From Warsaw to Gdansk

Our stay in Warsaw, while brief was surely memorable. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. HRC serves 2 purposes for team Glavin, we know they have food everyone will eat and secondly they have great memorabilia with a store to buy pins. Pearse and the team made the decision to try and visit all of the Hard Rock Cafes in Europe. We looked at the list and we have as the saying goes, "a fighter's chance" of visiting all of them if we hustle. We met a young waitress at the Hard Rock that shared an amazing story with us. Her great grandfather was a "scout" in Poland. It is a transition step before you go into the military for Poland. He was arrested by Germans and forced to build Auschwitz. He knew what it was going to be used for upon it's completion but he had two choices "Build it" or as the young waitress said "shoot in head". There was an additional threat of retaliation against whole families if they didn't participate. Her great grandfather was then forced to be a farmer while still a prisoner. He was starving but was unable to eat anything he was growing, and if caught even eating a rotten vegetable he would be shot. The waitress was emotional as she told the story. She said "He didn't tell anyone of these things until 10 years later" She relayed his belief "God spared me because I was sneaking vegetables everyday and that kept many many people in my barracks alive." WOW. She told us that we should visit the Warsaw Uprising Museum. We took a bus to the museum and walked around for 1 hour before it closed. Pictures on the blog are from the boys. Each took turns with the camera. Ann and I didn't shoot one picture inside the museum. It isn't too hard to tell we have boys when you see what interests them. Colleen has her own camera so I didn't see those pictures yet.

The train ride to Gdansk is by far our most difficult. It is long and the cabin seats 8 so we lose the "comfy" system we've built for "6". Turns out our cabinmates are an old Polish couple and they revel in the excitement and entertainment of 4 kids ages 15 and under. You see a rye smile from the husband as Pearse and Eamon exchange laughs or a few nudges. They even break a little bread with us. We bring enough food for a small division, you know just in case we get an unexpected overnight stop in the middle of Poland.

Added to the challenge of a 7 hour ride is the minor challenge of a toilet, water closet, overflow. Pearse and I keep it to ourselves that he was the last little Mohican in the WC. He tells me "I didn't do it!" The large wet footprints leading from the bathroom to another cabin support his position of innocence. There was a bit of pandemonium as the spill over made its way down the corridor of the train wagon. Ode de Europe!!

The kids look forward to a "sleep in tomorrow" they have earned it! A tough day but in a weird way a fun day. The voices are bellowing out their 2nd floor window and up to our room on the 3rd floor. Life is good! I am proud of their effort.