If you go to Warsaw...

...make sure to go to Arkadia mall and find the E Wedel shop and have some super special hot chocolate. Mine was spicy pepper...and it was delicious! Wow! Some pepper syrup in the bottom and hot pepper sprinkled on top. Would never have tried it on my own but a friend let me have a taste of theirs and it was instant love. I'm Not Kidding. And you will love it, too! ;)

Forgot to take the before-I-drank-it pic. But use your imagination. ;)
need some Wedel links?
all the stores in Warsaw
main store-really nice but too far away for this trip
and how about just some good old all around hot chocolate recipes?

Zoo! Zoo! How about You, You, You???

The kiddos were dropped off by Dad at 9 last Saturday. They came in happily singing something about "...going to the zoo, zoo, zoo; what about you, you, you?" Ok- so we've got willing participants for the day's adventures. at least at the beginning! up the escalator at the metro station. Make careful note of that purse on Little B's shoulder. She loved it; came in proudly carrying it- Dad takes T aside ASAP and says- you might want to dig around in B's purse- their passports and money are in there. We took custody of the passports and money. Little B kept the candy and juices. At the end of the day, when we were getting off the tram at Amy's stop, Little B suddenly says Where's my little bag? And no one had a clue. I honestly had no idea if it had been minutes or hours since I'd last seen that darling bag. :(  At least the drinks and candy had long been consumed by then. And it was some good candy- Mambas- enough for all of us to have a package! Thanks, S! :)This shot was irresistible. He stood there. I shot. What can I say?

Tuna salad for lunch. Amy picked out the ingredients- a real plus to have the kids' former nanny make that decision. When we said what was for lunch, A immediately did a happy dance. With corn? he asked. Yes, I said. Another round of Happy Dance. It was  big hit!

Don't worry Mom and Dad- no children were harmed in the making of this shot, everyone wore helmets (we just ummmm ummm photo-shopped them out, looks more natural, Ya know? Oh- they didn't have helmets? Oh... well... they didn't climb too many fences... not by too many dangerous animals. They're not missing limbs are they? whew)

H's shirt: I can't help you... I'm stuck to the couch. heh.

H is a born daredevil. He's standing on a disc that rotates when it's pushed- sort of like a merry-go-round, if you remember what that is/was. Most of the kids were content to sit, hang on or walk beside it. Not H- he immediately found a way to make it interesting.Not to be outdone, Big Bro A comes over. But it's scarier than it looks when Mr DareDevil is doing it. Come ON, A- Get going...and a graceful dismountLittle B wants in on the game. (I thought this was where the purse was lost... but it shows up in later pix... It was either the powdered sugar-topped waffle stop or the cotton candy stop. Must have gotten left at one of the tables. )

All in all, it was a great day. The kids were troopers- they walked and walked and walked. They were fun. They were cute, entertaining, happy, overjoyed by unexpected things (the brownies, small suckers (lollipops), tuna salad).

The next day, asked Dad if they were tired that night. Yes, he said. And cranky as caught cats. 

heh heh Well, it was a good day! :)

And F, S, A, H and B? I'm going to miss you! A lot!! xo

more flood

Well- it's been quite the spring, rain-wise. No end yet to the rain. We had a few partly or mostly sunny days... but then Sunday was cloudy. By the time we left city #2 in the late afternoon, the gray skies were just beginning to spit. Got on the train- which was completely full. We got 2 of the few seats left- people in the hall sitting on the jump seats and floor. A toddler, too. At first I felt inclined to get up and offer my seat to the little one and her mom- until I realized she was better off out there where she could move more.

So it rained. And rained. Not good for the flooding, I think. Lots of water still visible in the fields- not the big open ponds of last week but definitely there- in between the rows and visible through the grass. A lot of what we passed looks like a lush marsh.

Pulled into a station in what felt like an ominous way- can't explain it but when I realized we were still there after 10 min, I began to wonder.

So did the other passengers. The rain didn't- it just picked up the pace.

Lots of guessing going on- 20 min late. Already 20, 20 more. People make phone calls. Dozing people wake up. Hot as can be. Someone calls down the hall: An hour late (in addition to the previous delay).

Stirring. Calling. Toddler singing a song *Nogi nogi nogi Nogi nogi nogi- must be a bit like patty-cake. Someone's singing along with her making her giggle. *feet feet feet


More stirring. Windows open. Rain comes in. Windows inch shut again. Man beside me gets up and stands in the hall. After 15 min of minding my own business in my own space, I temporarily plop my bag on his seat- I'll move if/when he returns.

T & I discuss when we should eat her Snicker bar (since I'd already eaten mine- Yes, I'm impressed that she even considered sharing with me- whadda pig!)

Someone authoritatively says- Tracks are flooded. We'll be at least 2 hours late. A girl by the window in our compartment is using the last of her dying phone battery to have someone check stuff on the internet. She leaves (no sadness- she's skinny but has managed to take her own seat and half of T's). She comes back, grabs all her stuff while rapidly repeating the last info she had before her phone died- A bus leaving for Warsaw in 10 min. She's off to look for the station.

Another girl from our compartment grabs her stuff and follows.

And returns 10 min later wetter than a drowned rat. No taxis. No transportation. Bus station a long way off. Her umbrella shamefacedly leaks all over the floor the rest of the trip. We are just glad she's not on our side of the compartment; our window girl doesn't come back and the rest of us each have a couple extra inches of space.

More talk about the Snicker bar. T remembers we have a few pieces of Choclairs and we devour a couple. Lots of sms'ing but no one seems to want to hoof it down the tracks to rescue us. Or bring us Snickers. Or Fries. Or anything. Someone did offer the sun, moon and stars... package deal. We should have taken it.

We sat there over 2 hours. Finally moved. Cheering and a massive up-sweep in the noise level. Yay!

We stop. Sit. Start. Stop. Start.

And finally arrive. And wend our way home through the streets of Warsaw. Only 2 1/2 hours late (it sure seemed like it was more). And we didn't ever eat the Snicker. And A had a hot tuna dish ready for us when we got in. Bless her wee heart. ;)

So I wonder what this did to the flooding? I guess it was quite a storm.

misc Warsaw

the wall outside Centrum metro station. Pretty neat mural

 A week after it started to rain. I was waiting at (what turned out to be the wrong) bus stop waiting for the (right) bus (going the wrong direction)the view from under my umbrellaFor Trude- see the sweater? :)The Old City from across a rather engorged Wisla RiverSome more interesting graffiti... but this was rather horrifyingwords formed with band-aids. a maze. I really wanted to explore it but it's pretty well closed off and guarded. It was thinking about raining... and proly did later, come to think of it.

Oh- and we had a flood

I knew we'd had a lot of rain. First, we got wet... a lot... every time we went out. Umbrella like to molded... Then we heard about trains being hours late... and landslides in the mountains (one took an entire village- only the school is still standing- and the survivors are all living there now)... and tracks and roads washing out and a dike that broke and sandbagging. We were floating around the streets of Poznan (see earlier post) when the Wisla River in Warsaw came over its banks. The former landlady got flooded. No one else that we (I) know. After the Big Move, Amy and I took a tram down to the river to see what we could see.Just barely visible- sandbags along the edge of the road.there you go. You've never seen sandbags, right? How about creepy glow-eyed pigeons making a nest on the bridge with 3 sticks and calling it good? (this one's for T... she knows why!)back to the river. It looked to be at least twice its normal width at this point. And the water had receded quite a bit by the time we saw it.you've always wanted to see sandbags through the bars of the railing... I know it...trying to get a feel for the current width of the river.with Warsaw behind it.steps that used to lead down to a riverside walkway.there they go... those steps... all roped off now, thoughlampposts marking where the sidewalk is

love that bike sign!  a tunnel that goes under the road... sort of closed for now...It has its own guard

even the trash can was submerged... along with the trash.Back up to high ground... with skies that have patches of blue in them... We have had some sun the last few days... but not much; it's supposed to rain all weekend. 

The Big Move

The time had come, the time was now... 

We're not Marvin K Mooney, neither of us- but we did leave. Moved. Out. Gone. For now, we're with Amy in her apt- (shhhh- it's great here!)

The old place, part way through the packing process

my room at Amy's- stuff's been dumped in the room...the living room. Don't you just love that carpet? What about the bags? Love them, too? I thought so...T's room...even the kitchen was invaded...This place is, hands-down, the cutest place I've ever lived in.

How do you survive a move? Emergency rations of this. Do they sell these in the States? They're the best!

trip to Poznan

Had a few days in Poznan with friends recently. Went to see the mall 8-) and the Old City. There was a gigantic pupa-looking thing with moving metallic wings hanging from the ceiling. Wish I'd found that walkway and looked at it from above.Lovely, no?The mall is built in and around an old brewery. This is part of the brewery.

Courtyard to the left; glassed -in walkway on the right. Loved it!Face statue... hmmm. Next to Circle Center in Indy, this is neatest mall I've seen- definitely not your typical mall.

An impromptu dance performance sponsored by the Lipton ice tea people. Some people got free ice tea. Some of us did not. A Foods of the World store. Two things stopped me from buying this stuff- I'm not real fond of chocolate or strawberry pop-tarts... and the price... heh heh There must have been import duties... heh heh  

The old city. These 2 made me smile. Bench broken in the middle but some good sitting space left on each end! (Notice the sun? heh)

Lunch was in this darling restaurant. I love how the walls don't go all the way to the ceiling. The theme is butterflies, apparently.there were hundreds of themcrawling with butterflies! While we were eating, it started pouring down rain. A downpour that lasted long enough to flood the streets and low-lying intersections... and our friends' garage...