Poland 1985 #2of4

(Except Gdansk, Kraków, Oswiecim, Poznan, Szczecin, Warsaw, Wieliczka, Wroclaw.)

We saw a cemetery with a lot of flowers, then saw a cow pulling a wagon — it wasn’t an oxen, just a regular milk cow. So many of the streams and rivers have scum floating on the top. Many streets in the towns are crowded with people. When we look down the street it appears there’s a parade or something, but we guess these people are going to shop, to work, and to their homes, and most everyone is on foot, there seem to be few cars on the streets in some towns.

In the cities with public transportation, the equipment looks old and in need of refurbishment. In Wroclaw the street cars were from many, many years ago. We remember seeing a small streetcar with only one set, or carriage, of wheels, right in the middle of the car. We saw that several times in Poland.

While driving through a small city we were given, and paid for in cash (maybe $5) right then and there, a traffic ticket for driving through a red-light. Want to bet the driver has an excuse? The crossing street made a zigzag, and I was looking ahead at the green-light controlling the traffic where that street continued to our right, rather than the red-light that controlled the street that joined from the left. The driver received more grief from the passenger than from the Polish police!

This is a very difficult trip. Our visa says we can be in Poland only seven days, and we don’t how difficult it would be to extend our Visa, so I did not want to get “behind” in our travel, just in case we might have a problem of some kind. Our visit in Poland, so far, is difficult, but we wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Perhaps mixed emotions, is the best description.

As we left Krakow, headed toward Warsaw, we saw a 10 or 15 story office building that looks like it was 3/4 completed. It is obvious, from the small trees growing inside the walls, it has been sitting in this condition for many years.

We see people walking along the road in Poland leading a cow by a rope, and we see cows tied to a stake so they can eat the grass growing at the side of the road. We passed an older couple with an especially beautiful team of horses, extremely well cared for. We stopped for gasoline at a station with a short line. Many people fill the gasoline tank of their auto or truck, then have one or two large cans they also fill.