[momraine]

What souvenirs did you buy while you are in Poland?
If you have not traveled yet, what do you hope to buy?
Also those that traveled what do you wish you had bought or bought more of?

[CherieW]

While we were in Poland I made it a quest to buy something to give my son for each "Family Day" (hs official adoption day July 25). I bought amber (everyone got something for Christmas that year), a Polish banner that was used during the World Cup, a Pope John Paul II picture, handmade cross, rosery beads, Polish dolls, music, pottery - you name it I liked it! We also bought LOTS of Zubrowka vodka and shipped it back. Again, a very happy Christmas for all. We use the vodka every year at Wigilia with Polish crystal glasses. It makes for a special tradition knowing what we were in Poland for when we bought the items. Happy day!

[momraine]

That's awesome. My son had his first communion while we were there and recieved many gifts, we bought him a children's Bible. One of the ladies we met there was a publisher and gave us a lot of books. I bought some pottery, a cross I bought I hangs on my wall with my collection. I also bought amber, and t-shirts for my older children. I do kind of wish I had bought more, but our suitcases were so full. I also wish I had found Christmas ornaments. I am hoping to find some on the internet. My Russian daughter has some I got her in Russia.

[MamusiaWI]

I'd say I didn't have as much time looking for souvenirs as I normally would. I like shopping, but found it difficult while adjusting to having three active children in tow. Though they did pretty well considering how long they were in their orphanage. We did not spend much time in country without the children.

We spent 11 days in Wroclaw and had a hotel just off the main town square/rynek. I found a little shop that had t-shirts, patches and other trinkets.

In Warsaw, I bought some wood carvings in Stare Miasto/Old Town including one with Warsaw's icon, the mermaid. I also bought some of the nesting dolls, carved and/or painted eggs, and carved wood boxes big and small. I would have liked more woven straw items but didn't because of cost and packing concerns.

I didn't buy any amber there because we have a pretty good sized community of newer Polish immigrants in the Green Bay and Fox Cities area (in the US ranging from 5-20 years.) One contact imports amber and we sell it to fund raise for the Polish Heritage Society of Northeastern Wisconsin. With the dollar low, it was a savings to buy it from our friend.

We also have Polish Fest in Milwaukee, which has a different ethnic festival nearly every weekend of the summer. There were some vendors that had more than trinkets, but the prices were high for my budget, while we adjust to our three new family members. At Polish Fest I did buy two Christmas CDs, some wool slippers (for decorative purposes), some patches and other misc.

One thing I would like to do is acquire or make a costume for my daughter from her region of Podlasie. I found this link and the cost seems reasonable Perfekt: Polish Regional Costumes
Other suggestions would be helpful.

Lastly, I'm a shutter bug, so my biggest souvenir was the nearly 500 photos I took. I put it in a bound book by one of the online photo sites like shutterfly.com.

[lastpaige]

We bought books, books, and more books, from everywhere we went. Salt mines, Oswiecim, castles, you name it. They were a bit hit with our home educating friends. We bought decks of cards with photos of Poland and wood card boxes for boys and the graduated doll sets for girls. We also bought some Christmas decorations that I wish I would have purchased more of, but those we can get online.

I wanted some small silver wine glasses but never found any that were great. I also looked for Polish pottery but by the time I found it our luggage was oversflowing and our wallets were thin!

[MamusiaWI]

I like souvenirs but struggle with keeping down the clutter and such. I'm not really into collectibles, but I bought the 2007 Santas from Around the World, Polish Santa from Hallmark. They sold out from the stores quickly. Then I found them on ebay for less than retail and I bought two more, one for each of our children. Also there was another Hallmark (I think) ornament that says something like 'first Christmas 2007'. It is in the shape of a heart. It seems like it would be for newlyweds, but captured the idea of our first Christmas together in pretty glass ornament.

[jessipea]

We bought some crosses and I bought little Amber crosses for my baby shower hostesses. My mom got a crucifix and we got a lot of pictures!

[lastpaige]

Oh my goodness, I almost forgot - my favorite souvenir from Poland is the small silver and diamond ring that my husband bought for me in Warsaw. He was just supposed to run out to buy ponchki (sp?) down the street!

[aurika]

Having just returned from 3 weeks in Poland, I have a few souvenirs in addition to the usuals already mentioned...

As Hubby and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary last year during the adoption process, we didn't have a chance to get ourselves anything. 15th is supposed to be crystal. Well, I have plenty of Polish crystal at home, but while at Wieliczka, we came across a different kind of crystal: salt. They sell beautiful salt lamps as souvenirs there. The pink ones, however, are from a different mine nearby (Bochnia). Wieliczka only produces clear, white or grey salt. We managed to find a beautiful, large (and unfortunatelt very heavy) pyramid of clear Wieliczka salt as a lamp to give to ourselves for our anniversary :-)

Also, Bochnia salt is great for medicinal purposes, and you can purchase a ton of different scented bath salts for very little (about $5 for almost 3 lbs) if you don't mind the weight burden.

Aside from amber, red coral is very popular in Poland right now and jewelry using it is quite inexpensive, as is jewelry from black lava rocks, and something called "desert sand" (piasek pustyni) which I found quite pretty. But nothing beat the gorgeous amethyst necklace I received as a birthday present from my son which we found in, of all places, the "pijalnia" in Krynica (place where you go to buy and drink various mineral waters).

There's also good old Wedel chocolate. The "Torciki Wedlowskie" make excellent presents (my family refers to them as Polish Kit Kats), though those of you living near Polish communities may be able to purchase them in the US for basically the same price.

My son was attracted to various wooden toys in Krakow (in Sukiennice) as well as to the Dragons. He was highly disturbed, however, that there appeared to be multiple depictions of the dragon and he kept asking which one was the REAL one :-)

If you happen by a Cepelia, you can find some nice blown eggs (which I am too terrified to try to ship) or wooden painted ones. And of course the originally Russian matrioszkas are now also made in Poland. I found one with Pan Twardowski alternating with his wife ending with a "soul" document as the smallest "doll". My son adores it.

And if you like it, Kisiel is usually a big hit with kids. It can be described as jello-taste with the consistency of pudding. My little ones adore it and it is definitely something you can't get pre-made in the US. Dr. Oetker Slodka Chwila makes an instant 3/4 cup version that is good for moments in which you find yourself desperate to come up with a dessert for dinner. There are other brands which are somewhat "less chemically" but require boiling like "real pudding". You can also make your own kisiel using potato starch and pretty much any decent juice if you have the time and inclination, and I do experiment with various flavors on occasion, but I find the instant packages extremely convenient. And they make great gifts for "Amused Americans". You can get them at pretty much any grocery store.

After throwing out the junk pictures, I have 844 photographs from our 3 weeks there, so it will be a while before I sort through them to update the website!

[MamusiaWI]

Aurika - you found some wonderful things. I'm going to look for some of them online once the kids are back in school. (my praises go out to you home schoolers, you have something special to be able to do it, but I'm lucky we have excellent local public schools! I couldn't do what you and they do!)

Any way, a not too off the subject, our little Polish deli and restaurant in Green Bay sells Kiesel and Budyn mixes in packages. Sometimes there is a translation for cooking and sometimes not. Can anyone help me with the recipe steps? I'm a recipe follower. Also, the kids were trying to say the kiesel and budyn are served warm? Any advice about this?

Beth

[aurika]

I can help with Polish translation.

As for Kisiel temperature. I personally really enjoy it warm. It goes really well with cool whip or something like that if you want to try something with it. Some people eat it cold, but I find it tastes too "gummy" that way.