On Monday we drove a short distance to a spectacular red brick Palace/Castle in the village of Plawnowice. The palace is known by the same name as the village. The entire palace is now owned by the Catholic Church but in the past was owned by a German Industrialist who created something truly magnificent in this tiny rural village about 45 minutes north of Gliwice. This is a very interesting little town with almost every building made completely out of red brick and clean and well maintained. There was some major construction going on at the back of a courtyard across from the palace on what looked to be another very large restoration project.
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| Fot: Plawnowice Palace, Linda |
After an hour or so of walking the grounds and taking photos we moved on to the tiny village of Rudziniec to visit a 16h century wooden church. The church was locked but there were several workman putting small square cobblestones in the courtyard completely around the church. Each cobblestone is hand set into the dirt and pounded down before sand is poured around them to secure them in place. It was very interesting watching this labor intensive process that results in almost all the walkways and courtyards in every public place in this beautiful country. In the US we'd just throw some blacktop on it and call it good. Here the process of maintaining things in their appropriate time period is very important.
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| Fot: Plawnowice Palace, Linda |
Tuesday Aneta took me to see another palace ruins in the village of Toszek. This was a completely restored palace/church combination with a restaurant on premises (although closed while we were there) that has many musical events and knights games on the grounds during the tourist season. There really wasn't much we could see there at this time of the year but we did get some nice photos.
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| I am scared to death, and you? Aneta |
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| Fot: Entrance gate to Toszek Castle ruins, Linda |
On the way back we pulled off the road and walked up a short dirt lane to visit a very old Jewish Cemetery on the outskirts of Gliwice. It was quite moving, although not well maintained by any stretch of the imagination. At least it survived with its headstones intact, unlike many of the villages where the Nazi's took te headstones andused them for pavers.
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| Fot: The bridge to Chudow Castle, Aneta |
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| Fot: Chudow Castle ruins, Aneta |
Thursday we visited another Church owned palace in the village of Rudy, housing a Cistercian Monastery. Again, going inside was out of the question but the grounds were spectacular and very large. We walked for over an hour through the fall foliage on well maintained pathways through many acres of woods along a river. This was a particularly interesting Palace in that it has been completely restored by the church to a state of luxury. The entire facade of the back of the palace was still in its degenerating condition from before the restoration began so I was able to see back to the 12th century through layers of various stone, brick and other building materials that have been used over the centuries for each necessary rebuilding or reconstruction.
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| Fot: Cistercian Monastery in Rudy, Aneta |
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| Fot: Park in Rudy, Linda |
I said, "Well stop the car and I will get out and get them!"
"I will," she said, "but I have to stop slowly so they don't fly off. She gradually pulled to a stop on the narrow shoulder of the extremely busy two lane road. I jumped out of the passengers side and went around to the back of the car. The keys, quite heavy it seems, were just a hairs breadth from slipping off the roof. I grabbed the lanyard and raced back to the running car. Just then I looked up to see a man leaning in the driver's side window talking animatedly to Aneta and waving his arms back toward where we had come. He ran back to his car, which was blocking traffic and jumped in and drove off in a big hurry. Aneta turned to me, her face red and appearing quite chagrined. She had also left her wallet and her hat on the car roof and the man stopped to tell her where he had seen them fly off. Somehow, and I honestly don't remember how, we got turned around in that mess of bumper to bumper rush hour traffic and headed back toward the restaurant. Aneta said, "he said it was just before the bridge. Eventually we came to the bridge and sure enough, just before the bridge on the other side was a wallet in the road. It was right on the center line. Aneta pulled off as soon as she could and I ran back to try to retrieve the wallet. I literally stepped into the street with my hands raised above my head to stop traffic. Cars continued to whiz past. I felt like I was on the racetrack at the Indy 500. I stepped farther into the road and finally the traffic in the lane I was in stopped. I kept standing there with my arms and hands raised trying to get the cars coming at me from the opposite direction to stop. Eventually someone got the picture and stopped. I ran to the center of the road and retrieved the wallet. I don't think anyone had even run over it! Back to the car where Aneta gingerly made her way back into traffic and continued on to search for her hat. There it was, just a few feet from the restaurant parking lot smack in the middle of the oncoming traffic lane. She turned into the restaurant parking lot and turned the car around. She jumped out and ran to get her hat. It had been run over annd bears tire marks that are unlikely to come out in the wash. Anyway, if I knew the street name or number I would dub this "Miracle on ___ Street". All three items were saved or retrieved in good condition. It would have been a terrible loss if she had not been able to recover the wallet as it literally contains her life as we know it. Besides, it is the wallet I sent her for Christmas last year and she loves it and clams she will still be carrying it in 10 years time, "when you return again."
Well, obviously by this time we have missed any window of opportunity we had to get Ania to her swimming lesson on time. Kasia was waiting to go with Aneta and Ania but upon learning that we were not going to make it back in time invited a girlfriend Laura (louw-ra) over to visit. Aneta decided we could all go swimming at a near-by pool so they proceeded to get ready when Kascia came to me and asked me if I would please come with them to the pool. I reluctantly agreed because my back hurt from so much walking. But I decided to suck it up and go with them and swim laps, which I did for 45 minutes. It was a good workout and I enjoyed being in the water for some decent exercise that involves stretching without pain associated with it.
They had a lovely whirlpool at this swimming pool as well. In fact this entire swimming complex is state of the art and very impressive. I decided to spend the last 15 minutes of my paid time in the whirlpool bath massaging my aching back with water jets. I climbed up at 4 step ladder and entered the pool. Once I got settled I realized I was sitting there with 4 big men! It was a unisex pool it turned out, I just happened to be the only female in the mix at this particular moment in time. As I sat there observing my companions I realized that everyone of them was wearing these little skull-cap things over their virtually smooth shaven heads. Okay, it is a rule in this pool that everyone has to wear a swimming cap for sanitary reasons, a rule that went out in the US in about 1957 I think. But one of these guys looked like a hairy ape! His chest was covered with a thick blanket of black hair, as were his arms. I couldn't see his back or legs but I assumed, correctly it turns out, that they were also covered with thick dark hair. Now there is a rule that makes a lot of sense! Shave your head, wear a skull cap to swim but let gorillas in the pool. I couldn't help but smile at the irony.
Friday
Today we studiously avoided going to any castles, palaces, museums or ruins. We cleaned the apartment and Aneta prepared for dinner guests. I helped her with the traditional Polish salad, which was supposed to be a cooking lesson for me. All I was allowed to do wss dice dill pickles and leeks to be par boiled and mixed with other ingredients, which mysteriously appeared in the completed salad without my ever having been called back into the kitchen. The only thing was, I could not get out of her when the guests were expected. First it was "later, after 4" and then it was "probably between 5 and 7" and finally "between 7 and 8".
At around 5:30 Aneta got her coat and hat on and said, "I take Ania to my parents now."
"Oh," I said, surprised and a little confused.
"She will stay with them tonight."
"Oh, okay," I said, and they left.
Now, we had guests arriving between 7 and 8 at last notice and the lasagna had not yet been prepared. Time went by, no Aneta. More time passed, no Aneta. Seven o'clock came and went. No Aneta. Finally around 7:45 she showed up. Totally relaxed and unconcerned. I would have been a wreck - not to mention that I was starving. She casually set about making the lasagna and around 8:10 the guests arrived. Michael and Agnieszka (Me-how and Agnes)and Agnes's son Konrad. They came bearing a substantial bottle of Polish Vodka and a bottle of Sprite from which they determined to make me a proper mixed drink with ice. This they accomplished in spades and on my empty stomach it had the desired effect. In the meantime the lasagna was happily burning to a crisp in the oven, unattended by anyone. Eventually the lasagna made its way to the table. Everyone sat down and began eating. I said, "Didn't you prepare a nice salad also?"
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| Fot: Michael and Linda enjoying their dinner, Aneta |
Tomorrow Aneta and I leave for Slovakia to visit the lovely Bognice Palace in the village of the same name.
Linda
nice photos ;))
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