I ♥ Chopin

The first weekend that my mom was here we decided to show her how much Poles LOVE Chopin!

Our first stop was to Chopin's hometown: Zelazowa Wola.

It's a little hard to get to this area as it is located about 20-30 minutes outside of Warsaw by train.  Then you have to take a bus (which runs like once an hour) or a taxi to get to his hometown.  We opted for the taxi.

I had heard (for years) that if you could play Chopin's works, that you could play his actual piano.  False.  They don't allow this.  And whoever told me this - you really got me good!  I was suckered into believing that you could play his piano.

The inside of his home takes you through a guided tour telling all about his childhood and interesting facts about Chopin.  Here is one interesting fact that I learned that I never knew before...

... The actual birth date of Chopin is unknown.  The Parish Register shows his birthday as being February 22nd.  However, Chopin always signed his name with his birthday underneath as March 1st.  His family also always celebrated his birthday on March 1st.  So... I'm going to say that Chopin was born March 1st.  Because it's a great super-awesome day to be born.  I'm just going to believe that the parish register marked down the DUE DATE because he was too lazy to be around for the actual birth.

Even though the house is full of fun facts, the gardens outside were amazing.  As you walk through them you hear Chopin's music playing throughout the greenery.  As well, you can hear frogs croaking and birds signing.  It really is gorgeous around the home.

Well, except for the mosquitoes there. It was a warm day, but there were quite a bit of mosquitoes annoying me.  So I'd rather be hot than itchy.  Michal even caught me in the action of swatting away the bugs while I was getting my picture taken. 

Remember how I said that we opted for the Taxi cab ride as opposed to the bus?  Well, we got the most incredible driver that took us there - and back.  On the way back, he liked us so much that he turned off the meter and took us on a tour of this little city.  He told us all about it and was so excited to share his city with us.  Apparently his wife died about a year ago and so to keep himself from getting lonely, he decided to become a taxi driver.  He didn't need the money, but wanted the companionship of being able to talk to others.  I sure hope that we made his day more enjoyable by chatting with him and getting to know him and his hometown better.   He told us some interesting stories.  He told us about how his father had immigrated to the United States, but came back to get his Father (the cab driver's Grandfather) from Poland.  He came back right as the war hit Poland and was snatched up by the Nazis and shipped off to a concentration camp - where he later died. Therefore, he was raised by his grandfather and stayed in Poland instead of returning back to the United States with his dad.  What an interesting story - right?

The next day we took mom to Lazienki Park (pronounced: Wah-zhenk-ee - which, ironically, means Bathroom). I think that it comes from the fact that there used to be Turkish baths in this park hundreds of years ago.

Every Sunday at Lazienki park they do Chopin concerts at noon and 4pm. It is absolutely beautiful and so relaxing.  This happened to be the first concert of the summer.  The lady playing had participated in every concert since they've started and is always the pianist to start the annual tradition.  The only catch is that you are ONLY allowed to play Chopin's music.

The concert lasts for about 45-50 minutes.  Afterwards we decided to take a stroll in the park.  I had heard that there were Peacocks in this park somewhere.  And you know me - I can't miss out on finding peacocks.  So we went hunting.  And find the peacocks we did!

(Random statue of Ronald Regan across the street from the U.S. Embassy.  For those out you who know how liberal Michal is - I think that I deserve a pat on the back for getting such a great shot of him in front of this statue.  But seriously, Poles love Reagan.  He is an icon here and probably, one day, will mean as much to Poland as Chopin.)

 This concluded our Chopin centered weekend.  It's a shame for people to come all the way out to Poland and not be able to see how much this artist is revered here.