Warsaw Poland

Greetings,

I apologize for not posting the last couple of days, but the internet costs here at the hotel which it did not in Germany so I'm being conservative on spending. With that stated, this blog will be for our entire time in Warsaw, Poland because we depart in a few short hours for Krakow, Poland.

On Friday (May 21st) we departed Berlin by train for Warsaw for a six hour ride through the countryside of Germany and Poland. The two countries away from their cities was absolutely beautiful. The small villages seemed to have been stuck in time . . . time of the 1940s.

Arrived in Warsaw, Poland around 1230 hours. After placing all our bags on the bus we went and visited The Emanual Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute. During the Nazis occupation, the building was within the walls of the Jewish Warsaw ghetto. The building became a vibrant center of clandestine work, of social and cultural activities.

Following our visit to the Institute, we were taken to the heart of Warsaw--the City Center. An absolutely breath-taking site, which includes along its main boulevard all the historical and architectural structures . . . churches, the University of Warsaw (1810-2010), and Presidential Palace where the tributes are still seen from the recent airplane crash that killed most of the Polish governmental leaders.

Once we had made our initial walk through this section, the Park University group remained in the City Center and visited the historical sites in the Old Town and then spent a couple of hours sitting in an open air court yard at an outside cafe enjoying a refreshment, people watching, and listening to a Polish band. The picture of European life!

Yesterday, Saturday (May 22nd) was an interesting day . . . I had an opportunity to come into contact with the Polish medical system when I had to engage it with one of our students. I know we have been debating for some time at home the plus and minuses of socialized medicine, but I found yesterday the Polish system very good; for example, the three prescriptions the student received yesterday cost $26.00 in American money . . . back home just one of those same prescriptions would have cost $90.00. The student is doing extremely well after some bed rest yesterday, so I missed the driving tour of Warsaw. But the other students saw the Jewish sites with a Polish guide.

In the afternoon we visited the Museum of the Warsaw uprising . . . outstanding. This museum represented the local citizens uprising, in which Dr. Jerzy Hauptmann would have been represented.

In the evening we spent our last night in Warsaw back now at the City Center where we did some shopping for friends and family, while again enjoying the century-old European market scene of dinner under the stars. There is just something about sitting under the open sky and stars, among the narrow cobblestone streets, enjoying the time with good friends.

We will spend today and tomorrow in Krakow before departing for Prague, Czech. I will probably post again tomorrow before we depart Krakow.