A Trip to Ostroda...

 

I woke early today, to the sounds of cranes and roosters.  This morning we went on a fieldtrip by bus to Ostroda, Poland.  It was a 30 minute bus ride and the city was very nice and it reminded us of Lake Geneva which is a city in south central Wisconsin.  

Upon arriving, we went to see a castle, but  it was more of a reconstructed Castle Fortress.  The castle was the first Teutonic stronghold in the area dating back to 1270 and it had been destroyed and rebuilt on numerous occasions. As part of the open air museum, each child in our group was able to participate in making a souvenir coin.  After that we took a tour inside the museum, with members of our group acting as translators.  There is a museum of artifacts that were found at the location on display.  During Napoleon's 1807 campaign the Castle Ostroda hosted Napoleon and his army.

Viktoria makes and shows us her coin.

Ostrado is a town of about 35,000 inhabitants located by Lake Drweckie, it is considered an ideal summer holiday destination for water sport enthusiasts and for Polish tourism.  After our tour of the castle, we had an hour of free time and Thom and I walked on the path around the lake.  We saw interesting water fowl.  The one was a common coot which is a black bird with a white beak and was unable to identify the other waterfowl.

Shops along the lake

An Old Pinball Machine

Common Coots

As we walked with saw a mermaid statue and a plaque commemorating Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz.  In 1978, she was the first woman to sail around the world solo. Krystyna, who was born on 15th July 1936 in Warsaw, became interested in sailing in the town of Ostróda, where her family moved after World War II.

Mermaid statue

The plaque commemorating Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz

The campground in Ostroda

The marina at Lake Drweckie

A gnarled willow tree

The walkway along the lake

Castle Ostroda 

Wooden statue Castle Ostroda

The plaque above was on a hotel building displaying flags of Poland, US, and Ukraine and it says that this is the site of the Polish - American Foundation to support Ukraine.

We had a pleasant walk and then headed back to the castle and our bus at 1:30 for the ride back to Osada Dankow.  We got back in time for lunch and then followed our afternoon schedule of conversation.  Carly and I had arts and craft duty with children today, but we did a fun painting project and it was a quick and painless hour.

After dinner, I sat and talked with Tomas, Anna, and Julieta.  Both Tomas and Julieta spent time in the US working while still in school.  Tomas worked in the Casinos in Reno and Julieta worked at Six Flags in Illinois.  We are once again kicked out by Osada Dankow staff at 10 pm, but we decide to call it a night and head back to our rooms.