Tourism

"Tata! Wake up, it's snowing outside!" Jakub was lying in a cosy warm bed. His limbs felt tired, and his eyelids heavy.

"You heard your daughter Tata; go and check out the snow." Next to him laid his wife Zofia, in a heavy slumber, clearly more exhausted than him. But the least exhausted was Julia in the doorway.

"I'm coming; I'm coming. The snow won't melt while I'm asleep ,love."

She wasn't taking no for an answer as she poked him while he tried to dodge back into sleep.

"Tata! pleeease!!!"

Jakub turned his face towards his tired wife, who was trying to dig herself more into the warm sheets. Fine, I will let you sleep it out; I will take care of this demon myself.

"Okay, okay! But let me have breakfast before." His daughter shined up like the sun and ran with excitement away from the bedroom. He sat up in bed and turned towards his pile of clothes on a chair nearby. It felt chilly as he looked towards the curtains on the apartment window. He proceeded to put on a pair of sweatpants and a grey T-shirt. He could smell something from the kitchen. It was a warm and nostalgic smell, with a hint of freshly baked bread and mincemeat. He felt thirsty, and he was longing for a cup of coffee. He rose and walked towards the curtained window. As he pulled the curtains away, he was met with a satisfying white layer of snow that had settled in the park Fryderika Chopina. It was like Christmas came early this year as the snow, in a calm manner, sprinkled the nearby streets of Poznań. He saw how some families were already down there making snowmen as cafe stands sold coffee, warm chocolate and croissants to couples enjoying an early morning stroll on a Saturday morning. He closed the window he had opened the night slightly before.

"Jakub! Hurry up and eat breakfast with your daughter!" That nagging voice of his mother was an order he had no choice but to comply with. He put on a morning robe and a pair of socks before closing the bedroom door and leaving for the kitchen. When he entered, he saw that his mother had been baking pierogis this morning. Julia sat by the kitchen table with a plate of his mother's pierogis, gobbling them down in a hurry.

"Calm down; you still need to wait for me; there's no need to eat fast, honey."

"Well, she is trying to stress you up, Jakub; if you weren't always sleeping like a bear and taking your time, she might have enjoyed the food that I have been making." Jakub gave his daughter a smile before petting her head and messing up her hair.

"It's not that late, is it?" He looked at the clock above the kitchen table hanging on a wall.

"It's just eleven in the morning." His mother turned her head towards him from the oven, where she made another batch of pierogis.

"You are soon forty, Jakub; you can't sleep away half the day like a teenager."

He stretched his arms in the air, causing a cracking sound from his limbs and back, making him temporarily dizzy.

"I'm actually thirty-eight and a half, mom. I still have my best years ahead, unlike you." His mother gave him a killing stare before reaching for a wooden spoon and hitting him in the head. Julia laughed, amused by her father, who rubbed his head from the pain.

"You are still a little runt. Julia, don't be like your father when you grow up, promise me that." Julia smiled towards her grandmother, exposing the missing milk teeth in her mouth.

"I promise, grandma." Jakub shook his head in false disappointment before rubbing her head again.

"You're a little traitor, you know that?" He then walked towards the coffee machine where his kind mother had already brewed fresh coffee, plenty enough for him and his wife, Zofia. He poured up a cup and would then sit opposite his daughter. He closed his eyes and brought the cup to his nostrils, where he took in that familiar smell of nutty bitterness. He opened his eyes again and looked outside at the park he had seen earlier from the bedroom window.

"So, do you wanna throw snowballs on the landlord later Julia?" Julia, whose mouth full of food, shook her head with a shy smile as she tried to force the food down.

"No, I wanna build a snowman, but I want him to be huge and give him a top hat and a carrot nose! I wanna build the best snowman in the park!"

"Julia, I don't think we have a top hat at home. We could give him a scarf though and whatever else we can find in your grandmother's closet." His mother shook her head at him with a smile of disappointment.

"You are a menace, and you know that." Jakub smiled again playfully towards his daughter before closing his eyes again and taking a sip of the coffee. The warmness and satisfying bitter tone filled his mouth. He kept his eyes closed, sipping at the coffee, just grabbing at the moment. The sound of kitchen equipment. The occasional word exchange between his daughter and his mother. The peace and the untroubled world around him, days like these, were the once he cherished the most.

"Jakub!" The voice sounded like his daughter overlayed with a man's voice.

"Jakub, wake up; we are soon there!" The voice sounded more like a familiar man's voice again and less like his daughter's.

Jakub opened his sleepy eyes again, feeling disorientated at first. The smell was no longer of coffee but one similar to hand sanitising, some spirit of some sort. And there he was, Yuri, a man roughly in his fifties with black hair and a beard decorated with grey strings.

"Did I wake you up snow-white?"

"Piss off, Yuri." Jakub respond.

He was back to reality as Yuri walked off to let him wake up. The sound he heard now was from the train rumbling on the tracks. The cabinet was an open room made to carry goods and logistics. He was snuggled up in a sleeping bag on top of hay covering the entire carriage floor. He wasn't exactly going, first class, to say the least. Vapour was forming as he breathed in the chilly room. The memories were coming back.

"How much is the clock, Yuri?"

"I would say around nine in the morning. I would say that we will arrive in ten to five minutes to Bolzano."

He sat up in the sleeping bag, feeling stale in the back.

"You should prepare yourself, apparently, from one of the other men on the train. We are the only Polish representatives for this meeting."

Jakub unzipped the bag and crawled up, already dressed beneath the warm bag in dark green trousers combined with a grey sweatshirt.

"Perhaps their sources on who to contact in the military are… shit."

"Perhaps, or they want to speak to you directly, Jakub."

He felt dry in the mouth and could tell his breath stunk, as he had probably been drooling in his sleep.

"Do you have something to drink?"

"If I have? Oh, I have the entire palette of the northeast Italian train service! We have water and Krupnik Vodka. What else could you ask for?"

He closed his eyes and stretched like in his dream; the stretch took a toll on his muscle fibres, causing him to get dizzy and lose balance for a second.

"I'll take the water. seems clear what you choose earlier from the palette." He cracked a tired smile which Yuri returned.

"Only reason I came with you was to taste the Italian wines and be witty."

"And that's why I love you, your filthy alcoholic."

Yuri handed him a water bottle, which he grabbed and drank with relief and dislike. Although it was needed, drinking water at the start of the morning was a dull and depressing taste.

"Do we have anything to eat?"

Yuri went to the corner of the train cabinet and reached into a sack

"Catch!"

With reflexes on alert, he caught a red apple thrown towards him. He inspected the apple to check if it was ripe before digging his teeth into it. The taste was sweet and sour but welcomed. The train shook slightly as he suspected they had reached a new track. He went towards the cabinet door leading outside.

"Do you think it's dangerous to open the door while the train moves?"

"I think serving in the army is more dangerous, yet that has not stopped you before." Jakub shrugged his shoulders. Fuck it

He stuck his apple in his mouth to use his hands when grabbing the metal handle, opening its lock and sliding the massive door to the side. The wind grabbed his hair, and daylight hit him, making him squint his eyes. The rhythmic sound the train made when it passed the tracks became louder, and Jakub and Yuri could see faint smoke clouds. Before them was a landscape consisting of alpine mountains in a green dale. Most mountains were dark green with grey tops; in the distance, the mightiest mountains were covered with snowy tops like decorated hats. Their train carriage was two carriages away from the very front, followed by nine other carriages behind them, where the rest of their fellowship was being held up in a larger company. It was a beautiful sight to behold. Below them was a highway, but only in the distance behind them could someone be seen using one, driving a transport truck.

The sun stood over the mountains like a king glancing over its subjects. Looking at the train's helm, he could see how the agricultural lands increasingly became dense gatherings. He also saw their destination Bolzano. A city engulfed by mountains, unlike the flatlands and woodlands he was used to, this was indeed one of the better sights he had enjoyed during the long journey from Brest in Belarus.

"Yuri, have you seen?"

"Da, I see. Finally, some perks of being part of the military."

He looked at the sky and saw a bird patrolling the sky, perhaps an eagle or a falcon of some sort. As the train came closer and closer to the city, its fascinating architecture was revealed. A classic European blend of new and old, with church towers giving off their might and ruins of old fortifications. A river could be seen running along it, with roads and bridges crossing over it in a nicely built manner.

"Italy has been spared by the incursions nicely; an isolated city like this would have been a prime target if it was located further east. " Jakub said.

"You should stop thinking of war for once. Put your mind to other things. I'm going to enjoy some Italian cuisine while I still can."

Jakub chuckled.

"Unfortunately, I don't think there's a place anywhere in Europe to satisfy your hunger."

"And neither a person that can stand your pessimism." Yuri returned the smile with his own.

The train began to decelerate as they reached further into the city, nearing the train station. At the station, he saw that people had gathered closer and closer. And as he turned his head backwards on the train, he saw how more doors had been opened on the train carriages and how his men had begun taking in the view of the city.

"Jakub?"

"Yeah, I hear."

The train was slowing down more and more, and the train drumming was now being replaced by another sound. A sound of music at the train station; he saw that soldiers had gathered, flags were raised in the sky, wearing the cross of the catholic church alongside the coat of arms. The white and yellow, with the two keys on the flag, were held up by men wearing robes with crosses, like a modern touch of a crusader knight without the helmet and armour. However, melee weapons were still there present, with rifles equipped with bayonets. The soldiers stood in a line; about fifty stood there, in two five-by-five squares. Behind the men stood the train station itself, it was built like the Berlin Wall itself but with building blocks connected instead of pure concrete. If they had not seen the city from far earlier, they could not have guessed that there was a city behind that massive structure. The train slowed down more and more and was about to stop. The music that was in the air was from the men in the square formation singing a chorus; in the middle of each square was a man blowing a trumpet.

He turned towards Yuri as the train stopped.

"Bit over the top, don't you think?" Yuri cracked laughter of delight.

"Just smile and wave, Jakub; we aren't gonna get this attention for a while." Yuri walked up to him and patted him on the back as the train finally stopped. This is the most Italian thing I have ever witnessed. In between the two square formations was an old man in his sixties closing in on the seventies. He was small with a crooked back, wearing the outfit of a bishop with a mitre on top and the familiar robe with a white and yellow cross in a blend. The man looked at them with a smile of gratitude, like the world was at peace. In an Italian accent, the bishop-looking man spoke to them in English.

"I am thankful you have arrived at our humble city, Polish men. I am the head priest of the region of Trentino-Alto Adige here in Italy, but you can call me Amadeo."

As more of the train passengers were jumping out of the train, Jakub had to think of what he would say and switch up his linguistics a bit.

"Thank you for taking us in, Amadeo; I'm sorry if my English is rusty; I am Jakub Wozniak. General of-"

"General of the Lukow Regiment. Yes, I have heard a lot about your accomplishments. Uniting Belarusians and securing outposts outside of Poland is no small deeds, even this far west."

Jakub got caught off guard by the priest's background check and had to clear his throat before speaking to the priest, that had his eyes locked on him like an eagle.

"Well, you surely did your research; well then, I must introduce you to a fellow colleague of yours!" He turned towards Yuri, who looked stumbled by this.

"This is Yuri, an orthodox priest from Belarus. He was and still is essential in our diplomatic work eastwards." Yuri, who clearly did not want to get dragged into this stale greeting ceremony, gave his friend a smile of 'I will murder you' onto his friend before looking at Amadeo.

"Pleasure is mine, bishop!" he said while nodding.

"Not exactly a bishop, I am the head priest, brother Yuri. It's always great to meet a brother of Christ in this age." More and more men from the Polish company were coming out of the train, clearly outnumbering their host; about two hundred Polish soldiers had been brought.

"My apologies Amadeo, it's been a long journey, and I haven't eaten in a while like the rest of our companionship." Yuri said with a face that didn't quite mean it.

"Nothing to apologise for; we will take you and Jakub to the city hall, where there is food prepared for you and the rest of our foreign guests. My men will help out your soldiers with unloading; you can come with me."

The priest turned his tail and started walking.

"The head priest, Yuri!" Jakub taunted in polish to his friend.

"You're a fucking dickhead; you know that?" He responded as they smiled and followed the priest walking between the square formations that began to split and divide; about ten encircled Jakub, Yuri, and Amadeo as they escorted them whilst the others tended to all the train passengers.

They began walking towards the train station building, built like a wall of building blocks. They could finally see glimpses of a roundabout outside as they entered the building.

"So Jakub, were in Poland are you from originally?" The priest asked with a tone of disinterest, trying to make small talk.

"I am originally from the city Poznań, born and raised. Raising even!"

"Oh, I see. Do you have kids there?"

"Yes, my daughter Julia, my mother, and my wife."

The priest slowed down his pace to walk beside Jakub and Yuri.

"I'm glad that you have so much of your family intact; what about you, Yuri?"

"Old man, are you deaf? I'm a devoted priest; there is no family waiting at home for me, only God." Amadeo put on a grin of delight.

"Devoted, you said? You smell of liquor and sweat, so much in fact, I forgot that you were a priest to begin with."

Do you really feel the necessity to cause a bar fight with a catholic?

Yuri let out bulging laughter as he was about to let out a sly reply.

"My brother in Christ, If Jesus could stink of wine, then why can't a fellow disciple smell of Citrus and Vodka?"

The tense atmosphere that had built up was released when he noticed the laughter the head priest let out as he reached over to Yuri's belly and gave it a tap.

"I now see why you chose this man to be your lieutenant, Jakub."

Yuri turned towards him, even more, pleased about how the conversation's outcome had gone. Jakub himself couldn't decide whether the laugh was of diplomatic or genuine choice of Amadeo.

"You heard that, Jakub? Lieutenant. It suits me well, Lieutenant Yuri!"

"Don't get any ideas; I could put you in a monastery to entertain nuns instead."

"Please do!"

Amadeo now looked less entertained by Yuri's running lips, which he noticed in an instant.

"Those poor women need every prayer they can get, of course."

They reached the other side of the building and went through the exit. As they got through, he saw the streets filled with markets that had opened and plenty of people in traffic, the roundabout that was once for vehicles was now a trading hub. Presumably, since most of the trade that reached the city was from trains. My poor soldiers have travelled so far to get attacked by tourist traps. As they reached the masses of people, the armed Italian guard that Amadeo had brought with him started shouting in Italian that everyone should make way.

"We will bring both you and Yuri to your rooms to dress and clean yourself; then you should attend the dinner meeting where the rest of you have been gathered."

"Sounds good to me, just one detail, whom else have been gathered?"

"Besides you, Jakub, representative of Poland, we have gathered some influential people, all across Europe, Germans, Austrians and Brits. The patriarch of Ukraine himself, officers, Swiss Bankers, Romanian and Hungarian regional presidents, and of course some local cuisines of Bolzano."

"I didn't know I was representing Poland; I know our country is divided, but there are others with more power that can do-"

"Although I appreciate your honesty, Jakub, there isn't a single country on this continent that has political stability. Besides, you are not on request from the Pope. This is a political decision I myself pulled together with my own mandate."

Jakub was struck and dumbfounded by what the priest had just said. He had to think for a couple of seconds, chewing on the priest's words before replying.

"Okay. Then I will do my best to achieve and contribute to the meeting."

The priest smiled at him with satisfaction as they passed the masses and reached further into the city blocks.

"I know you will."