Tour of Poland, part 4

21 Friday and I was up around 3am.  This would finally be my day.  Lena was on time and we hit the road in our rented Kia Picanto shortly after 4am.  We took the S7 to Nowy Dwór Gdański again and I drove north to Żelichowo (Petershagen).  From here we doubled back and went to Starocin (Reinland) followed by Powalina (Walldorf), and Orliniec (Neulanghorst).  These are all villages between Nowy Dwór Gdański and Elbląg where Lena’s ancestors had lived.  It was an absolutely beautiful morning.  Fog hung in the low areas, poppies grew in the ditches and storks sat in their nests.  It was wonderful touring these roads so early since we were almost the only ones up. 

From Orliniec we went to Suchowo (Rosenort) and Jazowa (Einlage) where we both had ancestors.  At one point we got on a very narrow road that was more of a path really – just two wheel-tracks with tall weeds growing in the middle.  It was actually quite an adventure to be out in the Middle-of-Nowhere, Poland, driving almost impassable roads.  I’m sure the bottom of the car was very clean with the 2-foot growth of weeds in the middle of the road cleaning away any oil or grime.  Time went very quickly, though, driving slowly through this country and in no time, we needed to head for Rosenkranz, which was very important to me.

I really wanted to find the half-circle shaped clearing that surrounds Rosenkranz on maps – a strange half-moon shaped area immediately to the east of the point where the Nogat River leaves the Vistula.  It was almost an hour’s drive south basically from Nowy Dwór Gdański along the S5 to Malbork and then on to Sztum.  From Sztum, we set a course for Biała Góra which would have been the German village of Weissenberg.  Just before crossing the river here, we turned north, skirting the east side of the river, before bending slightly to the east.  There was a farm here and then the road, more of a path really, entered the forest.  We drove just a little and then decided to get out and walk. 

 

Forest near Rosenkranz (immediately north of Biała Góra)

The clearing beyond the trees is Rosenkranz

As we walked into the tall pines, I could see that, to the left (north, northwest) I could see through the trees to a clearing beyond.  This was the clearing of Rosenkranz!  We were actually on top of the upland – this was the forest – and Rosenkranz actually lay on the floodplain floor down below.  The bluff was a fairly steep drop-off, maybe 20 feet or so, and I didn’t want to descend.  But I could definitely see that I was looking out over the area where Rosenkranz was.  On maps, the clearing around Rosenkranz appears as an odd half-circle surrounded by the river on the west and forest the rest of the way around.  Now I could see that the forest represented the upland and the half circle was the floor of the floodplain.  This was just the shape nature had produced here and the Mennonites would have drained the area of plain and filled it with fields.

 

Rosenkranz, with cemetery circled, 1913

Cemetery at Rosenkranz

Cemetery at Rosenkranz

We walked a bit farther into the thick forest and I spotted an old cemetery on the opposite side of the road.  Could this cemetery be related to Rosenkranzers and my Penner ancestors?  Could my 5^th Great Grandfather, Jacob Penner, be buried here?  There were a number of broken-down stones and we saw that one definitely had an inscription.  We worked to clear the moss and mud so we could read the name but the mosquitoes were literally so thick that we were soon driven away.  We never were able to read the name and I still don’t know if this could have been a Mennonite cemetery at any point.  However, I can now see that on a 1909 map, there is a cemetery marked here and it does look as though it might be connected with Rosenkranz.  I’ve since contacted a man at the museum in Nowy Dwór Gdański who spends his free time bicycling to Mennonite cemeteries where he painstakingly photographs all the stones.  He feels this might indeed be a nearly unknown Rosenkranz cemetery which has eluded his “to do” lists.  He says he’ll put it on his itinerary for next year and hope to explore it thoroughly.  So, it seems that we may have uncovered a “new” Mennonite cemetery, this associated with Rosenkranz.  Hopefully, time will tell.

 

On top of the dike near Rudniki (Rudnerweide)

From Biała Góra we went south on the 605 where we almost immediately encountered the dike running on the east side of the Vistula.  This was an excellent look at a dike and soon we were upon Rudniki (Rudnerweide) where my Penner ancestors may have also lived.  From there we passed south to Gurcz (Gutsch), home to my Lohrentz and Unrau ancestors.  By now we were really running out of time and needed to head for Świecie so we bypassed Pastwa (Grossweide) and Grutzmuhle (where my 4^th Great Grandfather, Peter Lohrentz, lived) on the Liwa River northeast of Kwidzyn.  We skirted Kwidzyn (Marienwerder) to the north and headed across the river on Route 90, eventually turning south onto the A1, and then west at Nowe Marzy on the 5.  We were to meet Michał at the Orlen station at Wiąg.  Wiąg itself had also been home to Mennonite villagers of the Przechowka community when the village was named Jungen.  Nowy Marzy was actually Neu Marsau – Alt Marsau is just to the east and records indicate that’s where Lohrentzes may have lived as early as the first quarter of the 17^th Century.

 

Rudniki (Rudnerweide)

Road near Gurcz (Gutsch)

Gurcz (Gutsch)

We left our rental at the Orlen station and piled into Michal’s Skoda wagon.  First, we took a little detour to Sartowice where there’s a high spot to look over the Vistula valley (Kościół Rzymskokatolicki pw. św. Barbary; Sartowice 29, 89-100 Sartowice, Poland).  This is a good vantage point over the valley and the Teutonic Knights actually had a castle here some 500 years ago.  The collapsing sands in the valley below made strange noises and as a result, the place was said to be haunted. 

In the distance is the Vistula, with Dorposz Chełmiński (Dorposch) on its far bank

Directly across the river at this point, almost exactly 1 mile to the south and clearly visible, was the village of Dorposz Chełmiński (Dorposch).  This village was home to members of the Przechowka Gemeinde including Jacob Thoms, my 9^th Great Grandfather.  From here one could clearly see the low floodplain, where Dorposch was, and the bluff farther away which rose up to the high ground.  Presumably, the floodplain, as well as the village of Dorposch, would have been regularly susceptible to flooding before the Mennonites developed ditches, dikes, and pumps, to manage the water.

From here, we headed towards Jeziorki (known to the Mennonites as Jeziorken, Jeziorka, or Kleinsee), the last home of my Ratzlaff and Buller ancestors in Poland.  We took the S5 around the north side of Świecie (Schwetz), exiting north at Przechowo (Schönau) and headed northwest on the 240.  Michał pointed out the Wda River and the fact that construction on the highway has been ongoing, but stalled out, for the past couple years now due to lack of funding.  Foxes darted in and out of the wheat fields and the storks sat in their nests.  We passed through Przysiersk (Heinrichsdorf), turned north to go through Bramka, west just before entrance into Siemkowo, and entered Jeziorki from the east.  There really isn’t much to see here in this tiny village so we headed toward the cemetery.

Jeziorki (Jeziorken) 1900

Jeziorki cemetery is in the trees ahead

We parked at a little grocery store/alcohol shop, and walked northeast along the little lane between the fields, passing almost through one farmer’s yard.  After just a short walk we hopped an electric wire and walked through the wheat field to the cemetery. 

 

Jeziorki cemetery

Jeziorki cemetery

Jeziorki cemetery

Jeziorki cemetery

Jeziorki cemetery

Jeziorki cemetery

I was surprised by the sandy soil – it was almost pure sand.  But the cemetery was definitely recognizable as such.  The floor of the cemetery was covered with young lilac sprouts and Michał said the farmers will not raze such a place.  They will not necessarily move in to maintain a cemetery but they will respect it and not farm over the top of it.  There were only a few stones remaining which may have been grave markers but this is a notable place for Polish Prussian Mennonite history.  Among others, two of my 6^th Great Grandfathers, Jeorgen Ratzlaff and Hans Buller, as well as 6^th Great Grandmothers Catherine Schmidt and Anna Wedel, would almost certainly be buried here.  We explored and looked, I quietly reflected for just a moment, and then we were back on our way walking the lane toward our car. 

 

View from Jeziorki cemetery

View from Jeziorki cemetery

As we walked, the farmer appeared and I feared trouble.  He was a big guy and his elaborately curving moustaches seemed to enhance his severely furrowed eyebrows.  He had his fists on his hips in a defensive posture and was trying to make himself look as big as possible.  I thought, here I am in the middle of Poland and I’m going to get skewered by a farmer for trespassing!  As we approached, Michał hailed him and I could tell from the tone of his voice that he was not happy with us!  Michał replied in a jovial manner but the farmer’s responses were always gruff and curt.  The exchange, of course, was in Polish – the farmer’s angry questions and demands; Michał’s good-natured responses and excuses, and then Michał’s repeated reassurances to me that all was well.  In the end, we just kept walking, returned to our car and drove away.

Now we headed for Przechowka and Michał said this would be a real treat.  He indicated that the Przechowka cemetery is one of the biggest Mennonite cemeteries in all of Poland – wholly unrestored and relatively unknown.  Indeed, most of the folks I’ve talked to in USA and Canada claim the cemetery doesn’t exist.  For whatever reason, some previous explorers from North America have reported that the cemetery doesn't exist any longer and a myth was started that it was wiped out by the Mondi factory.  20 years-worth of North American Mennonites beginning in the 1990s believe there is no such thing as a surviving cemetery at Przechowka.  Alan Peters may have taken some folks to the proper place in the subsequent years after Klassen’s retirement from leading tours in Poland but we can’t be sure Peters had the correct location.  These folks’ descriptions of the graveyard don’t seem to match my observances on this day (in fact, they’re not even close).

I can tell you right here and now that the Przechowka cemetery does in fact exist and it’s a wonderful, profoundly moving spot.  It’s unrestored and better off for the lack of upkeep.  How do I know we found it (aside from the fact that Michał, our supremely knowledgeable guide said so)?  In the Przechowka article in GAMEO, the historian Leonard Stobbe reports that in 1918 the current school was standing on the grounds of the former Mennonite meetinghouse.  The cemetery, presumably, would be adjacent to this meetinghouse.[1]  Well, we do have a map from 1909 that labels a school, as well as a spot next-door marked with crosses – a cemetery.  This would indeed be the cemetery of the Mennonite community.  We can easily match the location of the cemetery on the old 1909 map to a spot on a new satellite image of the area.  Thus, we can indeed calculate the location of the 1909 cemetery and this is exactly the spot Michał was heading for.

 

Wintersdorf (Przechowka) 1909, cemetery circled in red

Przechowka satellite view, 2019, approximate location of cemetery circled in red

Just a bit of history, Przechowka was the only Groningen Old Flemish gemeinde in Polish Prussia.  The gemeinde was probably established a couple miles west of Świecie, on the north side of the Vistula, in the very early 17^th Century, we don’t know a year for sure.  We do know for a fact that by the 1660s there was a thriving Mennonite population in the village.  The inhabitants may have been influenced by the Swiss/Moravian presence in the Vistula valley and also gained congregants from the local Polish/Pomeranian population.[2]  The gemeinde maintained a close relationship with its brethren in Groningen, in the Lowlands, and spawned several daughter settlements itself.  These settlements included Jeziorki, the Neumark villages in Brandenburg, and Deutsch Wymysle in Masovia.  These villages also spawned their own daughter settlements in Russian Ukraine during the 19^th Century including the villages in Volhynia and Gnadenfeld and Waldheim in the Molotschna Colony.  The majority of the Mennonites in Przechowka left for Russia in the 1820s and the congregation in West Prussia was extinct by 1830.  Any remaining Mennonites joined nearby Frisian congregations at Schonsee or Montau.  Most of those who moved to Russia formed the Alexanderwohl Gemeinde in the Molotschna Colony.  Today, we’re still blessed to have many records from this gemeinde including the original church records and diaries written by VIPs visiting from the Lowlands.

  

So, driving southeast from Jeziorki on the 240, we passed again through Przysiersk and made pleasant conversation.  At Przechowo, Michał pointed out that it was here where old granaries were built to store the grain harvested in the area.  Indeed, ruins of several old granaries stand here today near the junction of 240/91 and the S5.  We headed southwest at Bydgoska Road with the Mondi factory on our right, pretty quickly turning left between a couple structures belonging to the factory.  After 500-600 yards, this gave us access to the almost due east-west road that, on old maps, looks to be the main road running through the village of Przechowka.  We turned west and in another 300-400 yards we had the cemetery on our left. 

Przechowka cemetery is on the south side of the old village road

The village road is at bottom left.  Presumably, the meetinghouse would have been in this direction

Village road passing the cemetery and continuing west

The Przechowka village road is nowadays just a couple tracks through the forest.  As soon as you turn west, you forget that you’re so close to such a big, polluting factory and you’re suddenly in the middle of nowhere going down a narrow dirt path.  The cemetery comes up on your left and it’s lined with large old trees.  Gravestones peaked out from here and there but you had to look to see them through the small lilacs which lined the floor of the place.  It’s roughly triangular shaped, broader at the west and coming to a point at the east.  The north is bounded by the road and the whole thing is situated on top of the bluff rising from the Vistula floodplain below.  The bluff, maybe 10 to 15 feet high, is covered with thick forest now and Michał said that down below is where the Przechowka farmers’ fields would have lain. 

View to the south, down off the bluff, from the cemetery

Another view to the south, down off the bluff, from the Przechowka cemetery

There are many stones here although very few of them might have legible inscriptions.  Many of the stones, according to Michał, date from the 18^th Century.  Some of them are simply rocks with no inscriptions at all and very few are the concrete monuments seen in other Mennonite cemeteries in Poland.  No, most of these are carved stones.  There were times, Michał said, when the families didn’t need or want to inscribe the memorials and sometimes no memorials were placed at all.  Other graves were marked with smaller stones gathered in an oval and this marked the burial spot of a person whose family maybe couldn’t afford a larger stone.  The ground here is rather sandy and does not naturally have many stones.  Therefore, Michał pointed out that any stone found here is likely a grave memorial.  Lena and I busily took photos of stones and sorted through the lilacs looking for more. 

 

Gravestones in the Przechowka cemetery

Gravestones in the Przechowka cemetery; this one has the inscription "H U"

Gravestones in the Przechowka cemetery; this one has many illegible letters inscribed upon it

Gravestones in the Przechowka cemetery

Gravestones in the Przechowka cemetery; this stone had an inscription painted on it

Gravestones in the Przechowka cemetery; this is a collection of small stones marking a grave

Gravestones in the Przechowka cemetery

Right here in this cemetery, presumably, my Ratzlaff, Wedel, Voth, Schmidt, Richert, and Koehn ancestors from the 17^th Century would be buried.  9^th Great Grandfather and Grandmother (Voth) Ratzlaff; 10^th Great Grandfather Voth; 8^th Great Grandfather Hans Ratzlaff and his wife my 8^th Great Grandmother would certainly be buried here as well as their son Hans my 7^th Great Grandfather. 

As our time here came closer to an end, I put my hands on one of the trees that looked to be one of the oldest and just stood silent for a moment.  Could this tree be a couple hundred years old?  Could it have been standing watch here over the graves of my ancestors for all this time?  This was the most moving moment of the entire trip for me and I sincerely gave Michał my thanks for showing us this place.

Leaving Przechowka, we headed back to the Bydgoska Road and turned west toward Konopat, another village of the Przechowka Gemeinde.  In fact, more Mennonites from the Przechowka Gemeinde lived in Konopat than in the village of Przechwoka itself!  Many families, including Becker, Buller, Dirks, Jantz, Koehn, Pankratz, Schmidt, Unruh, and Wedel, lived in this village.  The cemetery here is behind a service station at the northwest corner of the junction of Bydgoska and Papiernikow Roads.  We parked at the station and Michał pointed out the huge, ancient tree at the entrance to the cemetery.  He said that the Mennonites would often plant such trees at the entrances and around perimeters of cemeteries and this one was doubtless a remnant of my forebearers.  We entered the cemetery and it was again covered with familiar young lilac plants.

 

Konopat (Deutsch Konopat), 1909, cemetery circled in red

Konopat cemetery

Konopat cemetery

Old tree marking entrance to Konopat cemetery

This cemetery was different to Przechowka, though, in that there was a lot of litter here and the memorials were all from a more recent time.  Przechowka actually benefits from the fact that the nearby factory limits access.  Therefore, litterbugs don’t enter there and the place has actually stayed relatively clean.  Here at Konopat, behind a service station at the junction of 2 busy streets, there was a lot of rubbish.  Further, the stones were almost all from a more recent time.  They were all the large, square concrete type that were no doubt mass-produced at a concrete factory sometime in the second half of the 19^th century.  These stones were probably not Mennonite but the resting places of some of my ancestors might lie beneath these graves.

We left the cemetery and continued west on the Bydgoska Road and Michał almost immediately skidded to a stop and pointed to a house on the south side of the road.  This was an old Mennonite house, he said, and I scurried to take a couple pics.  The house is located on the south side of the street, about 350 feet from the road, between Papiernikow Road and Konstruktorow Road.  A couple other buildings surround the old house and it looks like it might still be habitable.  The house is actually within the administrative boundaries of Konopat and who knows, some of my ancestors could actually have even lived in this place?  Maybe?

 

Old Mennonite house between Konopat and Dworzysko

Continuing west of Konopat, the Bydgoska Road soon merges with the S5 and this was the place that was formerly known as Dworzyska, a third Przechowka village.  Many Mennonites of the Przechowka Gemeinde lived here as well (the place was named Wilhelmsmark by the Prussians after the Partitions but the Mennonites never knew it by this name.  Likewise, Wintersdorf is the later, Prussian name, for Przechowka and my ancestors would have never called it this). 

And now we’re going to need another digression.  What about these German names now?  We have to back way up and go over a little history.  The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or the First Republic, was set up in the mid-16^th Century as an early form of a democratic republic.  It was very progressive but probably a little before it’s time.  Each move the government made was voted upon by the nobility, and each of the voting nobles had different interests.  This was a time (16^th- mid-18^th Centuries) before people had any inclination towards “nationalism”.  These nobles didn’t see themselves as Poles (and neither did the general populace).  Generally speaking, they identified with others who spoke the same language and practiced the same faith.  The conception of “Poland” or “Polish Nationalism” was way too big for them.  Therefore, a vote on national issues was never going to work out.  And therefore, the First Republic was doomed.

Poland, the First Republic, hit its peak very early on – like, the first quarter of the 17^th Century.  After that, it was a slow death spiral for the next 150 years.  The government was basically not effective.  As Poland squabbled internally, it was beset with invasions from its more powerful neighbors.  At first, that was Sweden from the north which invaded repeatedly in the very late 16^th Century through the mid-17^th Century.  After that, the rise of the Russian Empire hit Poland hard from the east.  At the same time, Ducal Prussia (later called the Kingdom of Prussia), the successor state to the old realm of the Teutonic Knights, was also growing, as was the Hapsburg Empire (Austria) to the southwest.  Poland was in the middle of a gigantic bear-trap.

The Three Powers – Russia, Prussia, and Austria – basically got together and decided to divide up Poland.  The Polish government was hamstrung since its nobles voted according to their own interests which oftentimes aligned with one of the Three Powers.  The Three Partitions of Poland occurred in 1772, 1793, and 1795.  These were political movements by the Three Powers which actually partitioned Poland.  The Three Powers simply divided Poland up into thirds and took over.  The area of the Vistula delta-valley was taken over by the Prussians and there you go – no more Poland, and everyone living along the Vistula is now a citizen of the Kingdom of Prussia.  Similarly, southeastern Polish lands went to Russia and southwestern lands to Austria.

To characteristics that defined the Kingdom of Prussia were German culture and militaristic goals.  Mennonites may have been fine with German culture but the military part was tough to swallow.  After 1772, then, the new Prussian administration in former Royal Prussia, now West Prussia (all these different Prussia-terms are great, aren’t they?) began to try to Germanize names (de-Polonize them) and this is when names like Wintersdorf or Wilhelmsmark came along.  This was also the time when the Prussians really began to eat into the Mennonites’ pacifist culture.  After a couple decades of this, the earliest Mennonites were ready to move into Russia where they were guaranteed freedoms, including freedom from military participation or freedom to buy land.  By the end of the first quarter of the 19^th Century, a great many Mennonites had left Prussia to establish colonies in Russian Ukraine.

Back to our story then; due to construction of the S5, the Dworzyska cemetery has to be accessed by turning off the Bydgoska Road onto Swiecka Road and continuing southwest through the village of Konopat/Dworzysko.  In about ¾ of a mile, a forest will appear on the right (north) and an unmarked road will seem to lead back almost due north.  This road leads to the cemetery, which will appear on the right (east) among a bunch of trees before one comes back to the S5.

 

Dworzysko (Wilhelmsmark) with cemetery circled in red, 1909

Dworzysko cemetery

Dworzysko cemetery

The Dworzysko cemetery was very similar to Konopat.  Large trees line the perimeter and young lilacs grow on the floor of the cemetery which is unfortunately heavy with litter.  The large concrete stones sink into the ground and few if any of them memorialize any Mennonite ancestors.

Continuing on south from Dworzysko, we headed for Gruczno on the Swiecka Road.  The road runs right along the bluff which bounds the floodplain from the upland, the road itself down in the floodplain.  The bluff is covered with a thick strip of trees and this can easily be seen by a current satellite view.  We pulled into a large cemetery (Cmentarz Parafialny; Świecka 9, 86-105 Gruczno, Poland) and hiked to the top of the bluff where there’s a small picnic shelter.  From on top of the bluff here, one can see out over the whole valley.  Przechowka at the base of the Mondi chimneys at the left (northeast), Chełmno directly across the river from Gruczno down below with the Mennonite settlement of Kosowo between them directly on the banks of the river.  Chrystkowo (Christfelde), another Przechowka-associated Mennonite village finally lying to the right (almost due south of Gruczno). 

View from Gruczno to the southeast.  Przechowka is at extreme left at the base of the bluff at the horizon line

From Gruczno, we wound around the small roads and quickly came to the old Mennonite cottage in Chrystkowo (Zagroda olenderska – „U Mennonity”, Chrystkowo 21, 86-105 Chrystkowo).  This is another of these wonderful old arcaded Mennonite homes.  This one, Michał says, was occupied by Lutheran Oledrzy instead of Mennonites.  However, it follows the same building standards as the Mennonite homes and is marketed as a former Mennonite residence.  The house is located back among thick trees in a wonderfully rustic setting.  The thing that sets this house apart is that it is – for the most part – unrestored.  Most of the wood in the house is the original wood from the late 1700s.  The biggest modification is that the house has actually been cut down from its original size.  It now is only the house portion of the house-stable-barn as it was originally built.  The stable and barn extended off the west side of the house and one can today see that the west exterior wall of the house is different to the rest.

Old arcaded Olędrzy house at Chrystkowo; Zagroda Olenderska or Chata Mennonitow 

Michał gave us a great tour of the house, upstairs, downstairs, as well as the adjoining yards.  For me, it was fascinating to see the Ratzlaff and Richert gravestones housed here.  The Efcke Ratzlaffen stone came from Pzechowka and the Johan Richert (Grandma #48247/PRZ #739 – nephew to my ancestor, 8^th Great Grandfather Cornels Richert) stone probably came from nearby too although no one knows exactly where for sure.  The property also has an apple orchard rising in the back where original apples are grown.  These apples are not genetically modified in any way and are descendants of the original fruit people would have eaten hundreds of years ago here in this very valley.

Eva (Efcka) Ratzlaffen (Ratzlaff) gravestone from Przechowka cemetery

Johan Richert gravestone

The owners of the house greeted us warmly; the wife presented Lena with a bouquet of poppies and the husband kissed her on the hand and vigorously shook mine.  They invited us into their home, also on the property, for a home-cooked, Mennonite-style meal.  The meal included chicken, homemade bread with fresh butter and cheese, a coleslaw-like dish, and an odd drink that I think was some sort of rhubarb punch.  Fresh coffee and cake and strawberries straight out of the garden were dessert.  Dining on this meal, in this setting, was really a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Our gracious hosts insisted we take seconds of everything.  They and Michał chatted throughout the meal in quick-fire Polish and this only added to the overall nature of the experience.  Lena and I felt totally lost with the conversation but the food was good and the setting was quite simply un-matchable.

After lunch, the owners were insisting that we stay longer.  Another couple had come from nearby – the husband was from Chicago and he had married a local Polish girl.  They also lived in an old Mennonite house and everyone was excited that we should see this house too.  I politely but adamantly declined this offer.  I think by this point Lena and I were both exhausted.  It was mid-afternoon, we’d been up already for 12 hours, seen more than 20 Mennonite villages, visited 5 cemeteries, and still had a 3.5-hour drive back to Warsaw.  I hated to decline the generous offer to visit the additional house but I felt that I didn’t have much of a choice.

After a farewell to the Poles, we again loaded into Michał’s Skoda and headed back to our rental car at Wiąg.  I said good bye to Michał, then Lena and I decided to head to Chełmno to look around just a little bit.  We drove through Sweicie, almost within sight of the castle, through Glugowka, across the river, and right into the old center of Chełmno, parking the car in front of the Church of St Mary on Franciszkańska Street.  This was the oldest church I’d seen on the whole trip, built 1280-1320.  We walked around the market just a little bit but I think we were both too tired to enjoy it.  We bought an ice cream cone in front of the beautiful rathaus (built in the mid-16^th Century, just as Mennonites were entering this valley), leaned on the car and ate, and soon decided to head for Warsaw.  A momentous day was nearing its end.

 

Church of the Assumption, Chełmno

A rather circuitous route finally saw us back onto the A1 south of Torun and we continued on for 3.5 hours or so until we finally arrived, exhausted, at the Polonia Palace Hotel in downtown Warsaw maybe somewhat after 8pm.  After a bit of visiting with our friends from the tour I helped make sure Lena got to her hotel, the Golden Tulip, walked back to my hotel, and it was finally time for bed.

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[1] Crous, Ernst and Richard D. Thiessen. "Przechovka (Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. March 2013. Web. 23 Jul 2019.

[2] Schapansky, pp 122-123.