2024 Poland

  We took the Intercity Express train from Wroclaw to Warsaw. Unlike our train from Warsaw to Opole, which was fantastic, this one was a horrible experience. To begin with – it was an hour late even though it originated in Wroclaw. The platform was insanely crowded, it was hot, and they announced delays in 10-minute increments so we had to stay on the platform and wait. They also didn’t serve us snacks (like on the other train) and the restaurant car was mobbed with only one Ukrainian guy doing everything – taking orders, preparing and serving food, and taking money. The poor fellow was completely overwhelmed.   We were supposed to stay in Bo’s friend’s apartment, but the building had a bug infestation and had to be fumigated so she booked us a hotel. Motel One- Chopin is a new hotel, in a great location in the center near the Chopin Museum. It is hip and very design-oriented. The service is also good, but the rooms are very small. We joked that if we had larger suitcases, the...

  What can I (Bo) say other than I love Wroclaw. It’s a colorful, vibrant city, young and joyful and full of life.     It’s changed a lot since my student days, but its essence is still the same. We stayed in Hotel Herbal, in the old town, close to Rynek. It’s a relatively new hotel housed in a former monastery. It is nice, but the rooms are very small.   We took an electric cart tour of the center, walked all over the city – sort of a sentimental tour, and finally found golabki for Phil. We sampled Mexican food, and spent the evening in the courtyard of the Jewish quarter by the White Stork Synagogue eating, drinking and talking.   I should mention a peculiar Wroclaw specialty – little gnomes or dwarfs. There are about 750 of them scattered all over the city. People hunt for them and take their pictures. I did too… not sure how many, but certainly not 750. The little gnomes are actually a nod to the Orange Alternative, an anti-Soviet resistance movement born in...

  We toured the monastery in the morning and then started towards the Polish border and the historic spa town of Sokolowsko.   The first mention of  Sokołowsko  (then a German town called Goerbersdorff) appeared in 1357. The village was most likely founded by Benedictine monks of Broumov. In 1509 Sokołowsko was bought by count von Hochberg. Until the middle of the 19th century, Sokołowsko wasn’t different from other villages owned by Hochbergs. It changed in 1849, when countess von Colomb arrived at the village. Enchanted by the landscape of Sokołowsko, she encouraged her brother-in-law, Dr. Hermann Brehmer to open a health resort. In 1855, the world’s first specialized tuberculosis sanatorium, using an innovative method of climatic and dietary treatments, was opened in Sokołowsko. The Davos Sanatorium was modeled after Sokołowsko. Prof. Alfred Sokołowski became a close co-worker of Dr. Brehmer, and the village was named after him. The health resort in Sokołowsko in ...