kalembasinpoland2

[kalembasinpoland2]

Day 10: Warsaw/Chicago

Up at 8 and downstairs for breakfast in the courtyard. Blue skies. Today is to be the warmest of the trip. Probably a go thing to be heading home now, as our fourth floor (fifth for Americans) has no a/c. It’s been comfortable, however no duvet is needed. 

Sebastian got up at 10 and while he packed I played some more Chopin on the piano. I had the idea at one point of seeing where Władysław Szpilman (or Adrien Brody to movie goers) hid out during the war. Instead I played on our living room piano that he once played. 

We checked out at 11. We left our bags and took the scooters to Stare Miasto. Needing to feed Sebastian, we hit a restaurant across from the cathedral. We are going to visit the archdiocesan museum around the corner, where a few more Beksiński paintings are displayed. 

The Beksiński gallery has about 25 paintings. The rest of the museum has more art and plenty of monstrances, chasubles, stoles, icons and JP II’s bike.

We then headed, via scooters, back to the hotel get our bags and wait for the uber to the airport. 

Uber driver was early and we don’t check bags, so we have about an hour before boarding. One difference between America security and Warsaw security is that you have to remove your watch and belt. However, you can keep your shoes on. Oh, and the airport is so warm. Americans and our klimat- as Nick Palmer says. 

Finishing the blog with a photo of the photo of the photo. ;-) it’s my way of remembering my father. 

So until next time, Poland. Do zobaczenia. 

[kalembasinpoland2]

Day 9: Warsaw

Up this morning at 8 AM, went to breakfast in the hotel. Enjoyed my coffee and breakfast in the courtyard of the hotel. I then decided to grab one of the scooters and went to the park located on the former grounds of the Saxon Palace. This is the location of the tomb of the unknown soldier, the site of a Papal mass, and the ruins of the former palace. The palace was destroyed in the World War II. At one point, a young Chopin and his family lived in the palace. His father taught in a school there. I then decided to pop into a few churches that I missed from  previous visits. Many of the streets, including Nowy Świat, were blocked from vehicle traffic by the police. Pedestrians, bikes and scooters still had access. I was wondering if the president, whose residence nearby was in transit.  

I came back to the room a little after 10 and Sebastian was awake. While he was getting ready, I played some Chopin nocturnes on the Steinway in our living room. We then grabbed the scooters and headed to the central train station. Sebastian wanted to visit another neighborhood where we could find lunch and do some thrifting/vintage clothing shopping. One of the shops was closed and another one was rather small, so we decided to head for lunch at a Greek restaurant. Across the street was Hala Mirowska, an indoor and outdoor market with many local produce stands.

After lunch, we took the scooters once again to the Nowy Miasto, the new town that actually is older than the Stare Miasto (old town). The old town was completely destroyed after the Warsaw uprising and rebuilt to look as it was before the war. On the way we could see people heading to the pride parade somewhere nearby. I showed Sebastian a few churches including the cathedral. As we entered the Rynek we could hear the sounds of music from the parade. We discovered the reason that the streets were being blocked was the pride parade. We wound up walking alongside the parade on the sidewalk heading back to our room. 

Sebastian wanted to visit another thrift store and I wanted to take our dirty laundry to a self-serve laundromat nearby. I grabbed a scooter with a bag full of dirty clothes and headed to the laundromat. I got there and discovered that my credit cards through my phone nor my actual credit card could be read by the card reader to use the machines. Cash was only accepted for small bills, which I didn’t have. So with some laundry soap and bag full of dirties, I headed back to the hotel to wash them in our large kitchen sink. Spending the next hour washing and rinsing (multiple times) of our clothes was not on my itinerary. Wet clothes are hanging and draped all over our kitchen. I’m hoping the somewhat dry by noon tomorrow. After Sebastian returned from his thrifting, where he purchased a belt, we began to search for dinner. 

Sebastian found a traditional Polish restaurant that looked rather high end. It was in a neighborhood that required several metro stops to get to. I looked online for reservations, but could not see away to do online reservations. I decided to go downstairs to the reception and ask about the place. They said it was very popular and very good. I asked if reservations are needed and they said they could call for me and try to get a reservation. She got us in for 8:30 (having to repeat my first name-they had no problem with my Polish surname). With that accomplished, we started the walk to the central metro station. From there, it would be three stops south taking about 20 minutes in total, then a 15 minute walk. As I was walking down the metro stairs, my right Achilles tendon went into spasm. It had been tender for the last couple days and now it genuinely hurt to walk down the stairs. So I made use of the elevators and once we got off the metro, I found a scooter and made my way to the restaurant. Sebastian walked/ran since there was only one scooter available. We arrived right at 8:30. Sebastian had the braised venison and I had gołąbki and spinach pierogi. After the meal, we both used the scooters back to metro, as Sebastian’s ankle was achy as well.

Returning to the hotel, Sebastian ran across the street to acquire some Soplica vodka (hazelnut flavor), beer and snacks. In for the night-we site here finishing our oscypek cheese with piwo with raspberry syrup-and eventually a little Soplica. Home tomorrow.

Dobranoc, K

[kalembasinpoland2]

Day 8: Sanok/Rzeszów

This morning we headed south to Sanok, birthplace of artist Zdzisław Beksiński. The former royal castle houses many of his paintings. The trip down took at least 90 minutes and was on many back country roads. Google was directing me that way to avoid construction and a major road closure. Without all that it probably would have taken closer to an hour. The main route went through the town of Brzozów, the birthplace of Matylda Wnęk Sikora. She was my great-great grandmother. Last time I was in Poland with Rose, I searched the cemetery for Wnęk, but no luck.

The Beksiński gallery also has his Warsaw studio reconstructed on display, as well as his photographs and some sculptures. After a little more than an hour viewing the gallery, we went looking for food on the town rynek.

Sebastian made the selection and we ate regional sandwiches-proziaki. Traditional to the region of the Subcarpthian mountains, the bread is a soda bread and the sandwiches are stuff with various fillings.

After lunch we headed back to the car and towards Haczów, the town with one of the largest wooden churches in Poland. Restoration work was happening in the apse, but the church was still open.

After leaving Haczów, we headed back to Rzeszów, a little quicker this time. Instead of leaving the car at the Avis office at the airport (and then taking the local train to the main station), I decided to see if I could drop the car off in the town office. I was told when I rented it, that I could drop it at either location. I parked near the office, on a regular city street, and walked to the office to see a sign saying to return cars to a parking lot a few blocks away and drop the keys in the office box. So I left Sebastian, the car and bags while walked the keys back to the office.

Then we walked to the train station to discover the main building was under renovation and there was no luggage lockers in the tiny temporary office. I stayed with the bags while Sebastian walked around Rzeszów for about 45 minutes.

The train from Rzeszów to Kraków took a little more than an hour. Arriving in Kraków, we dropped a few bags off and we went through the Galeria Krakowska. I wanted to grab a small bite before we got on the train to Warsaw.

Our train left just before 7pm. I’m not sure what’s going on with EIP trains in Poland, but the speed is not what I remember from the first time I took it over a decade ago. It is supposedly faster, but as Sebastian pointed out repeatedly, it isn’t. There were a number of slow sections. Because the line travels a less populated section of Poland, cell service is spotty and the internet has been buggy. Sebastian researched a late dinner.

We walked the 15 minutes from Warszawa Centralna to our hotel, the Chopin B and B. Rose and I stayed here two years ago. We got the room on thee fourth floor. It Is a suite with two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room with a Steinway! This B and B is famous for its salon concerts as well.

He found a Lebanese restaurant a few metro stops away. As we walked up, I recognized that it was part of Fabryka Norblina, an old factory that has been converted to restaurants and a food hall. Tons of people out on Friday night in Warsaw. 11pm and eating dinner. So I’m finishing the blog from the dinner table. Dobranoc, K

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Day 7: Cisów-Las/Jeżowe

Left Tarnów a little after 8 this morning and headed on the A4 autostrada to Rzeszów. We were picking up Maciej Orzechowski, our translator and long serving genealogist. The drive from Tarnów to Rzeszów was about an hour with nice speed limit of 140 km/h. I did exceed that a few times ;-)

After we picked up Maciej, it was another 45 minutes north to the parish church and cemetery in Spie. Many villages were served by this parish church. Only recently have many of us descendants seen the parish records, thanks to local research and archivist Tomasz Sączawa who was able to get access to the records. Many immigrants to the industrial towns in north Jersey along the Passaic river came from these surrounding villages. We met cousin Stanislaw and Maria at the cemetery. Maria had to leave for a doctor’s appointment  but we would see later in the afternoon. We stopped into cousin Marek Puzio’s house on the edge of town. His wife was home. We had a coffee and talked. It being a Thursday a number of family were working. After that we headed to Cisów-Las, where Maria lives and my great-grandmother was born. I wanted to show Sebastian the Puzio land. Maria and Stanisław’s mother was home so we stopped there for a while for more coffee, tea and sweets. 

For lunch, we headed to Stanisław’s home in Jeżowe, about 10 km east. His daughters and grandkids were home. As usual, there were lots of snacks and salads on the table. We started with a tripe soup (flacki) that was very tasty. Maria eventually came back and there was a lot of talk of family stories. I asked about some of the other Puzio daughters of which I knew little. I took more video than pictures as I wanted to record the conversations. The bottles of Soplica vodka came out and I abstained as I was the driver. Sebastian drank my share, repeatedly. Lol. Stanislaw gave us a few beers to take back to the hotel. We left Jeżowe around 5pm and headed back to the cemetery in Spie to take pictures that I can share with people who are researching the same area.

We then came back to Rzeszów to drop Maciej off at the train station and headed to our hotel off the rynek. Then search for restaurant as Sebastian was hungry. Then a short walk around the old town before back here and blogging.

Do zo, K

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Day 6: Trzy Korony/Tarnow

Woke up this morning to rain in Trzy Korony. We both decided last night to not hike up to Trzy Korony because we did enough at Morskie Oko. Instead,  after breakfast we drove into town and parked by the pedestrian bridge that crosses the Dunajec river into Slovakia. We walked over and up to the Red Monastery. It was originally a Carthusian monastery founded in 1319. It is now a museum and has rooms to rent. On the walk through the town, loudspeakers started playing what was probably a folk song. 

Leaving the Dunajec river valley, Sebastian wanted to stop in Kroscienko nad Dunajec-where we got his aloe. We visited the old wooden church, walked down to the river where the local ducks were fighting, and then bought a few pieces of oscypek cheese. 

Then it was an hour drive to Nowy Sącz for lunch. Unfortunately, my favorite pierogi restaurant, located in the town hall basement, was closed because they are renovating the town hall. So after some searching and Sebastian’s research, we decided to go to Tarnów for lunch. Sebastian found a Neapolitan pizza place in the old town near our hotel. Incredible pizza!

After lunch, we headed towards Zasów, the birthplace of my great-grandfather, Wojciech Kalemba. I showed Sebastian a few of the other Kalemba relatives buried there, right before the intermittent rain showers started again. Next we drove just down the road to Mokre, where Wojciech’s father Jan and our branch of the Kalembas originated. I showed him the location of the house-a ‘newer’ barn stands there now. Now I have a picture of both Sebastian and Rose there-Xavier will get his turn in four years.

Since we ate a later lunch and the sun sets later here, why not drive to my Malecki town-Frysztak? It about 50 minutes away. We went to the cemetery to the Malecki family grave that I found on my last visit. I showed Sebastian the apartment building where his great-great-great grandfather Więceslaw Malecki lived.

Then we headed back to Tarnów to dump our bags at the hotel-the same one that my Dad and I stayed in 12 years ago.

Off to dinner-Italian with Polish beers. Then I gave Sebastian my short tour of the old town at night-including the wooden church on the river, the remains of the synagogue, and the various squares and courtyards.

Tomorrow head east and visit Dad’s maternal side of the family-the Puzios.

Dobranoc, K

[kalembasinpoland2]

Day 5: Morskie Oko

Up a bit after 7 and made it to the parking lot for Morskie Oko shortly after 8. I said we could take the horse carriage up to the lake and walk back, but when we walked into the park the carriages were without horses. So we walked. It is 8 km uphill. Define lay more people than when Rose and I visited two years ago. We arrived at the lake a little 10. Sebastian took the lead and kept up a faster-than-me pace. We made a few rest stops and bought more water.

Sebastian decided to walk around the lake the opposite direction from when Rose and I did it. There were several waterfalls to view. Eventually I caught up with him and passed him.

I stopped at the intersection of the trail that goes up to the lake above, Czarny Staw. Last time Rose and I made it almost halfway up it is all uphill, all big stones, and sometimes very steep. The sign says it takes 30 minutes. It took 45 minutes with a few stops to catch my breath.

Morskie Oko (eye of the sea) has lots of green and blue shades. Czarnek Staw has a grey-blue tint. A few ducks made an appearance as we sat by the lake. Sebastian listened to music on his headphones during most of the hike. He wanted to complete the hike at the top listening to Dave Brubeck’s “Rising Sun”.

If one continued around Czarny Staw and climbed even higher, you could reach the highest peak in Poland in just under 4 hrs. The descent from Czarny Staw took 25 minutes. We then returned to the mountain hut at the foot of Morskie Oko before heading back to the car. A kilometer from the mountain is where the horse carriage rides end, and it is close to a food pavilion and bathrooms. We decided to walk the rest of the way, figuring we came this far on foot we should continue the same way. Plus we wanted food and more water. We got some grilled kielbasa and oscypek cheese.

Sebastian got even further ahead, even though he thought he would find the descent harder on his legs. Made it back to the car around 3:30 and headed back I to Bukowina to buy some oscypek cheese.

Then we headed to the village of Dębno to see the old wooden church. There was an attendant in there who turned on a recording in English describing the church. She used here flashlight to point out the old icons and carvings. It was the first time that I experienced an attendant in one of these old churches.

Leaving the church, Sebastian discovered that he had a sunburn. We needed to find an apteka and some aloe. First we headed to the mountain hut-a schronisko-where we are staying the night. After dropping off our bags, in my broken Polish I asked the attendant if there was an apteka in town. She said it was closed and she helped me find another in a town 20 minutes away. So we hopped in the car, first hitting a Aldi-like supermarket with no success. Then back in the car and found an actual apteka in town that had aloe.

Back to the schronisko and grabbed dinner. A bus full of teenagers arrived to stay the night, which explains why we got the last room-at the top of the building. Sebastian had trout and pierogi. I had the pork cutlet, beer as well.

Back to the room and blog time.

Do zo, K

[kalembasinpoland2]

Day 4: Wieliczka/Zakopane

After I finished my blog last night, I decided to go out for another short stroll to see a busy Sunday night in the old town. St. Wojciech’s church, in the corner of the Rynek, had a handful of people standing outside the entrance as I approached. It is a tiny church dating back to the 11th century. They were attending a late night Pentecost Mass. I recognized the sequence as the same one I heard at Wawel that morning. 

After that I strolled around, avoiding the barflys who try to coax you into their bars, as well as some guy doing the same for a ‘gentlemen’s club’, Nie dziękuję.

Came back to the room where Sebastian was watching the Portugal/Spain football match. When that was completed we finally got to bed-later than I wanted though. 

Woke up to the room at 21 degrees, more comfortable for me, still slightly too warm for S. 

We grabbed the closest tram and went two stops to the Avis agency to get our car. Last time Rose and I had a Toyota; this time a Skoda. How about that Marianne?

We made it to the Wieliczka salt mine just in time for our 10am tour with my prepaid tickets. Since I was there last time, they added a new shaft and entrance to accommodate the increase in tourists. They also added headsets so we could hear the guide, actually needed given how many tour groups kept criss-crossing each other. There is cell service in a few select spots 400 feet below the ground. I checked my phone to discover that cousin Maria cannot meet us on Thursday, as she was able to get a last minute doctor’s appointment. Her brother Stanislaw will meet us instead and we can visit some of the other family in Nisko. We had lunch in the mine restaurant and then grabbed the car and headed south.

When I was planning this trip I wasn’t sure if we could squeeze in a trip to Zakopane and the cable car ride up to Kasprowy Wierch. Last time Rose and I spent 3 nights here in the Tatra mountains. I asked Sebastian if he wanted to try and, given the time we had in the day, we decided to give it a try. The key would be to find out when the last cable car came down the mountain. I already knew the last went up at 4pm. It wouldn’t make sense to make it a short trip up. We arrived and got on the 2:45 car up. Sebastian had his chance to cross over to Slovakia, adding another country on his list. He did a short hike up the ridge trail and then we headed down at 4:15.

We arrived at our apartment for the night in Bukowina Tatranska-new construction with a view of the mountains in the distance. We dumped the bags and went to a local restaurant from Sebastian’s research. We shared a plate of the local sheep cheese-oscypek. (Sebastian had been craving it all day.) Then the soup course-żurek (sour rye base with egg and kielbasa) for me and rosół (clear chicken soup with noodle) for S. Main course was pork cutlet for S and potato pancakes with gulasz for me. Beer as well. 

Hit the local delikatesy to grab snacks for tomorrow, then back to the apartment to find the hot tub and sauna. The hot tub was a cool tub, and there were two saunas and a cooling tub. The one sauna was ‘normal’, the second one had a high temp near the ceiling of 110 Celsius. That’s 230 F people!  We tried that for a few minutes and then went to cool off in the ‘hot’ tub. Sebastian even tried the cooling tub. 

Back at the room having a beer with raspberry syrup and sitting on the balcony.

Off to Morskie Oko tomorrow!

Do zo, K

[kalembasinpoland2]

Day 3: Kraków 

Slept better but we got to bed late. The jazz club quintet started at 9:30 with one break and finished at 11:30. I’ve never been a smaller club in my life. Everyone crammed in with tiny tables and chairs. I was sitting at the foot of the stage; and when I say foot that’s I saw from the saxophonist. Great view of the drummer. Some Pole who had a bit too much piwo and was blessed with a lot of enthusiasm, had the loudest cheer during the second set. At the end of the night, he tried to get up and say something to one of the musicians and wound tripping on the tightly-spaced furniture. Down he went on a couple and glass went flying. Interesting end to the evening. 

After the concert, Sebastian want to grab some snacks and a beer as a nightcap. We walked over to a 24 hour convenience mart. Only to find that they were on their ‘technical break’ from 11:50 to 12:15. We walked around the block talking about jazz. We came back and along with another gaggle of late nighters discovered that they stop selling alcohol right at midnight. So we grabbed some snacks and water and juice. Returning to the apartment, Sebastian was still unhappy with the temperature. He decided to go out for a little bit and walk around the park. I decided to take a shower and get to bed. The temperature managed to drop another half a degree. Today is expected to be cooler with a high of 69. 

Out the door this morning to go to Mass at the cathedral. I arrived at Wawel hill grabbed a coffee across from the cathedral. 

It’s Pentecost Sunday. The mass attendance in the cathedral was more than last time I visited. I would say around 150 people attended. The mass prelude was the Veni Creator Spiritus chant sung in Polish. We had three main celebrants, a handful of assisting priests, and a few acolytes. This time the choir was SATB, as opposed to two years ago, and it was just the men’s choir. Many of the Assembly response responses were sung. However, the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei were sung in Latin, very polyphonic non-assembly friendly settings The memorial acclamation was sung by everyone in Polish. The Our Fathe was sung in Polish by everyone. The music at Communion had a few organ interludes with a choral piece, then a hymn that bore a striking resemblance to Lasst Uns Erfreuen. The assembly responded with the hallelujah‘s after the final blessing, the choir concluded with Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus, in English.

I stuck around in the church did a quick prayer and took some pictures (since pictures are not allowed in the church, but many of the assembly takes photos on their way out). I checked in with Sebastian who was walking towards the cathedral. We have tickets to visit the cathedral, the crypt, and the bell tower.

After our tour of Wawel cathedral we walked over to Kazimierz, the historical Jewish neighborhood. Sebastian wanted to go to find falafel. He wanted to eat more non-Polish food in the big cities, figuring that he would be eating traditional Polish in the countryside. It started to drizzle as we found that the falafel place wasn’t there anymore. We then backtracked a few blocks to a Middle Eastern place and sat outside under the big umbrellas in the rain. 

After our late lunch we explored a few more churches: Corpus Christi basilica, St. Katherine, and St. Michael’s basilica at Skałka. Skałka is the traditional site of the martyrdom of St. Stanisław. Then back to Mały Rynek and some souvenir hunting.

I wanted to visit St. Joseph’s basilica across the river, but didn’t want to walk that distance. We took the scooters and Sebastian suggested going by the river paths to get there. We were probably the only non-Poles checking out the church and the sculpture garden behind it. After that we took the tram back to old town from the Ghetto Heroes Square. Dinner was grabbing a kielbasa from the food stalls in the Rynek.

Tomorrow we leave and head to the salt mine in Wieliczka before heading south towards the Tatra mountains and Bukowina Tatranska.

9 miles of walking.  Tired feet. 

Do zo, K

[kalembasinpoland2]

Day 2: Kraków

A restless night of sleep. The temperature never dropped. We certainly didn’t get the requisite hours of sleep. After finally rousing just before 9, I emailed our host/manager and said how after running for close to 18 hours, the temperature only dropped one degree-of Celsius. He emailed back and said he would stop by and look into it. 

We headed out the door for breakfast at a courtyard cafe off ul. Floriańska (the main tourist and historical street). 

Sebastian had a kanapka (open faced sandwich) with eggs on a very tasty bread. I had coffee (much needed) and sandwich made from the local obwarzanek. It contained kielbasa and the classic Polish pickles. 

From there we walked to the National Art Museum in Krakow, whose collections are exclusively from Polish artists. 

I went back to the apartment to change into shorts and grab stuff. From here we grabbed some water and snacks and headed toward the tram stop that would take us out to Nowa Huta. 

Waiting at the tram stop (which services several lines), a parade passed by which delayed the trams a few minutes. The 25 minute ride out to Nowa Huta was to visit a gallery of Zdzisław Beksiński’s artwork. 

Before we left home, I reached out to our Grębowiec ‘cousin’, Ula. We met her two years ago and she brought along much of her family. I have been helping her with genealogy. (Her grandmother was a sibling to my great-grandmother’s brother-in-law.) She was hoping to meet us here in the old town. However, she mentioned the other day that she had to fill in for someone at work and she was unable to meet us. Then she said she works at the Nową Huta cultural Center, the location of the Beksiński art gallery, and invited us to visit. She actually works at the ticket office. What a coincidence! We met her and chatted and she let us in the gallery for free. 

Sebastian did a paper back in high school of Beksiński’s artwork. His paintings are dark and surrealistic. As I told Ula “Nie mam słów”-I have no words. 

Tram back to old town and a brief rest before heading out for shawarma for dinner-Sebastian’s choice. He doesn’t want to eat Polish cuisine the entire time we are here. I wasn’t planning on it anyway. The room is maybe a degree cooler again, but now it’s cooler outside and a bit cloudy. 

After a tasty shawarma, we took a walk down the Planty to find an off-the-tourist ice cream hole-in-the-wall. Then another stroll back up to the not-much-cooler apartment.

Later this evening we have reservations for a jazz bar on the Rynek Główny. 

[kalembasinpoland2]

Day 1: Krakow

Once we got to the apartment on Mały Rynek, we left our bags at reception while we waited for our room to be ready.

I took Sebastian on a short walk before we decided on a lunch spot. We settled on traditional Polish fare around the corner from our apartment.

We then proceeded on my abbreviated Krakow church tour. Actually, the first few churches we went into I hadn’t been in before-St. Ann’s and St. Francis of Assisi. 

I showed him the Collegium Maius building where the University of Krakow started and where Copernicus went to school.

After that we walked over to St. Peter and Paul, where the crypt was open-cool on a sunny day. Then we walked right next door to the small church of St. Andrew founded in the 11th century.

Then back up to the Planty and the Floriański Gate. Walking south to the main square, I decided to show him Kościół Mariacki and its famous altar piece carved by Wit Stowsz. 

We then headed back to the apartament to cool off-but it seems our a/c unit is struggling to lower the temperature. I decided to take a shower to cool off before we headed out to eat dinner. We went for pizza at a trattoria across from Kościół Mariacki. Afterwards, we walked over to the outdoor cafe under the old town hall tower-the Ratuszowa. This was the spot that Dad and I would sit and have beer. Sebastian and I had one each in honor of Dad. Sebastian wanted not head to the apartment until 8pm so we walked around more and stepped into Transfiguration church right before they were closing. 

He was hoping that it would have cooled off more in our room, since he has a terrible time sleeping in the heat. No such luck. The temp has only dropped a half a degree of Celsius. I think the a/c unit is too small for even our studio apartment. So he’s off to shower, which he claims isn’t going to help him sleep. I think once it gets closer to 10, we will open the windows, as it is almost cooler outside than in. St. Carrier, pray for us.

K

[kalembasinpoland2]

Seat 1C

(And 1B)  I’ll post this from Krakow.

Sitting in our business class seats and already have been offered the menu. Sebastian has already poked and examined all the bags with their various salves, balms, lotions, etc. LOL. And the bag with the eye mask, socks, toothbrush, etc. 

He has ordered the rib eye steak and I ordered the perch. 

Capitan just came on to announce we are waiting on one passenger who is running late. “If he is not here in 5 minutes or so, we will have to unload his baggage and take off without him.”

Back to your regular scheduled flight. 

“Boarding completed” I guess they found him.

Busy time at ORD, so there’s might be a slight delay on the taxiway.

And now the captain came on to say a passenger is injured and requires medical attention, so another delay. 

Since I’m sitting right near the forward galley and cockpit, there’s a lot of fast Polish being spoken. lol

Hopefully the passenger is ok and we are off soon. 

Do zo, K

[kalembasinpoland2]

Hello from ORD

At the airport and I’m sure the lounge would be nicer without all the people. LOL. Since LOT is a member of Star Alliance, there are plenty of non-Krakow bound people here. The two planes at the gates on either side of the lounge are a Cathay Pacific and some Japan bound one.

Sebastian, who was hangry (yes, that’s not a misspelled word) and remains disappointed at the inefficiency of American TSA, asked how much the food and drinks were. “Um, it’s part of the ticket upgrade. So grab a plate and stop crabbing.” I said something like that. We both had some pierogi and I grabbed gołąbki-first experience for both of us with business class. His round trip to Japan was half the cost of one to Krakow. I can’t remember the base fare when I bought them back in January.

Maybe as some of these folks head to their flights it will clear out a bit-or maybe not. Maybe I’ll head over to the bar and grab a drink.

Or Sebastian will.

[kalembasinpoland2]

We're movin' on up...

When Rose and I went to Poland two years, we flew LOT Airlines which is Poland's national airlines. Sebastian and I are again flying LOT, partly because they fly direct to Krakow and I hate changing planes.

I booked the same seats in Economy that I did last time. The week or so before the flight, I bid on an upgrade to Economy Premium. That class has a seat that pitches back more and a 2-3-2 configuration in that section instead of the 3-3-3 in Economy. The bidding reminds me of PayPal bidding. If you get outbid they send you an email telling you, so can bid again before the upgrade time ends.

This year, I tried again but decided to go for that 'de-luxe apartment in the sky'-Business class. Besides the typical perks of better food, more beverages and fast track boarding, the seats also lie flat.

Because I have been waking up earlier each morning to adjust my circadian clock, I received an email-no surprise-that I was outbid. It did say that 6 passengers were bidding on 4 seats. So, I raised my bid a little more and came home after work to discover I won the bid-more than I ever wanted to spend...

Sebastian can't seem to sleep on planes, but when I told him he said he might just give it a try when he's bored of his book or the in-flight entertainment. We will be sitting across the aisle from each other, so I won't snore in his ear and he might more energy for an almost full day in Kraków.

So instead of seat 9A, I'll be writing from seat 1C tomorrow. Probably the first and last time, I'll be doing that.

(And as a church musician, I have to chuckle that someone did a handbell arrangement of the theme song)

Do zo,

Keith

Insert your Sherman Hemsley gifs here people...

[kalembasinpoland2]

Hollywood and Passaic

Yesterday actress Loretta Swit, best known for her portrayal of Major Margaret Houlihan on M*A*S*H, passed away at the age of 87. Loretta was born in Passaic, New Jersey the birthplace of many of my ancestors including Dad. It was mentioned more than one time by my grandmother that Loretta was Polish and she attended the same high school as my uncle Kenny-Pope Pius in Passaic. She graduated a year before he entered.

Loretta, class of 1955

With the rise of quicker genealogy research over the years, I was able to find that Loretta's grandfather was a Jan Szwed (1870-1946) born in Gwozdziec, which is in the same parish as my Puzio ancestors. Gwozdziec is 2 km away from Cisów-Las where my Puzio cousins live.

1940 Census Loretta's family including her grandparents lived at 201 Eighth St. in Passaic.

In fact, Jan's mother was a Rozalia Klecha, which is also an ancestral surname of mine. It got me wondering if Loretta and I shared any DNA. Jan died in 1946 and, like many of us Polish descendants, was buried at St. Michael's Cemetery in South Hackensack.

Jan Szwed born in 1870 to Michał Szwed and Rozalia Klecha

Recently through the work of local genealogist Tomasz Saczawa, all the records of the Spie parish were scanned and made available online. Many of us with roots in Passaic/Lodi/Wallington/Clifton, New Jersey had been eager to have these records available before they were lost to time. (Past parish priests did not allow them to scanned nor even viewed in person.)

When I started looking back more on my Puzio side I found a Szwed in my ancestry - but not exactly. It seems that my 4th great-grandmother Marianna Kolenski's family used the surname Szwed at some point. The 'vel' in the record below means 'or'.

Marianna was born in 1799. There is no explanation why the Kolenskis used Szwed at some point. In addition to Klecha, Loretta's ancestry also included Puzio - all ancestral names. The records don't go back far enough to tie in a possible shared ancestor with Maj. Houlihan, but I'm sure given the frequency of our shared surnames, we share a tiny bit of DNA.

Spoczywaj w pokoju, Loretta.

[kalembasinpoland2]

Ancestral Property

amended from the blog two years ago:

Ten years ago when Dad and I visited Poland, we spent the day with second cousin Maria Puzio Furtak, Stanisław Puzio and their families. The older generation of Puzio descendants came for a visit as well. Maria lives on the property that her grandfather Antoni owned. Antoni was my great-grandma Zofia's brother. According to the family, that land is where the Puzio children were born and grew up. So sitting in her yard eating kielbasa and talking was the highlight of that trip, especially that I have childhood memories of my prababcia Zofia.

Just in the past few months I asked my researcher/translator from Poland to help locate other ancestral homes and lands. Cadastral records were used by Austrian authorities for tax reasons; they recorded size of each property, category of the land, number of houses, changes in ownership and other information useful for tax reasons. There were three main cadasters. First one in 1785, soon after Austria took over southern Poland. The second in 1817. The third and most interesting was recorded in late 1840s and early 1850s, and later changes were added to this set. The third one is most interesting as it contains beautiful and detailed maps of each village in Galicia.

Second part of a set is so called operat – that is a set of documents and tables describing a village and properties. The most interesting for genealogical reasons are alphabetical listings of house and land owners. Each entry for each owner contains: house number (this is the same number that you can find in metrical records but not on the map), building plot number (you can find it on the map), numbers of plots of land that belonged to this owner and later changes in ownership.

With this information my researcher was able to provide me with the location of the Kalemba land in Mokre, where my great-great-grandfather was born. Placing the cadastral map over the current Google view, you can see how the village has changed.

The red circle is approximately where the Kalemba home was.

Rose and I managed to pull up right up to the barn that you see circled above.

Kalembas on former Kalemba land

Most interesting is my maternal Malecki line. My great-great grandfather lived right on the town square in a typical kamienice (apartment) in Frysztak. The building is still standing. When I visit I am hoping to find out more about its history.

Former residence of my great-great grandfather on the town square

This trip I hope to find the property in Zasów where my great-grandfather, Wojciech Kalemba, was born. With maps and operats from the village of Stany, I also know the locations of ancestors of Wojciech's wife, Anna Klecha.

Do zo, K

[kalembasinpoland2]

Genealogy Never Ends...

except when you move over to the next plane of existence. ;-)

This post is for my Malecki cousins, especially Ron Wolff.

My mom's Polish/Ruthenian ancestry has always required more work. Dad's ancestral village records were microfilmed by the Mormons years ago (and by many genealogists in Poland recently), but Mom's have been more elusive. Her maternal grandparents came from what is now Ukraine. Her grandmother grew up on the edge of Eastern Galicia, ruled by the Hapsburgs; and her grandfather a few kilometers across the Bug river, on the edge of the Russian controlled partition of former Poland.

As you can imagine the records from the former Soviet republics have been slow to be microfilmed and the invasion of Ukraine hasn't helped. In the past few years, I was able to glean some more info about my Niesmiertelny ancestors, but it has been slow. When I visited Horodok in 2013 the parish said they didn't have any old records. The records I did wound seeing years later came from the local archive in Khmelnytsky.

Even my maternal grandfather's (Bill Malecki) family has been challenging. His maternal grandparents seemed to move around quite a bit. Combine that with missing years in some church records, I still don't have complete dates for some of the Malecki ancestors.

More light was shed on one particular branch of the family this year. More than a decade I finally discovered where Jan Sikora, my 2 times great grandfather was born. We were able to also find several siblings born in the same village, but no marriage record for the parents. On the baptismal records, the father's occupation was a servant in the local manor house. The house now is privately owned and sees business as a rental space for weddings and other festivities.

Jan Sikora baptismal record. Occupation: aulicus

Several years later, I found a notation of another child born to the same parents (Andrzej Sikora and Agnieszka Ziobrowska), in a town almost 100 kms away. The dates allowed that this could be an older child of the parents. It took a few more years for the record to be scanned. And it showed that the father worked as a servant as well. The house number on the baptismal record matched the local minor nobility's house. You can usually spot the noble records in the books - they have longer names with nobilis or magnificus. They also will often be one of the first home numbered in a town records, in this case house one.

Marianna Sikora baptism record, born in house no. 1 to Andrzej Sikora and Agnieszka Ziobrowska

Another birth in house no. 1: Marianna Jozefa Stanislawa Jaworski. The M.D. is an abbreviation for magnificus dominus - owner of a manor house

So now we had another older sister of my great-great grandfather. But where were the parents from? Another lucky shot: I searched Ziobrowski in the indexing site geneteka and there was Ziobrowksi in the same village that my OTHER great-great grandfather (Malecki) was born in!

Searching for Sikora and Ziobrowski together yielded a child born, who did not survive infancy. The names of the maternal grandparents were mentioned and they were a match!

It also yielded another two generations of Ziobrowski ancestry. So the irony here is that my great-grandmother Rose Sikora has some ancestry from the same town that her future husband Walter Malecki was born in! There is even a Malecki in her Sikora line.

The baptismal record from above mentions that Andrzej Sikora was from Wolica. It is a common town name in Poland. So my best guess is the one closest to where this child was born - a village outside of the city of Jasło. I asked my researcher to search for him. But no luck, as there are number of years missing from the local records. So the search for the Sikora roots continues. But we can deduce more about their life from the records. I'm wondering if either Andrzej's employer moved around or he was traded around different land owners. This is before serfdom was eliminated in Galicia in 1848.

The travels of the Sikora family

So as I said, genealogy continues. All the questions will be answered in the next life. Maybe. LOL.

Until next time,

Keith (son of Jane: daughter of Bill: son of Rose: daughter of Matylda: daughter of Jan: son of Andrzej Sikora)

[kalembasinpoland2]

Termy (Thermal Baths)

When you think of Poland, you usually don't think of thermal baths. There are several towns with water parks and thermal baths in southern Poland. One is down the road from our apartment in Bukowina Tatrzanska.

Tatras from Bukowina apartment building

The other famous baths are in Chochołow. (try pronouncing that).

We actually have a hot tub and sauna at the apartment in Bukowina, so no need to walk across the road.

Which brings me to the story. The Polish restaurant in Wallington, New Jersey, which is located across the street from where my Dad first lived, features food from the Tatra mountain region. I decided to have my Dad's funeral repast there in 2021 and I have returned once or twice a year when visit the cemetery and family. In speaking to the employees there back in February, they mentioned they were from Chochołow and I should visit the thermal bath park there. (Chochołow is 20 mins. west of Zakopane and Bukowina, where we are staying is 20 mins east of Zakopane.)

Just the other day I mentioned my upcoming trip to our Polish emigre maintenance man Andy at church. I mentioned Bukowina and he said he was from Chochołow! In fact I showed him the post-it with the restaurant's family member in Chochołow and Andy said he knew the person. It is a small world! Now the question: is there time to drive over to Chochołow and visit, or do I save that for my next visit in 2029 with Xavier?

Do zo!

K