Celebrating our 34th Wedding Anniversary
June 14, 1980
June 14, 2014....Warsaw, Poland
Anniversaries on Saturdays are great days! Our wedding anniversary fell on Saturday this year, so we drove about an hour's drive (63.5 km) from our home in Warsaw to the birthplace of Fryderyk Chopin....Żelazowa Wola.
The actual birthplace of Chopin is a small manor home, named after the nearby village. The land around the home is expansive and beautiful!
Statues are erected on the property to honor the great musician.... Fryderyk Chopin.
Beautiful summer flowers are growing in abundance...and there is so much green space on this property!
It was a quiet Saturday at the birthplace of Chopin....we almost had the entire home and park to ourselves because of occasional rain.
When Chopin was born, this home belonged to the family of Count Skarbek, and it is here where Chopin's parents most likely met as they were both working for the family....Chopin's mother, a distant relative to the Count, was a housekeeper and Chopin's father tutored the children.
After Chopin's parents were married, they moved to an annex of the manor home. It was in this annex where Chopin was born. He was the second child and only son.
The young family lived in the annex for just 7-8 months and then moved to Warsaw.
The manor home today is very simple...decorated in a style similar to the early 19th century.
Pictures of Chopin and his family are found on the walls.
The view outside from any window is lovely.
The Chopin family would often return to this area in the summer and during holidays. While spending summers here, Chopin performed concerts in the garden for many friends and family.
After walking through the manor home, we walked around the beautiful property.
Though a rainy morning, we enjoyed our anniversary date.
The Utrata river runs through the property...it was lovely!
Dodging raindrops...stopping to take a few pictures.
Enjoying small details...
The Polish people love green spaces....and they are abundant here at Żelazowa Wola!
We learned there is a Frederic Chopin Rose, and found a small rose garden where these beautiful flowers were growing.
The first attempts to turn the property into a Chopin monument and museum began near the end of the 19th century. However, lack of funding and the outbreaks of WWI and WWII kept the project from progressing.
After WWII, a national effort to finish the project finally resulted in the opening of the museum property in 1950, on the 100th anniversary of Chopin's death.
There have been monuments erected in honor of Poland's most famous musician. The statue below looks like a tear is coming down Chopin's cheek. It was only a raindrop....but I thought, "Maybe he is sad that he never returned to Poland after leaving at only age 20."
As we walked near the River Utrata, we could see the manor home in the distance. It's easy to understand why the Chopin family would have returned often to visit.
The site is a lovely park....and the summer flowers were so pretty!
I had visited this museum and park with the International Women's Group during my first fall in Poland. The fall season was lovely...but coming in the summer was beautiful also.
After a few hours we were quite ready for lunch....
....and across the street from the museum we found a great little restaurant.
The food was fresh and delicious, and we enjoyed our lunches immensely.
Leaving the restaurant, I saw the window boxes of beautiful pelargonia....Polish for geraniums. They are displayed abundantly during the summertime, and I never tire of seeing them in Poland.
Our morning and early afternoon were lovely....
....at the beautiful birthplace of Fryderyk Chopin, Żelazowa Wola.
Leaving Żelazowa Wola, we drove toward Warsaw....
....and passed through the Kampinos National Park.
It was green and lovely....but we could not find a place to pull over, park and walk around. According to our map this park is huge!
Seen when driving through the park....this very old trailer that looks like an antique railroad car. But it's made for the road, as it has rubber tires.
He came to Warsaw to speak to all church members and missionaries in Poland, in a two-hour conference session. To accommodate the congregation of 500, the meeting was held at the Marriot Hotel.
....and we were asked to arrive about an hour and a half early in order to practice the two songs we would sing.
The songs were familiar hymns but the challenge for me is that they were sung in Polish.
I was very grateful to be standing near Polish women and missionaries who knew how to pronounce and sing the Polish words well.
Many of the people in these pictures are in the branch we attend, and the woman in the yellow jacket is Sister Uchtdorf.
I watched as many people approached President Uchtdorf....
....then I was able to shake his hand, with the encouragement of my friend Magda and her husband Darek, shown on either side of me in the picture below.
One of my favorite pictures....President Uchtdorf with a little boy in the arms of his father...members of our branch in Warsaw.
Mark took a picture of our friend Aleksandra with President Uchtdorf....it made her day!
Our missionary friends the Jensens came from Krakow and stayed at our home during the weekend of the conference.
It was the last time we saw them before they completed their mission and returned to Orem, Utah three weeks later....but we hope to see them when we are visiting in Utah again.
Today I celebrated my fourth birthday in Warsaw, and Mark took the entire day off in order for us to be together! The best gift....time together!
An early morning walk in our neighborhood park....
Later we drove to the Wilanów Palace and walked through the gardens....
....and eventually came to the English Landscape Park and the small rowboats docked nearby.
The first time I learned that there were boats at Wilanów was last summer when I brought my sister and niece here for a tour. I made a mental note that it would be fun to return and try the boats.
I was happy to have remembered about the boats, that we went, and that it didn't rain, as so often has happened on my birthday.
So happy for simple activities in Warsaw....shared together!
Not far from the Wilanów Palace was another place I wanted to return to....
We ate in the garden behind the restaurant, enjoying the beautiful atmosphere....
....great food...and even a quick video birthday greeting from Melissa and Lance.
In the evening we went to a Grycan shop for lody (ice-cream)....
....a great way to end a birthday in Warsaw!
How lucky we were to share another birthday celebration in Warsaw, Poland.
June 25, 2014...a day to remember!
And to end of June....
Mark had told co-workers about our birthday activity, so for the last weekend in June we returned to the Wilanów Palace with friends to go boating again.
First, we rode our bikes from our home to Wilanów...a distance of about 6 km (3-1/2 miles)....then we each rented boats for an hour.
Our friends were Berenika and Bartek....
Once again, Mark rowed our boat....
....but this time I took a turn....
....not so easy.
After boating we walked through the wall of trees in the English Landscape Park.
So quiet and pretty.
It was green and lovely....but we could not find a place to pull over, park and walk around. According to our map this park is huge!
Seen when driving through the park....this very old trailer that looks like an antique railroad car. But it's made for the road, as it has rubber tires.
We might just need to return again and see what else we can find at Kampinos National Park, as it is highly recommended by many Polish people.
President Uchtdorf comes to Poland
June 15, 2014
Dieter F. Uchtdorf is one of the three men that comprise the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The visit was announced several months in advance. We had thought that Mark might be transferred out of Poland before the conference, so were happy to still be in Poland when the day of the conference finally arrived.
I was part of the choir that was to sing in the meeting....
Mark and I did not sit together....I was in the front right section with the choir members, and Mark was sitting on the right side of the center section. Mark can be seen in the picture below, sitting one row in front and to the right of the lady with red hair on the far right side.
President Uchtdorf spoke for about 30 minutes, but with translation the address lasted an hour. It was wonderful to be so close, to hear his counsel and feel his love for the Polish people and members of the church here in Warsaw.
After the meeting, many people lingered to talk and be near President and Sister Uchtdorf.
I watched as many people approached President Uchtdorf....
My Birthday.....June 25th....in Warsaw, Poland
An early morning walk in our neighborhood park....
Our plan was to rent one of the boats for an hour.
Mark rowed around the small Wilanów Lake. It was quite relaxing....
....especially for me, as I did not pick up the oars. I told Mark that being on the water, in a boat, and him rowing, reminded me of the movies I'd seen from the Jane Austin books.
Mark said that another movie with a memorable boat-in-the-middle-of-a-lake scene was The Godfather....talk about a different genre!
Not sure the depth of the water here, but there were lots of lily pads along the edges of the lake.
As we rowed closer to the end of the small lake there were more lily pads, and the water was shallower.
The oars were getting tangled in the vegetation and also hitting the bottom of the lake, just a few inches down....so we turned around.
The weather on this June day was almost perfect....blue sky, sunshine, a few clouds, and cool breezes!
Mark was a great sport to row for the entire hour....I didn't even think about asking to take over.
The first time I learned that there were boats at Wilanów was last summer when I brought my sister and niece here for a tour. I made a mental note that it would be fun to return and try the boats.
So happy for simple activities in Warsaw....shared together!
Pretty skies....on a pretty day in the English Landscape Park...one that I will always remember.
Not far from the Wilanów Palace was another place I wanted to return to....
....Castello's Italian Restaurant, for my birthday lunch with Mark.
In the evening we went to a Grycan shop for lody (ice-cream)....
And to end of June....
Mark had told co-workers about our birthday activity, so for the last weekend in June we returned to the Wilanów Palace with friends to go boating again.
First, we rode our bikes from our home to Wilanów...a distance of about 6 km (3-1/2 miles)....then we each rented boats for an hour.
Our friends were Berenika and Bartek....
....the same ones we have included in previous blogs about bike rides around Warsaw.
Once again, Mark rowed our boat....
....but this time I took a turn....
In the middle of the lake we maneuvered around a family of ducks.
After boating we walked through the wall of trees in the English Landscape Park.
On this Saturday there were many more visitors at Wilanów than on my mid-week birthday a few days earlier....and yet there were times that it seemed as if we were the only ones there.
June 2014 in Warsaw, Poland has been a good month for us in many ways....celebrations and special events shared together!
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