Wow, the last few weeks at work have been hectic. I even forgot to count down the days, and it’s only 241 days left 🙂 I’ve started my vaccinations last week and that was when I felt that I’m really going on a trip! Today’s post will be just a quick update on the Big Plan. Thanks to the lovely couple from Brazil, Edu and Cinthia (Beijos guys :)), we’ve decided to add Brazil to our list. We hosted them through Couchsurfing and I must say we “clicked” immediately. It felt as if we’ve known each other for ten years at least. They were just starting their trip in June and London was their first stop. They’re both from Sao Paolo and hopefully they’ll be home when we get there 🙂 Sao Paolo is a city where I hope to see some of the Sanguszko Collection’s exhibits. The Sanguszko family (Pogon Litewska coat of arms) is an old polish-lithuanian noble family related to Polish king Wladyslaw Jagiello (1362-1434), through his brother Fiodor. The family collection suffered a lot during the WWI so when the WWII started in 1939 Count Roman Sanguszko decided to save it. He loaded everything on trucks and from Pidhirtsi in Ukraine via Romania he got most of it to Brazil. A Sanguszko Cultural Foundation is looking after the collection now, with Count Pawel Sanguszko in charge. But don’t worry if you can’t go to Brazil – a huge part of collection is at the Regional Museum in Tarnow, Poland.
Sanguszko palace in Pidhirtsi, Ukraine
But Brazil means much more to me. It was a destination for many immigrants from Poland, mostly in 19th century. Because of nationalization in ‘30s whole generations of Polish immigrants lost their touch with the language, culture and the Old Country. Luckily from ‘80s it’s all coming back to normal. People learn Polish, go to polish churches, read polish books. Some say it’s got something to do with the Polish Pope…
The second change to our Plan is slightly bigger. We were planning to fly to Tashkent from Crimea, but instead we’ll take a ferry to Georgia. We’ll visit Georgia, Armenia (which became a first Christian country, in 301 AD, even before Roman Empire converting to christianity) and we’ll travel through Turkey from East to West and from Istanbul we’ll take a plane to Uzbekistan.
Tatev monastery in Armenia
Another detour will take place in China. I think I’ve mentioned Harbin before, a city in NE China founded by Poles building railway for Tsar. I didn’t know how to convince my dear wife to go there. And the solution came to me thanks to Eden Channel and a program called Wild China. The Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival takes place in Harbin each year and it starts on 5th January. There are full-size buildings made of ice! They’re all illuminated and in the evening they look simply magical. I googled it, showed it to my wife and I knew she won’t be able to resist 🙂
Full-size illuminated buildings made of ice in Harbin, China
The last major change regards USA. I said we won’t go there but maybe we will… If we still have money in Mexico we’ll go to States. I found a blog of a Polish guy, who bought some old piece of junk and just drove it through States. The car, taxes, fees cost him around $1000 plus he had someone there who helped him with the formalities. We don’t have that luxury. With no high hopes I checked Avis in States. I was checking Avis in Georgia before and they wanted £600 for a car for two weeks, but in States… A new car, with the insurance, for two months… $1000 🙂 Yay!!! We’re going to America! And if I’m in States, I may as well visit my cousin in Edmonton and friends in Toronto 🙂 If we still have money in Mexico. Or if we ever get to Mexico 😀
So that’s the update. Autumn has come, soon the time will come to buy pumpkins and make some Halloween Jack-o-Lanterns. I’m going to spend long evenings reading guidebooks, because time’s running fast. Stay warm (says me, sipping hot tea with raspberries…).
Polish traces around the world 