Happy Birsday Irena! The longest birthday you have ever had.

Teresa and Irene went out to breakfast at a seafood cafe. They ordered the scrambled eggs with salmon and butter, and a frittata with mushrooms, tomato and cheese. They were very tasty. Michele stayed home and rested a bit more. It wasn’t long until it was time to get an Uber to the Polskibus station. The Uber was a Mazda van and our driver was very informative. We’ve only had good experiences with Uber so far, and we know that we can trust that the driver won’t be overcharging us.

The bus ride was delayed by 35mins but we were able to keep Amadeusz informed thanks to the onboard Wifi. Kamil and Amadeusz were waiting for us at Wrocław when we arrived and Kamil drove us another 1hr 20mins to Elsżbieta’s house in Lubin. We were once again welcomed like we were long lost relatives coming home. Waiting for us was Elsżbieta, Pavel, Teresa, Janusz, Anna & Milena. Faneks the cat sighed with bemusement that he would have to share his house once again.

The family did not tell Władek of our arrival so it was an emotional greeting when he came through the door, especially for Irene meeting him for the first time.

The table was laden with delicious foods and we knew that we had arrived at the best restaurant in Poland. Entree was pork and vegetable soup and for main we had pierogi (mushroom & cabbage served in goose fat) along with multiple salads and sides. To drink was jugs of cherry juice, apple juice and water…and of course, vodka! The family were so generous, gifting us with ceramic angels and surprising Irene with a bunch of flowers for her birthday.

After dinner Amadeusz disappeared with the promise of returning with a little surprise. After about 20mins he returned with his best friend, Piotr, and a keyboard in tow. Piotr was Amadeusz’s first vocal coach and is also Milena’s current vocal coach. The concert began. Amadeusz performed three beautiful arias in Latin and Italian. Milena sang “Tomorrow”, and Piotr played the keyboard and sang us some songs in English. He even made us laugh by serenading Irene in a Peter Allen-esque style performance for his last song.

For dessert we had toffee cake served with coffee, tea and more vodka. It was a very special first night and we enjoyed it immensely. Having Amadeusz there of course made it a lot easier to communicate, although Milena, Pavel and Elsżbieta’s English is quite good too. We were weary after a day of travel and went to bed at around midnight. Tomorrow is another big day. Dobranoc!