International Travel Group Meeting - Sunday, May 4 @ 9:30am Pacific Time

I hate that I won’t QUITE be home for May (and Poland), but I will be looking forward to June 1!

I look forward to hearing about your trip. It looked wonderful. Count me in, please.

Yes, please! I am very interested in learning more about Poland.

TTM, we might have to have an entire meeting to hear about the epic trip you’ve been on.

I'm in, Andrea! Thanks for the invite!!!

Darn! I have a lot of photos from my trip there last fall. I will be on the road with old friends and my eldest that day.

Count me in please. I’m looking forward to it.

Welcome home! Count me in, Andrea. Looking forward to it.

Please add me! Thanks.

Andrea, …..I’m laughing. Ha!

I would like to join! Would love to hear about Poland and any recent trips from others!

it would depend on wifi and early dinner... I'll see how it goes

Arctophilia, Northamptonshire, England

Nigel, ha ha ha!! Does that mean your hometown is populated by teddy bears?

Mardee, I think you’re onto something. ;-)

Mardee did you have a secret life as a codebreaker?

Andrea, Sunday will be our 3rd night in Warsaw - first time in Poland. Not certain what we’ll be doing that night, right at about dinner time there, but I’ll send you my e-mail address, and I’d appreciate the option to join the group. Thank you for managing all of this!

Cyn, I’ll add you to the list. I sent you a PM.

Andrea, I'd like to attend. My email is [email protected]. I'll be visiting Poland for 10 days in October and am beginning to plan my trip! Thank you!

Alana152, I sent you a private message. Please respond asap. Thanks.

Andrea, please add me for the meeting. I love hearing trip reports, if we get to the second topic. Ha ha! 🤣 Sometimes it’s a challenge because we often seem to run out of time.

Linda, the last 2 meetings we didn’t get to the second topic. It was the same topic for both meetings so I decided to pick trip reports this time. I might have to implement time limits on the first topic so that we can get to the second.

Mardee, I think you’re onto something. ;-)

Mardee did you have a secret life as a codebreaker?

Andrea and Nigel, my grandson (the 6 year old) just told me about that word last week, lol! He loves teddy bears. :-) it's a good word, Nigel!

Hi Andrea and welcome home. I have my grandson’s bday party but since all his cousins, 9 + 1 brother, will be there he won’t notice me sneak away for the zoom.
Remember, it’s 12:30 here in NY.
See you then!

Thanks Barbara, you’re probably right that he won’t notice you missing for a while. Happy birthday to your grandson and we will see you on Sunday!

I’d enjoy being part of the meeting too
Thanks Andrea!

I am checking on the meeting about Poland. So, 9:30 AM Pacific time which is 6:30AM Eastern time on a Sunday morning??

Backyard in United states,

9:30 Pacific
10:30 Mountain
11:30 Central
12:30 Eastern
5:30pm UK British Summer Time
6:30pm (18.30) Central European Summer Time

Thanks Nigel!

I’m bumping this up in case anyone has missed it.

There are two people who requested to join the group that have never posted on the forum before. They did not follow my instructions as laid out in the second paragraph that is in bold print, and have not responded to my PM’s. If you are seeing this please respond to me via PM. Thanks.

Please add me this month, thanks!

Barb, I’ve put you on the list.

Hi everybody. After a hellacious time trying to get from downtown London to Heathrow airport today, we made our flight to Warsaw, and just finished a very good dinner at our hotel, the Chopin Boutique (recommended by Rick Steves, of course). It’s raining steadily now, so we won’t be doing any after-dinner stroll in the neighborhood,

Today (May 2) was Poland’s Flag Day, with lots of flags festooning the main streets. Tomorrow’s a national holiday, and apparently “everything” will be closed, with families taking the day off to go to parks, and to barbecue. We may be doing one, or both of Rick’s Warsaw walks, with nothing else open to see or do.

Have fun, Cyn! I can't wait to hear about it.

Andrea, please add me for Sunday.

Hi Cyn, I hope the rest of your trip will make up for the bad start. How long will you be in Warsaw?

Oops, sorry! 12:30PM is much better. Not thinking straight...

Backyard.

Andrea, thanks. This is our second night, and we have two more immediately, with another two at the end, right before we fly out of Poland.

Went to the Chopin Museum today, which in addition to its artifacts and information about the composer, has three piano concerts in the afternoon, and any and all of them are included in the admission to the museum (20 złoty - $5.00 - senior rate). That’s if you can get a seat in the small performance space in the cellar. We just missed getting into the noon performance, but lined up plenty early for seats at the 3:00 one, which was sublime, performed by a professor from Gdańsk.

Less than 20 years ago, there were apparently no classical performances featuring Chopin music in Warsaw. Now there are Chopin performances all over the city. The museum’s are the most affordable.

A really nice man in the audience, an engineer from Monterrey, Mexico who does piano performances himself (but is working on perfecting his pianissimo), and adores Chopin music specifically, attended both the noon and 3:00, and was planning to attend the 5:00 show as well. The pieces were going to be the same at each show today. He was in the back for the noon show, and said he couldn’t hear the music because of many people just talking in the back rows. There were also children kicking the backs of chairs. That’s sad on several levels. Well, he got a seat in the front row for 3:00, and I chatted with him before and after the concert. He’s an engineer, works for a Chinese company in Mexico, and was going to get only 12 days off. His boss begrudgingly gave him two extra days, for 14 days total. Learning that that’s about what most Americans can manage to get for vacation, he was surprised that Mexico didn’t have the absolute worst vacation allowances in the world. He mentioned that Tesla was his company’s main customer, and they’d recently lost several employees, and he was worried more would be going away. He said that he thought Polish and Mexican food were very similar, with even the same seasonings, especially with pork. That was surprising to hear. He’s going to Madrid for a couple of nights, before going home.

Our B&B has a Rick Steves Best of Poland in 10 Days tour group staying here, on their Days 5 & 6. We’re planning on the National Museum tomorrow morning, and taking an Eating Polska food tour tomorrow afternoon.

@ Andrea

If you have space, I would like to attend to meet your Motley Crue.

Regards Ron

updating

9:30 Pacific
10:30 Mountain
11:30 Central
12:30 Eastern
5:30pm UK British Summer Time
6:30pm (18.30) Central European Summer Time

and 04:30 AEST in Tassie

@ Well done, Nigel.

Please to see your many talents extend to horology,

Regards Ron

Nigel is most definitely a man with many talents!

See every one tomorrow. Any new requests to join us and any information I requested from individuals must be posted here no later than 7:00 a.m. Pacific Time. Thanks for your cooperation.

I just sent the zoom links to your email. Please let me know ASAP if you didn’t receive it.

Cyn, thanks for notifying me that you can make the meeting. You have the best reason and I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip.

The glassworks site krakow Glassworks, website is lipowa3.pl. It is across from Schindler Factory.

Also the Blue Van in krakow. You can google it.

Sorry that we couldn’t make the Travel Group meeting, as there was a time conflict with the Chopin performance our B&B held on Sunday. When in Warsaw, make an effort to go to any and all that you can.

Andrea, thank you for organizing the meetings, and accommodating everyone who can participate. I hope everyone can make it to Poland sometime. Be ready to have surprising soups.

Cyn, I hope that you can join us another time. It sounds like you’re really enjoying your trip.