Team Sullivan's Adventures in Warsaw: Family fun in the Lakes Region!

Friday, July 5, 2013

Family fun in the Lakes Region!

We were fortunate to have Tom's cousin, Julia, and her boyfriend, Rudy, come to visit us in Warsaw on their summer European vacation. In addition to seeing Warsaw we decided to go with them to Northern Poland to an area called, Mazury. This region is known as the area of 1,000 lakes as it is covered in tons of small lakes and is quite scenic. Tom and I had been wanting to check out this area for quite some time...so we were even more excited that Julia and Rudy could join us! We decided to stay on the biggest lake in a town called Mikojalki. It was an easy three hour drive North of Warsaw. We arrived on Friday night and got settled into our adorable little cabin and relaxed with a fire in the backyard and enjoyed some beers. We spent all day Saturday out on the lake. We rented a boat for the day and went exploring all around the lakes. It was so much fun and super relaxing! We even got to take Charlie with us - it was his first time ever on a boat! At first he was a little uneasy but he quickly got used to it and absolutely loved it. We docked the boat a couple of times to relax, grab some snacks and take Charlie for a swim on the beach. After a long day in the sun we were exhausted and grabbed a low key dinner and headed to bed.

Sunday morning we were treated to massages at the spa and spent the late morning relaxing in our backyard before it was time to leave. On the drive home we made a small detour to check out Hitler's Wolfs Lair...a bunker where he lived for 800 days during the war. Its now pretty run down but still attracts visitors. The craziest part is that in an effort to avoid promoting anything related to Hitler in Poland there isn't so much as a sign or anything to let you know that you are actually at the bunker. It's a total non event. My history loving husband was thrilled to have made this stop. And, I have to say, it was crazy to imagine being in the same spot where Hitler managed the war strategy just a few decades ago...wow!

A picturesque location + great family + lots of fun = A Perfect Summer weekend!

Thanks for visiting Julia and Rudy!

And for those history folks who want a refresher....

Wolf's Lair (German: Wolfsschanze) was Adolf Hitler's first Eastern Front military headquarters in World War II.^[1] The complex, which would become one of several Führerhauptquartiere (Führer Headquarters) located in various parts of occupied Europe, was built for the start of Operation Barbarossa - the invasion of the Soviet Union - in 1941. It was constructed by Organisation Todt.^[1]

The top secret, high security site was in the Masurian woods about 5 miles (8.0 km) from the small East Prussian town of Rastenburg (now Kętrzyn in Poland). It was guarded by personnel from the SS Reichssicherheitsdienst and troops from the Wehrmacht's armoured Führer Begleit Brigade. Although three security zones surrounded the central complex where the Führer bunker was located, an attempt to kill Hitler was made at Wolf's Lair on 20 July 1944.^[1]

Hitler first arrived at the headquarters on 23 June 1941. In total, he spent more than 800 days at the Wolfsschanze during a 3½-year period until his final departure on 20 November 1944.^[1] In the summer of 1944, work began to enlarge and reinforce many of the Wolf's Lair original buildings, however the work was never finished because of the rapid Red Army advance during the Baltic Offensive in autumn 1944. On 25 January 1945, the complex was blown up and abandoned 48 hours before the arrival of Soviet forces.

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