The strangest things in Poland

Battery farming will do that. And salmonella.

The one thing we didnt really see was an overly over weight person....Their food was unusual in the morning.. tomato,cucumber,marianted capsicum, cheese,relishes,bread (but no toaster) all kinds of hams... Had to be the best breakfast i have had.. With all the ham and cheese you wonder why they arnt fat like the Poms, Americans and Aussies....Must be doing something right... Stay away from the Western crap i say...

There are overweight people in Poland. Believe me. lol

I was in a Hotel in Poland and they served this up to me for breakfast, I simply asked them to redo the eggs a little better as they were almost raw, but afterwards it was delicious. Just sometimes people make things to their taste and for me eggs especially have to be very well cooked. Remember years ago people in the UK would eat raw eggs too, cracked into a glass and swallowed whole. This was a very common hangover cure and no-one ever died from it.

They still use raw eggs in Poland mixed with tomato juice for hangovers. Just saw it in a Polish movie.

Raw eggs as a hangover cure is in 'Cocktail' with Tom Cruise.
Raw eggs as a protein source is in 'Rocky'.

gross...

Yes there definitely are those lol! However, the are nowhere near as many fat people in Poland as there are in the US, UK, Canada, Australia etc.. (never mind obesity rates). According to a report by the World Health Org (WHO), Poland is #98 of 194 while the US is 9, Australia is 21, UK is 28, Canada is 35 etc.. So obviously they're doing something right by eating veggies in the morning :)

Back to the topic:
When you have hiccups someone comes up from behind you and puts their hand over your mouth and nose to scare the hiccups off. My mom does this to me and its very unkind lol

People put on weight by consuming more calories than they burn up. Very simple. Doesnt really matter what food it is (as long as it isnt pure fat!). I would have thought it is more to do with lifestyle than consumption.

I think its both. From my experiences in Poland, I didn't see nearly as many people eating fast food as I did when visiting the US, London and in Toronto (where I live). Fast food has loads of sodium (as well as other crap) and very little nutritious value. When I was a kid and I'd visit my grandmother for the summer, I'd always lose a few pounds even though I wasn't eating any less or moving more than I would in Toronto (as a kid, we'd pretty much play the same games in Canada as in Poland).

Lots of VPL in summer ..and they look good because most Polish women have great figures! :-) In America, most women go to great lengths to avoid VPL.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panty_line

Is it a bad/cheap/boring ride, or you just don't like the sensation?

bad/cheap/pointless :)
DropZone usually has a crazy ass lineup while the ride itself lasts about 7 seconds. The person drops as if they would in pretty much any roller coaster and this sensations doesn't feel any different. You just have to wait forever for getting 1/4 of the ride.


more or less visible? ;)

strange things about Poland:
pickled pigs knuckles

The stragest thing i have witnessed is the train returning to Wroclaw from Krakow.
A normal journey except for the guy who was getting hassled by the conductor, and some money was passed around....

a little while later, approaching Katowice, the guy made everyone in the compartment stand up while he removed some packages (in black wraps) from under the seats. He then put them into tesco bags before throwing them out of the window to a friend before we arrived at the station.

So, it was obviously something to do with drugs/illegal goods, but very strange that he didnt care who saw him on the train


This happened in Krakow at the weekend, I was in a cafe with my girlfriend, and we had a couple of paninis, her food was cold, and didnt have any filling, and when she complained they said she could have a free meal on her next visit (didnt even offer to exchange, but wanted us to pay)... that was fun, making the waiter feel embarrassed.... but back to the point, we dont wait for bills, we walk up to the till and pay there... the strangest thing is that everywhere like that i have been to, there is no secure till... just a drawer with money sitting inside.

Yes this is to avoid confusion when you are submitting your tax return, 100 for me and 1 to the taxman...

The staring thing..that bothered me lol. When I visited PL, its like they knew I was from the states even when I was with my native polish family. They just look at you like your from another planet lol! I am used to it now but before it was a little odd.

This thread is great..I laughed a lot at some of the things you guys wrote. Like, the roads, the old ladies on the bikes, the if you sit on anything cold youll get deathly sick, and the no milk once your a young adult rule lol.

Poland has a lot of quirks but I love it. Cant wait to go back this summer :)

The weird thing about Poland is how RUDE they are in the streets. note that I stress "in the streets" because the Poles I've met face to face and spoken with have been great and very accomodating.

But other than that, walking around in the street is no pleasant stroll. I'm black so people just grill the life out of me no matter what, and if I hold my polish girlfriend's hand they even point sometimes or shake their heads (older people mostly.). In New York people would stare at me, but then if I would stare back they would look away, not to be rude. But here, even when I stare back they continue to stare, they just don't stop. Also, people are rude because they don't say thank you or excuse me (they do but rarely compared to New York and other parts of Europe.) I've been pushed around a lot, I've stood in line at the grocery store and have had people trying to skip ahead of me.

Another strange thing is the sheer number of disgruntled senior citizens. There are so friggin many of them that there is no point of sitting down in a bus, cuz you have to get up immediately for them.

Another strange thing is that you can't buy tickets for the Train or bus. For a first time visitor this is super strange. There was nothing to tell me where to buy bus rides, thank god my girlfriend knew that they sold them at random stores. Makes no friggin sense.

Also you're not supposed to tip. I'm a generous tipper whenever I can because I used to do that stuff, and my girlfrien looked at me real strange when I wanted to tip the waiter 10.- which is like 5 bucks.

Poland strange? England's got to be stranger...

What's strange is that in the UK...you can't get real bread anywhere, it's only good for toasting and has no weight to it, rubbish for making kanapky with. A deli counter normally has about 5 different meats, and a really big deli counter maybe has 10. We eat dinner in the evening and not the afternoon :). April, which is meant to be the start of spring, this year had two days of snow! When you go to the sauna, British people don't talk to you, but Polish people do. People drink tea with milk in it - I mean, what are they thinking!. And if you want to go a mile down the road you'd drive and not walk.

Having just been in Poland a month, coming back takes a bit of adjusting to. ;)

Chris, Polish loving Brit

>What's strange is that in the UK...you can't get real bread anywhere

You could just make it yourself. I've got a Panasonic Breadmaker and it produces any sort of bread you want. However, you should try shopping elsewhere - I have no trouble find any sort of bread there is.

Yes, you jest.

In the UK, u can't get real bread anywhere? Ever heard of a Polish deli mate? There are loads of them kickin about

That applies in many countries, Spain and France for instance. Most places are organised for people wanting a long lunch - not a fast-food life style.

Poland is one of the strangest countries I have seen.I mean everything is strange in Poland,which is not a bad thing actually,it adds suspense.

For example you see a landscape absolutely flat with no mountains at all,then you see trees placed in order,very tall and then suddenly you meet a mysterious gothic church or some strange castle in the middle of nowhere and everything gets different.It is an atmosphere.You have the sense that something very bad can happen in this territory and then there is Auschwitz.Poland can seem haunted.

Strange is the mix of german,austrian and polish architecture,cities looking very different between each other,the communist monster blocks which are not so properly built in Poland like in Czech Republic and some totally crazy things regarding architecture like a decadent,very ugly building built to replace one destroyed in war whch happens to be next to a marvellous pre-war villa with statues etc.

The big houses trying to immitate the german architecture but with unique polish style,very close to each other,narrow streets and very heavy,baroque style.

And then of course the gorgeous women like coming from fairy tales,the superstitions and this absolute craziness in underground that threatens to explode.
Trimmed and diabolical faces of unemployed gathered next to churches,a ssense of fear and high at the same time.
Poland is phantastic.

Welcome to Poland, i get a lot of head shaking and staring when they see my British number plate. That really does drive me nuts, you can be sat in a restaurant and you feel somebody is staring at you so you look up and yep there is, so you stare back thinking they will look away and there just in a trance fixated on you. Its like have i got two heads or something.


Although I mostly prefer polish food to that of the UK i dont particlalry like the bread here. I find it to dense and not very tasty, also when you do find a particular bread that is acceptable you try to buy the same one again to discover that although it looks exactly the same the recipe and flavour is totally different.

I like it for the first couple of weeks, then I start looking for variety. Fortunately, there is a nice bakery down the street from my MIL that does these wonderful buns. Crusty on the outside with just the right density of bread on the inside. It is easy to eat 4 of them on the way back to the flat.

They sound like the ones im rather partial to. great toasted.

Southern, I dunno how much u have travelled but Poland is not as different as u make it out to be. Go and live in Asia and u can comment til the cows come home.

I have travelled in almost all eastern european countries.Poland has a very special atmosphere in my opinion,you feel constantly that you are in Poland and not in another country.

Last month, the local bakery I went to did this lovely chleb wielozarnisty. Bought two loaves a week and it's absolutely delicious with cheese, ogorki and kielbasa. Haven't managed to find anything in the UK like that. The closest was a mixed rye and granary loaf I found at Waitrose. The Polish delis sell white rye bread which is ok, but doesn't compare to the fresh granary a bakery does.

I know two things that Polish people may find strange about the UK.

1) Windows that open outwards. I think I am right in saying that all Polish windows open inwards so they can be cleaned. Makes sense really.

2) Hot and cold water taps. All Polish taps seem to be mixer taps. There is no benefit to having separate hot and cold taps.

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One thing I think is really nice about Poland is the friendliness of the people. I met, through a friend, a man that couldn't speak English at all, but he came up to me and said "David Beckham"... just in an attempt to make conversation. I smiled and said "Yes, David Beckham" and he replied... "Chelsea, Liverpool" etc.etc.

Its really good that although we couldn't understand each other, he still made the effort to be friendly.

Posh ?