"Patience"

Since Lithuania and Poland are part of the European Union there is no border patrol and we can travel as we do in the states..freely pass from one country to another without having to show our passports and being checked at the checkpoints. We do stop at the now abandoned "Checkpoint Charlie" for a leg stretcher. We have a few girls who practice yoga on this tour and some of us join in for a quick yoga class. This definitely gets the blood flowing and works out those kinks from the long ride. I think I may have to take up yoga when I get home...this was great! "Checkpoint Charlie" is still intact so we can view the room where the inspections were done and where the guards were stationed.

Michael tells us to have patience..the best is yet to come....then plays the movie we were going to watch a few days ago. With all the road noise, it was very hard to understand so I enjoy the scenery as we drive along, some are napping while others are reading. We stop along the way for a lunch which was very good. "The chicken noodle soup is traditional on Sunday's so we will be enjoying that very soup today.."it is so delicious you will not believe it"! Well, the soup was good... but based on Michaels description was not what I expected, but it was good just the same. We had coleslaw with a pork cutlet which I also enjoyed and dessert.

We arrive in Warsaw and take a walk around town to experience our new surroundings. Its a city, old and new architecture..lots of history.
We stop in Lazienki Park which is the largest park in Poland and links the "Royal Route" from the Royal Castle with Wilanow Palace. We visit Frederick Chopin and a wonderful bench where you could push buttons and hear some of his famous pieces.

We head to the town square :

Suddenly hunger strikes! So...we enjoy lunch with a very nice couple from Australia in a unique little bistro in town....the food was superb!

We explore a bit after lunch and enjoy the sites:

THE WARSAW GHETTO AND WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

"Establishment of the ghetto: In 1940, the Germans erected a wall encircling an area within the center of Warsaw and herded over 600,000 Jews. People imprisoned in the ghetto were dying of hunger, diseases and slavish labor, or perished in mass executions.

Great Deportation Aktion: In the summer of 1942, the Germans deported almost 400,000 Jews from the ghetto to the death camp in Treblinka. The idea of armed resistance was born among those who had been left behind.

The outbreak of the Uprising: On 19 April 1943, two thousand Germans entered the ghetto in order to carry out its final liquidation. Several hundred young people from the Jewish Combat Organization and the Jewish Military Union decided to oppose them. The insurgents were exhausted and poorly armed. Even though most of them knew that they did not stand a chance, the preferred to die in combat.

The end of the Ghetto: Over the period of four weeks, the Germans were gradually razing the ghetto to the ground, setting fire to all the buildings. The captured residents and fighters were killed on the spot or sent to camps. On 8 May, Mordechaj Anielewicz, leader of the Uprising, and several dozen insurgents hiding in a bunker were hemmed in by the Germans and committed suicide. Some Jews managed to escape the burning through the sewers. On 16 May, to mark their victory, the Germans blew up the Great Synagogue on Tlomackie Street. The Warsaw Ghetto was no more.

Marek Edelman, the last commander of the Jewish Combat Organization, was one of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising survivors. On 19 April, to commemorate the Uprising, he used to lay a bouquet of yellow flowers at the Monument to the Ghetto Heros in Muranow. Our daffodils refer to this tradition. By wearing them, we demonstrate that together we remember those who perished fighting for their dignity." Quoted from the Muzeum Hisorii Zydow Polskich

More information available at : WWW.POLIN.PL