M.E. - Secret Service

It was a dark and stormy night; the streets of Warsaw were completely void of traffic. All access into the city had been blocked off to prevent the insurgents from getting to the US Embassy. Alone on the corner under a spreading Maple stood a young soldier. Hands nervously playing on the Uzi machine gun strung around his neck. The glow from the nearby street light gleamed off his bright blue eyes, eyes that were seeking what could not be seen. Sirens were heard coming from the direction of the river as the motorcade of the US Ambassador approached.

The young man tensed as the motorcade drew near. Suddenly, out of the shadow a flash and the sound of a shutter on a camera closing and then she was gone. Having taken the prohibited photo of the embassy, Mary Martinez, one of Interpol’s most wanted had again eluded capture.

In June of 2004 I had to go to Warsaw Poland for a business trip and since Kyle couldn’t get off work I took Mary Martinez with me. It happened to be just days before the upcoming presidential elections so there was a lot of activity in town. On Sunday as we were walking around Warsaw being tourist, Mary was taking pictures and as she went to pass this hotel there were two secret service types that started to move towards her. She was not aware because she was so interested in looking at the buildings. I’m sure if she had wanted to photograph the hotel or even go in that they would have stopped her, I was watching all this unfold from behind her a few yards. On another afternoon we went on a walk down to the park to see the memorial to Chopin and another palace. The story above is an embellishment of the memorable experience we had on that afternoon walk. Below is the real story.

About five blocks from the park we started to notice that there were a lot of policeman around, some directing traffic, some just sitting by in cars. We were walking along embassy row and found the US Embassy and just as Mary was going to stop to take a picture we saw a sign that said no photos. Then we noticed that there were police armed with machine guns at each crossroad stopping all traffic from entering this major road.

We kept walking and just after we crossed the intersection on the other side of the US Embassy we heard sirens. Coming up the side street was a string of police vehicles – like minivans on steroids and a bomb squad truck that headed down the side street beside the embassy. We kept walking and as we were about to go into the underground crosswalk I saw those same Secret Service type guys from the previous day. At that moment we heard more sirens coming from the direction of town and a motorcade of about 20 cars going very fast. We didn’t know it at the time, but it was the Prime Minister of Japan visiting the President of Poland.

While we were in the park we noticed helicopters circling over us. Even as we walked along the road outside the park there were three different police cars that approached us slowly but never stopped us. Finally we returned to our hotel and right outside our window on the 29th floor another helicopter was flying around. Our joke for the week was that Interpol wanted Mary for some past crime and I wouldn’t be able to get her back into the US. We laughed so hard during the trip that I cried and my sides hurt.
Probably the best thing out of that trip to Poland was the pure enjoyment of that trip. Business travel can be very grueling but during that trip, having Mary with me, we ate room service, had fresh flowers and candles in our room and had fun just being together. Even today when we are together and see a cop car or a helicopter flying around we remember our trip to Warsaw.

Next M.E. – Kissing The Blarney Stone