It has been a lengthy and tiring trip to Warsaw for Claire and I beginning with nearly an hour delay at Eppley before actually getting in the air. Then Minneapolis to change planes, on to Amsterdam to change planes, and finally to Warsaw. There was a total of about five hours of layover time in between. But worse yet was being in a taxi for over an hour in gridlock city traffic before getting into our hotel. That seven-mile drive took longer than the flight from Holland to Poland!Yipes! At any rate, I used the time wisely -- I re-read Alexandre Dumas' wonderful, The Man in the Iron Mask.
But we’re here now and trying to work out the differences between what the hotel promised us and what was the reality they delivered when we checked in. If they don’t come through with what they advertised and what they agreed in several conversations to provide, we may have to find somewhere else tomorrow. And with this World Congress of Families being a major attraction here in Warsaw for the next few days, that won’t be easy.
But enough of this fatigued rambling about delayed airplanes and hotel hype and taxis that go slower than the fellow walking his dachsund beside us…let’s talk a little about the World Congress of Families IV which, I'm sure, will push all of today’s drudgery right out the window.
First of all, the conference is really shaking up things already with larger than expected crowds, renowned and provocative guest speakers and a whole lot of both press coverage and political firestorms. Being in favor of morality, the sanctity of human life, and treasuring families represents the “new radicalism” in the world and the leftists of Europe (not so much of Poland) just have a terrible time dealing with such rebels.
Therefore, the conference promises to be a momentous and memorable event...for all kinds of reasons. By the way, there’s a post just a couple down from this one that gives a nice teaser to tomorrow’s activities.
Already, we’ve been making contacts with other participants in the World Congress of Families including Megan, a Harvard linguistic student, and Evan, an ethics professor from Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, who we met during one of our layovers. Our conversation only proved all the more to us that the wide variety of people attending this conference is a significant part of its strength. We cant’ wait to get started and we sure hope you'll visit us over the next few days as we try to "blog you" a few of the highlights.
