One month mark, welcome to Europe

We left San Francisco one month ago today, on April 8th.
I'm not doing a good job of catching up on how I felt about the trip, and how it has changed me. I thought maybe I would do a timeline of dates and highlights.
April 5  We said goodbye to my Mom and Samara, and went to a hotel near the airport city
6  We said goodbye to Costa Rica, after 7 months, and spent the night in San Francisco where they had a bad storm (mudslides), but all we saw was rain.
7  We spent the day in San Fracisco looking for warm weather clothes
8   We got on the plane to Denmark with a run through the Toronto airport to rush to our next plane that was already boarding when we got there
9   We flew all night long, even though it was only 6 hours. Time travel is weird. We arrived in Copenhagen at 10am, but we were so tired. Day 1 in Denmark! Not much luck sleeping on the plane. Visit a lovely cousin I'd only texted with, and after a huge Danish lunch we caught the train to Brande where my Dad lives. There he is! It's only been 18 years since I saw him last...
10   Wake up in Denmark. In a compact house that is a block from a factory that makes enormous windmills.
11   See my Dad's 2 collections of bee hives, and his nearby garden plot in a community of adorable garden plots with tiny houses on them.
12  A Danish hair cut, my first cut in 8 months. I have bangs again, and I love it. Nearby was a church we visited, it was empty of people but full of color. It was all pink and green and yellow like a church for pre-schoolers. Very cool.
13   Denmark is interesting. Some people have their houses painted black. Different. I kind of like it. There are people of all ages on bikes everywhere even though it's dang cold out. My Dad's house has a itty bitty bathroom with a shower in one corner, no stall, no curtain, just a corner for showering. You can take the head of the shower off the hook, and wash the toilet down with it - the toilet is that close. You have to take the toilet paper and put it in the window sill while showering. Huh.
14   We went with my cousins, one I've met and we've been emailing for years. The other I'd never met, unless we met when I was a teenager and visited Denmark...? We did the coolest thing ever, we planted baby trees in the family forest. There was no forest there until my family came along. I loved it. We met more family for lunch after that, and it was all kinds of terrific. These people are all kinds of wonderful. And speak English! Whew.
15   I was able to go through some old pictures, and review some family stories, and look through books that had information on my family going back through the ages.
16   Big family Easter lunch where I met all of my cousins. It was fabulous, I had a terrific time. And family pictures. It was so amazing to see how I belonged to this warm and happy group of people.
17   I had a delightful and unexpected visit from a long lost friend that I had met 32 years ago in Brande when we were teenagers. Then my cousin came to take us for a little tour, and we said goodbye to my Dad. We walked the sandy moors close to the family farm, such a vast and windy place, and full of pretty flint rocks. Then we saw my Father's parent's grave, at an 800 year old church. We also saw the tombstone of my Father's paternal Grandparents that was moved onto a hill on the family land. Cool stuff.
18  We had spent the night with another cousin and his lovely wife, and we spent the day getting to know each other more as we toured a place that put together replicas of Danish housing throughout the ages. When we done being too cold for too long we jumped back in the car and headed for the west coast. It was a brief visit to take pictures and head to a warm restaurant for dinner of fish. Then we jumped on a train back to Copenhagen where another cousin picked us up.
19  This endearing cousin had the day off, and took us on a tour of Copenhagen, which was simply amazing, no matter how cold it was. At least the canal boat and palace and immense marble church were all mostly empty for us to enjoy. We walked and walked and walked. I love Copenhagen! Then a too brief visit and dinner with my moor cousin. Maybe I should give them code names, to protect their privacy. Hmmmm
20   Last day in Denmark, Day 12. Day 1 of Sweden, because we took a bus to Sweden and spent a few hours in a quaint town called Ystad there before boarding a gigantic ferry to Poland. Also Day 1 in Poland. Long day, so happy to get to our hotel room in Swinoujscie.
21    Fancy buffet breakfast at our villa turned hotel. So exited to have good internet again! So bitterly cold, great time to buy hat and scarf sets and walk around even though my legs are killing me from yesterday and the day before. We are close to the Baltic Sea, and walk the beach.
22   I spend the morning enjoying all the Polish fashion walking by us, and then we got on a train for Warsaw.
23   We spent all night on the train and arrived for Day 1 in Warsaw, once again, super tired. It's 7am in Warsaw, what to do? Good thing the humongous mall next door opened up after a leisurely breakfast.
How bad could it be? Killing time at the mall until it's time for check in at the mall. I needed some more shoes anyway. And a coat that wasn't a second hand one from my Dad.
 24   We get to a second hotel in Warsaw, and have to catch up from a bad night's sleep at the last hotel that only had 2 single beds, so we crammed into one. Lol. The only restaurant near this hotel room is Armenian, so we gave it a shot and it was great.
25   Okay, I may be a little off with the dates, but you get the picture. We were at a super cool hotel room with a loft and then we went to the area of the historical Jewish ghetto. We took a train to Lodz for Day 1 in our newest lodging, a decent 2 bedroom furnished apartment.
26  The highlight of the day was going grocery shopping a big and bewildering store.
27   We checked out one of the huge malls here, the weather was just so grey, so we found yarn and all kinds of things at the mall.
28   Time for research and a walk around the neighborhood.
29   A second mall, even bigger than the last one. This one is called Manafaktura. It has a 4D imax theater and everything. If you like movies with Polish subtitles, or so I hear.
30   My Canadian cousin has a baby girl! Aw. His first child. It's our first time at church, we are relieved to find people who speak English, are interested in family tree research, and are happy to translate. Score!
 May 1   We went a massive cemetery and spent an hour walking a fraction of it. Then lunch at a nearby mall. Then walked around the streets nearby and found out we were in the Lodz Jewish ghetto boundaries. Wow.
May 2   What did  we do? Whatever it was, I didn't take pictures of it.
May 3   We went to another massive cemetery, and it was next door to a Jewish extermination camp. Scary that it didn't look that big, too ordinary as it belies the horror of it's past.
May 4   More icky weather, more excuse to go to the mall and let my husband buy me a new outfit. Cutest shoes ever, that I would not have bought on my own. Ron said I should have them, and Ron figured out the conversion rate - they were only $7.
May 5   It's my brother's birthday and my daughter's birthday. For $16 Ron went to see a good chiropractor about his knee.
May 6  We check out the longest pedestrian road in Europe. So many cool buildings! (I wrote all about it already.
May 7   Our outing of the day was church. We found someone there who's mom just recently also went to Denmark to do family tree work. Small world. We also found several missionaries from Utah.
May 8   is Day 19 in Poland. I love seeing the new generations start. My daughter turned 23 on the 5th, and my other Canadian cousin - his son has his first birthday today. Meanwhile, back in Lodz we walked around again, trying to find one thing (never found it) but discovering others along the way. I took some great pictures again today.  Good times, good food, and all kinds of coldness in the air.

One month. 6 cities. 3 countries. Wow. I swear, a year ago I could never have ever guessed this would be happening! I was a rather normal person, well, living a rather normal kind of life. We are not what anyone would call rich. But we believed, and we found a way to achieve. It's true, money isn't everything. And simplicity of life should never be underestimated.