GOODBYE WARSAW--HELLO, MEMPHIS!!

    


"What a marvelous day we had!" Ania, Ben, and I said to each other after we reluctantly said goodbye to Bernard, our limo driver.  We entered Polonia Palace Hotel. It was 10 pm. We were back soon enough to watch the Warsaw New Years Eve celebration and fireworks. We stopped at the desk. 

"A happy surprise awaits you in your suite. Someone from Memphis is waiting for you there. He showed his drivers license to verify he is from your city. He has brought flowers."


"Oh, Larry is here!! Guess he came to thank us for a job well done today," I said...a little glad, a little annoyed!


When we entered the room, not Larry, but someone else was there.
Ania exclaimed, "It's him, it's him. I told you, I TOLD you." She looked away as she grabbed my hand.


The man said, "Please Ania. Please. Don't turn away. You know how much I love you..."


So here was Mr. Z____. He looked more pathetic than anything, not like a pervert!?! I suddenly felt compassion for this poor man, who was crying. 

I could see Ben and I were thinking alike on this.


Ben said, "I think Ania has something to say to you."
Mr. Z___opened his eyes and looked up.


Annia looked surprised at what Ben had said. She dropped my hand and stood straight. It is as though a light had gone off in her brain.   





As Ania looked straight at Mr. Z_____, she said in a clear young lady voice, not a child's voice, "Mr.  Z____, I will never be able to thank you enough for being such a wonderful teacher. "   He cried harder.   "I am sorry you think you are in love with me" Ania continued.  "I could never ever  love you in a romantic way. Yet I will never forget you, because you made me the pianist I am and without you I couldn't have gotten this scholarship. Thank you so much. Every note I play will remind me of what a great teacher you are." She did not shed a tear, she did not tremble, she did not look afraid."

Then Ben did a strange thing. He lifted his cane straight up toward the ceiling and just held it that way as he talked. Not in a menacing way but in a way that showed he was serious when he said, "Now, right NOW, on New Years Eve, in this room you are going to give up your fantasy about Ania. You have almost ruined her life. But she is stronger now and will never be afraid of you again. You obviously have a lot of love to give..I hope it will be to an adult woman who can love you in return."Ben lowered his cane. 


 I said, "We had better leave now and go downstairs or we will miss the fireworks. Mr. Z____, you are welcome to stay here as you think things over. We will see you again after the New Year comes in." 

Downstairs there was a ball going on with glamour as its theme.  Some people were dressed in evening clothes. It was all so fancy. We walked outside. We went back to the Old Town Square, just a mile away. Throngs of people gather there for the general festivities and especially the fireworks. I was thinking that so recently Ania had run away from this place because she was so frightened.    
"What happened, Ania? How did you suddenly become so brave?" I asked.
Ania answered, " You know, when I kicked that robber, it was like I was kicking Mr. Z____!!" The fireworks began.
                                          
As we walked back to the hotel, the whole sky was gorgeous all the way. People were dancing and hugging and laughing.



Across the street from Hotel

At midnight we went back into the hotel looking for something to eat.


We sampled many things, even a little of the goose we had been avoiding. Then we looked at each other and headed back to Bojangles one last time. Yes!  Hamburgers!!


We ate at that table near the window. Soon the smoke from the fireworks was gone. 2011 was gone. We  did not dread going upstairs.


We found our suite empty. There was a note on the coffee table.


                        Dear Ben, Annie, and Ania,
                                     I guess I cried it all out tonight. 
                         I am leaving and won't ever
                         bother Ania again. I have been
                         offered a job teaching at a junior
                         college in Indiana beginning in
                         two weeks. I didn't want to leave
                         Memphis in case Ania returned.
                         Now,I will take it. I wish
                         you all well.......Z


Ben said to Ania, "Now you are free to do what you want. Go home to Memphis or stay for one semester in Warsaw.


An idea came to me. "Ania, I have a dear friend who lives alone in a large and beautiful home in Memphis. She is in Rosario, Argentina, right now helping in a soup kitchen. Carmine will be back in the spring; I assure you that she would love to have you share her home. She plays the piano by ear, herself, and loves music. She has a grand piano  and would love nothing more than hearing you play it. We can buy your return ticket now for the end of this semester, if you like this plan."


I got ready for bed; then I looked in on Ania. She was already asleep, looking so peaceful. We knew she would be fine. So much had happened in such a short time.


  Ben and I went to sleep also. When we awoke, we were at home in Memphis.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!
ben and annie in memphis 

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DOWN, DOWN, UNDER THE GROUND IN POLAND

                                                    


GOOD MORNING FROM WARSAW!! December 31
And it IS a good morning. We thought we would never get our
stamina and enthusiasm back after that meeting at the American Embassy last night. But we are awake now and feeling wonderful after a good night's rest.  Even Ania.




Since money is no object, when you have a bottomless pit of monopoly money, we hired an English speaking tour driver,
Bernard, and a limo to take us to Krakow. It will be a three hour drive.  Bernard, our driver ( facsimile)
                           


  (Former) CIA Agent, Larry, gave instructions for us to be at the salt mine by 1:20 pm so we can get in on the l:45 English speaking tour.  Someone, unbeknownst to us, will be watching; so when I drop the handkerchief, it will be quickly retrieved.  The handkerchief is in my purse. Hope I don't mess this up!?!!


    


  We arrived in Krakow in exactly three hours. It was noon. 
                                 Krakow
 Until then Bernard had said little because we we were napping all the way. But once in this beautiful city, he talked constantly.
Bernard began, "Poland is the largest East European country with a population of around 39 million. It is about the size of Italy or Germany. And in your America a little larger than, say, New Mexico." To us strangers it seemed huge!
                                Krakow


Bernard continued, "I don't say this just because I was born here, but Krakow is the most beautiful and fascinating city in Poland.  The attraction is not just the splendid architecture and the treasures of art, reminders of when it was the royal capital city, before 1596,-- but also the unique ambience of the former  Jewish district and the masterpieces of Polish Art."


Ania asked how many people live here? Bernard said 750,000.


Bernard delivered his prepared speech in an interesting way.
"Fortunately,  it escaped WWII with no major fighting or bombing. It remains almost unscathed even after 50 years of communist rule. Of course, Poland is a democracy now." 


" I think you will find this interesting,"Bernard continued, The first written record of Krakow was made by a Jewish merchant from Cordoba. It was already an established city in 965!!  The legend is that the founder was named Krak, and he ruled happily until a terrible dragon appeared and moved into a cave under Wawel hill. It was eventually defeated by a clever cobbler."

Bernard was a delight!! We only wished we were REAL TOURISTS and could walk, not be driven. But there wasn't time for that. We did stop at a few places and got out to get a better look. Wawell Castle and Cathedral next door.

 

v            

We also stopped at two churches and went inside, even sat down a few minutes.  A calming preparation for the task ahead.
 St. Ann's      St. Mary's






  Mostly we drove up and down streets as Bernard gave us  more information than we could ever remember. But we did enjoy all of it.
              


 You will see in one picture there is a McDonald's. Naturally we got the driver to stop so we could buy some hamburgers. They were somehow different from the ones in Memphis, but still delicious to these far from home travelers. 
  huge square!! Bernard then said we needed to move on. Nervously, we agreed.
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Then we went to southeast part of Krakow to the little town of
Wieliczka of 20,000 people.

Bernard told us, "This mine has been worked for 900 years. Millions of people have gone through it--Gothe, Sarah Bernhardt, Chopin, even former President Clinton." We will see and learn much more once we start the English speaking tour at 1:45. Bernard said he had been down there many times, but today he would stay above ground and visit friends. Then Bernard will return for us when it is over. 


We arrived at l:20 as instructed. I began to wonder if it had been a good idea to hire this limo; we stuck out. Not like spies would stick out, but like rich or important people would stick out. Oh well, too late now.  


The mine wasn't impressive from the outside. 



Very simple. All the glories were far down, down, under the ground.




A duke had founded it centuries ago to mine salt.  The miners did more than mine salt as we would soon see. We couldn't wait.  I don't think Ania was totally relieved of her fear, but she was distracted by all we were seeing today. Also, she knew about the handkerchief drop and was excited to be in on it.


Right on the dot, 1:45 pm our English speaking tour guide led us down MANY steps, until we got down to the first area we would see.  We were going down under the town in picture below. 


The guide's English wasn't as good as Bernard's, but just fine. We understood everything. "This tour will last three hours. Feel free to ask questions as we move along. We are 64 m deep right now. You will see twenty chambers; the tour will end at 135 m below the earth surface. Glad you could make it today, because it will be closed tomorrow for New Years Day."
              
 old drawing of miners

Light                            Statues Passage                       Chapel
 Staircase                      Pond
 Chapel Madonna        
 
 

There was a cafe in the mine, about l/3 of the way down. People had their jackets thrown across their chairs. The temperature in the mine is 59 degrees year round.

We had just heard the tour guide explain about the chandeliers. "Amazingly, the chandeliers in the cathedral are made of salt...not simply hewn from the ground and thrown together. The rock was disolved and then reconstituted with the impurities taken out so it achieved this glass like finish." Ben, Ania, and I lagged behind, looking up at the chandeliers. Suddenly, someone ran toward us and grabbed my big purse. Ben took his walking cane and hit the robber's left arm, causing him to drop my purse. As I grabbed it back, Ania kicked him in a place that would hurt the most. He fled.  So two old people and a sixteen year old girl won out over a robber. Guess he hadn't heard about folks from Memphis. We started laughing. The acoustics in the mine are known for being fabulous. Our merry sounds carried a long way.  Soon we would reach the assignment destination. In the chapel. We sat on the front row. Ben on one side of me and Ania on the other. I pulled out two handkerchiefs together. I faked a cough and put my own handkerchief to my mouth and discreetly dropped the special handkerchief on the floor. No one noticed and the group moved on for one more hour of the tour. For us our mission was accomplished and we could relax.                               

*********************************************************************


Although we had enjoyed the tour immensely, we were delighted to see Bernard standing by the limo. There was a note under the windshield wiper.  "Dziekuje."  
Thank you in Polish.


 Ania exclaimed, "Look!"
                     
We passed a fence with many handkerchiefs on it, as if someone placed them there to catch our eye?! By it was an old woman waving the very handkerchief I dropped just an hour ago. She was throwing kisses. Ania and I thew some back to her. . 
Suddenly she vanished. It made us feel wonderful to know we had a small part in giving her peace about her brother. She might not know where he is, but she knows he is fine!!!


We went an hour further. We wanted to see Auschwitz very much. When we arrived, it had closed for the day and tomorrow. It was dark but we could see a little through the fence. We stood a few moments in silent respect for the people who died here. 


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Then we said, "Hotel, Bernard!!!" Soon we were laughing and singing and having a wonderful time. We started singing songs Elvis made famous;  Bernard joined in. Dudn't that beat all?
The club sandwiches from Bojangles, we had brought from the hotel l2 hours ago, tasted pretty good.


Tomorrow we'll wind up this story. It is mostly about Ania and will be the shortest blog entry so far.
 Til then, goodnight from the road back to Warsaw!!
v
ben and annie
If you are enjoying this story, look for conclusion:
GOODBYE WARSAW, HELLO MEMPHIS
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