Reverse Polish Logic

Reverse Polish Logic

I’ve discussed my love affair with the Hewlett-Packard 12C financial calculator. It is from that device that many of us learned about Reverse Polish Notation (RPN). It’s the logic protocol used by the 12C for operating the calculator. With it, the operator (the numbers) come before the operands (the function like addition or multiplication) when inputting the equation one is looking to solve. RPN was invented in the 1920’s by Jan Lucasiewicz, a predictably Polish mathematician and logician. It’s primary benefit is that it’s a more efficient way for computer memories to function. It’s drawback is that it is counter-intuitive for the way humans have been taught to think about and speak about math.

Speaking of counter-intuitive, when I was looking for an interesting location for our family and friends gathering next summer, I was faced with the classic conundrum of spending a bundle on a less-than-adequate accommodation in a popular spot or a well-priced option in an out-of-the-way location. This summer it worked out wonderfully with a lovely manor house on the Ring of Kerry in County Kerry. It was three hours from the airport, which was sub-optimal, but the activities, vistas and general mean of the place was extremely pleasant. As I started to look for a large rental villa for our gathering, I had my sights set on something that could accommodate 18-20 people, which would allow us to invite one crew one week and another crew the next, as we have always done. The inventory of such large places is quite limited and those with anything approaching a one-to-one ratio of bedrooms to bathrooms is even more scarce. My experience tells me that people can put up with a less than perfect room, but ask them to share a bathroom and its just a matter of time before the sparks start to fly.

I found a lovely castle in the northernmost and remotest part of Scotland, some hour west of Inverness. It is set in a highland valley of iconic proportions with views from every window. It has a regal and old-world look about it that makes me want to wear rubber boots and waxed-cotton outerwear. The guests seem to favor fly-fishing and skeet shooting when they are not trekking and tracking 14-point bucks across the heather. The baronial feel makes me wonder weather we would be eating venison daily as the nearest restaurant seems to be many miles away. And then there is the fact that while Scott’s and Irishmen would never abide by this notion, but some in my coterie would likely feel that we were doing something too similar to our Ring of Kerry experience.

I also found a place on the Adriatic side of Greece on an island no one has ever heard of. This is well south of Corfu, so it doesn’t even have that notoriety to commend it. While the hordes of tourists are cramming themselves on Santorini and Mykonos, we would be on a western-facing hillside looking over the cliffs towards the Italian instep of its boot. This set-up is a set of four identical two-bedroom houses with their own kitchens and pools set along side one another. Besides remoteness, another drawback was that our crew does not need additional reasons to stay in their own cliques, the whole point of the gathering it to do otherwise.

I thought for sure Croatia or perhaps Montenegro would prove to offer plentiful options since we had seen many great places during our motorcycle ride down the Dalmatian Coast six years ago. It seems the world has discovered the Dalmatian Coast and with that discovery went all the bargains, so we might as well have been trying to rent a house in Tuscany. I also thought Spain or Portugal might be nice, and I was able to find some places, but its like going to France, you have to choose between geographically distinct regions. You can be up north near Porto or down south near the Algarve or across Gibraltar near Malaga or all the way up near Barcelona.

So, I started scanning the less obvious places to vacation in Europe. Both Scandinavia and Switzerland/Austria/Germany seem far too oriented towards ski chalets or spartan Scandinavian-modern aesthetics. We go to Europe to wallow in the historic culture (albeit preferably with modern plumbing) not the alta-moda modernity of the New EU. The map of Europe starts to shrink very quickly when one is seeking an interesting new place to gather. And then suddenly it jumped out at me. On our Baltic’s Cruise in 2017 we had stopped in both Estonia (Tallinn) and Poland (Gdańsk), and maybe those areas would work. Estonia was a dry hole, but Poland had several spots on the Baltic Sea and one lonely dot on the map down south near Krakow.

By the time I clicked on that lonely dot near Krakow, I will admit to being weary of the search. But that click changed everything. What was before me was a Polish palace 25km outside of Krakow. When we rented our Normandy Chateaux in 2017 we got spoiled. We literally rented a castle that knocked all of our socks off (who knew Normandy was so reasonable and nice?). It set a standard that has been hard to live up to. I think we accomplished it with a lovely Irish country mayor house this year, but lots of what’s on offer on Vrbo (my preliminary villa rental weapon of choice) seems pretty ordinary by comparison, so I am always looking for the unique and special. I had found it in the remote upper reaches of Scotland, but now I found it just outside of Krakow, Poland.

These searches have several stages to them. First is size. Can this accommodate 20? This can accommodate 30 with 13 separate bedrooms…all with an en-suite bathroom. And there is expansion room across the street in a guest house owned by the same owner, so fully negotiable. There is a pool, there are lovely grounds with a patio. There are dining facilities of all sorts, indoors and outdoors. All that and the price is highly competitive. Then we have to look at what there is to do nearby. The answer is plenty. A UNESCO World Heritage site or two, a wonderful city known for its food and pubs. And here’s the amazing part that I, for one, had never considered. CentraL Europe is, well, very central. Krakow is equidistant and a mere 4-5 hour train ride from Warsaw, Prague, Vienna, Budapest and lots of other interesting places like Transylvania.

I’ve reached out to the gang and have gotten either excitement or silence. I do not read negativity into silence, since it is usually driven by that blank stare of people who have a hard time planning out a year in advance. So tomorrow I will be locking down the palace rental since if there is one thing I have learned in the villa rental game, its to book early. This is totally snooze/loose country. And here’s the teaser for everyone, I am renting it for 10 days and then Kim and I are driving to Budapest and down through Transylvania to Bucharest. I’m excited about Krakow, pleased to be returning to Budapest and starting to shiver to go see Dracula’s Castle (Bran Castle). Sometimes Reverse Polish Logic is the best choice.