The rainbow never sets

morning, when as a sixteen year old I had walked with my comrades from the anti aircraft gun battery through the streets of Poznan to the same railway station we had arrived a little earlier. I thought of how our train only just had made it, the second last to get through to Germany without being shot at by the Russian army.

But there was peace in 1987. Poznan had suffered terribly under the fighting in 1945. The Palace had lost its tower, but had otherwise been restored. The university seemed unchanged from my days. I felt like walking in my sleep, recognising long forgotten land marks, which brought back sweet memories. We walked into several hotels to enquire about their tariff and room availabilities. As they were all cheaper than the Metropole, we decided to move into the Poznanski the next day, for sentimental reasons. It was here that my Opa had stayed in 1918 on the day the armistice had been declared, and when there was shooting in the square, but being deaf he had slept through it all.

However, we didn't need the room at the Poznanski after all. Mrs. Janiec, a cousin of Maria, a former nanny of Gerdas, had phoned and invited us to stay at her flat. Her son was going to pick us up the next morning. We slept well that night, although Alison missed the rocking movement of the train. We enjoyed a lovely Polish breakfast next morning, which was included in the price of $US115.

Mrs. Janiec came for us with her son in their Fiat. They shared their three-room flat with us most generously. Andre, their son, dropped us off at the old Market, which had been beautifully restored to its former glory. The war had virtually flattened the old patrician homes, and the town hall had been half destroyed. We took a guided tour and were very impressed with the restoration work of the Poles.

We also saw an old Baroque church, quite dark inside. When our eyes got used to it and we admired the beautifully decorated church, which had not been destroyed during the war. Then we searched for my old Schiller School. Again the feeling of sleep-walking along a well trodden path 43 years ago. The school had lost its upper three floors, I nearly didn't recognise it.

We had lunch at a good restaurant. It was full when we arrived, but we didn't mind waiting, the food we got there was certainly well worth waiting for.

Returning by tram I was surprised to see that it was still the No.4 as in my days. We stopped at what used to be called the Bürger Park and walked towards the street where our Siebenbürger Boarding house was. I had no trouble finding the Helmonskiego Street. The building stood there quite unchanged and I told Alison and Margie some of the stories from my boyhood.

Mr. & Mrs. Janiec took us on a sightseeing tour around Poznan in the evening. They showed us the almost completed church to seat about five to six thousand people, the largest in Poland, with other halls and offices

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