. . . bombed heavily during the war, rebuilt afterwards in the 'urban sink' estate style,
£ódź? Bombarded? Where?!
I think this city is most interesting on its 'dark side'. We've got great cemeteries, a lot of abandoned factories, post-industrial areas etc. In the Jewish cemetery (which is beautiful, anyway), you can even look at an old 'bed' that was used to wash the bodies before the burial. In the Old Cemetery, especially in the Protestant part, there's a lot of big, impressive graves and tombs (about 100 years old) and a great neo-Gothic chapel (it looks the best on a foggy night). In some small roads in the centre, you can admire interesting 19th century architecture but in most cases in a very bad condition. There are many hidden details which add some taste to this place: you enter a gateway to the yard of some old, derelict tenement house, and suddenly see some interesting sculpture on the wall, in the most unexpected place. Or you enter the annexe of such a house, look up, and on the ceiling, there is some wonderful, although crumbling, moulding.
Not long ago, an old drain pipe under the main square was opened for tourists and a museum was made there. It's a round tunnel with walls made of red brick, with some old photos and 19th cent. devices - a really cool place but not for the claustrophobic. And even that shopping centre is quite bearable because some of the original factory architecture was preserved.
For a conventional trip, £ódź is not the right place, but I can't say it's not interesting. All the 'touristic' spots, like Piotrkowska or Poznański Palace are boring, but off the track it's really got a charm.
