A Run for the Border

The end of June was another occasion to visit a new part of Poland, as I headed off for the wild, wild, East. Our Nation's Independence was being celebrated in Chelm, Poland and I was invited to help work the party in the small town of about 6,000. Chelm also happens to be about 23 km west of the Ukrainian border (also the new Eastern border of the European Union).

I had some meetings with local officials, and got to visit the Poland/Ukrainian border. We walked out to the bridge immediately over the river that divides Poland and the Ukraine. There's a red line drawn right across the bridge which indicates the border. Here I am with one of the Polish border guards as we both stepped foot into the Ukraine (the picture doesn't show the line, but we are actually both standing in the Ukraine):
After the meetings and the party, I also had time to visit some of the sites, including a famous medieval chalk mine that is haunted by the ghost "Bieluch." (The sign is in English - I have no idea why):
The mine is a virtual labyrinth of tunnels that wind their way underneath the entire city, and are said to span some 15km (the locals claim up to 40km)! Here I am with Joanna from work, who was also in Chelm for the party. Look at how white the walls are!
Dave was stuck in Warsaw working, although I have to say that he didn't really miss much. Other than the border and the chalk mine, Chelm was a sleepy town. We went back to the same restaurant/pub twice because it was the only one we could locate (we later learned there were two others). The restaurant had a ten page menu, none of which they actually had - not that they told us this when they handed us the menu - and instead offered to serve us one of two items: Gyros, or a chicken breast. The hotel was very Soviet, didn't have any air conditioning, and the windows didn't open in 90 degree weather.