There is much that can be said about navigating the Polish bureaucratic maze and perhaps even more that shouldn’t be said about the same. I have to say that while no one is particularly helpful about what we need to do, everyone is exceptionally nice and polite about it.   I feel like we are stuck in this bureaucratic machine and can’t get out, but we persist, undaunted, relentless, unyielding.  After calling and visiting about 10 offices, we got about 14 suggestions of what needed to be done and in what order.   When we finally got to what we thought was  the right place we were simply informed that everyone was wrong and that we must start over.  Tomorrow we are setting out on another trip across Poland to obtain some stamp, on some piece of paper, at some random office, somewhere in the middle of this maze.
Today I was asked what I thought of Warsaw.  I was a bit perplexed because I did not see a lot of it.  What is not covered by graffiti or billboards or vinyl signs that cover entire buildings, miles of fences, curbs, lamp posts, cars and roofs, or what  is not overgrown by vegetation was chipped and crumbling and dirty.  There are so many beautiful buildings here, and even more  beautiful places but the all need so much attention and care . This to  me, seems more daunting and more challenging than the paper trail we must follow.  At least the  “Pałac” still stands majestic and clean – a beacon of hope for the rest of the city.