Poland!

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Hello Everyone!!

I am so sorry that it took me so long to write an entry. I have been busy trying to learn Polish and eating tons of amazing Polish food.

I arrived in Europe on Saturday July14th and flew into Wroclaw where Ola, Martin and Ola's aunt met me. I toured around the old city of Wroclaw the next day. I saw the oldest pub in Europe where celebrities like Beethoven and Chopin used to grab a drink! The old town is really pretty, cobblestone everywhere (as in most European cities) and very colourful buildings. We didn't spend much time in Wroclaw because friends of Ola's parents took us to their cottage in the countryside near the border of the Czech Republic.

Before heading to the cottage we decided to go see the castle Ksiadz. The castle is absolutely beautiful! It is set among the tree covered hills and towers over a tiny village (or what used to be the village). There are some very regal looking rooms inside, but unfortunately they are not the same as they once used to be due to the Germans stealing a lot of the artwork and statues when they took hold of the castle during WWII.

After the castle we made our way over to the cottage. It was so neat! The cottage is in a small town where people raise cows, chickens and we even saw people carrying hay in a horse drawn wagon!!! Soooo cool!

The next day we went to the Saduty mountains where there are underground mines built by the Nazi prisoners during WWII. The tunnels were out of this world!! Apparently there are 216,000 km2 of tunnels in the mountains, and legend has it that there is a tunnel that connects the mountains to the Ksiadz castle which are probably 100km apart!! The tunnels were dark and creepy and I can't imagine having been forced to work in them for 11 hours a day like the prisoners were.

The following day, we went to a famous national park called Adrspach Rocks in the Czech Republic that has very cool stone formations. We went hiking for the afternoon to get some good exercise in.

Anywho, I'm out of time at the internet cafe, but I will continue my stories another time. Hope you are all doing well!! I will post pictures soon too!!

Val

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