A cousin showed us sights in Poland. We visited a castle, churches, Swiata Lipka, where the blessed mother appeared and then bunkers of Hitler (Wolfsschanze). This was the most impressive sight of all -- the thick walls were made of rock, with double ceiling. The entire compound was made in 3-4 years. Hitler never anticipated getting caught. He also had underground passageways between bunkers.

From Bartoszyce traveled all the way to south Poland to my parent's towns. There I found my mother's half-sister. She is alive but in bad shape.

We hired a driver that took us everywhere we wanted to go. He was a family friend and we accomplished all we wanted to do in 5 days. Poland is very a pretty country which is level like Ohio. The streets were built by the Germans and were in excellent shape 60 years later. They were straight, wide, tree-lined on both sides in order for the tanks to be driven. Poured concrete was used for telephone poles and for railroad ties which were bolted to the tracks. They were put in by the Germans in the 1940s. In the cities, the intersections are circular. Cars are small and compact. We barely could put our luggage in. My husband hit his head on the roof and knees on the dash.

They have high-rise apartments in the city (tenement housing). The corridors are not very clean but the apartments inside are immaculate only very small, 2-3 rooms. All bathrooms are divided into two: a water closet (toilet) in one and a sink and tub, with a shared spigot, in the other room.

No one has a clothes dryer and they are either hung over the tub or out on the tiny balcony. Washer are about 30-gal size to accommodate a small load of laundry. They are either wringer type or automatic but must be hooked up to the tub faucet to be used. Kitchens are extremely tiny with small refrigerators, camper-size stoves. There are no bedrooms. All families sleep on divans that open up and need to be made daily. If a family is fortunate to have a bed, it is a single or two put together. A table from the side is brought to the divan in order to provide for meals. So a living room is also a dining room and a bedroom. Often, many members all sleep in one room.

Families in high-rises have a small garden plot to grow a few vegetables. There are satellite dishes placed at windows at apartments since most areas do not have cable. Television stations show American films with voices duplicated to their language. Cell phones are used. Churches are small with no identifying names on them.

Outside the city limits, the villages are still like the days of my parents. Nothing has changed. Small stucco homes with fences around everyone's little acre plot. Outhouses everywhere, no one knows how to put a septic in. Well taken care of cemeteries are colorful year-round with real or artificial flowers.

We saw eland, huge snow shoe rabbits the size of dogs, and lots of storks. They have huge nests on top of barns or poles. Many women dye their hair bright red (like Lucille Ball) or auburn. Few blondes.

Ukraine:

When we arrived into this country, we had problems at the border. Even though our passports and visas were in order, we had to stand in line at every window to purchase medical insurance, documents, get it stamped at another window, change money, pay for Chernobyl air (ecology), etc.

The Polish family who brought us across the border, even though they just dropped us off, and turned around they also had to purchase everything. Even though Ukraine is free from Russia, they still do everything the Communistic way. Ukraine is at least 80 years or more behind us. I thought I was in a third world country. A family member asked us for a scythe blade to cut his grass (which has been extinct in USA since 1948).

We were very lucky to stay with a family that had a house and several rooms. I thought we would have to stay at hotels, but they are a big rip off, as they charge tourists $100-300 a night. We visited all the family members traveling every day in another direction. We ate the same meals 5 times a day which consisted of: boiled eggs, green onions, tomatoes, cukes, radishes, meat gelatin platter, kolbassy and cheese, canapes made from all of the above, soup, bread, coffee or tea (no milk), bottled seltzer or tonic water, torts (cakes), potatoes, chicken, raw fish, sardines, cabbage and noodles. Bread at stores is not wrapped. One family raised nutrias (large otters the size of dogs) for food.

Inside toilets were almost nonexistent. We used more outhouses than I care to, buckets or behind the barn to pee. Toilet paper is harsh and also of short supply especially for the extreme poor. There were catalogues and newspapers for lavatory purposes. To get to see everyone, we traveled in areas where no roads existed, through fields and to homes with no water supply. The cars were 18 and 21 years old.

We visited a relative in a hospital where they provide a bed and doctor only. Patients must provide their own bed linens and some family member has to come every day with meals as they do not feed the patients. The staff gives you a list of medicines, bandages and needles that he will need. Patients purchase them at a pharmacy and the staff administers it.

Everyone drinks and smokes heavily since booze and cigarettes are cheap. Jobs are also nonexistent. Young people are traveling in droves to Poland, Germany, Italy, Austria, Canada, Greece, Portugal, Spain, France for work. All the collective farms that were during the Russian era have been left abandoned and in disarray. Factories were stripped and stand as empty buildings.

Prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, they told the Ukrainian people that their money was going to change and that they needed to get it into the bank. So everyone who had some money put it aside for their retirement years and the Russians confiscated it all and left them with nothing.

The Russians expected the new Ukrainian Republic to fail, and hope to get the Ukrainian land back again because the soil is rich and there is gold in the Carpathian mountains.

Every family who owns a cow or two, walks the cow along the road to fields that are not owned by anyone and watches them pasture. The cows are milked 3 times a day. Mostly this is done by elderly men and women. Every family plants on small plots of land. We saw all bent over planting their potato crop. Homes and apartments are smaller than in Poland. Even though the people keep their living quarters neat and tidy, there is hardly any room to move around. There are no closets except for furniture lined across one wall of their home. Lace curtains are used instead of screens for windows.

A few people have cable TV. Those who live in high-rise apartments, mostly have only two rooms (a kitchen and living/bedroom). The homes are built from bricks or concrete, including all interior rooms like a bomb shelter, then stuccoed. Skeleton keys used. One family had enough money to build a nice two-story home but again no indoor toilets.

Ukraine is a pretty country with rolling hills with fields of rape seed growing for canola oil. The soil is black and rich. Villages are very poor. Lvov is an old city with dilapidated buildings and narrow streets. It needs a lot of improvement to beautify it. The sidewalks are in very poor shape and the roads are even worse. Some are impassable during rain.Ternopil was entirely destroyed during the war and has been rebuilt and is much prettier. We visited a lot of landmarks in Kiev and there is a lot of building going on in this city. Kiev has two departing gates at the airport. Dnieper River is wide but filthy.

The Pope will arrive to Lvov and Kiev for 3 days in each city in June. The people who have jobs are not being paid since this money is going to repave the streets on which the Pope will be traveling. He is coming with 500 members of which are 250-300 cardinals. The people have been told that during their stay, that the villagers must fast for 3 days in order to have enough food for the Pope's party. Also, dormitory students must leave in order to provide housing for the pope's party.

In Lvov, water is shut off all day except from 6:00 to 9:00 am and 6:00 to 9:00 pm. There was a time where they were without water for 3 months and a water buffalo was brought in and each family was allowed a bucket of water a day. Ukraine has adapted to doing without for so long and they know no other life. They don't even try to strive to improve better. Russia kept them in control. They were not allowed to speak their language at work or school.

During USSR era, all the churches were robbed and boarded up. Now they have reopened and are being restored with frescos, icons, etc. Churches are bigger and more colorful in Ukraine than in Poland. There are no pews in churches except for a few benches for the elderly. Every one stands from 1-3 hours depending on the length of the service.

Mass transportation include buses, electric, battery, propane, streetcars (tramways) accordion-type, metro, and trains. Cars are driven usually by the younger generation. Everyone carries a shopping bag to shop daily at bazaars (flea markets) for food and produce. Women still sweep streets with short-handled brooms and shovels which are about knee high. Everyone is bent over. Each person has a personal passport, which is used like a social security card for work and for identification purposes.

We traveled from Lvov to Kiev by train over night. Once again, two relatives traveled with us since no one would let us travel alone due high robbery and thievery going on now. Because of unemployment and money shortages, everyone is robbing one another. We toured the western half of Ukraine. The Eastern half was more Russian than Ukrainian. Also family members discouraged us from going further east due to the high crime rate.

When we left the country, I could not take my American money back with me so I ended up giving it to my relatives. We had more hassles trying to get out. Home travel was from Kiev to Frankfurt, Germany by Lufthansa plane.

Thank God for good ole USA and to be back home safe and sound. We don't appreciate what we have until you see others who have so much less.