Sunday in Warsaw- reflection, symmetry, Brian's adventures in shopping, and other cool adventures!

On Sunday, we woke up to a partly sunny morning and shook off the jet lag by taking a walk around the streets after breakfast.  There is a catholic church just down the block from the Marriott, so we headed down there.  Unfortunately, the mass had just started and the catholic school boy in Brian would not go in, even though many people were going in late and it had just started.  Something he learned long ago and can't shake.  So no biggie.  Instead we walked around the church and streets and looked at the architecture.  Amazing!  Case's teacher had customized his assignments to include searching for examples of reflection, symmetry, friezes, and 3D and we found loads.  It gave us some quiet family time and some chances to learn as well.

Reflection

The church down from the Marriott

Symmetry (doors)

3Don side of building)

Side entrance for Palace of Culture

Next, we decided to go shopping.  And oh what an adventure that was!  lol

Warsaw, and probably most of Europe, does not usually clothe people that are former American football players.  That's my reasoning and the balm I used to sooth Brian's chafed skin from trying on clothes in Warsaw (not literally, lol).  Brian is a big guy, but he's not obese or anything- just tall (6'4")and broad shouldered with exceptionally long arms compared to European men (judging by the shirts and coats he tried on, lol).  See the problem was this- he had not brought a sport coat and only had dress shirts and ties for the adoption meetings on Monday and Tuesday.  He got himself all worried and paranoid that he needed something nicer, so we went out to look.





It started to rain, so it was perfect for the mall, T J Maxx (yep, they had one and it was pretty awesome), and a few other stores by the Palace of Culture (across from our hotel).  Well, he looked ...and looked...and looked...and looked, but no suit or sport coat would fit him.  I kept telling him not to worry about it and it would be fine, but he was getting frustrated.  And, I'm sure I didn't help matters by laughing every time he showed Case and I what the clothes looked like on (imagine Jethro from the Beverly Hillbillies- really short sleeves lol).  Sorry, I don't have any pictures.  that would have totally made him mad, lol!  Even the sales men and ladies went the other direction from him like he was some giant!  Eventually he was laughing about it too and it turned into something more comedic and fun than stressful.  Needless to say, he did stick with the dress shirt and ties and it turned out fine.


The other cool thing we did on Sunday was to go to the Palace of Culture and check out the "Futbol Experience" that was featured.  Case was very very excited to see it and it was alot of fun for only $3 USD/person!

Case thought this was fun because its his soccer club name too!

Serious game face

There were shirts from all the different euro teams/countries from the past and present, some signed by famous players (I admit, I have no idea who most of them were).  There were also different trophies and accolades to again, people I didn't know.  But they were shiny and pretty!  lol
They had 3 huge PlayStation game stations set up so you could play for free and Case and Brian had fun with that.

In another area, there were also informational panels about the game (did you know it was illegal to play soccer during WWII?), the science and technology of the balls, and finally the design differences between shoes and balls for the European Championships (which will be held in Poland and the Ukraine in June!).  It was really interesting!

Crazy!

Finally, towards the back, they had the coolest thing.  You came in and gave your show size to the guys working there (one spoke english very well) and they got you this awesome, new pair of soccer cleats to put on.  It is the brand new style shoe that the pros wear.  Then, they tell you to run some drills and do moves etc.  Case had a ball!  Here he is:

Ok, he is a blur but you can see the shoe

Afterwards, you bring back the shoe and they take out....a computer chip that is embedded in the sole!  They then plug that into the computer and it gives you a readout of your speed, agility, balance, etc.  Totally cool!  The professionals use this in their training and it was very cool to see.  

After all that excitement, we donned our rain coats and headed back to the Marriott, with a quick stop at Starbucks of course.  There, Case learned one of his first important lessons in Poland- if you want milk, you have to order it cold because most Polish children drink it warm.  So he quickly learned "Zimno melko", or cold milk.

And then it was time for us to meet the infamous Magda in the hotel lobby.  I didn't know what to expect and just hoped we liked her and she liked us (you know, real high school-ish worries).  From the moment she came in, we just knew she was awesome!  She had such a great, positive vibe all around her and we felt instantly at ease.  She also had another couple who were completing their first visit in Warsaw and they were very sweet and just by talking with them, we could tell they were completely in love with their little son-to-be.  We wish them all the best!  So Magda basically went over our itinerary- our meeting with the Central Authority in Warsaw and then the drive to the regional city near our son- and then that was it.  We felt very relaxed and ready to begin the next phase of the adventure.

Sunday night, we ate dinner at the little sports bar in the hotel (not bad) while watching soccer and then headed up to chill out and pack up our stuff for the beginning of all the adoption business on Monday.  Which will be the topic of my next installment  :)