Poland, Sunny Poland

Benedict Ambrose and I have bought airline tickets for Poland, and the price of Ryanair tickets are now so expensive, I cried. They are more than four times as expensive as they were in late February. But that said, we are going to Poland as the treasured guests of friends and do not anticipate many more expenses. We will not be spending more during our one week holiday in Poland than we used to pay for our glorious ten to twelve days in Italy.

Twelve whole days! That was before I began working full-time, of course. B.A., being British, has oodles of vacation days. My most recent long holiday was last July when we joined family members in Berlin. We had a week of sightseeing and family meals, and then I went to Poland for two days and B.A. went home.

B.A. waved me off at the bus platform before he headed for the airport. The Poland-bound bus driver steered the wheel with his elbows whenever blowing his nose on a paper handkerchief. He chatted merrily in Polish with his co-driver, and when the bus crossed the border into Poland it began bouncing up and down, so bad was the road all of a sudden. I found all of this quite comforting.

What I liked best about Berlin was drinking coffee with B.A. in the Hotel Adlon and then on a boat going down the Spree. I did not much like Potsdam or any of the palaces we wandered through because I am not one for urban sightseeing anymore, except from boats. I much prefer to walk for miles in the countryside and the survey the landscape from the top of a hill. Had our Poland plans fallen through, I would be planning a week's march along the John Muir Way--not the whole thing, but  from Helensburgh to home, punctuated by B&Bs because B.A. does not enjoy camping.

We have not worked out yet what we will do in Poland besides admire my goddaughter and eat delicious cuisine polonaise. This must be discussed with our hosts. Perhaps we will walk for miles and miles in Przemkowski Park, if no other national park is nearer. If Kraków were not too far away,  I would pay a call on Polonia Christiana.

Well, it is something to look forward to, and in the meantime I will cut all personal expenses, take a lot of vitamins, and not give the airline or the boarder guards any reason to suspect me of harbouring the Vile Germ.