My husband, daughter, son-in-law and I were also in Poland May 10th through the 25th, 2009. Had a great time. Visited Poznan, Warsaw, Krakow, Zacopane,and many other places. We did a lot of walking in each City and stayed in the Old Town of each place. We went river rafting in Zakopane, very peaceful, it took almost 2 hours... We loved eating outside in every town square and came home with tans. Poland was very beautiful and the mountain area was especially beautiful. We traveled by train to each city and it was a great way to see the countryside. We also rented a car in Warsaw to go to Auschwitz, which was quite a sobering experience, and also to Czestochowa to see the Black Madonna. There is soo much to see in Poland and not enough time. We had a great time. We also love the Oscypek cheese and would like to buy some here if we can find it.
We have a few polish friends and i really want to visit Poland myself. Polish people arn't bad drivers the worst drivers in Europe are the ones around Napoli (from first hand experience we actually saw someone reversing up a motorway because they mssed their junction).
Nice report. You inspired me. I am going to Warsaw next. I think visiting Poland is much like visiting a Latin American Country. Good hospitality, mostly honest and helpful. Good virtues learned from Catholic/Christian tradition. And not so expensive. And they don't treat people like terrorists.
I like the fact that the Polish People don't smile all the time. It is more honest. I think girls look sexier and smarter when they don't have a forced smile with fake denture teeth.
I lived in the USA for many years and got tired of that fake cheerleader smile.
I thought it was creepy that so many Americans were smiling while the USA was starting wars all over the planet, had over 2 million people of its own people imprisoned, and had a broken family structure.
These trip reports are all very helpful for me while I plan my first trip to Poland next year. I wanted to make it a bit of a genealogical trip, but our family history seems to have hit a brick wall. It sounds as though I will enjoy it anyway.
I was planning on renting a car for a small portion - it's good to know about the "badness" of the drivers, but I live in L.A. and think I am up to the challenge! I will keep my eyes out for GPS devices just so I don't get hopelessly lost.
It is nice to know there are so many English speakers, but I will also be making an attempt to learn the language (and hope my half-remembered German can fill in the gaps) so as to read signs, menus, museum captions and everything. Maybe I'll visit my parents in Chicago and try and get some practice at one of the Polish Delis in their neighborhood.
And I am in some small way comforted by the lack of smiley-ness of the Polish people. I'm not an especially smiley person myself, so it will be nice to finally be somewhere that a complete stranger doesn't come up to me and insist I smile.
