Poland trip, first post.

Above, on the river in Gdańsk. That building on the right is a medieval crane; four treadmills, each powered by four men, could lift three tons of grain off a ship.

 This is gonna be long, so I'm splitting the notes of our Poland trip over a few posts.

 May 22

We flew Lufthansa. A close friend who’s a better traveler than I told me I’d love Lufthansa, and he was right. I am not a great traveler, and so don’t have a lot of experience with different airlines… but I’ve flown economy on a number of US airlines in the past several years, and I will stand by the statements I’m about to make about them.

Look, I’m not talking about flying business class, or first class, or whatever. It’s not hard to be flashy if money is unlimited, or even just available. But after having flown economy on Lufthansa, and comparing it to US airlines… well, don’t ever come to me with that “USA! Number One!” balderdash. Seats were comfortable and less cramped; food was acceptable; service was efficient and surprisingly friendly. 

Still, I didn’t get much sleep on the plane.

We had a layover in Munich, which was unremarkable (except that Coke Zero was surprisingly expensive). The Excellent Wife (TEW) asked me to get her a decaf iced latte, and the woman at the coffee booth was delightfully contemptuous of both the request for decaf and the request for iced. TEW went coffee-less, I’m afraid.

In the toilet stall was a mostly-ripped-away sticker from an anti-nazi organization (“organization” may be too formal a word). I was sobered by the fact that there had to be an anti-nazi group in Germany, and also by the fact that the sticker was partly torn away. Had it been torn by a person in the stall who disagreed with its sentiment? By an insufficiently-effective custodian? If the latter, why had nobody come back to complete the job? (The piped-in music was obscure Bach, by the way.)

The flight from Munich to Warsaw was short, and I got no sleep on that plane either. We got a cab from the airport to the place where we had to meet the person who would take us to the AirB&B, which is in the Old City. The roads are narrow and winding enough that some are impassable to cars. This part of the city is lovely, though, and the accommodation is pleasant. 

We went to dinner at a place TEW found, where the food was excellent (I expect Polacks can generally cook very well, when they’re not being starved, enslaved, or attacked), and where the waitress, who spoke excellent English, gave me a tip on money exchange. We then went to a chocolate lounge, where I nearly fell asleep into my confection, I was that jet-lagged. (Where coffee places in the US go for the raw-brick-and-exposed-pipes vibe, the chocolate lounges have much more plaster and wall sconces. I half expected a violinist to come around playing Mozart.

May 23:

We got up and walked around the old city. 

Later, we took a trip to the Wilanow palace.

Then back to Warsaw for a trip to the city fort, now another museum, including an art museum, where I did not get pictures. 

In the evening to a Chopin concert, in a tiny venue (seating maybe 200?). A delightful performance by a young Asian woman who had studied in the conservatory in Warsaw; she was excellent, and TEW later said she would have bought the CD. TEW was impressed by how many of the audience appeared to be Polish; this venue may not cater primarily to tourists (although there was a group that, at the end, were clearly being herded by a guide in Norwegian Cruise line mufti).

May 24:

Early in the day, we went for breakfast to another E. Wedel, which, of course, included a bit of chocolate. 

From there, we went into the center of the city to the Culture Center, a building imposed by Stalin. Poland was almost completely destroyed during the war: the Old City, to which I’ve referred, was a reconstruction. The Culture Center was built on land destroyed during the war, and was apparently to be a reminder to the Poles who the real power was. There was to be a whole city center built around it, but Stalin died before it could be started, and Kruschev, his successor, never began construction. City residents seem to be ambivalent about the failure of the expansion.

From there, on neat old, “antique” buses, we went on a tour of Praga, the area of the city on the other side of the Vistula River from city center. Praga was a workaday, manufacturing center. The factory for the excellent E. Wedel chocolate is still there.

However, manufacturing started to drift away (as it does), and the region fell on hard times. There were few jobs, and the area became crime ridden, and was known as one of the most dangerous city areas in Europe. 

Because the area was cheap, artists moved in, and as buildings either fell down or were demolished, leaving flat walls, murals were painted, some of which were excellent, some of which still remain.

Gentrification began. An old distillery (they call it a “vodka factory”, but they distilled spirits from grain as well as from potatoes) has been rehabilitated as a “vodka museum”, including restaurants, retail space, and offices. Real estate in the area has been improved, with the ensuing rises in rents, and evictions of less-well-off residents.

In the evening, we met with our tour group, and went out for an “authentic Polish dinner”. I don’t think my mother-in-law would have been impressed.

May 25:

In the morning, we went with the tour group on a bus tour of the city. In some places we were turned away, because of demonstrations relating to the run-off elections to be held next weekend.

Then we went on a walking tour, first of the Polish Uprising museum area, and then of the old town. TEW and I had been in the old town when we first started, so we escaped to catch the outdoor Chopin concert in Lazienski Park. This series of weekly concerts (I don’t know how long the season is) has been going on over sixty years. They get world-class pianists (ours was no exception). The audience was of all ages, all apparently enjoying the music, on the most delightful day.

After that, we made our way back to the hotel, and in the late afternoon, went out to a quiet dinner, and another trip to an E. Wedel for chocolate. AND we made three trips, on two different lines, to different destinations, on the Warsaw tram. We are annoyingly proud of our navigation capabilities.