Nowy Targ

Ya know, this is a little nuts. I'm writing this on Saturday night in a hotel in Tarnów. It's nearly 10 o'clock at night and I'm pretty darn tired. I should be writing about what we did today — we went to the tiny village of Luszowice, the one near Dąbrowa Tarnowska (there's another Luszowice somewhere else) to check out the place where Zach's great-grandfather Kmiec was born. Or maybe I should be writing about what we did yesterday in Krakow. But... things are piling up! We spent a couple of days in Nowy Targ earlier in the week, and I want to tell you about that, too! So, here's Nowy Targ:

My maternal grandfather — one of Zachary's great-great grandfathers — Józef Kosinski, came from Nowy Targ. Nowy Targ is in the foothills of the Tatra Mountains, near Zakopane. Here's a view of the mountains from nearby Zakopane — it's as close to the mountains as we got on this trip. The sun came out for a few hours, just for us.

Those snow-capped peaks may be in the Slovak Republic; the Tatra Mountains, part of the Carpathians, form Poland's southern border. People who grew up around here are called "Górale," or mountaineers. Józef Kosinski was a Góral and proud of it.

Grandpa left this beautiful place in 1910 for America. Although I've been to Poland three times before, I've never been here before, to this particular town. Zach and I are here in Nowy Targ, this time, to walk the streets of our ancestors and also to do some genealogical research. Did my great-grandfather, Edward Kosinski, have siblings? What were their names? What were the names of Edward's parents, my great-great-grandparents? And what about my grandfather's sister, Władysława? Her grandson, Jean, in France, cannot find any documentation about her death. Surely she's not still living...  but when did she die and where?

We tried, we really did, to find the answers to these questions. But first, we had to check out Nowy Targ. We stayed at a lovely hotel on the outskirts of town.

From our room in the back of the hotel, we could see the river.

On Tuesday, our first day here, we strolled into town on a bike path along the Dunajec River.

This path sees some cross-country skiing in winter!

Shepherd walking his sheep had a terrific dog!

The plums looked so good, I bought some, too!

Ha ha!  We've seen a lot of John Lemon in Poland. 

Zurek for lunch — it's made from fermented bread and sports a huge piece of yummy sausage.

Kwas is also made from fermented bread. Very tasty! And 100% naturalny!
We found this in a terrific little bookstore/coffeeshop.

There were just a few old wooden houses still left in Nowy Targ. 

Zach noticed that this advertisement knows a good citizen does not wear jeans on Sunday.

The omnipresent LOMBARD.

We came across this lovely church. Is this where the birth and death and marriage certificates are kept??
Alas, someone told us this church was built in the 1950s. Couldn't be this one.

Here's the OLD church, St. Katarzyna. 

Yep. See, above the door?  1765.  This is it! We walked around the church, wondering how to find the priest.

The view from up here is lovely. Did Grandpa Kosinski look out at this same view?

We couldn't figure out how to find the rectory. Ah, but tomorrow would be another day here. Why worry?

The next day, Wednesday, we headed out to the little village of Klikuszowa. My cousin, Marsha, found documents indicating that Jozef Kosinski was actually born in the nearby village of Klikuszowa. He SAID he was from Nowy Targ, but maybe that's like somebody from Schaumburg saying their from Chicago.

Now, Klikuszowa is only a few kilometers out of town on the road to Krakow. But if we hopped a bus out there, how hard would it be to get back to Nowy Targ? We decided to splurge and hire a taxi. The driver took us to the church in Klikuszowa and waited for us. 

Here's Zach in Klikuszowa with our most friendly and helpful driver.

We walked all the way around this church but could not find an open door.

We did admire the lock on the front door.

We knocked on the door of the rectory and spoke with the housekeeper. She said she knew nothing about these things, these certificates. We'd have to speak to the priest. Alas, the priest was not home, he was at school. When would he be back? Oh, maybe 3 o'clock. Maybe 5 o'clock.

Our driver took us back to Nowy Targ. With his help, we found the rectory at the old church. Ah, but a sign on the door said that on Wednesdays, the priest is available only from 4:00 to 6:00. It was still morning; we had several hours. How to spend them? Well, go to Zakopane!

The lovely mountain town we remembered enjoying in 1995 has become a crowded tourist center, streets lined with cheap souvenirs.

Back in Nowy Targ, we went back a third time to the old church, found the priest in. He's a jovial guy, but said that all the records from the old church have been moved to the NEW church! The priests at the new church are available on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. Today was Wednesday. He suggested we ring the doorbell of the kitchen, and that maybe one would hear our story and help us out. 

We couldn't find the kitchen at the new church. We rang several doorbells. Nobody answered. Too late now to go back to Klikuszowa, we called it a day. Next? Krakow!

Mining and Shopping — Just Looking

On Sunday morning, September 22, after another spectacular breakfast, we drove to the Guido Coal Mine in Zabrze, about a half-hour drive west of Katowice. The mine was built in 1855 by a guy named Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck.

The mine is no longer working, but they’ve turned it into a most interesting museum.  Here's a sign near the entrance:

To begin is easy.  To endure is an art.

Maciek and Elżbieta, ready with helmets on. We all had to wear helmets.

And then we went down to 170 meters below ground. 

Here, an employee is locking other museum-goers into the elevator. (We were next.)

As we exited the elevator, the guide greeted us with the phrase, Szczęṡċ Boże, which means “godspeed,” or “May God be with you.”  That’s how the miners greeted one another underground, instead of saying, “Good afternoon.”

The guide was terrific, although Zach and I couldn't understand a word.

Horses were used to pull the coal cars through the mine.

Once in the mine, the horse spent the rest of its life down under.  

At one point, there were 80 horses kept in stables in the mine.

How meaningful this mine museum must be for visitors whose fathers or grandfathers had worked in this mine.
I wondered what was going through the heads of these young visitors.

We fell in love with this little tyke.

Got any questions about what these things are for? Just ask Zach.

Back in Katowice, we took a radically different self-guided tour of a brand new shopping mall right in the center of the city. 

The mall just opened four days ago, and on this Sunday afternoon it seemed the whole city had turned out to have a look.

Inside, it was super glitz, Americana, and money, money, money:

Grandma never wore makeup at all.  What would she have thought to see Max Factor in Poland?

An Apple Store! With nobody in it!

Starbucks? Here, too?

There were two things I actually liked very much. The two-story food court gives the shopper a lovely view!

And, there is a lovely linguistic appreciation of the Śląsk language on display. It’s a terrific encouragement to keep a dying dialect alive. 

Here you see the word for "bed" in Śląsk and then in Polish.

Later in the evening, we talked about the need for people to have spaces where they can sit and talk. Places where city folk can touch nature, see trees. Would the city planners of Katowice have served their residents better by building a beautiful park instead of the shopping mall in the center of the city? Or, can this monument to capitalism be justified by its convenience? Now, people who live in the city can walk to the shops instead of having to drive a long distance. Who can answer these questions?

Our walk back to the car took us past some independent computer stores.

We delighted in what we imagined to be the American pronunciation of these borrowed words.

We had dinner at a lovely restaurant that specializes in Silesian cuisine.

Zach had a bowl of sauerkraut soup. He says, "It was good."

I ordered barszc and it came in a big cup. It was so good I had to drink half of it before taking a photo!

The next day, Maciek and Elżbieta drove us to the bus station. We waited in the rain for the bus to arrive, kissed our cousins goodbye, and headed southeast to Nowy Targ and the Tatra Mountains.