Toward the Capital, with Stories Along the Way

On the road to Warsaw we stopped at an open air museum to experience a rural community in Sierpc. It was important to see since the majority of Poland is fields and farms. The word “pole” in Old Slavic refers to a field or open land, suggesting that the Polans were associated with the flat, agricultural landscape of the region.

Before boarding for Warsaw, Tomasz our guide treated us to a tasting of Goldvasser. I really think he wanted everyone to take a nap to make the drive go by faster.

Before the nap he shared some information on family life.

• Generous family support: A one-time $1,250 grant for newborns, $200 monthly child benefit until age 18, and a full year of paid maternity leave—plus two more years with full insurance coverage.

• Multigenerational households: Grandparents, parents, and children often share a home in the countryside, with strong family ties and shared responsibilities.

• Education: Begins at age 7 with strong public schools, and a tracked high school system that pushes students to choose their academic paths early. University education? Free.

• Healthcare: Theoretically universal, but practically overburdened—giving rise to a parallel system of private care.

• Retirement: Women retire at 60, men at 65—acknowledging, perhaps without saying it, the unpaid labor women often carry.

• The national pride in homeownership (84%!) stems from a post-communist policy where people could buy the homes they lived in for a fraction of their value. It was a rare, sudden opportunity to own—and most people took it.

• Over 20 million poles live outside of the country and surprise surprise The biggest place where poles live is United States around 10 million. The biggest Polish US city and is the second largest Polish city in the world only Warsaw more Polish people live in Chicago.

• 86% Catholic, which is quite a percentage, but what is also interesting at 13% unspecified who are ones that were born and raise Catholics, but that’s certain point kind of decided to stay away from religion.

Poland is not so much none for its cuisine. Here, the diet is simple, natural, and meant to fuel a hardworking life. No processed foods.

Speaking of :

We arrived in Warsaw and you guessed it, out for a traditional dinner:

Pierogi: 4

Wozniak sighting : 2 – see pics above!

Frédéric Chopin

Famous composer was born here and after dinner we were treated to a private concert featuring his music in the hotel salon.