Dziekuje!

Dziekuje (pronounced "jen-koo-yeh") means "thank you" in Polish.  Chrissy, Sina, and I (and a bunch of lady friends; all lovely wives of people I work with) returned from a three-day trip to Poland late last night.  And boy, did I say "thank you" a lot throughout our stay there.  As in, I said "thank you" to a lot of store clerks.  It was Polish Pottery heaven.  I never thought I'd be that interested in Polish Pottery, but when you're faced with so many different handmade dishes in a myriad of amazing designs...well, it's hard not to want to buy something (and for once, the exchange rate worked in our favor!). 

(L to R: Tracie, Me with Sina, Chrissy, Zinda, Tena & Tish.  Denise was taking the picture)

We stayed at a place called the Blue Beet Root Hotel, which is well-known by the military community here.  The place is a restored 18th century barn with many of its original features preserved, like its vaulted ceilings and wooden beams.  The rooms and the place was quaint and cozy with a restaurant that served up some delicious eats.  It even has a barn with horses, donkeys, a dog and a few cats that kept Sina very well entertained.  As I said, the place is frequented by military members--mostly military spouses--and pretty much the entire place was booked by Americans, which made being at the place even more comfortable.

I'd say we spent 1.5 days shopping.  You'd think that after two or three stores, you would have reached your max capacity in Polish Pottery.  Not the case.  I think we visited about a dozen places.  To say we went overboard is an understatement.  Even Chrissy is guilty of it and we'll be spending a lot of her time here packing her goodies to send back to the states.  At least she knocked out all of her Christmas shopping.  It's no wonder most wives don't bring their spouses there.  No husband would want to witness that kind of frivolity.

Tell me this is not one evil "let-me-see-just-how-much-I'm-gonna-break-the-bank" look.

Pottery everywhere!  Chrissy blends in well with the pottery.

In  most of the shops, you can see people actually making/painting the pottery.

Tracie and Zinda browsing through another store.  I think it was the fourth stop that day!

After dinner that night, Chrissy wanted to dig everything out of the boxes so that we can lay the pieces out and admire them, decide who they'd be given to as gifts, and come to grips with the damage we created in pottery.  This was just our loot.  Good thing we brought three big vehicles!

In between all the pottery madness, we indulged in many fantastic meals.  Our favorite...Polish Pierogies.  My favorite are the meat filled.  Most of the ladies enjoyed the potato and cheese filled ones.  We went to a local supermarket and purchased some in the frozen section to bring home.

Here's the group enjoying some food and shade (as it was a hot day!).  Sina particularly enjoyed the garlic bread :)

Chrissy and her caprese salad--also one of my faves!

Sina and some pierogies!

Pierogies...mmm mmm good!

On the way home, we stopped at a place called the Studio Borowski, where some handblown glass objects are made.  The big pieces are quite pricey, but affordable here.  We've googled them online a few times, and they sell in the states for thousands.  They make some really unique pieces, most pieces are lamps and candy dishes.  I bought a few Christmas ornaments.

My sweet baby girl.

One more group photo of the ladies, who were so helpful with Sina and supportive throughout the drive which, because of traffic and weather (rain on the way back) was about 9 hours both ways--the only bad thing about the trip, but it was well worth it.

  Thanks to Zinda for spearheading the trip planning.  Am I going to do this again?  Oh...I think I'm going to have to make at least one trip back.  Maybe two.  Okay, I'll cap it at three.

Happy Labor Day to all!

P.S.  Sina and I have started a countdown to Daddy's return.  We've got 28 LONG days.