MADE IT TO WARSAW

Well, we made it!  By the time we arrived in Warsaw, we had been awake for more than 24 hours.  We were so rummy that we took a taxi to our hotel rather than finding our way by bus or street car like we usually do.Our hotel is on the east side of the Wisala River.  This is the side the Russians occupied and while it was a battle ground, it was not leveled as was the west side of the river which was occupied by  the German army.  This is an older, more residential section of the city and we find it quite comfortable.  It’s within walking distance of old town and some of the main attractions in Warsaw.Each morning we are treated to a generous, tasty, breakfast buffet. Everything from pickled herring to chocolate cereal.  The beds are wonderful and the bathroom spotless and tiled from head to foot.  Everything seems new even though the buliding is old.  It’s all very environmentally conscious.  Instant hot water, a master switch by the door so that when you enter your room, you insert your door card into a receiver and it automatically turns on all the lights.  When you leave the room you take your door card out and all the lights turn off.  No wasted electricity.  As you walk down the corridors or stairs, only the lights that you need come on.  Then they automatically go off as you pass by.  Very neat modern technology.  Of course we have full internet service.  All this for $60 a night.  The breakfast alone would cost us $20 for two if we went out to a restaurant.  Speaking of restaurants, we found this place about 3 blocks from the hotel.  It seems Italian oriented, but you can get almost anything you want.  We have eaten there two nights in a row and have had wonderful vegetarian meals washed down with a reasonable house wine.Here, Marlene is having mushroom soup and roasted vegetables and I’m having a mushroom pasta with a side of steamed spinach topped with parmesan cheese. This morning as we have done the last two mornings, we walked across the Wisala River to old town.From the bridge, we also get a view of the main downtown district.  Old town was completely destroyed by the Nazis in 1944 and has since been rebuilt to look exactly like it did before it was destroyed.Castle square is where you enter the old town from our side. 
The city itself is made up of narrow streets lined with small shops and many cathedrals.  We have wandered almost all the streets browsing and people watching.On my next post I’ll have some pictures of Saturday’s wanderings. 

Waiting in Portland

Got here early.  No problem with security.  So far can't think of anything we forgot.

VISITORS and GETTING READY FOR POLAND

A pleasant surprise on Friday.  Over a year ago we extended an invitation to a new acquaintance for her  parents to land at our airstrip when they came to Portland to visit her.  Last week we got an email saying they would like to take advantage of our offer.

They arrived about noon on Friday having flown in from California.  We had a nice visit and had a chance to get to know them.  He was a retired United Airlines Captain and he and his wife had spent 7 years building their own retirement home in northern Californian.

Getting ready for our trip to Poland has been an experience of lists, tasks, reading computing, and packing.  We have airline tickets to Warsaw and a hotel room reserved for 4 days there.  Four days after we arrive we pick up a rental car and begin our journey around the country visiting villages of our ancestors.  Finding the villages and plotting them in the Garmin Nuvi with a Polish road data base has taken me several hours.  The problem is the part of Poland where our ancestors came from was at one time part of Germany so the villages have more than one name.  First you have to find the map using old German names and then transpose the location to a new map using current Polish names.  This is complicated by the fact that there may be 6 different Polish villages with the same name.  Here’s a link to a Google map of where we are headed.  http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=203579657710758999982.0004bfde4e7429f86290b&msa=0&ll=52.48278,18.973389&spn=1.36492,3.532104

 

 

We have house sitters arranged.  Another Boomer couple will be living here while we are away.  As usual, Marlene has created a list of things to be done and has flagged all the places she is concerned about having plenty of water.

This posting is part of the preparation.  For traveling we purchased an ACER ASPIRE ONE, a small 10 inch laptop with full keyboard.  I’m creating this blog using the new computer as a test so when I get to Poland, I’m sure I know what I’m doing.  So far it’s working OK except my fingers are too big.

BUILDING A TREE HOUSE

The sun finally came out on one of the boys days and we were primed to do something outside.  Ryder suggested we work on the tree house we had envisioned in a the Japanese Lilac tree which is in our landscaping on the south side of our property.

I helped with the project by cutting the boards on my chop saw, but the boys did all the building.

They even got Omy up the ladder to check out the finished product.  We've since added a rope so they can climb up or down two ways.  When the leaves come out, this will be well hidden.

NEW PRIUS

Just a few shots showing the new Prius Plug-in Hybrid.

It was totally charged and ready to go.

We drove the old one to the dealer to pick up the new one.  Marlene drove the old one home and I got to drive the new one.

Here's where you plug it in.

So far we have driven 267 miles, 32% in all electric mode and 68% in regular hybrid mode.  Our combined mileage is 67 mpg.   With gas at over $4.00 in the Canby area, we're very happy with our decision to go ahead with this purchase.   Ours is the first one delivered to Oregon.

SNOW IN MARCH

It snowed last night.  Enough that the golf course is covered and with frost underneath there is a frost delay until 11:00 am.  This made a good day for roasting coffee. 






I have a new bread machine now which I use as my primary roaster.  The old one finally broke down after a year of roasting and I found another at a garage sale for $10.  This one has a nifty setting which agitates the coffee continuously for 15 minutes and then can be restarted immediately for another 15 minute cycle.



Using this new machine with my old heat gun, I can now roast a full pound of green beans in 20 minutes.
Here's the results.  

NEW CAR COMING

On November 17, last year, we ordered a new Prius Plug in Hybrid, a PIP.  This is something we have thought about for maybe the last 5 years from the time I first heard about the concept of plug in electric cars combined with hybrid technology.  At the time we were driving a regular Prius, a 2001 model.  I said at the time, "Let's drive this car till the new plug in hybrid comes out and then trade it in."  Well, it didn't work out that way.  Our first Prius was hit in the left front corner while I was taking our grandson home from swimming lessons.

The insurance company totaled the car and we replaced it with a used 2005 model.  In November, Toyota Company opened a window to pre-order a PIP with delivery to be sometime in the spring of 2012.  From then till now, we have been kept updated with progress from assembly to loading on a ship in Japan.  I have been tracking the ship, the Continental Highway, from it's port in Japan to it's entrance into the Columbia River at Astoria.  These photos are screen shots my computer screen showing progress of the ship.  The ship should arrive in Portland around midnight tonight and hopefully we can take delivery of our new car next week.




The new model is predicted to achieve 87 mpg on average.  Timely in this period of declining supplies and rising prices of gasoline.  I'll keep you posted on how this works out.  It will basically perform as an electric car for our short trips into Canby and surrounding neighborhoods. It charges in 3 hours from a regular 110 volt receptacle in our garage. Then, if we decide to take a trip to Seattle, it will revert to a regular Prius and automatically shift from electric to gasoline motor.