Home Sweet Home

I'm back in the 'burgh. Tired, happy, going to bed. Will write more and post more pictures after tomorrow.

Happy New Years to everyone!

Wawel Castle - Krakow

After a late start, we finally made it to one of the big tourist attractions in Krakow - the Wawel Castle. It was bitterly cold - but it was well worth the trip.

Wawel Castle is amazing with interesting architecture and beautiful tapestries everywhere.

Pictures of the castle are already on the website here.

Tomorrow we are off to Brussels in a car driving on the autobahn! Then we'll take the high speed Eurostar train to London.

Wonderful Hotel in Krynica!

Krynica-Zdrój is a beautiful city. It is a real tourist attraction for the local Poles, but not very well known to Americans. The website marketing description is "Krynica Zdrój – the pearl of the Polish health resorts – is a town located in a valley of the Beskid Sądecki Mountains. The Promenade in the town centre is a special place. It is beautifully decorated with flowers during summer and fairy-tale-like lighting in winter."
Here are some pictures.

Last night we stayed at the Hotel Grant. The rooms were full of warmth and so were the owners. They had a large variety of rooms from luxury with jacuzzi to the typical European. Modern bathrooms were a big plus. Although we didn't have time to use them, the sauna and exercise room looked very nice.

Before we left, they insisted on feeding us a wonderful breakfast (which was free). I'll be going back here to visit again for sure!

Me with the owner's son Rafel

I did get a couple of snowboard runs in at the local ski station - Jaworzyna Krynicak. Two runs doesn't sound like much, but they were extremely looong ski trails and challenging too (2600 meters with a 18-26% slope).

Christmas in Poland

I finally have a couple of minutes to update the blog...

Christmas eve was spent in Krakow. We went to midnight mass at a church in the square. I think it was St. Andrews. The church is huge and richly adorned with gold. The benches were very hard and the kneelers were made of wood without any padding. You can see the pictures of the church here.

We are now in Krynica, Poland. This is the town where we believe the Olszewski family came from. We drove here on Christmas day and decided to spend the night rather than drive back in the dark.
The town is very beautiful with Christmas decorations everyone. This place is exactly how Mom imagined Poland would be so this had really made the trip worthwhile.

Today we are going to try one of the churches to see if we can find any relatives. If there's time I plan to go snowboarding at the ski resort on the mountain Jaworzyna Krynicka which is right down the road.

On the Road Again

After waiting six days for my Mom's bags to be found and delivered to Kandersteg, we are finally starting our trip.

We are currently in Kraków, Poland. We traveled via train and stopped in Vienna, Austria along the way. We are staying at the Hotel Kazimierz. Our plan is to stay here through Christmas. We are going to try to find a few relatives while we are here!

Internet access isn't very good and we have a lot to see. I might not be able to update the blog until I return home. I did send my Dad some pictures from France, Vienna and KISC that he will upload to my website this weekend.

Będę pisać ponownie wkrótce. That is Polish. Go to Google Translate to figure out what I said.

News from Home

I just learned that I will be going to Florida Sea Base in Islamorada, Florida next June!

The letter says "you have been honored as one of less than 50 Scouts approved for the 2009 Order of the Arrow Ocean Adventure."

"OAOA" involves a week of service to the base and then a week of adventure. This is the third time I have applied for this opportunity - and it was the last time I could be chosen. You can see more about it at this website http://adventure.oa-bsa.org.

Mom is HERE!

The airline lost her luggage and she was cold and tired -- but my Mom made it to Kandersteg yesterday! More pictures and stories later!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Parlez-vous français -or- Sprechen Sie Deutsch

I just returned from two days of sightseeing in France with Alex Groat. It was another fantastic trip! We visited Colmar and Mulhouse North of Switzerland near the German borders.

We weren't able to get a hotel room or hostel so I've been up for over 48 hours. Will write more about this trip and the Venice after I get some sleep and when I can find the time.

Check out some of the pictures I took of the trip here. And some pictures from Alex are here.

Everything is winding down now and we are busier than ever. Only six days left before my staff assignment is over -- and 4 days until my Mom comes out!

My Favorite Place to Work at KISC

Kander-Lodge is one of the best job assignments. They just posted an update on this project on the KISC website here.

The picture here is what I looked like after working with the table saw. That was a blast! Click here for pictures I took of the work at Kander-Lodge and some more pictures are here.