Poland 5

For the rest of our trip we stayed in Damian's home town of Swinoujscie about 2 hours from Szczecin. It is an island, part belonging to Poland and the other part to Germany, so we had to take a ferry to get there. The boarder of Germany was within 5 minutes walking distance of Damian's parents house.

Here is a picture of the town as we were crossing the river.

This town is a very big tourist town so there is lots to see and do. They have tons of little shops up and down the street with all sorts of stuff to sell. It was fun to walk it and see every thing they had, by the end Areya was begging us to go home. I guess all that walk was to much for her little legs. They also have tons of horse and carriages that would take you around to see the sights.

The other great thing about this town is the fabulous beach. It has fine white sand with shallow waters for miles.

This is the Baltic Sea, you can board a ship to Denmark, Sweden or Norway and be there in no time at all. If it weren't for the cold weather and lack of my Polish I might be willing to live there.

Poland 4

Sunday we were scheduled to be in Slupsk for Julia's baptism and we needed to stop in Szczecin to do a little laundry and get our stuff needed for the next few days. From Szczecin it is about a three hour drive to Slupsk. (this is the town where Agnieszka's parents live)
We were to meet at Agnieszka's parents house for dinner but on our way there Damian's dads car broke down. Here's what happened.

We were traveling in two cars because there was so many of us. Adrian, Damian, myself and my girls were in one car and in the other car was Damian's parents, Agnieszka and Julia. We were almost there when the water pump on his dad's car stopped work and caused the car to over heat. We were a little bit ahead of them and had to turn around and go back. They decided to have Agnieszka and Julia get in the car with the girls and I while Damian, Adrian and his parents stayed with the car and waited for help. We drove the rest of the way there stopping only to feed Julia. Agnieszka's cousin made it to the car and towed it and the people to the rest of the way. After eating dinner we went to the hotel to settle in for the night. The room was so small and there was a wedding party going on down stairs with extremely loud music until 3 a.m. Needless to say we didn't get much sleep.
The next morning we got up early, ate breakfast, got ready, and headed out in the rain to the church. After the two hour church service they baptised Julia and made Damian her god father.

Afterward we all went to Agnieszka's sisters cafe for dinner, conversation and drinks. The dinner was awesome! The food just keep coming, then cake and ice cream and then more food. The girls had a great time running around and playing in the rain.

Damian and I all dressed up in our new suits.

After several hours of stuffing our faces we drove the 3 hour trip back to Szczecin. Still being 1 car short Damian's parents rode the train back.

Poland 3

Our next adventure was a 5 day stay at the Palac Maciejewo. It is an old Palace in a small village about 2 hours outside of Szczecin. This Palace was built some time around 1899 and belonged to the Flemming Family. Here is the link if you are interested in finding out an more history or information on this Palace: www.palacmaciejewo.pl/ (After you open the link, if you look in the left hand corner you will see a German flag and a British flag, click on the British flag and it will be in English)

We took Damian's parents and brothers dogs with us (which are not allowed in the Palace) so we stayed in the hunting lodge in the back. It had 3 bed rooms and a living area with a small kitchen.

Here is a picture of the dinning room inside the Palace. The food was pretty good and because we stayed 5 days we got to try every thing on the menu.

Here are the girls sitting on the sofa in the den.

There was a play area outside for the kids with a slide, swings and a sandbox. There was also a ping pong table, pool table and a swimming pool but unfortunately the swimming pool was broken until the last night. I had a really bad stomach ache that night and did not go with them but I was told that the water was freezing.

We had a whole lot of time to do nothing so we played a little badminton and volleyball went mushroom hunting in the woods and fed the birds. There was a bird house with pigeons, ducks and peacocks which the girls loved, they would take the left over bread from our meals and feed it to the birds.

On one of the days we walked to the small village to get ice cream and some supplies to cook the mushrooms we found. On our way back a wasp thought that it would share Aniela's ice cream with her and stung her on the eye in the process. Yep, my poor baby is allergic to bees. Her little eye was so swollen and red. It looked like some one punched her. We waited 2 day and it still did not get any better so we drove the the closest town to get some calcium. I was amazed how fast it worked! By the next day it was almost back to normal, it was still a little red and puffy but by the end of that day you could not even tell any thing had happened.

Areya and Babcia (Grandma) went for a walk and picked some wildflowers. They brought me back some and made a head band out of the rest.

The Palace had it's very own lake at the bottom of the hill. Damian, his dad and brother and Areya and I all went fishing. While we were there Damian and Areya got in a little treasure hunting and we tried our luck at fishing. Areya was amazing and catch several, where as me not so amazing, I only caught one. Damian's dad was pulling them out left and right and I was just sitting there with nothing. Our poles were right next to each other and still he would get one and me?........... nothing. It was so frustrating that I gave up and played a little pirate with Areya.

It was a nice stay at the Palace but on Friday we needed to pack up and go. Sunday we were scheduled to be in Slupsk for Julia's baptism and we needed to stop in Szczecin to do a little laundry and get our stuff needed for the next few days. From Szczecin it is about a three hour drive to Slupsk. (this is the town where Agnieszka's parents live)

The street sign game

Ok here's how to play. Get a piece of paper and number it 1-30, then look at the signs below and make your best guess at what they mean. Some pictures have more then one sign guess both. (there are some duplicates so you get a few freebies)
There are a few rules:
1. No peeking at the answers
2. No using the Internet for help
3. Give it your best try
Then see how many you got right and leave me a comment letting me know how you did.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

How did you do? Below are the answers.

1. Speed limit (70 KMP)

2. No passing

3. Loose gravel

4. Caution

5. Right curve ahead

6. End of city limits

7. Yield

8. No left turns

9. Stop

10. Must turn left

11. Two-directional road

12. Toilet

13. Caution

14. Accidents

15. In 30 meters there is a bump

16. Speed limit

17. No stopping or parking on road

18. Entering the city limits of ___________ (insert city name here)

19. Has the right of way

20. Railroad crossing without barriers

21. Do not enter

22. Roundabout

23. Falling rocks

24. Slippery road

25. Wharf nearby

26. Traffic light ahead

27. Slippery road when wet (Accident)

28. Watch for Pedestrian (Accidents)

29. School crossing

30. Strong winds

Don't forget to let me know how you did and what you think of my little game. Thanks for playing!