. . . and we saw Russia

Hello all, how goes it? Things here are continuing to go swimmingly. We have left Warsaw and have spent numerous hours driving through the beautiful Polish countryside, gazing at hundreds upon hundreds of fields of bright yellow canola plants (which, as I have been informed, are used to make cannoli . . . I may have thought that at one point but have since been corrected). I can literally stare out the window for hours on end looking at the landscape and be perfectly content. Not sure whether that's good or bad but regardless I like it :)

We did an overnight in a smaller city called Ketrzyn and while there were able to see (amazingly) the Wolf's Lair - Hitler's hidey-hole in the Polish forest during WWII and also the site of the famed 1944 von Stauffenberg assassination attempt. The idea that we were just going to the forest where that took place was pretty exciting for me, but the fact that we were actually going to be able to see the ruins was mind-boggling. I have seen the actual spot where he set the briefcase down. How amazing is that? And then our guide actually let us go inside some of the bunkers, including Hitler's and Goering's. When she said that I almost had a fit, although she mistook my excitment and astonishment for fear and asked, "What are you so scared of? What could happen?" But to actually go there and do that was surreal. And we saw the building that used to be a hospital that the men wounded from the blast were treated in. I have pictures of Hitler being inside that building and shaking their hands. It was just incredible.

The next day we left Ketrzyn and continued to drive north with a stop in Fromborg. We visited a really interesting cathedral that was built gothic but because of something having to do with the invading Swedes the interior was destroyed and rebuilt in the baroque style. So it's a really interesting contradiction. We climbed to the top of the tower and had an amazing view of the surrounding countryside. And from the top, we saw Russia - just a little strip of barely visible land on the horizon, but it was Russia, and we saw it. Pretty sweet.

Currently we are located in Gdynia, right on the Baltic Sea. We've had an excursion to Gdansk and sort of met the Archbishop of Gdansk which was pretty cool. We have also been extremely privilated to view the world's largest piece of wood (Bill Geist, anyone?) and had dinner in a Kaszubian village and danced with the people who ran the restaurant. Good times, good times. Tomorrow we are heading out to have adventures someplace else . . .

~Kate