Last leg of the journey!

                                                 "We've eaten all the other legs." --Rachel      August 22, 2016    
     We are at our second to last bnb before home, and like each one before it, it is the best of them all and "we should stay here forever."
     We walked in and Mom stated that is is literally her dream house, the one she invented in her head as a kid back in Minnesota. It's all wooden and cabin-like, in a little Polish farm village.

There are spiral stairs that lead up to the loft, which has all but one of the beds. There are cute curtains hanging in all the windows, a very dead fish head sticking out of the wall with a light bulb in his mouth, some sort of boar skin or something hung on the wall and a chandelier-like light made out of antlers. It has the coziest spacious main room with a long, wooden dining table, a fireplace and a stiff couch.

The happy little kitchen.

Looking at old WWII bunkers in the forest!
Our host showed us about five separate ones,
mostly pretty blown up, but this one was still intact and
we got to walk around inside.

Our host showed us in and then went outside to chop some wood for a fire, since it's rather cold and rainy here. We're right next to a big corn field but the cabin is surrounded by a bunch of trees. Out the back door is a gate that leads onto more open grassy fields, and about a quarter mile away is a big, lovely, still river. I went on a run along it this evening, and got to watch a magnificent sunset reflected in the water, and eat plenty of gnats along the way. A combination of old farm houses and cottages, little hills and dips and soaking wet, GREEN grass, and random bits of forests spread all around.  Tomorrow our host is going to show us where in 1939, a thousand Polish soldiers held off several times that many Germans right here where we're staying. I think I found one of the bunkers by the river, it's kind of built into the bank. It was all stone and metal and closed off, but the perfect place to perch on top of and watch the sunset.
     We spent yesterday (Sunday) in Vilnius, Lithuania, and the Saturday night in a town in Poland, right next to a Cathedral. Our host was the priest there, and he seemed to be in charge of the bnb as well as his regular "Cathedral duties..." He was Polish, and spoke more German than English, so we mostly communicated in German. It was fun hearing him, Mom and Dad switch back and forth--English, German, with a little Polish in between that nobody understood. We went to the vigil Mass when we arrived on Saturday evening, and then climbed the 51 stairs to the top floor of the old building next door (it's nice just having our little packs to carry, and not our giant ones that we brought overseas...), plopped our stuff down and went to find dinner. We found dinner at a hotel restaurant down the street--menu in Polish, but very kind, helpful, patient waiters.

Marching band!

     The next morning we were again served breakfast--quite the feast-- in a big church hall in the same building, and then we went out to explore the city. This involved about 10 minutes of watching some official military band marching and playing all the way to the cathedral where they were going for Mass (it was really neat to see all the different, well dressed groups go so reverently in--the church was packed)  and then another 15 minutes buying ice-cream across the road, and then it was time to go.

Lody lady didn't speak English, but we were
happy with what we got.

Covered the basics.  Mom found the old Jewish synagogue that had gone out of use during the war (except for storage I think?) and where now some artists do displays and events.

Family picture in Lithuania

     In Vilnius we had another long while to hang about and wait to find out where our host was, but when we did we were let into another charming (top story) bnb, with another loft place (which is always more exciting than a ground floor) with most of the beds and a pretty little window and reading area. We went out that evening and got dinner at what seemed to be the Lithuanian Burger King... felt slightly scarred by the not so welcoming service, but pretty soon scoodled out of there and looked around. We took a picture of us all to send to Viltis, the Lithuanian librarian at TAC, and enjoyed listening to several street musicians that Dad described as "The towns Junior High and some losers..." We walked up a steep hill to an old fort of some sort, (a little like our ruined castles) and got to watch the beginning of another beautiful sunset with a fantastic view of the city.

The fort we climbed up to in Vilnius.

After that we managed to find our car and ice-cream before heading back to eat some watermelon and get a good night's sleep.
     Next morning (today) Rosie, Rachel and I snuck away to find some coffee and explore a bit. We spent the
typical Quackenbush girl amount of time (lots) in a neat little market on the main road, debating about what to get to eat along with our coffee. Once we were agreed, we found a nice little coffee place, ordered some pastries and coffee like big kids and made fools of ourselves spitting grape seeds at each other and reading our books. After that, we walked two stores down, saw another coffee shop and, since it had been a while since our last cup, walked in and got more. (We also remembered Mom had wanted us to bring her some, so it made a bit more sense....) We were about to head home, but feeling like perhaps we should be a bit more explortative we walked down a small, unremarkable (except for the fact that all the allies here are in a way remarkable, I never get tired of the stones) ally and came upon THE BEST PLAYGROUND EVER. Rachel and I tried out all the available structures and laughed way too hard, while Rosie babysat us and gave us and everybody around the "I'm not actually related to them," look.
     The biggest treat of the day, however, came with ten minutes left before takeoff. We got back to our bnb after getting a little bit lost (Rosie got us out of that with her supreme navigation skills, while Rachel and I commented on our lack of capability in that respect given that Rosie, or somebody else responsible is always around to take over) to find out that apparently the actual, original Divine Mercy image that had been painted under St. Faustina's direction was on our street, five minutes walk away from our bnb!

I didn't realize this, but apparently St. Faustina lived in Vilnius for a few years, and that (not the Divine Mercy shrine in Krakow where Joseph, Rosalie, Rosie and I just visited during World Youth Day) is where the painting is kept and where her confessor is buried. So with just a few minutes, we walked quickly down the street to the shrine where they there was adoration going on. There was a big plaque on the wall with the words, "Jesus, I trust in you!" in many different languages. I know it in German, English, Polish and Italian now! :) We said hello to Jesus, saw the painting, thanked God for the happy surprise and headed to the car. On to the Czech Republic!