Polish Pottery Shopping Weekend

This weekend, I spent time with some girlfriends in Poland.  Boleslawiec, Poland is famous for their pottery, and this is where we went.  We left after school drop off on Friday and stopped in Seiffen, Germany where all the Christmas Market goodies are made.  We all bought a nutcracker, smoker, or pyramid, then carried on into Poland.  Wow, Poland is really Eastern Europe.  Not so fancy, scammers trying to pull you over to ask for money, Communist era buildings, etc.  But, on the upside, Poland is very inexpensive!  We stayed at a really cute bed and breakfast, called the Blue Beet Root. The other guests were all British and Americans (lots of military) and had great food and drinks and spa services.

Saturday morning we were up and hitting the stores at 7am.  It had the fun feel of Black Friday!  It took me a long time to decide what to buy and everyone made fun of me for wanting to find all matching pieces. After 5 stores, I was finally able to make a decision and start buying.  Here is a picture of Andy's, one of the smaller shops:

Here's where I did most of my spending, with our whole group!

 This is the restaurant we at lunch it, affectionately known as the Polish Hooters, based on the waitresses attire.  Yummy goulash and perogis

 Outside our B and B

 Here's my stash!  I even bought Cinnamon some dog dishes :).  We also went to Borowski glass factory and I bought a big frog bowl, I'll add a pic of him later. 

I can see how people can get addicted going shopping here!  I got so much for so little!  The B and B was great, yummy food, pedicures, etc and lots of fun for groups of girls.  I wish I had known about Boleslawiec sooner!

On the way back, we stopped at Buchenwald, an old concentration camp near Dresden.  This was the first I went to, and it is seriously sobering.  I cannot believe people let this happen, and even more I cannot believe that German schools do not teach about the Holocaust.  It was a very moving experience.

 Entrance Gate to the death camp

 Translates to  "To Each His Own", not sure how that fits with what happened here. 

It was horrible to see  the crematorium, where the barracks were, and the photo gallery.  I'm glad I saw it so I can learn from history, but it is unconscionable to think this went on for around 10 years.