POLAND, Part 3--A Polish Wedding Weekend

Tek and Ula picked a wonderful location for their 80 wedding guests--Bialowieza National Park, which extends from eastern POLAND into BELARUS.  Sioly Budy is a fairly new, outdoorsy retreat center with elegent cottages around the perimeter, a reception hall, lots of open space, and a historic 16th century preserved thatched roof home on the premises!



Can you guess what these things are?  Hint: their modern version is in the background, on the left.

Pete and I, along with his mom and aunt Tesia stayed in this cottage.  Isn't it charming?!

The cottage next door--LOVE the sunflowers against the blue and white!

Tek and Ula's wedding ceremony was a traditional Polish mass in a nearby Catholic church, Pete served as best man and I was asked to read 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13 after a friend of theirs read it in Polish, since there were a number of other guests that didn't speak Polish.  While it wasn't my first experience in a Catholic mass, I still was a bit apprehensive about sitting and kneeling and standing at the appropriate times because I was sitting separately and in the front.  But everything went well, and truly I was honored to be asked.

My handsome hubby.  His blue tie matched the blue in my blue, black, brown and white print dress.  (Which I will have to find a picture of somewhere...that's what happens when you're the one BEHIND the camera!)



Immediately afterward we all quickly returned to Sioly Budy for the reception which started at 6pm and lasted until 5am.  Appetizers were already on the tables, first course was a wild mushroom soup, and then second course was a pork chop, beet salad and potatoes.  Third course was a variety of perogies (pork, sauerkraut, mushroom, etc.) and was served at 11pm.  Fourth course was wedding cake and fruit & cream tarts made by Ula's parents (who own a bakery) which were served at 1am.  They were scrumptious and perfectly light--with just a hint of sweetness.  Finally, the fifth course was red beet soup (barszcz) which was served at 3am, but I went to bed at 2.  My contact lenses were starting to dry out and feel scratchy.

The wedding couple dancing the tango.

They had a DJ who kept things lively throughout the entire time.  I am not a dancer at all--I much prefer to watch, and a few individuals were quite enthusiastic and very entertaining!  :-)  Tek and Ula's friends had organized some games/relays.  And in addition to the traditional throwing of the bouquet the single men caught something too...then the single man who won had to pretend to propose.  At one point a bunch of funny costume pieces were handed out and more pictures were snapped.



I enjoyed talking to Pete's cousin Pawel's wife, Natalia, throughout the evening as well as our Toronto friends, Karol, Malgosia, and Karolina Kisielewski.  Pawel and the Kisielewskis were at our wedding 12 years ago!  (Karolina was 3 at the time.)

Kisielewski Family:



Here is Pawel, Natalia (who is Ukrainian), and their 2 year old son Kostyantyn.  Isn't he adorable?!  He doesn't talk much, but then again he's growing up with German, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian AND English being spoken on a regular basis.  The kid is going to be a genius!!!



The next day breakfast was available until noontime, then a wild boar roast along with leftovers from the reception was served at 3pm.  We were awake and functioning by 10am and then it was more visiting and sitting for the rest of the day.



In the next picture you can  see Pete's dad, Jurek, and his second wife Malgosia (behind the water bottle), then Pete's mom, Maria's older brother Jan, and his wife Basia (in the foreground).  Tek and Ula had a number of friends from all over the world at their wedding.  For example, at the far end of this picture there is Eduard, who is South African but lives in Brisbon, AUSTRALIA, and works in ROMAINIA.  Then Simon, who lives and works in Boulogne, FRANCE.

I honestly enjoyed meeting everyone and the language barrier wasn't too frustrating, but I've had 12+ years of being an active listener in Polish gatherings, so I'm used to it.  But one thing I was looking forward to about the 3 1/2 days Pete and I would have in Krakow, besides the time alone, was more exercise! 

It felt like all we did from Wednesday to Monday was sit in a car, bus, train or airplane, eat, or sit to talk.  And after a diet of mainly bread, potatoes, pork, eggs, and coffee, I was envisioning the 25 lbs. I've lost since Easter making a comeback.  Veggies, fruit and salad play a very small part in Polish meals, aside from root vegetables.  And except for one restaurant in Bialystok's shopping mall offering a grilled chicken Caesar salad, I came home from Poland craving vegetables and fruit.  Not a bad thing.

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Tomorrow's post: POLAND, Part 4--Arriving in Krakow and Day Trip to Oswiecim

POLAND--Part 2, Bialystok cont.'d

In another section of Koscuisko's Market Square we found this cathedral, a silver jewelry shop in a basement bunkerlike shelter, and a street art display.

It was a hot morning the Saturday Pete and I were walking around.  Around 2 we would leave to catch our bus to the wedding location, but we were on a mission of sorts that morning in addition to exploring. 

You see, in Newark we were a bit too proactive and checked my carry-on (with all the trip essentials, including wedding clothes) in as baggage last minute thinking it was too heavy.  It would have been fine.  Then, I forgot to take out my jewelry, since it hadn't been hidden at all in my carry-on.  (I hadn't intended it to leave my hands.) 

Well, you can probably guess what happened.  It was the only piece of luggage that didn't make the transfer from Munich to Warsaw in time.  And then, upon filing our claim before we left Chopin Airport, we were told it would be delivered to the address we gave in the next day or so.  I was starting to worry that we'd be wearing our traveling clothes for the wedding.  (And not only that, but everywhere we went.  Keep in mind that Europeans dress up everyday compared to Americans.)

Well, my bag was delivered on time, but as soon as I inspected its contents, I discovered my jewelry had been stolen.  :-( 

It's only jewelry, but it happened to be all my favorite earrings (and I don't own many) and a sapphire and diamond ring Pete had gotten me for Christmas and my birthday one year.  About $300 worth total.

I was so disappointed...but soon God kindly redirected any anger, and had me consider that many people have lost much more.  And jewelry can be replaced.

So...that morning we were hunting for earrings, so I would have something to accessorize my wedding outfit.  :-)

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Branicki Palace, now houses Bialystok's Medical University.

I was surprised how hot it was in Poland!  I don't know if you can tell from these pictures or not, but the sun was beating down with a fury, and it was only 9am.

For most of our trip the thermometer read 27 degrees to 32 degrees C.  (That's 85-95 degrees F folks!)  BUT, Poland does not generally have the humidity that we do, so it's bearable.  And evening temps dip down nice and low into the 50-60's F range, so you just leave your screenless windows open and eventually things get comfortable.

Now THAT is a front gate, wouldn't you say?!

Check back for tomorrow's post--Part 3, A Polish Wedding Weekend!

Our Trip To POLAND--Part 1

This blog has been silent for over a month.  It's because we were in preparation mode for pretty much all of July.  I know most of my readers are personal friends, but I don't publish when we're out of town or my husband is gone until after the fact.  So all last month I could not share what was occupying so much of my time.

My husband's younger brother, Wojciech (who goes by Tek), lives in Brussels, BELGIUM, and was tying the knot with Ula last weekend...in POLAND.  So, I FINALLY crossed the pond!  And we left the kids with my parents for 10 days. 

Passports, international driving licenses, shopping, trips to the notary to finalize our last wills & testaments and child medical release forms, packing, emptying out the refrigerator, holding mail...my head was buzzing!  BUT, we left without a hitch and a friend of my mother-in-law (who was traveling with us) drove us the 3 hours to Newark Airport, the afternoon of Wednesday, August 1st.  Our flight left at 8:20pm and after 8 1/2 hours we landed in Munich, GERMANY.  Our connecting flight left immediately after our arrival, and 1 1/2 hours later we were in Warsaw, POLAND.  Then a family friend along with Pete's aunt Tesia drove us the remaining 3 1/2 hours to his home city on the northeastern border, Bialystok.

Poland is 6 hours ahead, but we had been traveling (sitting) for 23 straight hours when we arrived at his grandmother's apartment.  We were all BONE TIRED and I hadn't been able to sleep a wink.

Pete's 89 year old babcia lives on the 10th floor of what is a typical sized apartment in the small city of Bialystok.  (See the set of windows second row from the top, right half of the row, starting with bottom panel curtains?  That's her kitchen and then one of her two bedrooms is immediately on the right.) 

This is part of her interior.  She didn't want her picture taken, so I hesitated to take many pictures while there.  She didn't speak any English, and I really do not speak much Polish beyond customary phrases...so we just smiled at each other alot.  :-)

And this is the view (left to right) out of her living room on the opposite side of the building.




Pete's mother was a civil engineer (and priorly a physical therapist) before their family moved to the States in 1986, and her company designed buildings like these during the Cold War era.  In recent years the city has done much to improve their appearance, mainly by painting.  During communism all the buildings were grey concrete...as if you were looking at the world only in black and white.

Koscuisko Market Square (and Town Hall) can be seen in the distance on the 3rd picture.  The following pictures were taken in this beautiful and quaint spot.



Pete and his aunt Tesia, catching up.  Tesia lives in Vienna, AUSTRIA, and is the firstborn of Pete's dad's two older sisters.



Nalesniki, which is Polish for crepes, and "still" bottled water.  Many Europeans drink carbonated water, but I haven't developed the taste for it yet, so I quickly learned to say "niegazowana".  Interestingly, even the restaurants refrigerated bottled water wasn't as cold as we're used to here in the States.  (We take everything to the extreme I guess, especially when it comes to our comforts.)


Painted facades...fascinating.



E. Wedel's Czekolady restaurant.  Many of us ordered the frozen cafe mocha latte, which was chocolate, strong coffee, and vanilla ice cream.  Delicious!

Check in tomorrow for a few more shots of Bialystok, namely Branicki Palace.
(There will be at least 5-6 more posts upcoming from our trip.)