Poland Countryside

     I met Aneta through Tomek when she was kind enough to pick us up and show us around Krakrow a bit and take us to the swimming pool by car.  I had initially planned to go to Prague after a few days in Krakow, but it was flooding very bad there.  After getting to know one another better, Aneta offered to take us to the Polish countryside where she grew up.  She invited us into her home to spend time with her family and stay a night for the weekend.  These are the reasons why I love the way I travel.  I don't like having things booked in advanced for reasons such as this.  Firstly, nothing you can do about a natural disaster and secondly sometimes you meet new amazing friends that offer to show you something you wouldn't have otherwise seen.  Yes, I skipped Prague this trip, but I saw more of Poland and I definitely think it is more than a fair trade.

     Aneta picked Tomek and I up on June 8th in the morning with her friend Katerina and the four of us left for our trip.  The first placed we stopped at was a small castle called Baranow Sandomierski and took a tour.  Tomek found out that his great great relative once owned it.  Afterwards we went to a really charming city called Sandomierz.  It was a really romantic sort of city with beautiful colors.  We took a tour of some underground cellars.  Unfortunately for me, all the tours we took were in  Polish and I didn't understand a thing, but my friends tried to translate as best as they could. 

     After this, we went to the village Aneta grew up in, Jastowice.  Most of her family was there for dinner and it was a great big Polish feast.  We had different kinds of sausages, potato salad, chicken and much more.  Very delicious dinner!  Her nephews were very cute playing around and jumping on the trampoline.  Her parents were very warm and welcoming and I had a great time speaking with her whole family.  After dinner, we went on a dusk bicycle ride.  The village was very nice with a lot of green and beautiful scenery.  Aneta's nephew Michael was our leader as we rode around. 

     The following morning after breakfast, we went to Szczebrzeszyn which is a famous little city.  Their mascot is a beetle that plays the violin.  The Polish way of saying this is considered to be the hardest sentence in the language, kind of like a rhyme.

 Aneta's dad

     After this, we went to Zamosc, another really charming city.  It was a beautiful, sunny weekend and there was a festival going on in the town center.  We walked around the city and went on another underground tour also in Polish.  After this, we went to Roztoczanski Park Narodowy, a national park and saw some beautiful trees and scenery.  It was a nice little walk and good to breath in the fresh air as I was getting really sick.  Sore throat and stuffy nose while traveling is the worse thing in the world.

 Polish perogi is delicious!

 Aneta and I

     We were incredibly lucky because shortly after our walk through the forest, there was a pretty bad hailstorm.  We went back to Aneta's parent's house and had some homemade perogi with mint sauce.  It was so delicious!  Unfortunately, it was back to Krakow where I spent one more night before I was on my way to Berlin.  What a lovely weekend in the countryside!

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better". -Albert Einstein