I cautioned my roommate about being careful when moving it, since it seemed like it was very precariously perched. These cautions were for not, since upon the breakup of the pinochle game she decided she wanted it moved. The inevitable happened. But, since it was still warm,the fan had to be used. Unfortunately it looked much like one of those jokes about what you call a person with no arms and no legs. It kept rolling from side to side on the floor. Not to worry, on the day we left, Jim took out a roll of duct tape and pieced it back together again.Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-21514932778539656792007-07-02T18:25:00.000-05:002007-07-02T18:55:07.777-05:00On to Krakow<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8qiYdxLt9bANP_EL9m1RiTOhEAva0ILDyb5WmVF7gh6Sd3Fi_0qjPuaS_yGNRGlH0J94DrQ_mY2o4gqgYfEY9lHn4R3zWbXNlLz-MQR-_Y1s0c6YHvHWQlCAayZ4VSBePnOglOZiSSqA/s1600-h/Krakow+Park+characters.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8qiYdxLt9bANP_EL9m1RiTOhEAva0ILDyb5WmVF7gh6Sd3Fi_0qjPuaS_yGNRGlH0J94DrQ_mY2o4gqgYfEY9lHn4R3zWbXNlLz-MQR-_Y1s0c6YHvHWQlCAayZ4VSBePnOglOZiSSqA/s320/Krakow+Park+characters.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082751680520888274" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ6zJLKzqovOKPDpn1nKMiy1_s-qjS90kuckG8o_8VuAMt4EGeHL9SPoXAuYaQirus1-kcaqAQ50cxWVuClHvcEqn19SpZp7EWPPV9RDOqtNbAg8u7VZiEo2EVSS4FiSQW1UsDleEnq60/s1600-h/Krakow+Castle+Lunch.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ6zJLKzqovOKPDpn1nKMiy1_s-qjS90kuckG8o_8VuAMt4EGeHL9SPoXAuYaQirus1-kcaqAQ50cxWVuClHvcEqn19SpZp7EWPPV9RDOqtNbAg8u7VZiEo2EVSS4FiSQW1UsDleEnq60/s320/Krakow+Castle+Lunch.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082751465772523458" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLFQ_v78pw2bhTt5TFak77jDyc_s9ogZ2D-xV1GpHrY2aVF6yW2RMrl5rH1eMHI50ujW8Psx6zRCXajmVHvy9WGm5Vgr7gYfGtpQEYWpKpKEJPOaFpEMgJo8nqQmpEKrRLnGEad8EQiPc/s1600-h/Krakow+Castle+%233.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLFQ_v78pw2bhTt5TFak77jDyc_s9ogZ2D-xV1GpHrY2aVF6yW2RMrl5rH1eMHI50ujW8Psx6zRCXajmVHvy9WGm5Vgr7gYfGtpQEYWpKpKEJPOaFpEMgJo8nqQmpEKrRLnGEad8EQiPc/s320/Krakow+Castle+%233.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082751276793962418" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmREOByNOVlMolLR_bp2W06-Utfc2bXr0o0QjZBU7HoBE1CdQjPpwbWNBm6fjbY083yGb7-6gH8rLV35N-Moop1hjUqH58WwvmM8_VX6f1wx9s3bwI00ueH55mcXhnUYHlU7_H-I8Htg/s1600-h/Frank+below+Pope+John+Paul%27s+window.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmREOByNOVlMolLR_bp2W06-Utfc2bXr0o0QjZBU7HoBE1CdQjPpwbWNBm6fjbY083yGb7-6gH8rLV35N-Moop1hjUqH58WwvmM8_VX6f1wx9s3bwI00ueH55mcXhnUYHlU7_H-I8Htg/s320/Frank+below+Pope+John+Paul%27s+window.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082751139355008930" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivWDuIFQBjwGTUgSKUAt2I0f37bTGmHOqPBvydHQHWyO9Zr-gq-O6BQ1ZYWog7EBKyHzuRlwuHYoPJjWpjkE5m05ZQ9obLiLBlGYRmHEHRKn4rQ5ZW17B6ffCbQBoPGiC4276LJvOcIdI/s1600-h/Pope+John+Paul%27s+residence+in+Krakow+%231.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivWDuIFQBjwGTUgSKUAt2I0f37bTGmHOqPBvydHQHWyO9Zr-gq-O6BQ1ZYWog7EBKyHzuRlwuHYoPJjWpjkE5m05ZQ9obLiLBlGYRmHEHRKn4rQ5ZW17B6ffCbQBoPGiC4276LJvOcIdI/s320/Pope+John+Paul%27s+residence+in+Krakow+%231.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082750946081480594" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG3vkKrzUijP1MyEX9wJqvLlEv9OdcWvCv2DaRnsD0QZQEcVPZ6HqVRLFHYg9KG-gXZkSRCfwM8T0OXm5vBq9b5auMgQeCFa-QtHTs9_soLTsv9hMEzCH27AqAEMUXi76bUfIcpjN_tkc/s1600-h/Krakow+%2318.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG3vkKrzUijP1MyEX9wJqvLlEv9OdcWvCv2DaRnsD0QZQEcVPZ6HqVRLFHYg9KG-gXZkSRCfwM8T0OXm5vBq9b5auMgQeCFa-QtHTs9_soLTsv9hMEzCH27AqAEMUXi76bUfIcpjN_tkc/s320/Krakow+%2318.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082750602484096898" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9FnSFkvZ6ZHz4yUWomugFyPFer_v-z7dnbzN24qkDYERF4ZzgxSenACQ_ltYrQSHsWsYc7FrBJXg9M7PgiMR8K0qNwFwBIbCGZrQX34C__VQgso8C4dDTwAN0NsCMGh3pDRcHDZ5hxVY/s1600-h/Krakow+%2313.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9FnSFkvZ6ZHz4yUWomugFyPFer_v-z7dnbzN24qkDYERF4ZzgxSenACQ_ltYrQSHsWsYc7FrBJXg9M7PgiMR8K0qNwFwBIbCGZrQX34C__VQgso8C4dDTwAN0NsCMGh3pDRcHDZ5hxVY/s320/Krakow+%2313.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082750426390437746" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigKOlzINk9W4Hl0fMQDvuMtfl-1QaF40pHU-bfoAlpKBmvCvuJ4bI6a0BPEtchIT_Oikw_wvpNWkmVaTuqPN9CHFO-SKEKx3uiYZHZ9w9NQlsCKbHwwsfCuWn1Pfau4YWlIhWdoW_e_QA/s1600-h/Prague+to+Krakow+%234.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigKOlzINk9W4Hl0fMQDvuMtfl-1QaF40pHU-bfoAlpKBmvCvuJ4bI6a0BPEtchIT_Oikw_wvpNWkmVaTuqPN9CHFO-SKEKx3uiYZHZ9w9NQlsCKbHwwsfCuWn1Pfau4YWlIhWdoW_e_QA/s320/Prague+to+Krakow+%234.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082750263181680482" /></a><br />Tuesday the 18th saw the 6 of us piling into Joe's taxi yet again for the ride to the main train station. We remained careful in terms of following his rules and it was a little sad when we bid him a fond adios. Then again, we were free to talk, laugh and touch things again. <br /><br />We secured reserved seats on the train to Krakow, so we got a compartment. The ride took us to Katowice where we swapped trains. All went without a hitch and Susan even got another stamp on her passport from the Polish border guards that rode the train. It was great to see the countryside as we zoomed by. It looked fairly familiar in terms of terrain. Mostly flat and some rolling hills in other places. A whole lot of farmland planted with mostly small grains. The one thing that did stick out was the red flowers in every field and ditch. They resembled poppies and they were everywhere, even in the grain fields, where I am guessing the farmer would rather not see them. I've attached one of the ride via the train to give you some idea. As we got closer to Krakow, we noticed a change to more pine forests. <br /><br />We arrived in Krakow late afternoon and rolled our luggage to our new digs. We were pretty close to the city center and the main train station, so it allowed us access to all of the hot spots on the tourist list. Our landlord recommended the place across the street for grub, and boy was that a great tip. It was called the Volcano, and the food was fab and dirt cheap. I think our first night of glutony and drinks came to something under $45. Certainly, if you are looking for a cheap place to vacation, Poland has to be near the top of the list. I guess if you don't consider the $1,500 in travel dollars to get there in the first place. Well, it was a thought anyway.<br /><br />The next day (19th) we did the tour of central Krakow. We hit the plaza not far from us which had a cathedral and numerous other ancient buildings. I've included a few shots of the crew in various poses. One thing that stood out was the modern sculpture of a head in this very historic setting. I don't have a clue why it was there, but you know the Poles, anything for a laugh.<br /><br />From the plaza we decided to go up to the castle. Another remarkable structure, where we stopped for Pivo and Perogis. Susan claims these perogis to be the best of the trip. <br /><br />Oh, on the way to the castle we stopped at a building where Pope John Paul II lived for about 20 years. So, we took a few pics. Also near the castle and this apartment was the seminary where he went to school. And, there's a window there which now has his photo in it. As told to us, this is where he always talked to people when he returned to Krakow for his brief stays. I have a picture of that with the Patriarch below it. We also picked up some religious items while we were at this location.<br /><br />We then proceeded to the park located close by our apartments, where some of our group made faces at the photographer and other passersby. The long day ended much as they all did with a sumptuos meal followed by 6 handed pinochle.Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-61367732710297346632007-07-01T08:25:00.000-05:002007-07-01T08:37:30.659-05:00Lazy Sunday in Prague<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZvic8C930eVcC0A9AoEPT4j0MjMQ-8DntiibUeVu-2rSWMtZlOcip6DFDrRFs7oBoXGufoT-Z8nKpEs67bygp5gFaPkovg7stlyotkg3HvgIOtiAsRMlYZ18bNePet7uZcTzZQF7b9oQ/s1600-h/Too+much+Pivo.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZvic8C930eVcC0A9AoEPT4j0MjMQ-8DntiibUeVu-2rSWMtZlOcip6DFDrRFs7oBoXGufoT-Z8nKpEs67bygp5gFaPkovg7stlyotkg3HvgIOtiAsRMlYZ18bNePet7uZcTzZQF7b9oQ/s320/Too+much+Pivo.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082222080988520274" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPdvIfFlm9HUrAEDFQu5-JIURBEf2RpwFRQvJ2hePNQQagyqtVdVYssKtOVN9TuqtHXEPHEKpwhyphenhyphen38xfDoKgJ-7d63yYgAcVW0_TAk-tg3g0PfXaulYhQTvjdjSRy_OjDlSACdQKKkTTs/s1600-h/Long-ass+escalator.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPdvIfFlm9HUrAEDFQu5-JIURBEf2RpwFRQvJ2hePNQQagyqtVdVYssKtOVN9TuqtHXEPHEKpwhyphenhyphen38xfDoKgJ-7d63yYgAcVW0_TAk-tg3g0PfXaulYhQTvjdjSRy_OjDlSACdQKKkTTs/s320/Long-ass+escalator.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082221917779763010" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijoChPXUCoCpY8dvmqASCgaPHh-GUyfoF4CseMgY8C32T8rCiA4D7DaQMNKFBngsZkm8LFCizICT3uafmQhpOV1BlNf0seyrnG1_Xz8B30ALwIl1k-rN8ULcFdAKqEP6pyk9KvCSRD1-M/s1600-h/Prague+Graveyard+%231.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijoChPXUCoCpY8dvmqASCgaPHh-GUyfoF4CseMgY8C32T8rCiA4D7DaQMNKFBngsZkm8LFCizICT3uafmQhpOV1BlNf0seyrnG1_Xz8B30ALwIl1k-rN8ULcFdAKqEP6pyk9KvCSRD1-M/s320/Prague+Graveyard+%231.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082221754571005746" /></a><br />By the 17th, Father's day back home, we were just into our 6th day of "vacation" and already we were starting to get a little tired. Knowing we were headed to Krakow, Poland on Monday, we tried for a somewhat relaxing down day in Prague.<br /><br />We started the day by visiting perhaps what is the largest graveyard in the city. As weird as it sounds, it was a pretty intriguing little jaunt. Actually, Saint Joan tries to get in a visit to one of these on most all of her trips abroad. It's always interesting to see how elaborate some of the family crypts are, how well they are maintained and the certain nuances that are evident in each country. Little did we know this would be the start of many visits to graveyards. But, it was all good.<br /><br />As most of you know, I'm an amateur birder and I try to get in a few hours or a day of birding wherever I go. So, this venue inside a major city such as Prague was great from that perspective. I got several new birds on the list from this location alone. One being a Green Woodpecker and also a European Jay.<br /><br />Nancy once again guided us on our exploits. Based on our comments about how long some of the escalators were in the Metro, she brought us to the longest one. I have a picture (bad as far as people) that gives you an indication how long they are. On our first ride up and down, the majority of us got somewhat sick.....really!<br /><br />We ended back in Old Town again and as we were heading back to the Hanna's B&B for the day, we noticed a couple who had apparently overindulged in Pivo and were taking a little Siesta. Another memory of a great city.<br /><br />Packing and planning for our next destination of Krakow on Monday morning.Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-65908064995999129932007-07-01T07:12:00.000-05:002007-07-01T08:02:56.315-05:00Ancestral village visit & Pilgramage to pilsner beer origins<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6DaVuwyABqXyMozdScjJvLmWQSJEjPHfVVxDAMLymNOOJkVZ9f7wxaL8ZEzIkgDncQt-EWqrPHVaTXDpjiLAHezDLoRB1HkY7BDjZp902L33VSvPIqpniGBIdUA9K2f_NpZtMuIfCFjA/s1600-h/Toast+to+our+ancestors+in+Klenci.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6DaVuwyABqXyMozdScjJvLmWQSJEjPHfVVxDAMLymNOOJkVZ9f7wxaL8ZEzIkgDncQt-EWqrPHVaTXDpjiLAHezDLoRB1HkY7BDjZp902L33VSvPIqpniGBIdUA9K2f_NpZtMuIfCFjA/s320/Toast+to+our+ancestors+in+Klenci.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082210987087994658" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc30GgymiDdmDwmDWc2a1JRrNWRE3GRywUKiI2kBKxJwK466IJ8I6XRZa5I0yZC38_A6SRPFJT8kKaK4ofrLC1hPnMaEx8tEYL0D0tRogw5nUU7vb25qS1VR1_JX9JGXRt6o3tRvBhoqA/s1600-h/Klenci+church+interior+%232.JPG"><img style="float:left; 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margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ddV4uFhjac8a4beuO2ZU36kJU73zDsRmtdTMmifDVnwJ-2Y7egVPp3R1Q33RlhFRKTV8T-qESyD6JzwyL6yj64juVInYZJfpEGc25vgwrTdY_5HOJ7ILort4lIYNx1XPahE4kMoftHU/s320/Klenci+sign+posts.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082210025015320306" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqebIpvwsews3IVW7rLAasLDcbmwKzmJi8i9enHnJA3zalGJhRHrKmnR9IYbedGtGybU9iVDS6oOXAHHxuG2w32HhNnPAgDcdHqxBmlmVCRBLMMA4ktvUoD74hoj6g4XStLBE8jLqB4PE/s1600-h/Klenci.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqebIpvwsews3IVW7rLAasLDcbmwKzmJi8i9enHnJA3zalGJhRHrKmnR9IYbedGtGybU9iVDS6oOXAHHxuG2w32HhNnPAgDcdHqxBmlmVCRBLMMA4ktvUoD74hoj6g4XStLBE8jLqB4PE/s320/Klenci.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082209788792119010" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKMqsMg1qXVoZBmaqDiYLqCT1Kwq8fghxjSciWlX7RF6PagmOLtslwf7nV0iEy6jUjetEnksoeptT8E8jhwuTOy4TxSzm9ZbmCNnxqi0XkJtGGCYR5M8EL1fcl7luxNRF6OBPEQ3XOtkI/s1600-h/Pilzen+Brewery+Joan+buying+more+souvenirs.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKMqsMg1qXVoZBmaqDiYLqCT1Kwq8fghxjSciWlX7RF6PagmOLtslwf7nV0iEy6jUjetEnksoeptT8E8jhwuTOy4TxSzm9ZbmCNnxqi0XkJtGGCYR5M8EL1fcl7luxNRF6OBPEQ3XOtkI/s320/Pilzen+Brewery+Joan+buying+more+souvenirs.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082209599813557970" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaxVzHZbWzl72khESkRkj7RtqnGdrWBCN419p7VMV1VY5x7OkoDynL2qZtIUli3Lm8vWHqPL09VeCyGL-R_sqzyA2RPpFjf0c_qDkSZuuzVq4lzY1cAYpUHqnPQHia2J1xMNmX2-eqFzY/s1600-h/Pilzen+Brewery+group+toast.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaxVzHZbWzl72khESkRkj7RtqnGdrWBCN419p7VMV1VY5x7OkoDynL2qZtIUli3Lm8vWHqPL09VeCyGL-R_sqzyA2RPpFjf0c_qDkSZuuzVq4lzY1cAYpUHqnPQHia2J1xMNmX2-eqFzY/s320/Pilzen+Brewery+group+toast.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082209389360160450" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGPKaZGisWLJ2Riv-y9sT49dm_0pFPOyPb1P1kosP6A1xOL6P1tjzqV9R_RbGNAZYYLRc6mCf35JMK9ai0R6-zNxloCJqDHOIUQWO8PcydofQw34xvcZfsoQedhX98rPXJKxk76gEYx3k/s1600-h/Pilzen+Brewery+sleeping+control+panel+worker.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGPKaZGisWLJ2Riv-y9sT49dm_0pFPOyPb1P1kosP6A1xOL6P1tjzqV9R_RbGNAZYYLRc6mCf35JMK9ai0R6-zNxloCJqDHOIUQWO8PcydofQw34xvcZfsoQedhX98rPXJKxk76gEYx3k/s320/Pilzen+Brewery+sleeping+control+panel+worker.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082209196086632114" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipSeJagzpivG6UGUzu3KSh4wNIpdgM34CeCjV1aw8zZ-ZtaFaJxUzM3n68B2eRk-amASZx0OdPsur1Suoe9GvLvGtwLqHMJJ25W-oIrPkSQQjwmEo4R9kxz0ZWtOjjWnjWP-0pMdZhqN0/s1600-h/Pilzen+Brewery+beer+line+%231.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipSeJagzpivG6UGUzu3KSh4wNIpdgM34CeCjV1aw8zZ-ZtaFaJxUzM3n68B2eRk-amASZx0OdPsur1Suoe9GvLvGtwLqHMJJ25W-oIrPkSQQjwmEo4R9kxz0ZWtOjjWnjWP-0pMdZhqN0/s320/Pilzen+Brewery+beer+line+%231.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082209037172842146" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFC9gjpUqYVCFefxhEWicNIYZdAITNfqJqCCZhi3M6koIEaQYYEQ4XmseV6sCvzm8qXpBoJc5xVh64Dxl5XFtb7DYNYyZ6sar_nMhwRIUCkPNIqcjpQvruiVjbboEu-PTd8el9PRANCGI/s1600-h/Pilzen+Brewery+entrance.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFC9gjpUqYVCFefxhEWicNIYZdAITNfqJqCCZhi3M6koIEaQYYEQ4XmseV6sCvzm8qXpBoJc5xVh64Dxl5XFtb7DYNYyZ6sar_nMhwRIUCkPNIqcjpQvruiVjbboEu-PTd8el9PRANCGI/s320/Pilzen+Brewery+entrance.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082208710755327634" /></a><br />I guess it was appropriate that our group made Saturday the 16th a day of pilgramage. First to the birthplace of Pilsener beer at where else but Pilzen, Czech Republic. Then on to the ancestral home of our Czech relatives. For those of you not in the know, this is where Mary (Robel, Hrabi) Wilebski's grand parents were from. Even though she was actually born in the Ukraine, she and the group of pioneers she was with never considered themselves anything but Czech.<br /><br />Well, time to get started and tell you about yet another power travel day. First off was the securing of a van/taxi to take us on this day trip to Pilzen and Klenci. Frank worked his international travel magic and got a 7 passenger van with driver for the day. Although it worked out well, the day did not start exactly on "plan" as they say. We were supposed to have Joe (our driver) pull up to the B & B by 11am. When he didn't show, Frank called him again and found out they miscommunicated and he was expecting to stop by on Sunday. A few words were exchanged in both languages and by about noon our dedicated, though sometimes quite anal driver Joe, showed up and packed us into the van.<br /><br />We immediately headed out to our first stop of the day, the Pilzen brewery. This is the city which holds the claim to first inventing Pilsner beer. It's the stuff most of us drink every day. Well, I mean to say what we usually drink over here, although some of us are true to our roots and do drink it every day. Perhaps the most recognizable name, and the Czech Republics most drunk beer is none other than Pilsner Urquell. I think you will recognize it when you see the pictures.<br /><br />Anyway, Frank took the co-pilot seat with our driver Joe. And since Frank is pretty much deaf at times, he did not hear all of the warnings from Joe such as no drinking in the van, no touching the windows or doors, and no putting your hand on the back of his seat. Frank was oblivious, but cousin Sue took it all in and was a little concerned we would be put off by the side of the road.<br /><br />Upon arrival, we took the tour of the brewery. Pictures included are those of the entrance, which kind of looks like something out of the first Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory (the one with Gene Wilder)including old water tower. The modernized bottling floor also looks like something out of Laverne and Shirley, without most of the people.<br /><br />Other than the big-ass spider on the wall in the beer process room and the sleeping control panel worker, the only other thing that struck me was how the entire tour would be a trial lawyer's dream. There were electrical cords and hoses everywhere as we made our way. And the floors were wet and in the caves there were huge potholes and uneven floors. Although our tour guide "Heidi" did give some sort of disclaimer up front to the effect if you need emergency attention, please let her know in advance. Apparently that covers most everything over here.<br /><br />This was a recurring thought to me as we toured various areas. But, upon reflection I think I understood why. The justice industry has not had the time to grow and fester here to the extent is has across the pond. I mean a few years ago if you had a problem with something and wanted to take it to a higher level, you could. But, they would probably just take you out back and shoot you. So, you see that communismn thing wasn't all bad.<br /><br />We ended the tour with our toast in the dank caves under the brewery. And then of course it was on to the souvenir shop. Joan was last out, but we all know she got the really great bargains. Oh, and by the way, it always seems to prove that it all comes back to beer, or pivo depending upon which country you are in.<br /><br />From Pilsen we were headed to Klenci. It was another long trip that took many twists and turns. But after about an hour, we saw a huge white bird by the side of the road. For me it was a life lister and Nancy got the picture for me. It was a White Stork. As coincidence would have it, we were just a few meters from the sign welcoming us to the ancestral village of Klenci.<br /><br />I've included some pictures of the church, which is called St. Martin according to the tourist bureau there. It was originally built in 1481 but appears to have been reconstructed or added to in the years 1734-1746. It was erected by Count Filip Stadion and his family is buried in the crypt there. So, our ancestors most likely worshipped here.<br /><br />In a nutshell, the village was quite beautiful, being situated on the foohills of the Cesky mountains. It is somewhat a wonder why the familys moved from this idyllic setting to that of the Ukraine to establish a new town which translated into place of many mosquitoes. But then again, the Catholic church as the sponsor of this migration may have had something to do with it.<br /><br />After touring the town and their small museum, the 7 of us went across the street for dinner and a few Pivos. The meal was absolutely great. We dined on mountain goat, venison, salmon, and other protein shapes I can't recall at this point. It was a great way to end our trip to Grandma Mary's ancestral village.<br /><br />On our several hour trip back to Prague, Susan stepped up to the plate and offered to ride up front with our driver Joe. It was slow going at first, but after about one hour and a half, she and he were talking up a storm. Granted they both were carrying on 2 different conversations, but with the flailing of arms and hands, all seemed to be improving in terms of our relationship with Joe. Susan was careful to abide by the rules of Joes' road.<br /><br />Anther great day which ended with more pinochle, a few more pivos, and leftovers from Hanna's delectable breakfast buffet. The only thing we seemed to be missing were a few containers of fruit flavored yogurt.Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-32921865297139529232007-06-29T14:51:00.000-05:002007-06-29T15:11:02.238-05:00Another day in Prague<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBYmNhFw-6HtzGfNBnoyjbH332yX3-s0jdCMUfKGASQ9AxRspP0gVcAb27M2QdgJedVgN7io6QziH7HZpNf1RtVdhfrdf1JAS-xmYNnunKAraqIRZp16L8s-tpVBg9gidEfj8BEfhgVYM/s1600-h/Saint+Joan+overlooking+Prague.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBYmNhFw-6HtzGfNBnoyjbH332yX3-s0jdCMUfKGASQ9AxRspP0gVcAb27M2QdgJedVgN7io6QziH7HZpNf1RtVdhfrdf1JAS-xmYNnunKAraqIRZp16L8s-tpVBg9gidEfj8BEfhgVYM/s320/Saint+Joan+overlooking+Prague.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081580962630311554" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRhEhvKuxpYw3TarxJEp7Y8xbHHPUR-MWKr1V7IokAW1xsljtfuqOysarfgz_Aoo2p_LsjOK0kSrsICQ_gHDFIjDWRXUZEzIsY8aqRLFJuAEYEepiBwQrlI79BoZj5pTl4Cp-jEnQLjHM/s1600-h/Jim,+Sue,+Nancy,+Joan+Frank+%26+Sheila+overlooking+Prague+%232.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRhEhvKuxpYw3TarxJEp7Y8xbHHPUR-MWKr1V7IokAW1xsljtfuqOysarfgz_Aoo2p_LsjOK0kSrsICQ_gHDFIjDWRXUZEzIsY8aqRLFJuAEYEepiBwQrlI79BoZj5pTl4Cp-jEnQLjHM/s320/Jim,+Sue,+Nancy,+Joan+Frank+%26+Sheila+overlooking+Prague+%232.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081580743586979442" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhULThSPI2WBxI62duGyFSD9Wlnr-RLFrjBjyVmKnGO8hy3QEAjRvfTKgCCuP0BjyTCEqqfuTDM0HMVNvZv2_OisYlY3w3pBSrNCtk9FIviQosa2Z_x4F6ZICii7Q22nmbFnLNzKK392LI/s1600-h/Views+of+Prague+from+Castle+complex+%239.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhULThSPI2WBxI62duGyFSD9Wlnr-RLFrjBjyVmKnGO8hy3QEAjRvfTKgCCuP0BjyTCEqqfuTDM0HMVNvZv2_OisYlY3w3pBSrNCtk9FIviQosa2Z_x4F6ZICii7Q22nmbFnLNzKK392LI/s320/Views+of+Prague+from+Castle+complex+%239.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081580442939268706" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLIYf941dHZ2KNBINrIcAO4sUL5UlrLhO85A6JTXxKrj3sfzOAg-X5jNIRlgqR2GLD-gpxqGxR_9B4jPfOTVtG25KQJNwaN4L2LBmuS-1QEGDpurNaEtbKxTcoXkEfixIOJH3DDKB3hc/s1600-h/Chaning+of+the+guard+at+the+Castle+complex+%234.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLIYf941dHZ2KNBINrIcAO4sUL5UlrLhO85A6JTXxKrj3sfzOAg-X5jNIRlgqR2GLD-gpxqGxR_9B4jPfOTVtG25KQJNwaN4L2LBmuS-1QEGDpurNaEtbKxTcoXkEfixIOJH3DDKB3hc/s320/Chaning+of+the+guard+at+the+Castle+complex+%234.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081580137996590674" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq0NL7T0BAtRGB31m-48J7za2apQ7Igdx9ZytGvTS-U8xZPlVS3ot1Almzx55NOdrk389KRmyUEvtkKodDVU8Ilt_ZxCcDQrTFYKhNWPj5QLoBlEuFNY_E6mTXmeJPMAXpBI0QD31dlNM/s1600-h/Castle+%26+cathedral+complex.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq0NL7T0BAtRGB31m-48J7za2apQ7Igdx9ZytGvTS-U8xZPlVS3ot1Almzx55NOdrk389KRmyUEvtkKodDVU8Ilt_ZxCcDQrTFYKhNWPj5QLoBlEuFNY_E6mTXmeJPMAXpBI0QD31dlNM/s320/Castle+%26+cathedral+complex.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081579893183454786" /></a><br />After a casual start on Friday viewing another park at the base of the hill, the 7 of us headed by tram to the Castle and Cathedral complex. The structures there are amazing. I believe I read in one of our guide books that you can count 600 spires as you look out over the city from this vantage point. I'm not sure you can accurately count them all in the picture I've attached, but go ahead and try. To say the views from here are awesome would be the greatest understatement since Noah said it was going to rain.<br /><br />It was a hot and steamy day in the bright sun, so after watching the changing of the Czech guard at the castle, we meandered over to an adjacent cafe and yes, we had some more pivo with our lunch. We also toured the cathedral within the complex and like most of the churches and religious buildings, truly amazing.<br /><br />We opted for a long walk down what are called the gardens and took in views of the city as we did. There's a nice picture of St. Joan, our travel Mother and all around good trophy bride for your viewing pleasure.<br /><br />One thing that seemed to be a common theme was the lack of toilet paper. Now normally this is not an issue over here, but in Eastern Europe, it always seems to be. If you are a woman and plan to travel to that area, make sure you either pack your own preferred brand or buy some upon entry. And don't forget to take it with you when you leave your hotel. And men, if you are travelling with a woman, you will need replacement tissues also. So be aware.<br /><br />One member of our travel group seemed to always be in need of tissue and therefore whenever she used the bathroom there was none left for the rest. Her complaint was that she needed a lot of tissue for her "po po". In fact, there was mention of a rash because she had to use glossy advertising paper at one point. The Czech remedy calls for a fruit flavored yogurt as a cure all. We do not believe she tried it though since the toilet paper vanished wherever she visited.<br /><br />Our group again played pinochle into the night and as they say in the local paper, a good time was had by all. On tap for Saturday was a trip by our group of 7 to the brewery in Pilsen and a trip to Klenci, the land of our Bohemian ancestors.Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1742183356993925953.post-90816538068307569092007-06-29T07:09:00.000-05:002007-06-29T07:47:35.190-05:00First day of trip<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJuD7_eK4Gx6oAqkts3BLQj5QeJ4xmL374hXayd0XrnhlOFLlS6_4Q61iJayHPXjXgPFPqUbOUsn8zor1bqmSlzyLPeLNlzkcvN6xadHo_thP511M_wdJThcQTGGynqYKDSXhP0I49Siw/s1600-h/Wenselaus+Square.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJuD7_eK4Gx6oAqkts3BLQj5QeJ4xmL374hXayd0XrnhlOFLlS6_4Q61iJayHPXjXgPFPqUbOUsn8zor1bqmSlzyLPeLNlzkcvN6xadHo_thP511M_wdJThcQTGGynqYKDSXhP0I49Siw/s320/Wenselaus+Square.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081466579061284402" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-23W-n5r1Jcw-RZWpUocjKId6B0sa6KKty63BgZzQ4_IaGNjg-BvToKkqnWjHcWOfzI7C11sD2klhbF7z4hj-pdfS1XlobXpT7ywETmlYv2ixq_ueTy0nttdH4M4J7R90Y6hRYeQYPbM/s1600-h/Boy+on+a+ledge,+almost+(close+up).JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-23W-n5r1Jcw-RZWpUocjKId6B0sa6KKty63BgZzQ4_IaGNjg-BvToKkqnWjHcWOfzI7C11sD2klhbF7z4hj-pdfS1XlobXpT7ywETmlYv2ixq_ueTy0nttdH4M4J7R90Y6hRYeQYPbM/s320/Boy+on+a+ledge,+almost+(close+up).JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081466140974620194" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2SHf4LfpJVLEYTn9u5Xa6E3VwQE_NUopi9aigZkay0Znx95I64rpzOzyu7re04gdMtuL7BP531-GdP8PPQ2YjC7GttD2LNHuV9EH39Uk9UMuztdIDf84Bs4c-x07MFMgdttsNxIAIPYY/s1600-h/Boy+on+a+ledge,+almost.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2SHf4LfpJVLEYTn9u5Xa6E3VwQE_NUopi9aigZkay0Znx95I64rpzOzyu7re04gdMtuL7BP531-GdP8PPQ2YjC7GttD2LNHuV9EH39Uk9UMuztdIDf84Bs4c-x07MFMgdttsNxIAIPYY/s320/Boy+on+a+ledge,+almost.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081465518204362258" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmuYSjpOOkHmIJDzsaDp94MLQdiSeK_HGGt3Lp0tVoG36087y8fZJlKFCAypXuljhVmfxui-_QOel_z0HuUxNdGNKrJju-lLN5HFvNk0O8XQacAqVovvJaUrZDTdx8AfXtgqVJeKc17UQ/s1600-h/Sheila,+Nancy,+Frank,+Joan,+Jim+%26+Sue+at+first+Pivo+break+in+Prague+%232.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmuYSjpOOkHmIJDzsaDp94MLQdiSeK_HGGt3Lp0tVoG36087y8fZJlKFCAypXuljhVmfxui-_QOel_z0HuUxNdGNKrJju-lLN5HFvNk0O8XQacAqVovvJaUrZDTdx8AfXtgqVJeKc17UQ/s320/Sheila,+Nancy,+Frank,+Joan,+Jim+%26+Sue+at+first+Pivo+break+in+Prague+%232.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081464904024038914" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSIPNJ02izEvej_DBQPdrCF4T-xZnen6T13nkgv9VKrhretxmF2X4aMPVqpCnmCnGxx5ACRzWtCWcBV2xKN55Zf5JBH9wdCZ7RRR-7mKY1vA4dVxGvFJ4BPKS5ChDaOnkBqfYhSamh5jg/s1600-h/Escalators+in+Prague+Metro.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSIPNJ02izEvej_DBQPdrCF4T-xZnen6T13nkgv9VKrhretxmF2X4aMPVqpCnmCnGxx5ACRzWtCWcBV2xKN55Zf5JBH9wdCZ7RRR-7mKY1vA4dVxGvFJ4BPKS5ChDaOnkBqfYhSamh5jg/s320/Escalators+in+Prague+Metro.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081463980606070258" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxXmxQwPoQdgFn7Ag5JcU9eyBaJC1tIshZMKGT25omwxexxvy3NVG_laQJNvqq7qvukQ6hynaPFxtGKoGCZMQdRSTBk7sszR-dbJblyQXe0UEkZsdV1iKGL63gugtaZMI7s_BSCI5fmLc/s1600-h/Sue,+Nancy,+Jim+%26+SHeila+in+Park+in+Prague+(1st+near+arrest).JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxXmxQwPoQdgFn7Ag5JcU9eyBaJC1tIshZMKGT25omwxexxvy3NVG_laQJNvqq7qvukQ6hynaPFxtGKoGCZMQdRSTBk7sszR-dbJblyQXe0UEkZsdV1iKGL63gugtaZMI7s_BSCI5fmLc/s320/Sue,+Nancy,+Jim+%26+SHeila+in+Park+in+Prague+(1st+near+arrest).JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081462533202091490" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvANg6O1mAgS7T-Jv6jgJqNg1y0NqUseqqaeIQyyULi4dOj05Ol1oxdURM4ZlV6_R6VOLbDVWxcinNrb9hEr5uPd2C8oWfqtVtsYisunaEe9KOUXDKcN0-hGr6HbdkxM3AsCL1y9EM7bA/s1600-h/Sheila,+Jim+%26+Fred+at+B%26B+in+Prague.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvANg6O1mAgS7T-Jv6jgJqNg1y0NqUseqqaeIQyyULi4dOj05Ol1oxdURM4ZlV6_R6VOLbDVWxcinNrb9hEr5uPd2C8oWfqtVtsYisunaEe9KOUXDKcN0-hGr6HbdkxM3AsCL1y9EM7bA/s320/Sheila,+Jim+%26+Fred+at+B%26B+in+Prague.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081461416510594514" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKiFe9yUTGsT8ObyHOYFrfYsgod8haKSRIwVZPBRK1WkzhYknFp1Ew693hYaVWFeAik6iTwgiD8WHCVm1Oo-bRBl-OuMaim8O4T77wjWQyYyar6jEkZxEN8pZ1H42LpsPMXlzGwuk8ug/s1600-h/Hanna's+B%26B+in+Prague.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKiFe9yUTGsT8ObyHOYFrfYsgod8haKSRIwVZPBRK1WkzhYknFp1Ew693hYaVWFeAik6iTwgiD8WHCVm1Oo-bRBl-OuMaim8O4T77wjWQyYyar6jEkZxEN8pZ1H42LpsPMXlzGwuk8ug/s320/Hanna's+B%26B+in+Prague.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081460458732887490" /></a><br />Well, as promised, I am going to start the trip report with the first couple of days and a few of the stories, observations, sights and sounds and whatever for your viewing pleasure. Keep in mind I have over 400 pictures to identify so it may take some time. And, I need to remind you these are my recollections and any editorials are mine as well. If those along for the trip disagree they are free to start their own blog.<br /><br />Tuesday June 12, we took wing on Northwest Airlines to Amsterdam. The flight was relatively uneventful and the food was even quite good. When we arrived the next morning we popped over to a pub at the airport and had a few to get us through the next flight on Czech Airlines. That flight took off relatively on time and we arrived a little after 9:30 that morning.<br /><br />Much to our delight we were greeted by Nancy Hugg. For those of you that don't know Nancy, she is a former Lancasterite who most recently held a prestigious position at the U of M in the now defunct General College. While determining what she wanted to do with the rest of her life, she took off for Prague and has been teaching English since Last November. She is coming back mid July, destination in the U.S. (or wherever) unknown. But, for our purposes, she was a great guide.<br /><br />Like I said, she met us at the airport with tickets in hand for the bus/tram/metro system. She herded us on to the 119 bus, then on the tram to the street where Hanna's bed and breakfast was located. It was a couple of blocks off Devijka, a street name we learned to pronouce well as the days went along. The first picture is fo the B&B which was located about 2 miles from what I would call the heart of the city, or near the Charles Bridge.<br /><br />The place was really great for our purposes, since we had 4 rooms and essentially control of the place on the first 2 levels. The room we had our morning buffet at was next to the kitchen and substituted as my room. The only downside was that Hanna thought I was a pig based on all the debris that was left around the table each morning and after evening pinochle games. <br /><br />One of the pictures attached shows Sheila and Jim Hartmann and me sipping coffee at the community table in my room. A little more about Jim, the former tenured Minnesota school teacher. A very intelligent guy as we would find out. But, by the end of day 2 we had all agreed that he reminded us quite a bit of a TV character by the name of Cliff Clavin. Toward the end of our trip, I started thinking about any question that was running through my mind and whether or not I dared verbalize. The information was good mind you, but I had to weigh the consequences and time.<br /><br />Another picture is of our tour Guide Nancy, along with Jim and Sheila and Sue. We went out early on the 14th without Joan and Frank to a little park near where we connected with Nancy. Well, this was the second time we just about got arrested. You know us gomers, go to a park, walk on the grass. No can do in the Czech Republic. We returned to the safety of the cement and the officer you can see in the background of the picture continued his rounds.<br /><br />I guess that whole authority thing is a little of a holdover from the days of Communism. But, it was pretty evident in daily life. People still are very careful not to step out of line or talk out of turn. Quite anal when you think of it, but then given what they endured for many decades, I guess it's no wonder.<br /><br />One thing we did master while in Prague was the Metro. Oh, this is where I almost got arrested for the second time when I crossed a red velvet rope to take a picture of the long-ass escalators they have there. My name from that escapade was "Buddy", and I was told in no uncertain terms to get my behind, behind the rope. Anyway, the escalators keep getting longer and longer as you approach the conversion point of the 3 lines. The one pictured is not the longest one, which I believe is very close to being a city block long. My travelling companions will definitely back me up on this one.<br /><br />After much sight seeing and bumping into Joan and Frank on the other end of the Charles Bridge, we decided it was time for Pivo. Yes, beer is called Pivo over there, so watch out when you say you have to Pee. You may get more "input" than "output". I've included another picture of the crew on an enclosed patio.<br /><br />As we were imbibing, there was a lot of activity to the rear of the group. Some cranes and other stuff going on. I looked over and saw whate appeared to be a young child on a ledge. Well, after taking the picture I saw it was a statue about 20 feet up on the wall. Don't know what it was there for, but I convinced the group of Pivo drinkers that the crane crew was there to rescue the child from the ledge. They caught on pretty quickly....well most did.<br /><br />Our last stop of the day was near one of our Metro connection at Wenseclaus Square. It's a really busy place with a ton of shops and much activity.<br /><br />With that we ended our day by taking a ride home and playing pinochle till all hours.Fred from the far Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894949109753653387noreply@blogger.com1