Visiting Zbigniew in Warsaw

I was very glad to visit Zbigniew Obsłucki in Warsaw who is my father’s sister’s husband’s brother’s wife’s father. He lived in the US for a year when he came to help my cousin with her new baby Dariusz. While he was in the US, I got to see him a few times at family occasions, and I know he really liked it when my father took him black fishing, and he got to drive the boat. He is a very nice man, and I really wanted to see him before I returned to the US, so when I finally called him to visit I was gladly surprised that my aunt Iza was also visiting and would be able to help me communicate.

I left Krakow very early in the morning in order to get to Warsaw around noon. Unfortunately, the train was about an hour late for no reason which made me very nervous that I had read the schedule wrong and was making them wait around for my mistake. When I arrived at the station I was glad to see everyone who had come to pick me up. Iza and Zbyś (diminutive name of Zbigniew) were there, of course, but also Iza’s brother Janusz and his daughter Agata came, too. We went straight to Zbyszek’s apartment and had a nice obiad (lunch) with tea and kanapki. Then once we had looked some stuff up in maps, we set off to go and find the two apartments where my father grew up. The first one was in a section of Warsaw called Koło, and the address my dad had gotten was ul. Zawiszy 46, apartment 10. Unfortunately, when we got there the highest number address was 16, and we even asked the local people if numbers had changed or if there was more street in another direction. Sadly, the answer we got was that it had always been like that, so we headed on to the next apartment in the rough section of Warsaw called Praga.

Good thing I called my dad in the US because he was able to actually find out that maybe the street name had changed names to Czorsztyńska. So we turned around and went back to Koło, and once we got to the street we knew it must be the one since it had a park across the street with two big lakes and a hill called zwałka (literally meaning dump or pile) which was where all the rubble from the war had been piled and made into a hill. However, we had a problem with the numbering again, but after we ran into a old babcia, we were certain that the only old buildings left had been on the corners of the street and from my dad we knew it was the building furthest from the hill. As luck would have it, we also ran into an old neighbor named Marian Jarociński who remembered my nana and grandfather with their two children. As soon as someone said Buczek, he replied that he knew the Kapitan, my grandpa. The new address is apparently ul. Czorsztyńska 12. We then went to the park across the way. It was beautiful and seemed like a very nice place to grow up in general with a sturdy building and huge park to play in.

The next place we went was Praga. This is a rougher section of Warsaw where my dad moved with his mother and sister to live with their grandmother. In order to get a visa to the US, they needed to give up their old apartment. The first thing we saw at in Praga was the basilica where my father went to church. It was very big and had a modern looking decor. I was taking pictures of the inside, but since there was a mass going on we were asked to stop. Then we walked down to where his old apartment was at ul. Kawenczyński 39 apartment 19. Amazingly, the apartment address had not changed. There was a small tunnel that lead to a courtyard and in it there were some polish guys drinking beer in the afternoon. We tried entering the door to the apartment building which was in the tunnel but only found that the apartments went up to 10. After some more searching, asking neighbors, and calling my dad, we found that there was a second entrance after you go all the way into the courtyard. We did that and found the door labeled 19. When we knocked, a frazzled lady came to the door after we heard some clanking. Unfortunately she did not know who had lived at the apartment beforehand because she was young when they moved in. In all, I was really glad to get and see the two places where my dad grew up and maybe now that I have seen it I may be able to get my dad to recall some more childhood memories. I also learned a new term for drunk from Janusz after going to Praga. He said the drunk people were wskazujący, which literally means level as in over the blood alcohol level.

Since Zbyś and Iza were so welcoming, I ended up staying in Warsaw as late as I could before I had to leave for my flight back to the US. The second day I was in Warsaw was also very interesting and the first place I got to go was Kampinoski Park Naradowy (a national park). There we stopped first at a small park station which had an exhibit of different animals found in the park. I think Zbyś was impressed with how many names of animals I knew even though I had to read the names for a few. In the actual park, we saw old folk houses and Zbyś tried to explain to me how they would take water from the well using a tall pole and lever system.

From the park, we headed to the house where Fryderyk Chopin was born. The place had been recently renovated which meant that the park surrounding the house had been fenced in and needed an entrance fee. Also, the furniture had been removed from the house and moved to a museum. Everyone was disappointed by this since the absence of the furniture no longer made it feel like Chopin had actually lived there. Janusz particularly didn’t like the changes and wrote in the sign in book, “Nie Dzienkuję” meaning no thanks. The park surrounding the house was beautiful and I especially enjoyed the small frog ponds they had. The tadpoles there were getting huge and some even had small legs. Afterwards, we had a nice obiad at a place near Zbyszek’s apartment with kotlet, kotlet kapitan (a rolled cutlet with a pepper and cheese filling), and kopytka.

At night, we went to a gallery opening (called a wernisaż in Polish) for one of Janusz's friends from art school. It took place in the attic area of a restaurant and there was food served there including flat pastries with plums and confectioner's sugar. Also there was a bunch to drink including red wine and juice. The sculptures were interesting with many busts made of thin copper wires, a mobile that looked like a crashing plane, and then a set of male and female statues one being made of metal and the later made of wood. We had fun there for awhile, but think Zbyś got bored so he went outside. We eventually met him there where he was swatting at the mosquitoes (komary) and saying cholera which is a swear that means damn in Polish. Funny how a disease is also a swear.

The last day I was in Warsaw, we went to Wilanów where King Jan III Sobieski had his summer palace. The palace was full of art work and portraits of royalty. The coffin portrait collection was extensive and after I learned about them in art history class I thought they were very interesting. We walked all around the palace which had art from most eras baroque onward. Janusz, who is an illustrator, was surprised by how much I remembered from my class. We also went around the gardens of the palace, but unfortunately it looked like it was under construction.

The last major cultural place we went was the Warsaw Uprising Museum in Warsaw. It seemed very new, and from what I understood it was created in a old power generation station for trams in the city. The whole time that we were going around the museum, Zbyś would grab me by the arm and lead me somewhere to explain something about the uprisings, the ghettos, or what Poland was like during the war. I really appreciated it because I got to learn from someone who had been alive during the war. In general, the museum was very well done and had cobble stone floors in places to make it feel like you were in the streets of Warsaw during the time of the uprisings.
Before I left for the train back to Krakow, Janusz’s wife invited us over for a big obiad. There were actually all my favorite Polish foods there like żurek (soup) and fried kotlet z kurczakiem (chicken cutlet). There were also fresh strawberries and cakes. Later, Janusz and I exchanged pictures and I got to see some of the illustrations he had made for children’s books. I really liked the illustrations he made for a new book printed in Canada about a toy dragon that becomes real. When we were leaving, I felt bad because I accidently let the dogs out of the yard when I opened the gate and they went darting down the street.

At the train station, we had about twenty minutes to get the tickets and get to the platform. I think Zbyś was pretty nervous that I wouldn’t make it on time, which was very sweet of him. I am very glad that they let me come to Warsaw and stay with them so long. Also, getting to talk Polish a good deal also made me believe I had learned a lot more Polish than I originally thought. I will miss being in Poland and especially miss Zbyś and his family.