Travelsmartplanet

Breakfasts  have been copious. Today’s  meal at the Novotel Hotel included Polish sausages, mustard and – pickles! They were delicious.
The Novotel hotel was glam and even had a casino in it.

We had a guide in training along – Esther – and she gave us a little extra tour to the impressive main square in Poznan. It is so spiffy that it looks like a Hollywood set, but is actually 700 years old.

Poles say “nostrovia” as a toast for drinking, and they do like to imbibe.
They will always drink to the health of:


The host
The guest
The beautiful ladies
The handsome gents
Their bachelor days
And anything else that will keep them drinking

In Warsaw on  Oct 15, 1940, 400,000 Jews were rounded up and trapped into the Jewish Ghetto (30% of the population of Warsaw in 2.4% of the city) which rose to 1.5 million by 1941. However by 1942, it was unfortunately being emptied as the extermination camps had been built and they were being sent there to be gassed.

In January 1943, in response to another Nazi round-up to clean them all out and send them to the  extermination camps, there was a Warsaw Ghetto uprising (7,000 were shot immediately) and then another one on April 19 where the Jews fought a fight to the death. When it was all over, the whole area was leveled to the ground.At least 56,065 men women and children were killed on the spot or deported to Treblinka.

Wladyslaw Szpilman was one of the survivors. He was the Polish pianist, composer and writer and subject of the film The Pianist by Roman Polanski (who was in the Krakow ghetto). He died in 2000.

You can still see one piece of the Ghetto wall. There is an interactive Warsaw Rising Museum in Old Town. www.warsaw-life.com/poland/warsaw-rising-museum

After Sept 1, 1939 when Germany invaded Poland, 450,000 of the 3,000,000 Jews were rounded up into a ghetto. By 1941, 1,500,000 Jews were stuffed in there. But by 1942, it was unfortunately being emptied, since the extermination camps had been built and the inmates were being sent there to be gassed.
In April 1943, with about 60,000 left, and Germans coming in to clean them all out, the Jews fought a fight to the death. 7,000 were shot immediately and the rest sent to the Treblinka death camp. One of the leaders, Mordechai Anielewicza, committed suicide. Vladislav Szpiman was part of this action; the main character of Roman Polanski’s movie “The Pianist” was based on him. Another leader escaped, became a doctor and is still alive today.

Stop at the MDM Hotel in Warsaw – it has large comfy rooms and is a quick 10 minute bus ride to Old Town. Breakfast had scrumptious kielbasa, lots of cut fresh fruit – including bananas with drizzled chocolate syrup, deviled eggs, cherry danish, cold cuts, cheese and good bread.

There are 2 good inexpensive Polish restaurants nearby.  One is right on street level of the hotel, with generous portions (meal for 2 with beers under $20).

The other, Pierogeria, has traditional and modern pierogi (mozzarella, salami and cheddar is awesome). Enjoyed the duck with cranberries, but still loved the authentic ground veal best. You can order an assortment (you choose varieties) plate and taste many of them.

There were 2 Treblinka camps in Poland ruled by Ivan the Terrible. In 1943 there was an uprising in the camp where 200 prisoners managed to escape. 60 survived the war.

Hitler wanted no traces of the camps and had them destroyed. However there were 800,000 bodies buried in mass graves, and that was evidence, so prisoners were forced to dig them all up and burn them so there would be no trace of them.

3,000,000 Jews and 3,000,000 Poles, about 1/4 of the population of the country, were killed in the war. Exterminations included not only Jews but gypsies, homosexuals, people who helped Jews, Communists and any enemies of the Reich.

Poland is a hugely Catholic country, and even managed to keep religion during Communism’s atheism. It is one of the few places nowadays where churches are still being built.

If you want to plug in to their Catholic broadcasts, tune into Radio Maria.

Best Western Queens Hotel in Berlin – Amazing breakfast in Berlin with fresh rolls, little egg rolls, mini hamburgers (wonderful), chicken legs, many pots of local jams and all the usual hot and cold breakfast items.

Berlin guide Christobel was amazing spouting oodles of information on a 2 hour tour and interspersing it with lots of jokes.

After the wall fell and East Berliners flooded into West Berlin, they had a hard time keeping a job, since they were only used to working 3 hours a day. It really wasn’t their fault, because there weren’t enough goods to keep a store open all day.

Cosmos Tour – Jewels of the Baltics – Off to a good start. Wonderful dinner at Dan hotel in Copenhagen: tomatoes with balsamic dressing, chicken swimming in cream sauce with roasted carrots, parsnips, broccoli and baby boiled potatoes, and fruity ice cream and a square of chocolate, sitting in a pool of fresh fruit and tart cherry drizzle. Room is large, modern and has a view all the way to Sweden.