Wroclaw, Poland

We met Beata and Bogdan Labaz at a festival in Madison this summer. They were surprised we had been to their hometown of Wroclaw before and we made fast friends. Beata is a soil scientist at the University here and was doing research in Madison. When we told them about this trip, they invited us to stay with them, so here we are.

Bogdan picked us up at the train station and whisked us away to his home. Beata had made gluten free desserts and bread for me. We'll be forever indebted for their hospitality. We were treated like a king and a queen. We went out to a jazz club for a Godfather themed night that night. The house band was really good. Afterwards, we walked around the hopping Market Square and had a nightcap of the local cherry liqueur.

Afer a huge breakfast, we drove south through Lower Silesia towards the Czech border to Ksiaz Castle. Poland has a long and storied history. This land was Polish, then Prussian, then German, then Polish again. The castle was built by a Prussian family, the von Hochbergs and the castle was their home for generations. It was furnished with period piece furniture and was perched high on a hill with amazing views.

Then it was off to the secret Nazi caves of Sztolnie Walimskie. The Nazis built a slave-labor camp here for prisoners and made them dig tunnels in the mountains through hard rock. Nobody really knows what the plan was. Was it a secret bunker for Hitler? A research lab for the V-2 rocket? The war ended before the tunnels could be finished. Afterwards, we got a taste of a delicious cheese that a woman was grilling and topped with a cranberry sauce. On the way back, we stopped in the town of Swidnica and had some humongous schnitzels at a Czech themed restaurant.

The next day, we had a Thanksgiving style feast at home. In the afternoon, we visited the Panarama painting celebrating the battle of Raclawice, where Polish peasants defeated an invading Russian force in 1794. It was led by General Kosciuszko, who 18 years earlier went to the American colonies to fight for Washington. He's the hero of the Battle of Saratoga, a crucial early battle in our revolution. Bogdan was pretty surprised to see a statue commemorating him when he walked through Lafayette Square in front of our White House.

We got to meet Michal and Kuba, the Labaz sons during our stay. Michal lives at home and works with Bogdan doing IT work and sound and lighting solutions for businesses. Kuba was on leave from the Polish Navy Acadamy on the Baltic Sea, near Gdansk. It was fun getting to know them and get their perspective on things. We sat around and talked about a lot of different things, which was fun and so different than what we've been doing for the last 7 weeks. Since Helsinki, we haven't seen any friends. But that will change soon. We're visiting Deanne's exchange family in Austria in another week or so. All in all, we had an amazing time with an amazing group of people. We hope to repay the kindness when Bogdan and Beata return to Madison next summer.

More photos and videos are here.
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