I have been to Belarus five times and swore each time that I would never return.? But each time, I had found new information and I returned. My maternal grandparents were born north of Grodno.? My great great grandfather was in charge of the Augustow canal lock near Sopockin.? On each visit, I found the homes were my family had lived.? My other great grandfather owned the Michalewicz folwark also north of Grodno.? Such poverty, I have never seen, the state had taken the land, they paid the people very little to farm.? I was stopped by the police on every visit, they wanted to examine the car each time.? We would all have to exit the car, while they searched the trunk and inside of the car.? I hired a cab driver from Suwalki each visit to go to Belarus for the day. I never stayed the night.? Twice, I was held up at the border and asked for more money on trumped up charges, such as my visa did not say that I was only staying one day, another time they said that I was in transit as I had no luggage.? I had to pay them $50 each time.? My Polish cab driver told me not to pay but I did not want the hassle.? People were very friendly and spoke to me in Polish once they found that my grandparents were born in the vicinity.? Prior to that, they pretended they knew no Polish. On the eastern bank of the Nemen just north of Grodno, the government had torn down complete villages and were building huge 3500 square feet American style homes.? I don't know who was planning on living there.? The difference between one side of the border with Poland and the Belarus side was remarkable, Polish fields were full of growth, Belarus fields were empty. My grandfather's family home was at one time beautiful.? There were painted tiles in the kitchen and around the several fire places, oriental rugs were on the walls.? But between the rugs was wallpaper hanging in shreds, furniture was torn and old.?I was told that at one time the family owned the land further than the eye could see and now all they had was a 10x10 garden where they could grow and keep their food. Was I glad that I had gone.? Yes!!! I walked the roads and saw the homes were my beloved grandparents had once lived. -----Original Message----- From: Jack and Rose <thankgod@optonline.net> To: polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com Sent: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 9:09 pm Subject: [PBS] Advice on Travel to Belarus Please Hi Has anyone in the group traveled to Belarus??? I would like to plan a trip there in the future.... Any advice would be helpful Thanks and God bless Rose Zydel Olson ThankGod@optonline.net ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ________________________________________________________________________ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com.