A Walk in the Kabaty Forest

For a number of weeks, I have walked each Wednesday  in the Kabaty Forest with a group of women from IWG, the International Womens' Group.  We walk for an hour using nordic poles.  It has been so interesting and beautiful to see how the forest has changed each week.

I have wanted to show Mark where we walk each week, and so this past Saturday, Mark, myself and two of Mark's co-workers walked for about 2 hours in the Kabaty forest.

The forest floor is now almost completely covered with fallen leaves...and today we were treated with leaves constantly falling...almost like specks of golden glitter falling around us.  If you look closely you will see the falling leaves in the picture below.  The yellow spot on my waist is actually a leaf falling between me and the camera.

I was able to guide our little group through the forest and not get lost...so glad I remembered where the signs were!

On the outskirts of the forest we saw some farmland and these farmers were handpicking cabbage....a whole truckload!

We also found a marker in the middle of the forest...since Poland just celebrated "All Saints' Day" we knew this must have been some kind of a memorial for someone.

There is a large grocery and department store (like a Super Target) next to the forest...they too have their Christmas decor, displays and merchandise starting to grow. My attention was drawn to this pile of sleds at the end of one aisle...something that we just do not see in Texas or California!

Our days in Warsaw are quite cold now...our highs are only in the high 30's and low 40's .... we wear layers like onions and yet we are doing okay...Our biggest challenge now is getting used to the dark coming by 4:15 pm each afternoon! We are ever more grateful for sunshine, blue skies and light!

All Saints Day in Poland...Nov. 1, 2011

November 1st is All Saints Day in Poland...it is a national holiday so in the evening Mark and I along with some co-workers from the US visited two cemeteries in Warsaw.

This day is a special day where people all over Poland visit the graves of loved ones, family and friends who have passed away. They come together and visit different cemeteries then gather in their homes in remembrance of those who have passed away.

Just as Thanksgiving is an important day for Americans...All Saints Day is a very important day for Poles.

The graves are adorned with flowers, candles and lanterns. We thought this "rock like" gravestone from the 1800s was very unique...

The cemeteries are lit up with many hundreds of candles. Since it gets dark so early now, I was glad I had my little flashlight to light the path, which was covered with fallen leaves.

Street vendors in front of the cemeteries are selling all day... flowers in pots, cut flowers and flowers made into wreaths. They also sell candles and lanterns of all sizes.

Most graves are decorated with fall flowers....most often the chrysanthemums. Since chrysanthemums are given for the dead it is not considered appropriate to use them for other occasions.

Two cemeteries are on either side of the Wolska Chapel (the only LDS church building in all of Poland)...Since we had seen these cemeteries from the tram before, we chose to visit these on this night.

We knew this was a special memorial we just could not read it in Polish...we later found out that it is named The Fallen Undefeated, and is dedicated to the memory of Poles killed in the first days of the Warsaw Uprising against the occupying German army in 1944.

Next year we would like to come a little earlier and see these areas with some daylight.

We were glad though that we could still learn about and experience in a small way this very special day for the Polish people!

Our Weekend in Prague (Oct.28-31)

We took our first International trip inside Europe last weekend...

We spent 4 days and 3 nights in Prague, Czech Republic and it was wonderful!

We were told that Prague would be beautiful but crowded in any season... we became tourists once again and learned so much together!

One of the first tasks was to exchange our Polish zlotys to Czech crowns...Mark made a chart that converted it to US $ in order to know if we were getting a good price or not.

This is quite the international tourist spot for people all over the world...we could hear many other languages around us, not so much Polish any more....lucky for us, so many people there speak English!

Less than a 5 minute walk from our hotel, we came to a large open area...in the picture above, to the right and behind me is a huge modern mall...and to the left and behind me is the outskirts of Prague's Old Town...Stare Mesto. We didn't realize it when we planned our trip, but the day we arrived (Fri. Oct. 28) was Independence Day, a national holiday. Unlike in Poland on holidays, all of the businesses appeared to be open. Because of the holiday the Municipal House (above) was giving free tours. The Municipal House is where a number of concerts are held...we purchased tickets for the Saturday night symphony performance of a violin concerto and a piano concerto. The major performance of the evening was Dvorak's New World Symphony. Prague is the birthplace of Antonin Dvorak so it was quite a treat to be in his homeland and to hear his beautiful music.

We purchased these warm cinnamon/sugar treats....in the picture below you can see how they were being made outside.

Next to the Municipal House is the Powder Gate...it was built in 1475 and was one of 13 gates to the city. It eventually was used to store gunpowder - hence the name "Powder Gate".

We actually contemplated climbing the 186 narrow stairs inside the tower to get a view of the city...but chose to just walk through it instead.

As we walked through the Powder Gate and down cobblestone lanes, we came to their Old Town square...filled with so many people, old buildings, even older buildings and lots of great history! We could hardly believe we were really in Prague!

The architecture is quite diverse in this area...in many places there are old buildings and much older buildings next to each other...to hear when these buildings and churches were erected, it's quite amazing to think they are still standing and so beautiful.

Here you see the spires of the Church of Our Lady of Tyn. This building is one of Prague's most famous sites or symbols. This church was erected in the latter part of the 14th century. This beautiful old church is a wonderful site whether day or night.

Construction on the Old Town Hall (above) began in 1338, and it was updated over the centuries, with the most recent renovations in 1981. Once we learned that we could take an elevator to get the viewing level on the top we could not pass it up...and so up we went!

We were not disappointed. Though crowded on top, in every direction we looked it was absolutely beautiful...even though it was a cloudy day.

The majestic Church of Our Lady of Tyn is behind us...the beautiful pointed bell towers face the Old Town Square.In the center of the picture above, the Powder Gate can be seen in the distance, and the path we walked to the main square is in the foreground.

Arising from the top of the hill in the far distance is St. Vitus's Cathedral, the centerpiece of the Prague Castle...we traveled there on Saturday.

From the top of the Old Town Hall we looked down to see the crowd gathering under the astronomical clock (below), waiting for the hourly bells to chime, and....

for the appearance of figures of the 12 apostles moving past the two windows above the clock, appearing to look down onto the people in the street below....

The clock tells time in a number of ways: old Bohemian time, real time, the paths of the sun and moon through the signs of the zodiac and seasons.

We walked to the Jewish Ghetto area and found the Old-New Synagogue (above). It is the oldest synagogue in Europe still used for religious purposes. It was originally created in the 13th century.

We also walked through the Jewish Cemetery...what makes this site so interesting is all of the tombstones...it holds more than 12,000 gravestones for more than 100,000 people. Because of the lack of space they are packed tightly together and buried 9-12 deep.

The picture above is of gravestones from the 13th century. The small pebbles placed on or near the gravestone are a sign of respect.

Saturday (Oct. 29) we took a 4-hour electric bike tour in and around Prague. Our tour guide showed us places we normally would not see as tourists. Prague is quite hilly so we were grateful for the "electric" feature on the bicycles that literally propelled us up the hills. Our guide said we were brave to do this in the cold!

We were taking the "View Point" tour, one of the longest but prettiest also...we hadn't planned on a cold foggy morning...but we still saw beautiful areas.

We came across a wedding taking place...we think it is quite fun to see such a happy occasion taking place...it was a cold morning...but here is the bride talking to her flower girls anxious to be around someone so pretty!

We rode over to the Prague Castle and our guide waited while Mark and I walked around the grounds...there were so many people...we would have loved a real tour of this place but at least we were able to see, walk and learn a little bit on our own. The castle grounds are extensive and contain what amounts to a small town within its walls.

They change guards each hour and I couldn't resist getting a picture next to one of the guards!

This is inside the Cathedral of St.Vitus on the grounds of the Prague Castle. It is enormous...and quite beautiful! It is also known as the Prague Cathedral, and is considered to be the spiritual center of the entire country! It was first started to be built in 925, and was expanded over the centuries!

The Prague Cathedral...Cathedral of St Vitus.

We rode through, in and around several parks...the trees and colors were so beautiful! I continue to say this...but we have never seen such beautifully vibrant fall colors!

This fence atop a wall on a bridge contains hundreds of "lovers locks"...tradition goes that people who are in "love" come here with a lock, connect it to the fence and throw the key away as a sign of long lasting commitment.

We had no lock or key but were happy to stand in front of it...we are still happily in love after 31+ years of marriage!

Here is the John Lennon wall...after John Lennon was killed people wrote messages of condolences...it became a symbol of freedom and peace for the young people of Prague. Our guide said that it changes daily...what we saw today would be different tomorrow.

We survived our bike tour...though Mark was cold and I was sore. We stopped to take our picture in front of the American Embassy which was down the street from where we rented our bikes.

After riding bikes we were hungry...we ate outside with gas warmers near the tables and blankets to cover up with!

Mark ordered a meal of pork roast, white cabbage, and hairy dumplings. The "hairy" part comes from the stringy-ness of the dumplings that are made from potato, flour, egg and salt.

We walked through crowds and headed towards The Charles Bridge...one of Prague's most famous sites...it joins the areas of Old Town (Stare Mesto) with Mala Strana (where the Prague Castle and surrounding areas are). The bridge was started in the latter half of the 14th century...when Charles IV was ruling.

It is a pedestrian bridge...which gives beautiful views of the city. It is lined with more than 30 different statues and monuments of Czech saints and important people...almost like an open air gallery.

Here we are crossing the bridge and looking over to the area where the "love locks" were hung - beyond the water wheel.

We learned that Prague is known for its crystal, garnet, wooden toys, decorated eggs, and marionette puppets! There are entertainers up and down the bridge and here we saw marionette puppets appearing to play music! How clever!

Below is the far gate of the Charles Bridge, leading back into Stare Mesto (Old Town).

On Sunday we attended church at the Prague Branch. We rode Prague's Metro line and rode up and down these enormous escalators! They might be the longest elevators we have ever seen - and definitely the fastest.

The Prague members meet on the first floor of the Prague, Czech Republic Mission Home, and we were happy to join them for the morning service. The meeting was in Czech and we were grateful for the English translators!

We were excited to have found it so easily...but actually we met 2 missionaries and a family on the Metro escalator that we followed to church.

We also went to the New Town (Nove Mesto) area. Below is the National Museum of Prague and the Saint Wenceslas statue in front of it.

The picture above is looking the opposite direction from the museum and St. Wenceslas statue. The entire area is Wenceslas Square. In 1989 the entire square was filled with people participating in mass rallies that led to the Velvet Revolution - the downfall of communism in Czechoslovakia.

We ate at a typical Czech restaurant...and Mark must have loved his meal!

We also toured the Dvorak museum, located in what was once a country manor but is now in the middle of the city.

The story of these new-found friends from France is below.

This is not a great picture but a good story...we met this couple from France on our first day in Prague, while standing in line at the Municipal House for a tour. They spoke to us in English and we talked for a while.

While on our bike ride the following day we saw the couple again in a completely different area of Prague...we laughed that we had run into each other again.

To our surprise and delight...we saw them a 3rd time the next day...we then laughed and decided we must get a picture. She said we were their American friends from Warsaw! Mark said "we'll see you in Paris"!

We thought...what were the chances of seeing each other on 3 consecutive days in such a large city...but we did!

On our last day in Prague we went back to the Old Town Square and took this picture of the Jan Hus monument and St. Nicholas church in the background. Jan Hus is a national hero that lived in the 14th century. He fought against corruption and despotism of the church. He was eventually burned at the stake for heresy.

Below is another view of St. Nicholas church, from the tower of the Old Town Hall.

Inside the St. Nicholas church we saw this beautiful chandelier in the shape of a crown and heard beautiful organ music playing..

It was the end of October and beautiful live flowers still decorated the streets of Prague...adding to its charm and beauty!

Here Mark is enjoying his last Czech meal...Czech sausage and a potato-cabbage dish from a street stand...

and I am enjoying another sugary cinnamon treat...
We had a delightful time in this beautiful city of Prague...and would love to return and visit again sometime!