Polish Cafe Culture ?? and a supermarket visit

Let's just say that ambience is not yet really big here - the lighting in particular had me cracking up in the Cafe at the Rynek (prime position in the centre of town). Only one row are switched on and already I needed some sunnies.

From our table we can see what is going on outside at the Rynek - whilst pondering the view we are planning our departure to Krakow tomorrow.

Hey what a discovery ... you can get a Kolatsche with poppy seed filling too ... yummy

Please note the stylish cups on offer for Kawa Espresso!!!

Hustle and bustle in the supermarket.

I was amazed to find this supermarket in Ratibor, called 'Kaufland' (shopping land). we must have walked past it for days, advertising is not really big here either. Nothing wrong with that.

Birkenwaeldchen und Pfarrhaus Ostrog - another interesting day walking around

We had our first really rainy day ... but walked everywhere just the same. Just a shame about the light for photos - but such is life.

Here is the Birkenwaeldchen, or little Birchforest, where my dad and his friend Manfred used to get up to all sorts of things ... a really nice place to revisit.

Some areas are a little wild and wooly, with very muddy terrain and disappearing paths.

Other areas are almost like a park.

Pastor Jerzy Chetmanski finds my grandfather's record of baptism, but it does not appear as if Ur Oma and Opa were married in their local church in Ostrog.

An unnamed grave in the church yard. The priest tells us that all german graves were either destroyed or left untended (and then being reclaimed by the church for reburial) because of the families leaving them behind when they became refugees after the war.

Our feet are killing us ... three days of walking and there is so much to see

Sag mal Manfred, ist das ungefaehr die Stelle, an der das Haus von deinem Vater stand? Ich nehme an anstelle des Steines war frueher ein Kriegsdenkmal?

Mike walks along the Lange Strasse with long strides.

The old castle on the Oder is being renovated .. a European Union funded project.

Another view of the castle with scaffolding for rendering and replacing windows. They are doing a fabulous job ... you can imagine how great this will look when it is finished.

The ancient Ratibor Brewery ... we saw a lot of the brewery equipment in the Ratibor Museum.

A bright and cheerful house on Lange Strasse.

The old Husaren Kaserne, sadly in very bad repair. A lot of the buildings were burnt when the Russians occupied this area in WW2, perhaps this is what happened to this magnificent structure.

Another lovely but run down house in Ostrog, a suburb of Ratibor.

One can only guess how magnificent this house looked in the 1930s.

Mike at the Oder Bridge with the Code Of Arms for Ratibor below him.

Liebe Gruesse an Euch, Gisela und Christian

Mit Hilfe der Stadtkarte aus 1933 haben wir so manches gefunden und hier ist es die Schulze Delitsch Strasse ! Meine Kamerabatterie war fast leer, daher bin ich sehr froh das ich noch alles aufs Bild bekam!!

Die Hausfront - wie du sagtest drehte es sich um den 2. Stock - rechte Seite vom Eingang ...

Wenn ich wieder daheim bin, werde ich dir alle Ratibor photos kopieren und auf einer CD zuschicken.

St Johannes Church in Ostrog, Ratibor

Julian and Noah, your great grandparents were Catholics and practised in this church ... tomorrow we have an appointment with the priest who is going to look through the register of baptisms around the time Uropa was born (5/8/1903).

A visit to the market and dinner in the Rynek, Ratibor

Kolatschen with Quark (above) ... yum, but still not as good as Oma's.

An explosion of colours at the local market, which is in a shed and a mini version of the Vic Market stalls.Finally sitting down for a meal ... this one was a lucky dip in terms of ordering. all i knew was it was a salad with chicken in it.

Genau recht zum Bierchen, ein Huehnersalat mit Ei. Schoen dekoriert, ne?

It is an amazing feeling being here at last, albeit as a tourist.

I love sitting down at the end of a day of walking non stop and doing a spot of people watching.

Zweiter Tag in Ratibor, Markt, Ostrog und Rynek

Im Stadtteil Ostrog haben Oma, Opa und Papa an der Oder, am Piastenweg gewohnt. Manfred meinte, es waere das dritte Haus von der Bruecke gewesen. Es ist heute nicht mehr da. Unten sind die Gebauede an der Ecke der Bosatzer Strasse, parallel zum Piastenweg, und gegenueber von der Stelle an der Oma und Opa gelebt haetten abgebildet. Hier biegt man normalerweise ein. Ich bin aber neben der Bruecke direkt durch die Buesche an die Oder geklettert. Ein bunter Balkon in einem der Kommi Betonkloetze.

Ein abgebranntes Haus aus der Vorkriegszeit (unten) steht ungefaehr an der Stelle (neben dem dritten Haus ), wo sie gewohnt haben. Ob ihr Haus so aehnlich aussah? Manfred erklaerte, das ihr Giebel auf die Oder frontierte.

Ein Strauss Unkraut aus dem 'Garten'.

Mike knipst mich heimlich beim Umsehen - ich hatte ihn gebeten, mich einen Moment in Ruhe zu lassen. Jetzt bin ich froh, das das Bild (verschwommen wie es ist) entstand.

Die Ansicht von dem ausgebrannten Haus, vom Oderufer aus gesehen.

So sehen die Betongebauede aus, die heute an der von Manfred angegebenen Stelle stehen.

Der Blick zurueck nach Ratibor, von Ostrog aus.

Ratibor war einmal schoen, aber heute ist es eine Stadt von gemischter Architektur und viele der Kriegsgeschaedigten Gebauede liegen immer noch brach. Was hier leider dominiert, sind Wohnungsblocks wie diese.

Prost Ratibor - We have arrived

A well earned beer in the Rynek of Ratibor!

The railway station of Ratibor , and seeing we arrived by train lugging our suitcases with us we immediately booked into Hotel Polonia across the road. It is a nice hotel with a huge room and internet access. Below are a few impressions of Ratibor but it was already after 7 pm when I took them and the light was fading. More pics will be taken today.

A train journey to Ratibor/Raciborz

We abandoned our idea of hiring a car, after waiting for four hours for the car hire company to be in touch, and after taking a taxi to their business address and finding a locked door ... we have come to the conclusion that car hire is still in its infancy in Poland. Never mind, we are up for an adventure and Ratibor is only a few hours by train. Goodbye Hotel Tumski - clean, comfy and very central. The trains date back to earlier times ... but they get you there on time just the same.

The first time that Ratibor is signed out - very exciting!

This is the station (below) where we needed to change to a different train ... lucky we had written it down.

The railway station in Wroclaw (Breslau) ... an adventure. After buying the tickets, noone was quite sure which Peron (platform) we needed to be on. It ended up being platform 3 in direction of Gliwice - with a change of train at a station of which we could not pronounce the name - see above. Another photo of Wroclaw railway station - retro for sure.