Day 2 of sightseeing in the Tricity

After the Old Town in Gdansk it was a time show my Aussie friend recent history of the town. I heard of a new museum Roads to Freedom and that it was a must to see. For some reason I had not seen it before. I was not even sure how to get there even if I knew that is was not far away from the shipyard. I must have passed it in my walks to the green market or the Old Town but somehow never saw an entrance to the museum. In my role of a tourist guide, which I played not all that brilliantly, I was supposed to know how to get there without any  hiccups. So I checked the situation in internet. I knew the street but why didn’t I see the entrance when passing the place? When we were near the museum I understood.  Not a salubrious entrance but communistic times were not salubrious times and this is what the museum shows. The museum is going to move in the near future to the still being build European Solidarity Center. I pass this impressive building often and it grows fast. Next time I come to Gdansk it will be most likely ready. I cannot wait.

But back to The Roads to Freedom. We walked down the stairs leading old shabby environment showing us how it was before Poland re-gained its freedom. We bought our tickets looking like old fashion cards from the time of martial law in 1981-83.  I believe that the ration cards were used for longer than this period. The first exhibits show typical Polish shop of the times. Not much there, vinegar and mustard were on the shelves, other things may have been available for the chosen ones but they were under the counter rather than displayed.

This is how the typical shop looked like. The men on the left just managed to buy toilet paper and this was the way to carry an unexpected purchase.

                                  

The museum covers the modern history of Poland, the events I was not aware of even if I lived in Poland in the 70ties.  I was in Gdansk in January 1971 learning about programming in Cobol and PLAN, the ICL assembly language. Memories, memories... That aside, December 1970 was a tragic time for Gdansk and its shipyard workers who protested against sudden increase of food and other everyday items. As the result of riots which were brutally put down 42 people were killed and over 1,000 wounded.

The events were not covered by news, they were the times the government could hide such things. Not to people of Gdansk, of course, they were involved themselves and saw things happening. My Polish neighbour, who worked at the time in a pharmacy, remembers the panic and how she was helping to sterilise surgical instruments in a great hurry. One month later nobody wanted to talk to me, a girl from Warsaw, about what happened. It was not safe to talk. I knew that something horrible did happen but it was only when visiting the museum I put the pieces of the puzzle together. If you are surprised at my ignorance I left Poland in 1976 and now I am catching up with my Polish history knowledge.

The museum has a multimedia tour covering events from 1956 to 1989. I would recommend using the audio tour and sit for a while at the computers reading the stories of the times. It is all both in English and Polish. And very inexpensive.

I like one of the last exhibits, domino of abolishing communism, with Poland starting the chain of changes.

                                        

I got carried away writing more than planned so the second part of the sightseeing day 2 – lunch in Polish style will be a subject of my next post.

Day 1 of sightseeing in the Tricity

After my last post I was encouraged by two of my friends to write more about Gdansk churches. And since I like both gothic and baroque architecture and art I may indulge my friends and myself  one day. Today, however, after getting curious how many churches are in the neighbourhood and finding out the number I lost enthusiasm for a while. I counted 69 churches just in Gdansk not in the whole Tricity. I guess that at least 20 of them would have historical value and be worth while writing about. Suddenly I felt like after eating too much sweets, a bit queasy after that much goodness. So I will leave the subject for some later time when I am less focused on the number of the churches in Gdansk.

From 1358, Gdansk/Danzig belonged to the Hanseatic League, a commercial and defensive confederation of northern European merchants guilds and towns.

Walking the streets of Gdansk memories of Lubeck, Bremen or Amsterdam may spring to mind. Old northern European merchant towns have similar looks as they had similar function. Names of the streets remind us of occupations of their citizens : Long Market, Coal Market, Fish Market, Wood Market, Beer Street or Amber Street.

It was a long period from the twelfth to the sixteenth century when Danzig was an important and prosperous trading centre. This was reflected in the buildings of the town. Majority of remaining buildings in the Old Town come from  the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century.

One of my favourite places is The Crane –Zuraw. It is one of the oldest buildings which current shape comes from the 15^th century. It was used to load cargo and and place masts on ships. Whenever I am in the Old Town I make a little detour, if needed, to have a look at this proud, heavy and very Gdansk monument of its Hanseatic past.  

                                     

Another favourite of mine is the Neptune Fountain. It is standing in the middle of the Long Market and is considered to be a symbol of Gdansk. Certainly, the most popular place to take a photo while sightseeing in the Old Town. I have several photos of my own taken over the years in front of the fountain. And I still have a leather card case with the image of the Gdansk Neptune. Ach, memories...

As I was writing in my previous post, another favourite of mine is St Mary’s Basilica. If you put together my favourite historical beauty spots in Gdansk, it looks  like a top list from a tourist guide. Not too original, I am afraid, but and it does not matter or even means that everybody visiting Gdansk should see the places and I can  guarantee no disappointment.

Sightseeing in the Tricity

The Tricity is an urban area of three major Polish cities at the Baltic coast. Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia. They are adjacent to one another, in a row,  and the distance from end to end is approximately 20 km.  The population of the Tricity is over 1 million people. When I come to Poland these days, I stay in Gdansk.

I like to have friends coming to stay with me and when that happens I play a role of a tourist guide to present the town in the best possible way. I have been conscious of the fact that I may not be the best guide in the world and I want to improve.

The last week one of my Aussie friends, who was travelling through Europe, came to spend few days with me in Gdansk. I have a feeling that I have not made an impression on her of a super guide but I did improve my sightseeing program considerably this time. I had been aware of the fact that not everybody is keen on seeing all the churches a town has to offer. And Gdansk has many, many of them which are worthwhile seeing if one is big way into sacral architecture. But who is? I may be a bit, but this is not normal and I know it.

This time I planned not to overdo with churches and selected only three to visit. St Mary’s Basilica because it is so impressive and the biggest brick Gothic church in Europe. Oliwa Cathedral because it has a famous organ with moveable parts and because I love it. 

Oliwa Cathedral

St Nicolas church because of the organ concert from the cycle Closer to Bach. I was happy with the plan but it did not work. On reflection, this was actually fortunate.

We saw only one church,  the huge St Mary’s Basilica which has a room for 25,000 people. Each time I enter the church, its size makes an impression on me. I feel small and insignificant aware of a higher power to which glory the church was built.  The major construction work was carried  from 1379 to 1502, but even if the church was structurally then completed the work has not finished to this day.

                                                     

Many years ago I saw the church destroyed and empty but with each visit I find new restorations and additions of altars and historical artefacts.  The church ever changes. My favourite object there is stone Pieta from around 1410. I always go to the chapel housing the sculpture to once again admire its sad beauty. The sculpture is in a glass cabinet  and unfortunately does not photograph well.

           

There I go, started to write about a church and got carried away. Will have to continue the subject of sightseeing in the Tricity in my next posts. No more stories about churches,  I promise.

Eurovision Song Contest

I know this contest is known throughout the world but one has to be European, I believe, to be so dedicated to watch it from the beginning to the repetitious  points scoring finale. I never was a great lover of the event but this year my European soul woke up. Mind you, I was influenced by my Aussie friend who after visiting Poland was in a hurry to join a party in Slovenia to watch and celebrate the European Song Contest. Since I have not seen the contest for some years now, I thought it may be fun to see it this time. So I watched for many hours till the bitter end. I was not glued to the TV set, I watched it while reading my emails.

 Not much has changed since the times I attended my first and only ESC party. It was in 1965. I still remember the winner song sung by France Gall from Luxemburg. The song was popular for some time after the contest.

The next memorable song was the 1974 winner - Abba’s Waterloo. This, actually, was a good song,  a rare occurrence. I was particularly keen on the song as the Swedish chapter on my life was than in progress.  I still love Abba.

 Then I left for Australia and was too busy and not really interested to follow the contest for many years. Until yesterday.

There was Polish contestant  this year and listening to the commentary I expected a reasonably good song. And then it came. I was really embarrassed, not so much by the musical value of the song, the ESC songs are rarely brilliant , but by the sexy content of the performance. The song title is “We are Slavic”. Jumping up and down a mediocre soloist  had an entourage including two “working women”. One was washing cloth using a washboard and the other was churning butter. I  suppose the idea was to show typical jobs of Slavic women. The breasts of both of the girls were impressive and on display. Their well manicured nails seemed to be  showing that Slavic women never forget to take care of their looks no matter what’s the occupation. I was wondering what Slavic talents were so cleverly presented to the whole Europe and beyond. Then, maybe my sense of humour  was not working too well. Make your own judgement.

The Austrian winner of the contest a drag persona Conchita Wurst was also controversial, in my opinion. The song and the performer were telling us that they dream of a society where sexuality does not matter. I agree with the message however finesse and subtlety was not a strong point of this performance either. Conchita/Tom has a strong voice though.

                            

I seem to be a bit too critical even if I enjoyed the show. My favourite was the song from The Nederland’s. 

HSC Exams in Poland

Today it is the 4^th of May and the first day of Polish HSC exams. It is the wrong time of the year my Australian soul cries. But putting my Polish hat on, switching on Polish TV station and looking through the window at the chestnuts trees in bloom my Australian persona has disappeared and Polish one took over. It actually is the right time for HSC in Poland.

                                      

My favourite TV news program, TVN24, starts each week day with a program “You get up, we inform”. I am not happy with my translation of “Wstajesz i wiesz”, so if I have any Polish readers please send me better options and I’ll correct the post.

Today was my first opportunity to watch the program after a break of some months. And I was lucky, my favourite journalist Jarek Kuzniar was leading the program today. I like the guy, he has great sense of humour, and he is able to talk about serious things in a light way without taking anything away from the merit of the subject. Even if he expresses his personal views at times, he does it a balanced way. He seems credible to me and I value that.

The first thing I heard this morning from him was that the HSC exams have started with a Polish language test as the first exam. The test took 170 minutes and I hope it went well for most of the students. HSC is called in Poland - Certificate of Maturity. Nice name and I wish it was that indeed.

Now, what chestnuts have to do with it? Polish peculiarity. The time of the year when the exams take place coincides with chestnuts being in bloom. Everybody knows that if the chestnut trees are blooming HSC is around the corner.

Isn't it a beautiful tree!

For some it is time to start to be nervous. That includes students and their families. Some time ago I was a part of the family who was going through the maturity exams. Boy, even I was nervous like a kitten. Part of the fun, I expect.

I wish all polish abiturients to keep their cool in the coming weeks and achieving great results allowing choosing future of their own calling.

Back in Gdansk

May seems to be the time for me to go to Poland. I have been doing that for quite some time and here I am – in Gdansk again. I came only yesterday and I have a jet-lag. Not the best time to write perhaps but I set myself a target of one post per week and I missed it the last week already. 

Some time ago I really hated the over 24 hours trips and traveled very infrequently to avoid the long flights and related expenses. I still dislike the trips but am more philosophical  and patient about the exercise. And I came to like Gdansk and consider it my second home. This morning I went for a walk to check how is the town after some months not being here.

 It is the 1^st of May and a public holiday in Poland. I walked empty streets in a sunny weather but it was fresh coolness is in the air. I suddenly remembered the smell and temperature of spring from many years ago. So different to Australian and I have  forgotten it for many years. Today it was like a refresher course in understanding some things about Polish spring again. One of my very close friends said a few days ago some words describing me and she said in closure ... and you are European to boot... Maybe I am to some extent European  but I forgot the basics like how the spring air feels.

Walking in sun was pleasant and warm enough even if I did not wear a coat. This was actually a mistake as I am still nursing my Australian cold and the clouds soon appeared bringing the temperature down to about 10 degrees. My understanding of Polish weather is not up to scratch yet.

It is much greener this year than it was the last year at the same time of May. 

That is how the park looked the last year  at the beginning of May

And  this is today, the 1st of May. Climate change?

 It is  much greener this year than it was the last year at the same time of May. My favourite chestnut trees are fully in bloom now and the lilacs are about to explode with their fragrant flowers

In Sydney it is past 10 pm and I feel suddenly very sleepy...