Today, we met our tuides and our group of 23 folks from the UK and the US.  Everyone seems really nice.  Our tour manager is a lovely young woman named Adda.  She was born in Poland and her family still lives here.  She lives  in England and is an independent tour manager.  Our guide is a young man with impressive credentials as a Holocaust expert.  We also have a local, Polish guide with us who remembers the Holocaust as a young boy.  He and his family lived in the area designated as the Ghetto and had to move five times as the borders of the Ghetto expanded, as his family was not Jewish.  Today, we saw the Jewish Cemetery with  perhaps thousands of graves crowded in the small area.  There are two large ‘blank’ areas where there are mass graves where the thousands are buried who died each month of starvation or disease.  There is a statue dedicated to the man who ran the orphanage and altho his name wasn’t on ‘the List’ went with the children in his care when they were shipped to the gas chamber.  The children felt safe with him.  More about him later in the tour.  We saw where Mila 18 was (book by the same name by Leon Uris) and the mound that is the mass grave of the Resistance fighters of the Ghetto Uprising of 1943.  Not,far away is the memorial we saw yesterday.  Ironically, the monument is made of the stone the Nazis had that were going to be used for their Victory Memeorial when they won the war.  We spent several hours at the museum that follows a 1000 years of the Jewish History in Poland.  A beautiful new building whose entrance depicts the parting of the Red Sea…the ceilings depict the desert where the Jews wandered and the back dePicts Noah’s Ark.  The exhibits are excellent and rival the Holocaust Museum in Washington…altho only a small part of the museum is dedicated to the Holocaust.  After, that we visited the orthodox Synagogue.  It was the second largest in Warsaw.  Hitler ordered the destruction of the Great Synangogue to punish the Jews for the Ghetto Uprising, altho there were no Jews left in Warsaw.  They were all gone.  After the Uprising of 1944, the entire city was razed.  All day, we have been seeing groups of Israeli school children.  They come to Poland every summer on school trips.  We returned to the hotel after a long, but very interesting and informative day.  Went to dinner at the same great restaurant Andy and I had been to twice.  We had a set menu of Greek Salad, cold cuts and smoked herring done several ways.  Delicious!  Even had a taste of lard…the we had a choice of salmon or chicken with grilled vegetables.  For dessert, there was an apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.  An excellent dinner thoroughly enjoyed by the group.  Tomorrow, we leave after breakfast for Treblinka.

Why have I never heard about how wonderful Warsaw is?  This is a beautiful city.  So clean and full of beautiful parks and green spaces.  Flowers in bloom everywhere.  Beautiful buildings and statues of their heros.  And good food!  Today, we had a three hour tour of the city highlights. Saw the Kings palace from the 1700’s with beautiful parks and lakes all around.  This is the King I just read about in the book, Push Not the River by James Martin.  Told of the May 3rd Constitution that gave rights to the peasants in the late 1700’s and the attack by the Serbians, Austrians and the Russians.  Poland lost and was divided between the three countries and ceased to exist as Poland for 123 years until it was restored in 1918 after WWI.  Poland was the first European country to have a democratic constitution.  We saw the monuments to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and the area that was once the Jewish Ghetto.  Poland before  WW II had the second largest Jewish population in Europe…about 30% of the Poles were Jews.  After WWII only 1% remained.  During the 123 years that Poland didn’t exist, the Polish people kept their language, foods, traditions, catholic faith and heritage.  Very proud people.  During WWII, the Nazis bombed Warsaw to rubble.  But, a famous artist had painted the buildings in the Old Town in such detail that they were able to restore them almost exactly as before.  They reused every piece of building material that could be salvaged to rebuild.  In the 1980’s, Warsaw Old Town was named a Unesco World Heritage Site.  Most World Heritage Sites are old, but Warsaw was named because of the outstanding renovation that was done.  We went to a park dedicated to Chopin.  There is a beautiful statue of him under a willow tree statue.  Concerts  are played in this park that is full of white and pink rose bushes.  There are benches in 15 places in town that play Chopins music when a button is pushed.  We saw Madame Curie’s house, the first woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize and the only woman to win two.  After the tour, we stayed and walked around the big square in Old Town.  Eating places dot the square with outdoor tables and lots of flowers.  There is a statue of a mermaid in the center surrounded by a shallow pond.  She is said to be the older sister of the Hans Christian Anderson’s mermaid in Copenhagen.  Her name and her husband’s name combined in Polish make the word Warsaw.  Artists have their paintings in the square as well.  Great day.  Back in the hotel after dinner at the same place and same meal we had for lunch yesterday…minus the perogies.  Meet with our group tomorrow morning for a full day of sightseeing more of Warsaw.  I highly recommend a trip here.  A beautiful, historic city.  The only drawback is not understanding a word of Polsih.  We tried to learn Thank You from our waitress this morning.  Polish people around us were laughing at our attempts to say the word.  Utter failure!

Oh my…what a breakfast at the hotel in Warsaw!  Fresh fruit, melon, grapefruit, oranges, bananas,watermelon and fresh juices.  Breads of every description.  Cereals etc. Yogurts. Then…pickled herring, smoked fish, dill sauce, sour cream with herbs, pickles, cucumbers, radishes, tomatoes, cheeses, homemade jams and jellies…I’m sure I missed something…but what a spread!  The pickled herring was absolutely delicious.  I used to have it when a lady at my cousin’s church in Dallas used to make it.  Not something I think about having, but it sure is good!  More to follow.  We have our City Tour in about an hour.  

Caught a plane to Warsaw, Poland today.  Got here and caught a cab to the Radisson hotel where we will meet our tour group tomorrow evening.  We asked the front desk for a lunch recommendation and it was just a couple of blocks away on our same street.  There are flowers in bloom all along the street and the little restaurant had a profusion of flowers, shiny red shutters and a red door.  We sat outside under umbrellas…and it was chilly!  It feels so good not to be burning up…like in Italy.  For lunch, we shared a pork shank with horseradish and grainy mustard, cabbage and mushrooms, crispy small potatoes, potato latkes with freshly made sour cream and some pirogues.  Weren’t wild about the potato stuffed pirogues, but the rest was wonderful!  The pirogues remind me too much of gnocchi…and I really don’t like it.  After the delicious lunch, we went to a big mall that is being remodeled, and found a Thai massage place.  We made an appointment for 5 pm and went back to the hotel to rest a bit.  Had a wonderful massage for an hour and it was only 27.50€…in Polish money.  Quite a bargain.  Food is very inexpensive too.   After the massage, we went to another restaurant and got lamb with tomato sos….that is tomatoe sauce in case you are wondering, with fresh sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, sour cream and a vegetable  latke.   Too much food…but good.   We are back in bed now after a good, hot shower.  Tomorrow morning we are going on a 3 hour tour of the Old,Town, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Haven’t learned a single word of Polish.  Can’t read any signs.  I’m sure we will manage!

Tonight we went to the restaurant downstairs and they started bringing in the table settings from outside and moving the tables and umbrellas close to the building.  The street was being cleared for the Procession of the Giant statue of the Madonna of Carmine.  This huge statue of Mary and Baby Jesus are enclosed in a huge ex-voto I guess  it would be called….a huge gold wooden frame that surrounds them.  It appears to be at least 20 feet tall and 10-15 feet wide.  The frame is carved with cherubs and has golden rays shooting out around the statues.  Beautiful flower arrangements on two sides in front and all across the back of the frame. They are both richly dressed in lace and have gold crowns on their heads.  First there was a Mass at 5:30 at the church where this statue resides.  Then the procession came down our street.  First came the police cars with lights flashing.  They would block a cross street from traffic cutting thru. Then came hundreds of priests and nuns all saying the Rosary together.  Every now and then the whole procession would stop and a band would play.  It was either a police or military band.  Then people would sing and they would move on.  One priest would ring a bell and the giant statue would  be lowered.  Another bell and it would be raised and moved some more.  The statue was carried by about 20 men – 10 on each side and it was obviously very heavy.  It was very old and very beautiful.  Probably over a thousand people followed behind the statue.  They turned the corner at the end of the street and were gone.  As was I.  But it was another serendipitous event in Italy.  And another feast day.  And today is Little Augustus Minshall’s third birthday!  He is a darling French Bulldog I started taking care of the day he came to live with Stacy and Christian.  I actually took care of him for almost a week before Stacy ever knew he was there.  Happy Birthday to my little friend!

Think the heat is frying my brain…I missed a whole day of adventure to tell you about.  Must have been Monday…in Florence.  The girls had a tour and I had promised friend Diane I would take a bracelet she bought in Florence years ago to be repaired near Santa Croce Church.  I walked over there and the store is called The Gold Market.  It was PACKED!  It was like they were having a half price sale on gold…except there wasn’t a sale….just people looking at gold jewelry.  There must have been 50 people in there!  After I got my business taken care of, I decided to walk another half mile to go to the Florence Quilt Store I had read about on-line.  By the time I got there I was a dripping mess.  Drank all my water, was hot and tired and really looking forward to the treat of the store…which evidently closed the beginning of the year!  100% empty.  I would have cried if I’d had enough liquid in me for tears!  Two doors from the closed quilt store was a cute yarn shop and I stopped in there.  She must have purchased the last of the fabric from the quilt store closing, because she had a few boxes and I got a couple of small pieces…so it wasn’t a totally waster trek.  Had the lady call a cab for me back to the Ponte Vecchio.  We were meeting at a restaurant for lunch.  This was a very nice place Evan had taken me several years ago on my birthday, and I was again there for his birthday.  Il Santo Bevitore is the name of the place.  The food is,delicious, but the service was so bad as to be non-existent!  I got there 30 minutes before the girls, obviously burning up hot.  I was seated, but the waiter took 20 minutes to ask if I wanted something to drink.  When the girls arrived, we all needed help with the menu…I didn’t know what several of the dishes were and none of us could read the writing for the specials of the day.  He was very bored telling us what was on the menu.  We got our food and that was it.  Cheri got a salad and he brought balsamic vinegar and salt.  I finally got up and got us olive oil, pepper and Parmesan cheese from a sideboard.  He never came back to our table.  Had to get another waited to tell him we needed our check.  Don’t think he likes Americans.  He paid attention to the Italians in the restaurant.  Hope they blessed him with a tip…cause we didn’t.  Tipping is very different in Italy…it isn’t expected and certainly no 20% is ever given.  Usually just a bit of change is what is left for a tip..and we have certainly been generous when we have had good service…like with Marco at Trattoria ANGIOLINO down the street.  If I ever go back to Il Santo Bevitore and see this same waiter, I will walk out.  We went back to Marco’s place for dinner again.  

Ok all caught up with my missing day.  Time to bring in the last load of clothes from the line and put out another.  

Stuff is drying in about 15 minutes.  Meeting friend Kimberly for,hamburgers tonight.  She went to the beach yesterday and fainted on the train coming home.  This heat is brutal.  Hope,it is cooler where you are!

i forgot to tell you a funny scene in Arezzo.  We were all sitting in a sidewalk cafe having cappuccino one morning and a lady was walking toward us with a French Bulldog.  I made eye contact with him and said, ‘ Buon Giorno!’ That dog lit up like a Christmas tree and nearly pulled his leash out of the lady’s hand to run to me and jump up to be petted!  It wa so funny.  Like I was his long lost best friend in the world.  His name was Tyson and he was a love bug!  Hated to see him go.

We finished up in Florence, caught a cab to the train station as it was too hot to walk, especially with all the luggage full of treasures.  The train was going to be two Hours late due to a fire on the track, so we rebooked on another and didn’t have to wait too long.  It was pretty hot on the train…it is just too hot for the A/c to work anywhere.  Hitting 100 every day…with high humidity.  Got home…took showers to cool off and went for dinner.

Since tomorrow will be Janet and Cheri’s last day we plan to do whatever they want.  Think Janet and I will go to the Bone Church and Mediterranean place for lunch, and think Cheri wants to stay home where it is cool.  We will go to dinner and bed early for their 8 am cab pickup on Thursday.  Andy and I will wash sheets, towels, clothes, etc and get ready for our trip to Poland on Monday.  

Unless something exciting happens, I,probably won’t write again until we get settled in the hotel in Warsaw Monday night.  See you then, friends!

We got up early and went back to get one last look at the treasures.  The man had brought more things for Janet and I started looking for the little ribbon tape booth.  Couldn’t find them anywhere.  Figured someone thought they were as cool as we did and bought them all.  As we were leaving, Janet spotted them in a booth and we bargained with the woman and got the whole bag – at a great bargain.  Cheri and I will split them.  We caught the train to Florence and took a cab to our B&B.  I have stayed there several times and it is in a fun neighborhood with cute shops and good restaurants and isn’t too touristy.  It is across the river from the Duomo via the Ponte Vecchio.  History lesson here:  in ancient times, the shops on the bridge were butcher shops.  The Medicis who lived nearby couldn’t stand the smell, so closed the butcher shops and put goldsmiths in them and they remain to this day.  Many of the shops have modern jewelry and a few have only vintage.  A statue to Cellini, the great goldsmith, stands in the middle of the bridge. There is a metal fence around his statue with a sign saying it is illegal to put locks on the fence.  You can barely read the sign for all the locks!  Couples put their initials on the locks, attach them to the fence and throw the key into the river…symbolizing their “forever love”.   Many times, these love locks on bridges around the world have had to be removed because the weight of the thousands of locks has compromised the bridges!  During WWII, the Nazis blew up all the bridges in Florence….except for the Ponte Vecchio because a Nazi general knew of its history and thought it should be saved.  Of course, it is an iconic symbol of Florence as is the Duomo.  

We found a wonderful restaurant for lunch and our waiter, Marco was wonderful.  After lunch we walked around and found a darling dress shop.  Getting back to the B&B to rest up, we noticed a clothes shop across the street that was having a sale, the lights were on and the sales lady was on the phone.  Didn’t realize until later that she really wasn’t open…she was there setting up everything for the BIG SALE starting the next day!  But we shopped and she was happy to sell.  I was too hot to try on clothes, so put back about 10 pieces to try at 10am Monday when they opened.  You know me, I was there before she got there to open on Monday Morning.  By 10:15  the shop was packed…so glad I had set back the pieces I wanted to try on.   We all bought more stuff there.  Can’t wait to be back in September to see their fall and winter line.  Maybe I’ll get lucky with another sale.  

Later that evening, we returned to Trattoria ANGIOLINO for dinner…where we had lunch.  We were going to have the famous Florentine steak that looked so good at another table at lunchtime.  We wanted to start with chicken liver pate bruschetta, but Marco said it would be too much food with the steak.  He was right.  We shared two steaks among the 4 of us.  They came with roasted potatoes with rosemary and we ordered spinach.  The meal was outstanding!  The meat was melt in your mouth tender and the spinach was so tender it was like a soufflé.  The Florentine steak is a giant t-bone and it is charred on the outside and very rare on the inside.  And this restaurant did the best job of any I’ve had.  

Back to the B&B for a good nights sleep in the air conditioning.  Tomorrow, the girls are going on a Dante’s Inferno (from Dan Brown’s book) Tour, and I’m running errands.  I will do the tour when it is cooler.  

This morning, we were up,early to have coffee and be off to the Antiques Fair.  The vendors were just setting up when we arrived at the first street and we started shopping.  Andy and Cheri lost interest early and decided to scope out the entire fair as Janet and I inspected everything.  The first thing I bought was an antique lace baby bonnet…and it was already marked down 50%!  I do love a bargain.  Janet was finding all sorts of treasures and having a wonderful time.  Then I found some type of ribbons.  They are about 1/2 inch wide with two initials sewn  in red every inch or so.  Some have numbers done the same way.  They are almost like the tape you would see in clothes to go to camp…but they are old and there are hundreds of different initials.  I found one that was L.R.  I bought that and one with numbers.  Janet and I went to every booth and sometimes she needed me to translate, but often not…money talks!  Everyone was so nice…pleased to,be,able to show their wares and give explanations.  I met a man who sold etchings and he was a delight.  Spoke beautiful English and said he became proficient reading books in English…and reads at least one a week.  I told him I read that much as well…also in English!  We had fun discussing our favorite authors.  I will have a list of good books for him the next time I see him.  Then we met the girls for lunch at a restaurant that had been recommended to us by the Tourist Information lady.  It was very good.  I had a pasta with wild boar sauce.  I really like that sauce and also rabbit.  After lunch, Andy and Cheri went to the Archeological Museum and Janet and I continued our quest for treasures.  I found a vintage cup towel with the initials ER…so someone I know will get that.  Also got a pair of shorts and the fabric will make a wonderful trim on a blouse…you didn’t really think you would see me in shorts, did you??  I found a wonderful original drawing of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf…and I collect LRRH stuff.  Now most of these booths are in the shade and the heat wasn’t too bad in the hours before lunch…but after lunch the temperatures were close to 100 degrees and it was pretty miserable.  I stopped at one of the every flowing fountains and stuck my whole head under the spout.  There were two men watching and one asked if I would like to have a shower?  I said yes!  He got up, got a pitcher and a colander, filled the pitcher with that wonderful cold water, held the colander over my head and poured the water…TA Da!  A shower!  I will forever wish we had gotten a picture of that!  We all had a good laugh and I got cool for a few minutes.  Janet and I finally got thru every booth or every street, so,we headed for the hotel.  Rested a bit and went next door to the place where we had pizza and had dinner.  We decided to get back to row one early the next day, because one of the vendors said he would bring more of the things Janet was buying.  Cheri and I decided we really liked the tapes with the red initials and wanted to get more.  We decided we could use them for trim with sewing, tying gifts or reselling on EBay!  It was a successful day for all.  I was thrilled to hear that Janet thought this fair was as good as the Paris Flea Market and wants to come again.  I’m all for that!

Today in Arezzo, we went next door for coffee, then went to Old Town.  We saw the Cathedral and another church.  Then we went to a museum of religious art.  Had lunch in town at a place recommended by Trip Advisor.  I had a very good pasta with rabbit sauce.  After lunch, we went back to the hotel to rest and recuperate from the heat.  It is about 100 degrees here daily and nothing in town is air conditioned. After awhile, we went to dinner at a cute little deli down the street.  Andy noticed a dog in a car across the street from the deli.  So, we started looking for the owner.  And I’m trying to negotiate all the search in Italian.  We thought we had found the owner…a grizzly,old guy who said it was his dog that he loved like a child.  He’s drunk, but I’m telling him needs to get his dog out.  We find a few other people and we are all looking for the owner and Andy rolls down the back windows to give the dog more air.  One shop owner offers to call the police.  The drunk guy doesn’t move.  Then, all of a sudden, after we went back to eat, the owner of the car comes out of another shop and drives off.  The old drunk was just trying to fool us.  Went back to hotel and tried to sleep in the heat.  The hotel would be great any other time of the year…just not when A/C is needed.   Tomorrow, the Antique fair starts.  I am really hoping it will be good for,Janet’s sake and she will find the kinds of things she needs for her jewelry making.  We will see tomorrow.