Prague with the Loops

Prague...Praha. One of the oldest cities in Europe. Like Krakow, its old town city center was untouched during the bombings of WWII. We got to visit Prague with the Loops - Charles and Lian (ages withheld for confidentiality reasons), Eric (9) and John (12). Our kids awaited the arrival of the Loops (mainly Eric and John) with great anticipation. Brody even likened the waiting to the anticipation he felt himself when we were leaving to move from Dallas to Krakow. The Loops stayed with us in Krakow for 5 days, doing all the usual sites with Chris (her 3rd or 4th time to many of these sites, since she seems to play tour guide while Corey works whenever we have guests from the states). Sometimes work ain't so bad ;-).

So we took the overnight train to Prague, just as we did to Budapest a couple of months ago. Sleep was not easy, but is always better than you can get in coach on the airplane. I'd say the average sleep was about 5-6 hours, which isn't too bad. But John had a real tough time sleeping, and in the process decided that it was his job to keep his dad up most of the night too.

But we were all troopers as we arrived at the train station at 7am and prepared for a full day of site seeing. We took a taxi to an apartment that we were renting for the two nights we would be there. It was spacious, clean and very close to the city center. One shower was the only downside, but that's no different than our apartment in Krakow when we have guests at the Ladd B&B.
Having done a little research in advance for a change, we had booked a tour guide who did a 3 hour walking guide with us through the old town. It was very inexpensive and was a great way to get acclimated to the city and get advice and what to do for the remainder of the weekend. With our guide we walked down the Wenceslas Square (pictured to left), kind of the main boulevard leading into the old town. We also walked through the Jewish Quarter where she told us a great tale about the Golem, a monster created to protect the Jews. And we saw the cemetery that was about 20 feet above street level because they have added graves on top of graves and just raised the headstones. Space was really at a premium when the Jews lived in the ghettos.



Another thing of interest on the tour was the upside down horse statue, just kind of a unique thing hidden in one of the buildings nearby. We also visited the Havelska Market, a great open air market that sold fruit, veggies and, of course, tourist chachkis.

On our second day, we primarily visited the Castle Quarter. To get there, we took the 500 yard stroll over the ancient Charles Bridge built in the 14th century and named after Charles IV, not our friend Charles Loop...though he is so noble too! It has an abundance of local artists selling paintings, wooden boxes and jewelry. It is adorned with large statues every 20 yards, and I think Ariana took a picture of every one.

In the Castle Quarter, we of course visited the Prague Castle, Royal Palace, and the St. George Basilica using an audio tour with a monotone voice and way too much information. To get to the top of the hill where all this was, we took a funicular (cog train) which are always deemed in the guidebooks as a treat for the kids. But we have now been on 3 of these in various European cities, and the kids think they are universally short and boring. Adults agree. But at least it keeps them from whining on a long walk up a large hill.

So, the big dud of the trip (there's at least one of every trip...other than the funicular of course) was the maze. The kids have always loved the mazes, so we headed straight there as soon as possible. Well it turns out it was a maze of mirrors, that only had one path through and took about 45 seconds. Ok, so we had a very good laugh watching each other stretch our bodies on the concave and convex mirrors in a room at the end of the "maze."

In the Castle Quarter, there was even more. We had bagels at Bohemia Bagel (twice!). We visited Golden Lane (pictured to right), a very old, narrow street with an Armory Museum, Franz Kafka's apartment, and antique watch and music shops. And, we tried to visit the Toy and Barbie Museum, but it was closed...woe is me.

And there was pain. Brody bonked his head jumping off the 4 person swing in the park (see left). And, Ariana had a nasty spilled caused by...well...walking! Unfortunately it was our camera that broke her spill and has not taken a picture since. At least the memory card was undamaged. Thus all the good pictures attached.

Thanks to the Loops for great fun and friendship!

Biking

I thought I would share with you a form of travel more mundane than our usual jaunts around the continent. Biking is quite an experience here. First of all, you have to haul your bike up and down 3 long flights of stairs to and from our 3rd floor apartment (called 2nd level here in Poland). And when I go with the kids, I end up hauling 3 bikes up and down. I get more exercise before I start than I usually get in a full ride around Whiterock lake. Then we begin to brave the streets and sidewalks of Krakow.

When was the last time you had to race a trolley down the street? Those trolleys don't stop for anything, and they love to ring their little bells (their version of a horn) when someone tries to mess with their schedule by getting in the way. And of course, don't change lanes too fast, or you will wind up in the trolley track itself--or lying on your back all scraped up right next to the track (fortunately has not happened to me yet). Those tracks are a rider's nightmare.

Riding around town reminds me of watching some of the racers in the Tour de France. Ok, I'm no Lance Armstrong (though the resemblance in that picture is uncanny), but now I know what they feel like when they ride through those old European towns with cobblestone roads. If you try to talk while riding on cobblestones, you will sound like someone is moving your chin up and down really fast like my grandfather Pancho used to always do to me.

But in reality, it is a great joy to ride around Krakow. Chris, the kids and I have biked throughout the year here, even during the "warmer" days of winter. We have continued our "tradition" that I started in Dallas of riding our bikes to Sunday school. Except here, we wind up at beautiful Isaak's Temple built in 1664. I love riding most along the Wisla River which passes by the Wawel castle, the most famous site of Krakow. It is so surreal to pass that and realize that I am living here and enjoying a bike ride in its shadow. We also love riding up to the Planty (the green belt around the city center), as well as into the Rynek (the huge market square only minutes from our place). The biggest challenge there is all those stinkin' tourists who are so busy taking photos, they don't see me and the family bearing down on them at 20 mph.(Most certainly agreed with by Brody!)

The last couple of weeks I have started riding my bike to work on occasion. What a treat to get up in the morning and ride in the cool summer air. The office is only a 20 minute stroll to the office on my bike, about 23 minutes faster than taking the tram, and I never have to wait, and never have to "miss" my bike, like I do the tram.

And last weekend, I made my first trek into the hills for a mountain bike ride. Only a 10 minute ride from our apartment, there is a beautiful tree covered ranges of hills (with probably 200 meters of climb). Out of breath after a big climb (which forced me off my bike to walk, it was so steep), I was making my way along the unmarked and very poorly maintained trails--of course. On a brief decline of about 20 meters, I went to hit my brakes, and to my surprise, found my front brake completely unresponsive. I had snapped my front brake cable. Well I made it back ok with a mixture of walking and constant braking with my still operating back brake.

So now, off to my next adventure, finding a bike shop ("rowery" in Polish) where I can only hope to find some sort of universal biking language with which to communicate with the shop's mechanic. Well, I can always point at the brake and say "nie dobre" (not good). Oh how fun life is in Poland!

Prince Charles Comes to Krakow!

Who would have thought that moving to Krakow, Poland would enable my kids to meet Prince Charles of England and his wife Camilla? Luckily, Prince Charles generously donated money for the construction of a new Jewish Community Center in Kazimierz, the historic Jewish quarter. The Jewish population in this area was desimated by World War II, but the area has a small core of holocaust survivors and younger Jews who have made Krakow their home. This center will help strengthen the bonds of this population.

While security kept Chris in the courtyard of the JCC (nothing personal I'm sure), the children were inside with their Sunday School teacher, Klaudia, to perform Israeli dances and sing a song for Prince Charles and his wife. Prince Charles evidently made a point of going to each table and talking with every child. This is easier than it sounds since they have about 12 kids in their entire Sunday School class. A little smaller than Temple Emanu-El.

Brody talked to Prince Charles about our time in Krakow, telling him that his dad worked for Sabre. Ariana had already told Prince Charles that her family would only be here for two years. While she didn't tell him Brody was part of her family, he somehow figured out that they were related as he later asked Brody, "So, you'll be here for two years, right?" Evidently my kids look alike.

Because Mom was stuck in the courtyard, she couldn't take any pictures. She was relegated to standing with other moms, peering through the glare of a window while they all said, "Can you see anything? I think I see your/my kid? Are they dancing?..." Luckily, some very kind photographers took my kids' photo with Prince Charles. What was even nicer is that they actually published them. The European Jewish Press published the picture of Brody and Prince Charles along with a great article. The Associated Press published a number of pictures on their website, including the one with Ariana and her friend Natalia to her left (your right.) Natalia not only goes to Sunday School with Ariana, but she and her two brothers go to the International School of Krakow with Ariana and Brody.

Barcelona is Muey Bueno!!!

Over Spring Break, we traveled to Barcelona, Spain with Chris' parents, Ray and Carolyn Ewing. We enjoyed strolling along La Rambla to La Boqueria, a colorful food market. We not only found food for breakfast, but fresh fruit too irresistible to hold off eating.

A walk to the other end of La Rambla found us at the Christopher Columbus monument, a marina and an aquarium. I think Columbus is saying, "The plane went that way."

The city also features amazing architecture, primarily by Gaudi.

His works can hardly be captured by photographs, but they are stunning in person. We went to the Sagrada Familia, a church he started in 1883, but which is still under contruction.

His designs incorpate aspects of nature, including a sanctuary whose supporting columns are shaped like trees with flower shaped skylights above for light. Even unfinished, it is one of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen.

The entire family enjoyed the Museum of Chocolate. In addition

to exhibits discussing the history of chocolate, we saw displays

of scenes created entirely out of chocolate: Romans in chariots, soccer stadium, Barcelona buildings, etc. And the chocolate

treats at the end of the tour weren't bad either!

The kids really enjoyed being with their grandparents too.

As you can tell, Gramma Carolyn and Papa Ray kind of had

fun too.

Budapest Hungary with the Ortiz Family

Seven months into our adventure, we have now hit our 6th country, including Poland of course. With a long weekend ahead of us for the Easter weekend, we decided to travel to Budapest, the capital of Hungary, just south and east of Poland. With 98% of the population in Poland being Catholic, the whole country practically shuts down during Easter, so it was a good time to exit stage left.


First of all, we decided to take the night train to and from Budapest. So, we got a sleeper cabin that sleeps up to 6, but we just had the 4 of us. Brody and Ariana on the top bunk and Chris and Corey on the bottom bunks, though there was some switching of course. The train was certainly one of the highlights for the kids. It was like a travelling hotel, but no TV. Luckily they had Samuel and Vanessa to play with.
In the city, we hit some hot spots including the Turkish Baths, the Hungarian Parliament (missed the tour), the Opera House (chose to skip the tour), St. Stephen's Basilica, the Szechenyi Hill Funicular cog train, the Citadel, the Transport Museum, Buda Castle, Fisherman's Bastion, and the Labyrinth of Budavair.

Swimming and steaming with hundreds of other Europeans of all ages, in all sorts of bathing attire, in pools of natural, hot spring water that smelled a little like sulfur, was an experience that is hard to explain. I will leave that to your imaginations.

We also had a little bit of unexpected exitement. First, there was the lady who tried to leave the baths without paying and got into an animated Hungarian argument with the "bouncer," that almost turned to fistacuffs. Then, there was the drunk guy who fell down one of those long escalators that leads to the subway. Given his bloody head and wobbly exit, he likely awoke the next morning with a bigger headache than is expected, even for a drunk. What a good lesson that was for the kids in terms of "just say no" and "hold the handrail!"

Also unexpected was passing the Hungarian track and field team training on some cobblestone steps leading up to the old part of the city. One guy, the long jumper, was jumping UP 5 steps at a time and did that for 2 flights of stairs. The others were sprinting up and being timed.

Brody of course enjoyed the WWII bunker on top of the Citadel Hill that was used by the Germans, Russians and Hungarians at various points. Both Brody and Ariana enjoyed the train and boat displays at the Transport Museum. The parents enjoyed both Buda on the west side of the river Danube, and Pest on the east side of the river, especially the view from Fisherman's Bastion and the hike up to the Citadel, which overlooked the entire city. Fun too was our nice dinner out at a Hungarian restaurant where we had a violin player play "Hava Nagilla" and "If I Were a Rich Man" at our table. Brody and Ariana loved that and were asking for other songs like "Tradition," all from Fiddler on the Roof.

That's it for now. We have visitors coming from DFW this week...Chris' folks. They are staying for a month, and we will be travelling to Barcelona with them. Look for an update on that in mid-April.

Kosciuszko Mound and Ariana's Birthday

As usual, we have been very busy. Recent highlights are Ariana's birthday and our trip to the Kosciuszko Mound.


The mound is quite a treat. It is about 100 feet tall, dates back to the 1820's, and represents Poland's fight for independence. We took a trolley to a nearby area and then walked about a mile and a half up a beautiful tree lined, cobblestone, old street up to the base of the mound where there is an old fortress and church. From the top, we were greeted with the best full view of Krakow I have seen.


Ariana celebrated her birthday, not on the mound, but here at our apartment. Her birthday was on March 14 which is celebrated at her school as "pi" day (as in the number that starts with 3.14 which is March 14 if you look at it a little metaphorically). Chris and I had the pleasure of spending 4 hours with Ariana and 10 of her closest friends from her new Krakow community (France, Sweden, Germany, India, UK, USA, etc.). Par usual, Happy Birthday was sung to her in multiple languages, further feeding her impatience at digging into the chocolate brownie and ice cream that stood before her, as candles burned to the base. The theme was Hollywood Starletts, and all the girls played dress up and then designed new clothing styles with toilet paper and crepe paper. No different from the US, we served pizza and got the kids juiced up on sugar before handing them back to their parents with a party favor full of candy treats.




Enjoy the pictures, and talk to you next week after our Easter weekend trip to Budapest!

Polish Ladds do Dallas

For the first time in more than 5 months, Chris, Brody, Ariana and Corey travelled to their native homeland....Dallas, Texas. There were 2 goals.

1. reconnect with dear friends and family who have put up with these silly blog entries, and


2. attend Ryan Ladd's Bar Mitzvah in Austin

Both endeavors were abundantly successful.

Our friends created numerous events for the kids including a roller skating outing with Brody's Stonewall crowd, a bowling outing with folks from Travis, Elizabeth's roller skating party that was rescheduled to occur when Ariana was in town, and several sleepovers with their friends. All the while, these events allowed Corey and Chris to reconnect with their friends (the wonderful parents of our respective children). We shared hugs, stories, laughs and meals like we had never left.

As for family, we were in Texas for 14 days, and changed beds 4 times, staying in a hotel in Austin, at Chris' folks' house and at Corey's folks' houses. Nothing like a relaxing trip!

One of the highlights was "Christmas in McKinney," a delayed version of Xmas with Ray and Carolyn (Chris' folks). We spent a traditional Christmas day there with pancakes in the morning, presents, and then a huge turkey lunch, which Corey almost missed because of an urgent call from work (I guess no one else thougth it was Christmas in the middle of January). We ended up with lot of great Christmas and Chanukah presents from all the grandparents...so much so that we had to buy one new suitcase and borrow a big old one from Sylvia. Ok...we also take some of the responsibility for an extra suitcase ourselves as we indulged in some of the necessities you can't get in Poland like Peter Pan peanut butter, Swiss Miss hot chocolate, and such.

In Austin, we spent a long weekend that was packed with family and fun events. Ryan was a Bar Mitzvah on Saturday evening and did a fantastic job. That night there was a fun dance event that he had dubbed an I-party. Unfortunately, our kids pooped out from jet lag and too much noise at about 8:30pm. At least we got to enjoy the good food from Chuys! We also enjoyed some warm weather over the weekend and played some outdoor basketball and football (the American kind of football) in their yard with Corey's cousins and other family from around the country.

Check out the great photos. We had a great time and want to say thank you to all who hosted us, planned friendly gatherings, and generally made us feel so welcomed and missed. We really miss you all too and are grateful for all the friends and family that we have back in the USA.

From there...we left "home" and arrived "home" all in the same day, only 6,000 miles and many cultures apart!

Egyptian Holiday

We were all very fortunate this holiday season to travel to Egypt as a family. It's hard to describe in a brief blog writing, but check out the pictures, and certainly we will share our many stories with you when we talk to each of you in person. Here are some of the highlights.

• The pyramids are unimaginable until you stand there before 3000-4000 year old structures. Each block is the size of Ariana in height! And the tallest pyramid is almost as tall as the tallest building in downtown Dallas.


• We also visited several temples, some still standing on their own, and some restored after 1,000's of years of Nile floods and Egyptian earthquakes. These places have hieroglyphics that represent the first known writings in history. And they are engraved on the walls of temples, tombs and pyramids in unbelievable detail.


• The tombs we visited in the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens also had hieroglyphics covering every inch of the walls inside these huge tombs. And, every inch was painted. Amazingly, much of the magnificent color still exists now, 1,000's of years later.


• We spent 4 nights of our trip crusing down the Nile on a cruise boat. Everyone loved that. The food was great. There was a computer for the kids to play computer games, and there were even other kids for them to hang out with. We even had a little pool. Ariana braved the cold water often, sometimes with Dad in tow.


• And the shopping in the old Cairo Egyptian market was fun but tiring. Negotiations lead to "discounts" as large as 80% off the original price. What...did they think we were knuckleheads?

It was a fantastic, once in a lifetime type of trip!

Brody Says Hi

Hello to all my good friends that are staying in the good old U.S.A. I'm very excited about coming back to Dallas next year in January. I hope to see all of you guys. Today I went to Grandma's Kitchen to have some of the best roasted perogei ruskie in all Poland. I'm speeking the truth if you don't believe me. Also today we had an end of the 2007 part of the schoolyear, party.

Sincerely...Brody

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

ISK produced its annual all school play last week, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis. Brody got to play the role of Edmond, one of the 4 main children in the play. All the rehearsals during school and on Saturdays really paid off as all the actors did a great job. The music teacher, Ms. Wadiak, put words to the music of Igor Stravinsky so the play had a wonderful musical accompaniment. Ariana, our singer, did a great job in the chorus.

Hanukah and Skiing

Our latest update includes Hanukah in Krakow and Skiing at a small Polish resort called Bialka. Our pictures of both are posted below.


HANUKAH was simple but enjoyable. This is the first Hanukah since I was a kid that the kids actually opened presents almost every night. Something small, like a video, book, or a pen that says Krakow. Chris got me a traditional Polish sweater (kind of like a zip up cardigan like from dads in the old movies in the US). Chris received a beautiful Amber (common local stone) bracelet that Ariana and I selected at the Christmas market in the open air market in the Rynek (city center). Yes, it may be cold and snowing, but the market is large and open air! The kids are enjoying their new legos (nothing Polish about that) too.

Chris also made homemade potato latkes (see pictures below) with her new food processor. But as with so many things in a foreign country, nothing is as simple as it sounds. She went to the store and bought a food processor, only to find out when she got the box home that the processor was missing, only the attachments were inside. Oh...the signficance of the "red dot!" She returned it a couple of days later and found out that the red dot meant that it was a floor model, so the merchandise was actually on the floor, not in the box. Apparently, the check out lady should have noticed that and informed her, not that we would have understood a word she was saying. Ultimately, the latkes were fantastic, and made for a great 3rd night of Hanukah, and a fun memory.

We also went to the old Jewish district called Kazimierz for a lighting of a large Menorah in the main plaza there. Maybe about 300 people there. As you can imagine, there are not a lot of Jews left here, and more than 95% of the population is Catholic. It was an interesting experience though hearing this Israeli rabbi singing the Hanukah prayers in Poland.



SKIING was a fun day. We drove less then 100 kilometers away, and it took about 1 hour 45 minutes. The roads were clear of ice and snow, but they were small and kind of winding. The resort is quite small with really only one run open this time of year. The lifts were new and even had some features that I have not seen in Vail. For example there are gates that automatically open to let you in to the final chair entry point. And there is a "moving sidewalk" that you get on just before you sit on the chairlift, and that sidewalk deposits you exactly where you need to be standing.

Both kids skied well, picking up where they left off last year. This was a school sponsored trip so there were about 20-30 other kids there as well. Ariana got to ski with a couple of her buddies, but mostly we skied together as a family. It snowed most of the day and was just below freezing, but the conditions were totally comfortable.

And finally, on the bus home, after a fun day on the slopes, Ariana informs me that she has to go potty (this is why parents should always ask about that right before we leave on roadtrips...but whatever). So, the bus driver informs us, through an interpreter of course, that it would be about 15 minutes before he could stop. Well, about 5 min into that 15 min period, Ariana could not hold it any more. So, Mom, Dad and Ariana jump off the bus and stumble down the snowy slope beside the road while the bus closes the door and pulls away to our surprise. Luckily he just pulled around the corner at the stop light ahead. So, all's well that ends well!

Movies in Polish

Last night, a warm (35 degree Fahrenheit) and drizzly night, we decided to get out of the house at about 4:30 or 5:00 in complete darkness of course since we are so far latitudinally north, practically in the North Pole it seems! We decided to walk up to the Rynek (our usual 10 minute walk to the market centre) to check out the Christmas market in the square, and to see if the movie we noticed online was in English or Polish. So, we decided to go to the movie theater first and check it out so we could know how to plan our evening. We went in and asked if Mr. McGorium's Emporium was in English or Polish. In spite of extensive Polish classes for me and Chris, we are still not worthy of watching a movie in Polish.

The woman spoke very good English, so she clearly understood our request. She said "English." I said, "Like the words are heard in English when they speak?" and she replied "Yes, English with Polish Subtitles." So, we said great and asked to purchase tickets. This is a high tech place, so they had a seating chart and we selected our seats, 2 in the front row and 2 in the back row. More later about the theater.

We then headed back to the Rynek and did some browsing in the market. The market is really buzzing with both locals and tourists. They were stringing up lights and have a new stage and a large lighted tree also. We didn't buy anything, but my shopping habits (or lack there of) are well known in these parts of the world.

Then we decided to go to the Babcia Maliny (Gramma's Kitchen) for some of our favorite local cuisine. The kids always get the roasted Russian Perogi's and Chris and I get a selection of salads (all cabbage salads like slaw) and a boiled beef with horseradish and mashed potatoes. That was great and we headed back to the theater a block away.

We got there in plenty of time to find our seats. Not hard. There were 3 rows of 5 or 6 seats each, and the screen was hung above the door. Our "rich" friends in Lakewood and Southlake have bigger home theaters than this place. It was pretty funny, but the movie was good quality. So, I sat there, somewhat optimistic that English would actually prevail. The credits passed and all the music was English at first, but no dialogue. Then, a guy snoring (universal language). Then the narrator began...in POLISH of course, because we are in Poland you knuckleheads! I had some lingering hope that actual dialogue (not the narrator) would be English...yeah, right.

So, what would you do after paying 60 zl (about 25 bucks) for the movie? You would sit there and watch it too. Chris and I did our best to pick out words and phrases that we knew, about 5% of the total dialogue. The kids just enjoyed the funny actions taking place.

Then, with the best Sylvia Cohen imitation I could come up with, I went to the counter after the movie, with my tail between my legs, and said..."you know the movie is dubbed in Polish, right? Can I get my money back or a coupon for future use?" She got a very distraught look on her face, apologized and gave us our 60zl back. Just like Nordstrom's return policy!

Welcome to Poland! The end.

Brody Celebrates 11th Birthday!

Today was Brody's 11th birthday party at the Krakow Plaza Fantasy Park. He invited his whole class of 6 other kids and the 3 of the 4 boys in the class all came. This is the first birthday ever where he had Happy Birthday sung to him in 3 languages (French, Polish and of course the queen's English). It was a fun event followed by Mama Mia's pizza (his favorite) back at the house with Mom, Dad, and Ariana.

Ladd Travel Log

Keeping a log of our travels, we have now been to Rome and Vienna, with a lot of touring also done in Krakow itself. Our first visitor to Europe was my brother Brent, his wife Eileen, and kids Shannon and Ryan. We met them in Rome after they came off a 2 week cruise. Corey made a business trip out of it while Chris and the kids also went to Pompeii (the express train there, and oops, the non-express train back). Our first visitor was Grammy and Malkey in late October. They stayed in Krakow for a week and we all went to Vienna for a week too during the kids Fall Break.