2019 Poland Trip - A Kurpie Adventure

Aleksandra Kacprzak and I had organized trips to Poland in 2014, 2016 and 2018.  They were large group trips and covered large amounts of Poland.  In 2019, we decided to do a different type of trip-smaller, covering a smaller area of Poland and more in-depth exploration of the culture, traditions and people of Poland.
We started our trip with a visit to the National Museum in Warsaw.  After the Museum closed, we headed to our hotel in Ostrołęka.  The next day the trip headed to Kadzidło for their annual Kurpie Wedding celebration.  Dorena Wasik, one of the tour organizers, was honored at the Wedding celebration and given honorary citizenship to Kadzidło.

After the wedding, the trip headed to the lake region to spend a few days at a spa in Mikołajki, including a massage every morning.  While in the lake region, we made Christmas ornaments at a Christmas ornament factory, had a dinner cruise on a lake, a horse drawn wagon ride through the woods and finally, an early morning balloon ride to watch the sun rise.

We bid adieu to the lake region and headed back to Kadzidło for a few days of folk-art lessons.  We had classes to make paper flowers, wyncinanki, and dough figurines.  We also had a cooking class!  We finished up our time in Kadzidło with a visit to the local library and the mayor of Kadzidło.  We brought gifts to the library-English language children’s books.  One of the local townspeople who was at the library during our visit invited us to her house to see her artwork and of course, we went to visit with her and her mother.  On our last night we had a cookout at the Skansen.  A group of teachers from the school in Kadzidło were also having a cookout there and they came over to join us.  Many of them spoke English.  For several people on our trip the visit to Kadzidło was very special.  Their families were from this area of Poland.  Aleksandra had found some of their family still living in the area and they also joined us for the cookout. 

Our time in Poland was drawing to a close.  We returned for one last visit to Warsaw, but first made a stop at the Stork Village.  Lucky for us, it was feeding time for the stork babies.  For our last day in Warsaw, we visited the Fotoplastikon, the Vodka museum and the Gold Mall.

And so, our trip came to an end.  We returned home with our new folk-art skills, suitcases stuffed with our Christmas ornaments, and fond memories.   

Trip Itinerary: