1st day of RFE team in Poland. The Friendship Exchange team from R.I.District 3202 India consisting of George and Priscilla, Gopal and Jeya, Siva and Kavitha and Harris and Sini landed in Warsaw, Poland at 11.30.A.M. on the 23rd April. We were met at the airport by more than 10 Rotarians of District 2231 including the Friendship Exchange Chair, Barbara and were heartily welcomed with gifts including the Easter Eggs. We were taken to our hosts’ homes and just had enough time to unpack our bags, freshen up and start. The Friendship Exchange team met the Ambassador of India to Poland and Lithuania, H.E. Tsewang Namgyal at Warsaw, Poland at 3.30.P.M. It was a memorable meeting and we honoured the ambassador with a shawl and some Rotary India pins. We went to the city park which was closed due to heavy winds. We saw the river and the palace from outside. We went around the city for some time in the evening. We attended the meeting of Rotary club of Warsaw City at Sheraton Hotel. Our presentation was much appreciated and there were adorning of shawls, Exchange of club banners and presentation of gifts and brochures. We returned home tired, but fully satisfied. 2nd - 3rd days in Poland. We had breakfast in our hosts homes and met all the team members. Along with Mark and Eugene, we went around the old city. We went up the city tower which is the tallest building there and admired the beauty of the city. We saw churches, theatres, war memorial, city square and the king’s palace. We went for the meeting of Rotary club of Warsaw Goethe in which the members are all German speaking. Again our presentation with Power point was pretty good and we had the usual exchange of pins and club banners and presenting of our little gifts. We went around the city again in the afternoon and even managed to go for a Music programme in the evening. At 8.00.P.M. there was a presentation by Rtn. PDG. Andrew Ludek of Warsaw, about ICC or Inter Country Committees, Rotary in Poland and the history of growth of Rotary in the country and the neighbourhood. He provided us with some delicious food. We returned home fully exhausted but ready for more, the next day. The 4th-6th days: Olsztyn: Old town visit - Boat ride in the lake - Visit to the planetarium - Shopping at the mall - Visit to the Food Bank and Social Kitchen - Cookery lessons and dinner thereafter - Painting for a cause. 7th- day in Poland. It was indeed a memorable day with 2 impressive events. In the morning, we went to The Solidarity movement exhibition centre. We understood how Poland was hit from all the sides over centuries but still managed to stand up and flourish. Till the end of 2nd world war in 1945, Germany had massacred millions of people and many cities were brought down to a rubble. Unfortunately after this war, they were under the oppressive communist regime of the Soviet Union. In the 1970s, the workers joined together and revolted against the stifling regime. The strike first started in the shipyard and spread like wild fire to other workers unions. The students also supported the movement. Initially, they wanted better wages, absorption of retrenched workers and freedom and adherence to basic rights. Lech Walesa, their leader and an ordinary electrician with a wife and 8 children managed to bring the Soviet Union to the negotiation table. They won certain rights in their 21 postulates on the 31st August 1979. While the Polish celebrated with the carnival, the Soviet Union clamped the martial law and killed many more. People’s freedom was snatched and curfew was imposed from 10.00.P.M. to 6.00. A.M. Pope John Paul 2 helped in supporting the Polish movement and ultimately in 1989, the country marched towards its democratic, free and fair elections. Within these 30 years, the country has improved in all the sectors and it is now a viable and vibrant economy. After studying all the details at the exhibition, we came home for lunch. Some of us stayed back at home, a few others went for shopping. The meeting in the evening was fabulous. We exchanged 5 flags with 5 clubs and met Rotarians from 4 countries, Germany, Lithuania, Poland and India. Our presentation was well received and appreciated by one and all. There were Rotarians from Gdańsk, Gdańsk Centrum, Gdynia Orlowo, Sopot International, Łódź and Rotary club of Vilkaviskio Klubas. The Governor of District 1462, Germany who was with us at the meeting was thoroughly impressed with the presentations. There was music after the meeting with piano and double base and some Polish songs from among the Rotarians and even a Tamil song by our teammate, Harris. The dinner was great and we came back home pretty late and we managed to talk for a while with our ever enthusiastic hosts Barbara and Kris in the living room over a cup of Cinnamon Tea. 8th day at Poland. We rather had a relaxing day walking around the park, going to the sea shore and looking at the churches. We went first to the Cathedral in Olivia. The pipe organ was massive and the music rendered from it was surely divine. There were movements from several structures around the organ synchronising with the music. This is the longest church in Poland. Pope John Paul 2 ‘s visit to the church is a treasured moment for the church. The people here are pretty religious unlike some of the western countries since they strongly believe that the church has influenced the social change in the country and has made them self reliant and made them a self sufficient economy. We walked in the park and saw some of the exciting flowers, plants and trees. The rivers and streams and canals were so clean and the water ran through them like a silver line glistening in the bright morning sun light. Then we visited the longest wooden pier and walked through the entire length in Sopot. We saw some of the huge water birds in the blue waters of the Baltic sea. Rotarians of the triple cities of Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot treated us with some excellent vegetarian dishes for lunch. We had time to come back home, talk a while with our hosts, pack our bags, have our dinner and come to Train station to catch the night train to Jelenia,our next station of stay. 9th-10th days at Poland. We were received at the Jelenia Gora Station in grand style. There was Folk dance and music in their typical Polish costumes. We were treated like royalty. After going to the hosts homes’ , freshening up, finishing up breakfast and dressing up, we went to a tunnel which was used by the Germans for the civilian and armed forces protection against the bombs during the war. There was a cute little show in the tunnel to sustain the interest in going through the tunnel. The lake visit followed this and the scenery around was breathtaking. The artificial lake was created as water in many rivers coming down the hills had to be regulated and the dam was constructed . This lake is about 75 feet deep and there is plenty of fish in it. The woods around were lovely. We managed to even go for a boat ride and Andrew and his wife must be thanked for arranging everything during our visit. The evening meeting was colourful. Our presentation was great and was interpreted very well. There were club banner exchanges, affixing of Rotary India pins, adorning of shawls and presentation of gifts. There was a nice presentation by the club about the city and the attractions through power-point. This club has a good mix of people from Germany, Czech republic, Lithuania and Poland. The dinner was great and Siva was the centre of attraction thereafter with his exhibition of Jewellery. 11th day in Poland. We packed our bags, had breakfast in our hosts’ homes at Jelenia Gora and came to our bus to go to Wroclaw. The Rotarians of J. G. didn’t want to leave us so soon. They took us to a Glass factory where we learnt a bit about making various glass utensils and figures. It was a very exciting experience to follow the details. Then we went the Szklarka water falls. It was very cold and had to have at least 3 layers of clothes. The breath of fresh air and the crystal clear water elevated our spirits. We did a bit of shopping there and also ate the delicious pan cake made out of Cheese and lamb meat with berry jam. The visit to the Norwegian style apartments, hotel, Restaurant and Wellness centres was pretty brief. We had our lunch pretty close to the palace and had a look at the palace too. We reached Wroclaw at about 5.00.P.M. There was a grand reception for us at Jegoda’s place and had a lot eat there. Finally we went to our hosts’s homes and unpacked our bags. We freshened up and went around the Town square. All of us were hosted for an excellent dinner at a very good restaurant there. We were rather exhausted after a tiring day but would look at the exciting tomorrow with great anticipation. 12th day at Poland. In the morning, we went to the University campus and were met by the director of the University. He showed us all the important departments. We were very happy to find that there were many Nobel laureates from this place. From the fifth floor and the terrace, we were able to see the entire city with the rivers, bridges and the churches. We were shown the senate hall and the museum. The organ there was played by the director himself. We went to a restaurant entirely managed by mentally challenged people. It was heartwarming to find out that the State gave them the place, the University gave them the education on communication, language and mathematics and Rotary gave them funds to buy cooking gadgets, utensils and equipments. In the afternoon, we went to a Panorama centre where they had depicted beautifully the war between Russia and Poland in the 17th century. The painting was so real and it merged with the surroundings to the last detail. It was 15 metres tall and 120 metres long. Poland fought for its identity, survival and independence and so they were able to resist a larger and superior force. The dinner party in the evening was hosted by Rtn. Jagoda in his beautiful home. We had a great time singing and playing the piano. The food was great. Rtn. Jagoda presented on behalf of his club, 1000 Euros to Rotary club of Calicut Beach to complete the Anganwadi project in Calicut. They were very impressed with the work done by Rtn. Girija , President of Calicut Beach and came out spontaneously with the donation. It was indeed a fine gesture by this club in Wroclaw. The party went on till 11.00.P.M. and ended with some wonderful Polish songs. 13th day in Poland. The day started with the visit to the museum. The exhibits were great and the description of the series of events from 16th century was fabulous. The dominance of King Fredrick in the history of Poland was so predominant. Most of the wars had been fought over the acquisition of new lands and properties and also for the superiority of the denomination of Catholic and Protestant churches. In the city of Wroclaw alone, you will find 100 churches and 100 bridges. It is really amazing to see Poland emerging as a force to reckon with, in spite of the country being torn by wars after wars. From the tour of the museum, we understood the love of the people for their motherland, language and culture. We visited the city market next. It was like our village shandy. There was everything from garden equipments, car accessories, furniture, clothes, ceramic goods, toys and eats available at affordable prizes. You could even bargain like our place. Finally we went to St. John’s Cathedral. It was massive surrounded by many other churches. There are hundreds of churches in the city. People here are very religious and they attend the Sunday masses in large numbers. The sculptures, the paintings and the stained glasses all around in the cathedral were absolutely breathtaking. The dinner party in the evening at Rtn. Dr. Januck’s home was fantastic. The food, the singing with the piano providing excellent support, the fellowship and friendship were simply out of the world. The Polish women in our Indian sarees added colour to the entire show. We must say that we are enjoying every bit of our stay in all the cities that we have been. 14th day at Poland. We started by 10.00.A.M. from Wroclaw by Flixbus and reached Krakow by about 1.30.P.M. The bus was convenient and comfortable and didn’t stop anywhere on the way. It also had a toilet and there was no conductor like our buses. There was a huge luggage space between the wheels underneath the seats. Barbara and Wieslaw and other Rotarians were there at the bus station to receive us. We went and checked in at our Hotel Polonez. We walked along the Old city streets and had lunch in a restaurant. Then we went around the city market and did some souvenir hunting. The city museum was just in the basement of the market where a young man explained about the development of the city and its people from the medieval times. We again walked around and had dinner in another place. We are back in our rooms waiting to replenish and refuel our bodies to be ready for another strenuous day tomorrow.I almost forgot about our visit to St. Mary’s Church. The huge sculpted figure of crucified Jesus right on top of the altar was the most impressive structure in the church. The service was going on at the time we entered the church and we just knelt down and prayed for a few minutes. They close the church immediately after that for the day. I had to rush inside with the help of the Father to rescue Priscilla, Siva and Kavitha who were busy trying to light the candles, but trapped inside. We managed to come out through a small service door at the back of the church. They do not allow any photographing inside the church, otherwise we would have got some beautiful pictures. 15th day at Poland. We went to the non functioning Salt mine about 15 Kms. away from the city of Krakow. They have converted the whole place into an exhibition and a great tourist attraction. We had to climb down about 330+150 steps. The temperature there was around 17 while it was about 11 outside. There was an English speaking guide to us who explained everything from 17th century when it was first started as we went past several exhibits. We went to a depth of 135 Metres, but the total depth is about 350 Metres. Man started taking salt from evaporating salt water and then switched on to rock salt. In those days, salt was as expensive as silver. Now they have switched over to salt from water again. They had used enormous quantity of wooden logs for strengthening the tunnels. Kings have played major roles in the mining operations. For protecting the miners, the religious Polish people had created a beautiful chapel at a depth of more than 100 Metres. There is an auditorium, many souvenir shops, several eating joints and even clean toilets at the deepest points. Water flowing there was very salty. We took about 3 hours to complete the tour and fortunately there were lifts to bring us back to ground level. We had lunch in a restaurant in the salt mine village itself and it was indeed delicious with soup, vegetable salad and meat dumplings. We returned to our hotel and then had just enough time to relax for a while and to cool our weary legs. We freshened up and dressed up for the Krakow club meeting. As usual our presentation was much appreciated and applauded. We honoured the President, Area Coordinator Wieslaw Adamczyk and the two PDGs. After dinner, we still had time and energy to see the beautiful city by night as we drove around for some time. The Castle and St. Mary’s Cathedral looked majestic in the night. We feel sad that we are going to finish our Tour tomorrow and then fly back to India leaving behind so many loving hearts and caring hands. At the same time, we also feel happy that we will be back in our motherland to be with our kith and kin and with our dear Rotary family. A mixed feeling indeed!!!! 16th day in Poland - The last day. We got up in the morning, packed our bags and loaded all of them in a huge SUV. After breakfast, we went to the castle in Krakow. There was an outer ring of buildings where the members of noble families and religious leaders stayed. The inner building was only for the royal family. Krakow was the capital city of Poland till the 17th century. When the Swedish King defeated the Polish forces, he took over Poland. But he changed the capital city from Krakow to Warsaw since it was closer to Stockholm and was easier to administer. Krakow is an ancient city and has a population of about 850,000. Though Warsaw has a population of about a million, Krakow may still be the biggest city as it has a student population of 200,000 from all over the world in its 13 Universities. The castle was undergoing renovation and we could not see much inside and the church of St.Peter was conducting a huge service for the Padres. We walked along the King’s street and did some window shopping in the different kinds of stores. We were lucky to see the trumpeter blowing the trumpet ( He does it every hour, everyday ) from the top of the steeple of St.Mary’s church. Lunch in a restaurant close to the city square was great yet again. We left Krakow by Flix bus at about 3.00.P.M. and reached Warsaw around 7.15.P.M. Our Rotary friends were waiting there to pick us and to drop us at a hotel close to the airport. We had our farewell meeting there with the Governor, PDG. Andrzej, PDG. Barbara and a host of other important Rotarians. Governor Lucas is a very young man in his early 40s. He is a Rotaractor turned into a Rotarian and talked about Inspiring people through our deeds and our connections and networking. We honoured him with shawls, gifts and India Rotary pins. Barbara and I talked about our friendship between the two Districts and the plans of starting an Inter Country Comittee (ICC) We had fish for dinner and came to our rooms pretty late. We must get up early in the morning to catch our flight back to India at 6.15.A.M. The experience in Poland was great and we must admire their fierce love for the nation, language, community concern and responsible citizenship. The country which was flattened into a rubble several times in the last century has risen now like a Phoenix bird and boasts now of a strong economy, clean country and an enviable standard of life. 09.05.2019, 01:22 - George Sundararaj: 10.05.2019, 09:34 - George Sundararaj: We just arrived back in our places safely. We miss you all so much already. On behalf of all the team members of the Friendship Exchange team to Poland, I would like to thank each and everyone of you for the love, hospitality and care that you had shown throughout our stay in Poland. We thank RFE Chair Barbara for making it happen and the tireless work that she had done. We specially thank all those who came to India, for the meticulous work and for devoting so much of their time and money. We thank all the hosts in Poland who did an excellent job and made us feel at home. We thank Governor Lucas for following up everything and arranging the trip and helping in the visa formalities. We thank all the PDGs for their interest in the programme and suggesting even an Inter country council with India just like the one you have with Germany. We thank all the presidents of the Rotary clubs who had arranged some meaningful meetings with the RFE Team. We thank the Rotaractors, Youth Exchange students and Interactors for their involvement, cooperation and interest in the programme. They made our visits to various places bright and colourful. We thank all the Rotarians of Poland and the volunteers in different places for their involvement and support. We also thank the city administrators in different places for their recognition of the team. I can go on and on with all those good things which happened around us. But to end it all: A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE.