Poland: Day One/Two. Travel. Oui?

Hi guys. We've arrived in Katowice, Poland. It's Monday morning here, but my jet-lag has me very confused..

We left Washington DC with no problems. We were seated in the very last seats on the back of the plane which turned out to be great. Only two seats in our row, next to the kitchen. The flight was very good with only a few patches of turbulence. The fun started when we arrived in Paris.

The plane pulled in, everyone stood up much to early as they tend to do. Ania and I, being in our fancy private seats in the back, decided to chill for a while becuase, well, we were deffinitly going to be the last off anyways. So we're sitting there, 10 mins, 20 mins, noone is getting off the plane. 30 mins.. then the pilot got on the speaker to explain that the guy that drives the gangway has decided to strike. Welcome to Paris.. so, roughly 45 mins after we arrived they found some other qualified person to pull stairs up to the plane.

I thought for some reason that the Charles D'Gaulle (sp?) airport was going to be a fancy deal with models and beatnicks everywhere smoking cigarettes on the end of long sticks and wearing funny small hats... not so much. The airport was old, smelled, and was very confusing. And the people.. well.. let's just say that the stereotype of rude parisians is going to stick with me. All except the waiter at the cafe where Ania and I absolutely HAD to have a croissant and espresso/cuppucino. He was cool. I have a sneaky feeling he wasn't parisian.

..Fancy, Fancy, in Paris Airport Cafe..

Nobody likes a mime

I woke up this morning to the sweet smell of Kielbasa and bread. Ania and her mom are off to the hair dressers and I am hanging out at the the store surfing the internet and doing a little prep for some work I took with me. (yes.. hi.. my name is Mike and I'm a workaholic.. "Hi Mike!") Here's a shot of the store. The security cameras monitors are hanging in front of me but I'm not quite sure what I would do if I saw someone stuff a kielbasa in their pocket.

Ania's Moms store in Piekary, Poland.

These photos are from Ania's Camera, I will post my photos in chunks since I have to process them, etc..
takes more time.

The weather is a bit foggy and wet, but *of course* it was snowing a little today. Because I diddnt bring my snowboard, (they are not forcasting snow) I am 100 percent sure it will dump the whole time. :) That's ok.. theres a good snowboard shop with rentals near the house.

So, right now I am in Piekary, Slaskie Poland. It is a region that used to be German. The history of this part of the world is very intricate and you can see it in the architecture. It's very diverse. It is a region of Poland rich in Coal. There are many coal mines here. The buildings, many of them communist block styles are dark with the coal. It is an industrial region. Like Baltimore. A place with character.

So later today we are going into Katowice city center where I will shoot some photos, eat food, and be glad I'm not in my cube at work..