Girlfriends Day!

Today belonged to Aneta and me without anyone else in the mix. Witek and his cousin Ela took Ania and went to the annual Spelunkers conference/meeting in another city about 1.5 hours away. They even took the little red Honda that belongs to Aneta and Witek that I have uch trouble getting in and out of and left Ela's really nice new small SUV type vehicle for Aneta and me. It was a real treat to ride in a car I didn't need a hoist to get into and a lift to get out of!

We went to downtown Gliwice where Aneta took me to a boutique that she likes. There was a beautiful red coat that I actually tried on but of course it was one size too small and they didn't have another in my size. Oh, boo hoo, that is so sad. Right? Anyway we left the boutique and headed straight for Villa Caro in the center of Gliwice.

Fot: Willa Caro in Gliwice, Linda

This is the palace of a former industrialist and it is breathtakingly beautiful inside. They feature art exhibits and other cultural and artisan temporary exhibits in various areas of the Villa. We certainly enjoyed seeing the inside of this lovely place. Saturday's admission is free so it made it all the more rewarding. We were treated to an unexpected surprise on the third level with an historic retrospective of the Scouts in Poland. Witek is a Scout and has been active in the organization, along with most of their present friends, since he was a small child. It was his work with the Scouts that prompted him to give up his career as a HydroGeologist and opt to become a Firefighter specializing in "incidents", i.e. rescues, wrecks, etc. His goal is to become a trainer with the Fire Department. His salary is apparently much lower doing this kind of work than in his professional studies career but he is very happy and Aneta supports him 100% to do what he loves.

Fot: Ewa Kuryluk exhibition, Linda

Anyway the exhibit was interesting and Aneta couldn't wit to get home to tell Witek about it so he could go see it for himself. In the basement of the Villa we were fortunate to see the art exhibition of Ewa Kuryluk which was quite interesting to say the least. Some of the draped fabric pieces were a little graphic and surprising but the whole exhibit was worth our time. Aneta likes art and when we were in Prague three years ago we went to see a Dali exhibition that was totally weird and wonderful for the two of us who are Dali lovers. Does that make us weird and wonderful too? Just asking.

After we left the Villa we walked to the main center of Gliwice and made our way back to our favorite vegetarian restaurant the Golden Donkey. The food is colorful, delicious and very filling. We stuffed ourselves thoroughly and then we took a long walk through Old Town Gliwice in search of something we never found - a new business that was opened recently by friends of Kamil - a shop that sells specialty chocolates. It is probably just as well we didn't find it. Old Town Gliwice is very interesting and it was fun just to wander, look in store windows, see what buildings are for sale, imagine how things will look when the current regeneration of this area is complete. It reminds me of Old Town Portland, Oregon 25 years ago when the Nato's seemed to be the only people with any vision. Now it is the most gentrified and yuppyfied area of Portland with rents too expensive for the average person to even consider. May Gliwice be destined to suffer such a fate! It will make nice places for the emerging Middle Class to live when they finally recognize themselves as such.

Fot: Ewa Kuryluk exhibition, Linda

Next stop, the new shopping mall Aneta showed me the first night of my arrival as we sped through Gliwice on our way to Knurow. The plan included the cinema if we could find a tolerable movie in English with Polish sub-titles. We settled on Dream House and it was really, really bad. Laughably bad in my opinion and Aneta felt the same way. It wasn't scary enough to be a horror flick and it wasn't believable enough to be a drama. I'm not sure what it was, but it certainly wasn't a thriller as billed. But the evening wasn't a total loss because we had two hours to kill in the mall before the movie and Aneta managed to make some stellar purchases; new high fashion trousers, a new shirt, a sweater for her mother for Christmas, a new hat and scarf - all in all a good shopping day. Me? Nada.

Home and happy we sat up and visited with Witek and Ela until 1:30 AM. I didn't really have a choice as my bed is the living room sofa and it was covered with people. Aneta always says, "Oh you can sleep in the morning," meaning I can sleep in but I can't because the baby goes off at 7:15- 7:30 every day no matter what time we go to bed. They really make a stellar effort to keep her quiet but you can hear everything in this small apartment so quiet is a relative concept. Anyway, it usually doesn't bother me to be awake as I use the time to reflect and write.

More tomorrow.
Linda