Phase 1 of my Poland trip was complete. I had made so much progress collecting documents for my genealogy research. I had seen so much and met so many people in Poland. The weather was hot and I wanted to go swimming. I was really looking forward to going to Berlin and cooling off in nature…
Read MoreJozefow
I would lay there tossing and turning all night. The noise from outside was so incredibly loud that earplugs and putting my head under the pillow simply did not work. I tried sleeping in the lounge of the hostel and the worker came to wake me up and tell me I couldn’t be there. We got into a mini-argument about how helpless we all are from the noise situation. The plan was to take the train to Jozefow the next day. I wanted to be well-rested and alert. I was pretty nervous about the whole thing. I wasn’t even sure Jozefow had a train station…
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Lublin
I wanted to see Lublin before I left Poland. I needed to go back to Warsaw, to something familiar, to regroup after my experiences in Krakow. The weekend in Warsaw, now my second time in Warsaw, was uneventful. It’s an easy city to navigate. I know where to eat and where to chill. I know that the bar and dance club scene kinda sucks on weekends. I know the drivers are crazy aggressive. I booked my train to Lublin and my hostel there.
Read MoreCiechanow, Przasnysz, Mlawa, Glinojeck
These are Grandpa’s towns. They are in the Masovia województwo. I spent a long weekend with Pawel and his wife Kasia touring around the region. Pawel and I had may chats in 2010-2011. He contacted me on JewishGen in 2010 where I uploaded my family tree back in 2004. The story is fascinating…
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First picture in Warsaw.
Warsaw
I had such confusing feelings about arriving in Warsaw. As with every new destination I’ve landed in, I felt a level of excitement. Grandpa visited Poland in 1999. He is the only person in my family to have visited his hometown since the beginning of World War II. Knowing I would be visiting these towns as well, I felt nervous. My grandparents fled Poland to survive. They left everything behind…
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