A Too Brief Visit to Poland

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April 4, 2009

We had our last day in Lithuania. During John’s final class, the students were most insistent on our seeing more of Lithuania. On Friday, we traveled to Trakai to see the Trakai Castle Island. It is exactly as the name decrees. It was built during the 13th century and has the requisite towers and moots. It is situated in the middle of a lake that is presently frozen much to the consternation of the many beautiful white swans who are walking on the ice. The castle has been invaded many times going back to the Crusaders. It met its demise during the Russian invasion in the 1600s. Oddly enough, the Russians helped to finance its rebuilding in the 20th century. It houses many museums displaying armor and weaponry of the crusader era, furniture, pipes (from the time that tobacco became the status symbol of the day after its discovery in America). The pipes were in every shape imaginable with beautiful carvings. It must have been quite the fad. The most interesting exhibit was the one of coins. It seems that during the 15th and 16th centuries people hid their coins in the earth in sealed pottery jars called hoards. Thus comes the phrase hoarding your money. They have unearthed many of these jars in the process of rebuilding the castle as well as the excavation of the surrounding areas. The coins are fascinating. They have also been used as decorative pieces in plates, goblets, candy dishes, belt buckles and jewelry.

We continued on to Kaunas. John noted to his students that every word in :Lithuanian ends in a vowel or the letter s. They agreed though had no idea why. Kaunas is a much larger city than Vilnius. It once was the capital but was not as interesting as Vilnius. We did go to the major supermarket called HyperMaxima. It resembles a high quality WalMart.. The major difference is that the perimeter of the building houses small independently run shops of all varieties. The supermarket area itself was wonderful. They take great care in presenting their food items such as: meats, fish, cakes, lunchmeats, ready made foods, and cheeses. They have all varieties of smoked and fresh fish. There were several tanks filled with large fish - up to 50 in a tank. You pick your fish and they net it. Talk about fresh. It reminded me of the fish market on Marshall Street off of Girard Ave in Philadelphia that I used to go with my grandmother who lived in an apartment on Girard Ave. It was a wonderful time in my life.

There is no such luxury as enough time to see everything. We returned to Vilnius in an attempt to finish our sightseeing but were most unsuccessful. There is too much to see and do here. The history continues to evolve for us. The Basilica was used as a truck repair depot during the Soviet era. The Church of St Casimir, a Jesuit church, was used as a Museum for Atheism during that same time. Both churches have been returned to their congregations and are used as functioning churches and museums. The Lithuanians look upon the Soviet occupation as a most hated period in their history

In the churches, it was interesting to note their Lenten observance. For those of us who recall the covering of all of the statues in purple during lent, the Lithuanian churches continue this tradition in a more modern form. They cover the crucifix over the altar and frequently the Stations of the Cross in a purple gauze fabric which is translucent. Over some of the altars, the cloth hangs from floor to ceiling at an angle as a shield. It has an ethereal quality. It is quite beautiful.

We visited the Church of St Theresa where they seem to have continual mass. Napoleon visited this church and wished to take it back to Paris to enjoy its beauty. It was there that I finally saw the elderly and disabled begging.. We were approached by a young Russian male who had a leg cast on. He pleaded that the Lithuanians would not help him because he was Russian. He needed $70 to pay for one day of hospital care. He had tears that turned off and on; it was difficult to assess the reality of the situation. We did help but not as much as he wanted. There is no place exempt of those in need.

I watch the older women of this area. As beautiful as the young are, the older women carry the weight of their history. They look like the picture I have had of the Eastern European women. We are of similar stature but the are more square of body than I. They are probably younger in age that their appearance. They carry themselves with a heaviness that is not just their physical weight. They are women who have seen hard work and very hard times. Their work continues. They wear their babouskas similar to uniform of jeans of the young.

We left Vilnius this morning to go to Warsaw. The roads have been surprisingly good. It took only 6 hours to get from Lithuania to Warsaw. The weather has been incredible. We have seen snow, rain, cold, sun and now beautiful Spring temperature 76 degrees. On the road, we spotted many stork nests - some were empty and some were inhabited by pairs of storks. On our way to Lithuanian, all were empty. They are amazing to see.

Warsaw is huge with both old and very modern buildings. How did they recover from World War II? If I did not know the devastation that was theirs, I could never conceive that anything had happened here. It is really incredible. We had a lovely dinner with the Jersey Knight and Krystyna. Thank you Krystyna for arranging it. We have learned so much from all of the people we have been fortunate to meet.

We are off to Krakow tomorrow. If we are lucky enough to get an internet connection, you may be seeing one more blog. Hope I haven’t bored you. It has been fun writing this and it will certainly be helpful to me in my memory lapsed state.

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