2 April 2004, Friday

From Blankenfelde which lies just south of Berlin, we drove about 6-1/2 hours to Chojnice (formerly Konitz), Poland. Unlike our previous trip to Poland in 1984, there was no delay at the border. Unfortunately, truckers were not getting the same treatment. There were miles and miles of trucks lined up at each side of the border waiting to get through. Maybe the May 1, 2004 entry of Poland into the European Union will give the truckers a break.

We stopped for lunch at a rest stop along the highway in Poland.

From Chojnice (Konitz), we headed North to Male Swornegacie and found a beautiful resort hotel.

Male Swornegacie (click on the link to see their website) is the idyllic place where we stayed while visiting the Mathia-Matthia homelands in April 2004. Male Swornegacie is located in lake and forest country a short drive north of Chojnice (formerly Konitz). It has excellent accomodations, food, service, and hospitality -- also many recreational opportunities. We'd recommend it to anyone.

This is Karen Matthia Aland in front of the Male Swornegacie restaurant and office as seen from the road. The rooms and one lake are behind to the left (North). Another lake is in front to the right (South). Both lakes are quite large.

Our reservations had been made by Wojciech Empel, a retired university professor from Warsaw. He will be our interpreter, historian and guide on this visit to Poland. Our party arrived first, and were clearly expected by those there. They didn't speak English or German well, but language wasn't a major barrier. They showed us the rooms that had been reserved. We picked out the ones we preferred, and unloaded things from the car. Our rooms behind the restaurant faced on Lake Karsinskie to the North of the resort.

Günter and Elisabeth Mathia from Haunsheim, Germany arrived shortly after we were settled. They had made a two-day trip of it and stayed overnight on the German side of the border in or near Prenzlau. Wojciech Empel and his wife Anna came soon after. We all decided to pause for something to drink and get acquainted. We also ordered dinner for 7:00pm.

In the main dining room the afternoon of our arrival (Friday, 2 Apr 2004). Clockwise around the table from the left are: Kurt Matthia; Professor Wojciech Empel from Warsaw, our interpreter, historian, and guide; Anna Wojciech; Elisabeth and Günter Mathia; Sheela Matthia, Kurt's wife; and  Charice Washburn (Kurt and Sheela's granddaughter). We are discussing some of the goals for the trip and making plans.

Then we took a walk by Lake Charzykowskie, South of the resort. The weather was sunny, but not overly warm. Both lakes are quite large and beautiful, being surrounded by forest. This picture shows Karen Matthia Aland talking with Günter Mathia as the group took a walk on the shore of the southern lake.

We had fish for dinner. It was delicious and almost too pretty to eat. During dinner, we got better acquainted. Then after dinner we started making plans. Even making the plans was more difficult than expected. We had no idea of travel times between towns. We didn't know what we would find in any particular place, so we didn't know how long to plan for each stop along the way. In the end, we had to keep things quite loose. We ordered breakfast for the morning and all got to bed by 10:00 pm.

Karen, Günter, and Kurt poring over maps and charts in the main dining room. Because it was off-season, we had the whole resort pretty much to ourselves.