polska

well we left germany behind and into the land of the plains people - the polonians

we headed south into lower silesia and stayed in bolawiesiec - a small town which is the centre of the ceramic (read blue and white) industry in poland.

we sampled zummt food for cold weather - sour soup with egg and sausage (zurek), potato pancakes with sour cream and pierogi a polish version of ravioli.

weather got rainy so we headed to the mountain - sklarska poreba - google it - and stayed in nice pension taling with the family.

tuesday was rainy and foggy and chairlift to mt sreniza not working so we made haste for ozweicim - which has another much more sinister name.

 

we set up the tent at a catholic centre for peace and dialogue and froze thru the night. i got up at 4.20am for some reason and it was like daylight.

all through the night we could hear trains - some, who knows, still are hauling miles of human filled cattle cars.

 

and so to visit both the auschwitz and birkenau extermination camps.

you probably remember the statistics - around 1.3 million jews blotted out through the gas chambers in these camps.

roma were on the extermination hit list as well as soviets, religious dudes such as jwitnesses and homosexuals.

in addition to infoprmation we has seen in germany at mittelbau and the jewish museum we now had a polish perspective - as oppressed people who made up a sizable group in the concentrations camps.

there is little to say

how can you understand the purposeful dehumanising and extermination of a people group - and those who did it had been trained to be cruel and relentless and violent.

 

we drove to krakow last night, stazing at camping nr 46 smok and today have wandered the town and just hit the internet after a concert at the krakow philharmina with the krakow phil choir. thez performed an amaying piece called Sleep by eric whittaker (USA) as well as rossini, elgar, schuman, faure, brahms. the concert was 10 bucks ea. tomorrow night there is a mendolssohn concert - symphony 1 and 3 and piano concerto - thats a lot of sleeping!

 

we will wander some more tomorrow in kazimierz - the old jewish area.

 

crojcsz and dzjejcn

poland

travel has a predictable pattern.

excitement & some nervousness as you set off.

especially if you are going somewhere new & exotic.

then you get there & figure a few things out and get comfortable with the money, the transport, the food etc.

 

so it is for us.

i was not looking forward to  driving in  berlin

but it turned out to not be a problem

then yesterday we left the safety of germany

and crossed into poland with no polish money.

 

but of course people live here & bank here, ...

so now we feel at home after a night in a hotel - a real  bed.

we are looking forward to eating polish  food after our meat breakfast.

 

we are in boleslawiec which is not pronounced as it looks.

it is raining so  our plans to  do walking in the sudetes mountains may have to change

anyway now that we feel comfortable in boleslawiec and can pronounce the name we may stay here

 

or steel ourselves and move on

 

blessings

rossnjen

 

on our first sunday away

so we've had our first sunday away from home.

i found myself thinking about church at home.

was everything organised?

how did it go?

were there things i was supposed to have done but didn't?

 

so what is going on here?

what am i apart from work?

that's the question which comes to me.

this is a good question

this is a good pilgrimage question as your usual life is stripped away.

 

i also realised that i was thinking not simply about work

i was thinking about my community.

we do our travels, our journeys very much as individuals

so we are not consciously aware of the importance of our community until it too is stripped away.

 

blessings

rossnjen

Harz to Berlin

hi guys

 

beautiful day here. 1pm. sunny and warm.

nöt easy to find internet sö sorry nothing till nöw.

you can check out all these places on google ......if ya wanna virtual töur with us!!

great travelling weather.....only one really cold day....rained a couple of three hour stretches only plus all last night.

the combo of the leased car and the tent is relly working well for us

it´'s about E20($40) per night for us to camp. Pensions start at E60 tho we got a bargain at Eisenach for E40 

happy with all our equipment...missing the stuff that jane threw out at the airport tho!!!!

 

 

a quick summary.........

 

sunday 3 may

packed up tent at Werningerode in the Harz.

headed south

visited Mittelbau  Dora concentration camp, 6 km from Nordhausen.

then south to Eisenach where Bach was born.

to Eisenach....raining.....sleep "Villa Bomberg"...quirky pensiön

 

 

monday 4 may

To Wurtburg castle in Eisenach.....<unesco world heritage site....Luther hid in a room for 8 months while he translated bible into deutche. 

xplore Weimar...beautifull 18C town (were gonna do some things there, but all germanz shuts down on mondazs)

To Leipzig....sleep in A frame bungalow....raining

 

tuesday 5 maz

xplore Leipzig....to st thomas kirche...where Bach lived and worked för 25 zears

autobahn to berlin. at 140km we are the slowest.....everyone passes us!!!

tent up at Gatow camping ground. 30 mins sth/w of zentrum.

bus into berlin for evening

 

wed 6 may

decide to get the 3 daz museo pass......how many of the 200 here can we see???

museo BLITZ

Pergamum....hellenistic....babylon....assyrian.....islamic......aleppo room (chistian guy in islamic country in 12thC)

Bode.....11thC....18thC

 

thur 7 may

more BLITZ

Judisches....jewish historz in germany

Gemaldegalerie.....paintings

 

fri 8 may

Bröhan.....art nouveau...art deco....

Berggruen.....picasso...matisse....klee

Alte Nationale Galerie....impressionists

Xplor a bit of the berlin wall

 

sat 8 may

bus to ferry...ferry to wannsee....tram to potsdam

many palaces here

how to choose??

to avoid decision....decide to walk in the xtensive parklands of the palaces....this took all afternoon

think we might come back tomorrow and blitz the palaces.

 

sun 9 may

nein we won``t do the palaces.....the walk in the park was beautiful.

pack up tent.....it poured all night.....but us completely dry.....great tent!!

going to poland today.....poznan.....krakow.....auswitsch

 

 

love you lots

the berliners

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

german naming customs

germans are polite people

they are also shy and respectful of other people's space.

this is why, as you approach someone in a camping ground at the last moment eyes are uplifted and meet yours.

a word is uttered, you utter it back - it's what you do.

 

in the camp kitchen where there is more opportunity for conversation the same applies.

a polite acknowledgement of your presence - but still a shyness.

no one asks your name

so neither do you.

 

you don't need to ask someone's name anyway.

it is the same one they call you.

it is the universal name.

morgan.

 

blessings

rossnjen

the german shower block

i'm in a shower cubicle in berlin.

there are different customs everywhere although some are close to universal.

the showers and the whole campground are german clean.

the man on the cubicle next to me clears his nose.

i look down.

the cubicles are all open at the bottom for ease of mass cleaning but there is a rounded aluminium strip on the floor between each cubicle which stops water and other debris from flowing into someone else' cubicle.

like mine.

 

paying for showers is not unusual.

here it is 50 cents (1$A) for 4 minutes. In Goslar it was only 3 minutes.

in this conservation consumer culture shower time is limited but you learn that 4 mins is how much water time you are allotted not how long you have for your shower.

the idea is to wet, then soap, then rinse.

 

in Goslar this was enforced. you push the button in the shower for water and you get about 10seconds then it stops. you manually restart the water flow.

 

so i insert the coin and the digital readout tells me i have 4.00 mins.

i strip off, throw undies on the floor ready to be washed, soap ready.

i push the water button.

as i stand on the edge óf the expected water reach i am hit by an avalanche of water.

i am thrown back.

recovering i now plunge in - the pressure almost hurts.

and zo...

wet, push to stop, soap up including undies

rinse, stop, soap up remaining crevices

rinse, stop, done, look at clock, it reads 3'31"

i've used 29 seconds of water.

 

so this is the consumer bit.

people obviously use 4 minutes of water because i haven't had a credit yet from the last person.

so do i just stand under a hot fire hose for another 3'31"?

tomorrow i will shave in the shower.

a man in the next cubicle clears his throat and spits on the floor

i'm done.

 

blessings

rossnjen

the cost of pilgrimage

the other day i was worrying about the cost of having a trip overseas.

if we do 50 euros per day that is $5000+

this is on top of getting here.

 

what did pilgrimage cost?

in earlier times people would have left work.

there was no holiday pay, no long service leave.

they would travel with others and seek work along the way or rely on thsoe thez met for simple needs such as bed and food.

it cost a lot.

 

when Jesus called people to a pilgrim life what did it cost?

mark & john 6 say it cost everything

to be on pilgrimage with Jesus was a one way journey.

you didn't come back to where you started.

indeed for some their 'pilgrimage' was to stay home and not travel.

but they were to live differently.

for others it did mean that they left house, family, everything.

Jesus didn't deny this cost.

But he did say they would not be 'out of  pocket'

they would have fields and homes and family.

blessings

rossnjen

 

Checking in...

The moment of truth...

is the weight ok?

will we see those bags again?

did we remember everything?

Hope so!

And off they go!!

All packed, on time to the airport, the fun is about to begin...

Did they plan to wear matching tops?

wandering aimless in airport corridors

well we've made singapore
well the airport terminal anyway
not that you need anything else all you need for living is here
piped sanitised air
grog shops
burger king
free internet
free recharging of your gadgets
free skytrain rides
free toilets
 
so just in case we miss our connection to frankfurt yo ucan know that we'll be perfectly safe and happy here.
 
we watched movies
the wrestler 3 stars (rg)
easy virtue 4.5 stars (jg & rg)
nixon/frost 5 stars (rg)
vicky christina barcelona -5stars (jg)
 
tesol time - jen talked with lilian & paul from singapore.
they've invited us to come and stay with them
ross still transitioning from pre-pilgrimage so didn't talk to anyone
 
we were sitting at the back of the plane
well positioned to experience the full force of tail strike
another time...
 
we ate food
qantas served fresh fruit - an aussie apple (5 stars jg)
 
off now to find terminal 3 - 26 mins walk!!!  or try the skytrain.
 
blessings
rolf & jan