Travel / Which route is the quickest from Warsaw to Wroclaw? [6]

"We start the route from the A2 highway toward Wroclaw."
Poznań, not Wrocław.

"After they complete S8 and A1 (2017?)"
Should be ready in the second half of 2016, probably August. And I wouldn't expect delays, there've already enough of them on the construction of Eastern Bypass of £ódź.

The second option is definitely the best. If you drive at time that there is no traffic jams in cities (weekend or night), you may go through £ódź, I think it would be faster then. But at mornings and afternoons - absolutely avoid the city. And the prices at the section of A2 between £ódź and Konin (the section between Warsaw and £ódź is still free of charge) are very affordable. Of course, you follow A2 to Poddębice only.

UK, Ireland / Cheap buses to Poland from UK [13]

But you don't need a passport there, an identity card is enough. Of course if you have an identity card, in case of UK citizens who don't have this document passport is obligatory.

Travel / Double-decker trains in Poland? [27]


If you are changing trains within one company (for example PKP Intercity, one might be TLK and the other one EIC, it doesn't matter), in the ticket office you should get one ticket for the whole route. Or a set of tickets if the trains are of different category (if you go from A to B by TLK and from B to C by EIC, you should get a ticket from A to C for TLK and from B to C for the difference between EIC and TLK price). Sometimes these ladies at the windows are lazy or they don't know how to do it (especially from the moment the seat reservation began to be obligatory, free of charge and integrated into the main ticket), but it's possible. And it's cheaper than two separate tickets. But on the webpage you can buy two separate tickets only. So in such a situation it might be more expensive.

Or sometimes if the price between 2 stations is "cena relacyjna", that means it is set to be cheaper than according to distance between them in km, the website has sometimes problems with it. This system is not perfect. One of Przewozy Regionalne - biletyregionalne.pl/login - works better, for example allows to buy one ticket when you are changing trains, although I also met problems with "cena relacyjna" (in Przewozy Regionalne called "Połączenie w dobrej cenie").

So currently in Poland it works just opposite than in the UK, "split ticketting" (sometimes involuntary, like in case of incompetent lady in ticket office, or using the website for buying tickets; or if we change trains between different companies, then there is no other option) makes the journey more expensive, not less expensive.

Travel / Double-decker trains in Poland? [27]

In Poland if you want to go last minute, you can always choose TLK or a train of Przewozy Regionalne and still pay a reasonable price. Comparing for example with Germany, where trains are generally very expensive, even taking into account the difference in salaries.

Travel / Double-decker trains in Poland? [27]

Not only this line works so, but almost every TLK train. For about 2 years, I think. But the new system is going to be much more developed. Not with 2 lower price levels, but really dynamic.

Travel / Double-decker trains in Poland? [27]

They are going to introduce a dynamic ticket selling system too, so that the first sold tickets would be cheap. Like in airlines or in PolskiBus.

Travel / Double-decker trains in Poland? [27]

bilet.intercity.pl/logowanie.jsp?lang=EN

They probably don't have the new timetable in the system yet.

By the way, one of Pendolinos broke a pantograph during test a few days ago. Now the Pendolino producer and the operator of overhead lines are quarreling who is to blame for it. Alstom says it was because of the overhead wire covered with ice, PKP Energetyka - that everything was OK with the wire and Alstom calibrated the pantograph wrong.

Travel / Double-decker trains in Poland? [27]

Yes, they will. On the route Wrocław-Warsaw too - 5 trains per day in each direction. But of course not on the shortest one, through £ódź, as nobody thinked about modernising it. They will go through Częstochowa and Opole instead. And £ódź - the third biggest city in Poland - will have no Pendolinos at all.

And due to introduction of Pendolino, they took many "normal" trains from the fastest railway line in Poland.

They will not go from Warsaw to Berlin.

A - let's say - draft of the timetable from 14 December is available here: rozklad.plk-sa.pl/WyszukiwaniePolaczen

Under "TRASA" in "WYJAZD Z" you put the departure station, in "DO" the arrival station (main station in cities have usually the word "G£ÓWNY" or "CENTRALNY" after the name of the city, or they are the name of the city alone). Unter "TERMIN" you set date and time (December is in Polish "grudzień"), choose "Odjazd" if it is supposed to be the departure time, "Przyjazd" for arrival time. Then press "WYSZUKAJ PO£ĄCZENIE". Pendolinos are marked as "EIP" (short for "Express InterCity Premium"). Not to mistake with EIC ("Express InterCity") which is a normal train (with engine and carriages) of high standard.

Travel / Double-decker trains in Poland? [27]

Polish Pendolino will no go round corners so fast because it is lacking of the "tilt" feature.

Language / Powolny / wolny - Free or slow? [5]

Wolny means both free (meaning not taken, not busy; in the context of money - free of charge - it's not wolny but darmowy, although "wolny od opłat" is also sometimes used, but it's rather just a copy from English) and slow. Powolny - only one meaning: slow.

Powolny refers rather to somebody's/something's feature, when something is always slow, while wolny (in terms of speed) to a specific situation. But it's not a very hard rule, if I want to say to somebody to drive slowly, I can say both "Jedź powoli" and "Jedź wolno".

Travel / Double-decker trains in Poland? [27]

It's nothing new and they have nothing in common with France. Rather with Germany. After division of PKP they fell to Przewozy Regionalne. And they are used by them on the most busy local railway lines without overhead wires.

See:
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhp (currently only few of them are still used AFAIK)
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goerlitz_Bmnopux/Bmto

In Warsaw local connections are serviced by Koleje Mazowieckie, not Przewozy Regionalne, and they have some much newer double-decker carriages:
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_Twindexx

See also:
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lista_wagon%C3%B3w_pasa%C5%BCerskich_eksploatowanych_w_Polsce - carriages to be pulled by an engine
(double-decker in Polish is "piętrowy")
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lista_elektrycznych_zespo%C5%82%C3%B3w_trakcyjnych_i_wagon%C3%B3w_eksploatowanych_w_Polsce - electric multiple units and motor carriages

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lista_spalinowych_zespo%C5%82%C3%B3w_trakcyjnych_i_wagon%C3%B3w_eksploatowanych_w_Polsce - diesel multiple units and motor carriages

- all these are used in passenger railway in Poland

Life / Questions about Polish names Pola, Gracja, and Grażyna [29]

Genowefa gives (at least me) no connotations, but is now very uncommon and sounds a bit strange, it's typical rather for someone's grandmother.

Life / Questions about Polish names Pola, Gracja, and Grażyna [29]

If you are going to give one of these names to a child - Grażyna is the most common of them. The other ones are quite unusual or currently not popular. Grażyna is just a normal name that won't cause any problems to your daughter in the feature. Pola would be also OK (it isn't popular but it doesn't have any connotations), but I rather wouldn't give a name Gracja since it has also a meaning as a normal word (it means just grace).

I also heard the story that the name Grażyna has been invented by Mickiewicz - from a Polish (native) language teacher. It's a name of the main character of a narrative poem whose name was just Grażyna. Another name invented by Mickiewicz - in a very similiar way, by giving it to a title character of a drama - was Balladyna, but it didn't take root. Probably because she was a negative character and nobody wanted to give her name to their children.

Life / Is there a cinema/theatre named "Ivanovo" in Lodz? [5]

Ivanovo opened in 1977, the music club moved there in 2006. I don't know when did it change name from Ivanovo to Adria. According to this article: lodz.naszemiasto.pl/archiwum/wspomnienia-ze-starego-kina,339412,art,t,id,tm.html

- in 2002 it still existed (being called Adria, the name must have changed quite a long time before).

The first multiplex cinema - Silver Screen - opened in 2001, the next one - Cinema City (still the newest and the biggest in the city, although a new one is under construction) - in 2006. With the advent of these multiplexes, almost all small cinemas in £ódź (at the peak time there was 33 of them, in 2002 there was still 11 cinemas in £ódź) were forced to close. Only one still operates and competes with multiplexes - Bałtyk. Another one - Tatry - changed target and now it's playing older films, being kept in life with much difficulty by one person.

Life / Where I can buy Christmas tree and its decorative items in Warsaw near metro Imielin? [4]

There will be plenty of such items in every supermarket just after November 1st.

Do you mean a real, living tree, or an artificial one? With a real one it might be slightly more difficult but still you will be able to buy it almost everywhere.

Life / Watching a movie in cinema (Łodź), without Polish dubbing? [9]

Yes, you're right, but in this case this period has finished.

After few months films sometimes appear in small town cinemas. But not many of these cinemas still exist. And this rule worked till, I think, 2 years ago. Most of such (still existing) cinemas has been modernised to digital distribution (since many of new films don't appear in analog version for cinemas) and now they get films together with big ones (they no longer use second-hand film tapes, but digital copies).

Life / Watching a movie in cinema (Łodź), without Polish dubbing? [9]

Practically each bigger cinema gives such an opportunity, or rather was giving it when the movie had just come out. Now it's rather impossible, it's seems to be played by only one cinema in £ódź, only in a dubbed version (which is IMO quite sensible in case of this picture, which is also watched by children that cannot read yet). As the film was new, it was possible to watch it in diffrent version: with dubbing and subtitles; 2D, 3D and IMAX. Now there's only 3D (not IMAX) dubbed available.

Either wait for DVD edition and watch it on DVD (where you can choose the version that you want), or watch another movie in cinema. No other options in £ódź.

According to here: cojestgrane.pl/polska/lodzkie/lodz/wydarzenie/2jb6/straznicy-galaktyki/bylo the subtitles version was played by Cinema City (IMAX) till September 18th, by Bałtyk till September 4th and by Silver Screen till September 11th (2D version). You're late by 1 month.

Travel / Fastest way to get from Warsaw Airport to Lodz central on Monday at noon. [42]

Maybe more convenient interface has: rozklad.sitkol.pl/bin/query.exe/en?

Tip: You have to type the name of the city of £ódź correctly, with diacritics. You may copy it from here and paste there.

The best connection by trains would be:



On the "Koleje Mazowieckie" bus you buy one ticket for the bus and the train to Warsaw for 15 PLN. Both trains stop on the three main stations in Warsaw, but in Warszawa Centralna (the very main station in Warsaw) the train to £ódź (which goes in fact to Jelenia Góra through £ódź) stays for 40 minutes, so you can buy a ticket to £ódź there in ticket office without any hurry and you can quickly board the train without waiting on the platform for a long time.

The most convenient means of transport would be this bus: modlinbus.com (100% direct from the airport to £ódź) - but the webpage says that the tickets for Tuesday 22:15 are sold out (the message "Brak miejsc" displayed in Polish).

Language / What are the correct terms for "flower girl" and "ring bearer" in Polish? [8]

"Nosiciel obrączki" would be a person who has a ring on their finger.

Language / How can I understand when the instrumental or the accusative case should be used? [5]


First of all, "ja" is definitely not needed and sounds strange in this place. It can and should be omitted.

And after "kładę" there should be a name of something which is being put, otherwise the sentence is still very strange :)

For example "Kładę torbę między przednim a tylnym siedzeniem". "Kładę torbę między przednie a tylne siedzenie" means exactly the same, and it even sounds more natural (although in official language I would rather see the first version). So it seems that you are right.


Where do you have all this stuff from? It seems to be not a very good source of knowledge.


Again - what is this "ja" for, and kładę what? What's more, it's rather hard to put something under somebody's feet, unless this person is leviatating :) There is an idiom "kłaść komuś kłody pod nogi" - literally "to put logs under somebody's legs/feet", meaning something like "to make problems to somebody intending to prevent this person from succeeding in what he does". Maybe it's the case.

OK would be e.g. "Kładę torbę przed twoimi stopami". "Twoimi" (and similiar words) is capitalised only in letters, only for the person to which the letter is going to be sent, and this sentence is rather unlikely to appear in a letter :) In this case "Kładę torbę przed twoje stopy" sounds rather rude (but all this sentence is still strange and a bit rude, in what a situation could it be used?). And I think it might be difficult a bit for foreigner to feel it, so maybe in this case narzędnik is just safer.


Not towards the space above Vistula river ("nad Wisłę" would be OK only in that case), but just above the river, in one place, so there is no motion.


It means exactly: "When I am walking in front of my ex-husband.". As you can see, it's not a whole sentence :) And "Idę przed swojego byłego" would mean "I am going towards the place in front of my ex-husband", however strange it sounds (the original sentence is also very strange, I can't see any point in walking in front of your ex-husband).


Is it from a computer translator? If "praca" is the building where somebody works/is employed there (I can't invent any other rational meaning of this sentence), it means "I am walking in front of this building" (I am there). "Idę przed pracę" - "I am walking to the place in front of this building" (I'm not there yet).

I hope it could you understand this difference :) And I think you had better change the materials for learning Polish :)

News / China-Poland railway - but why Łódź? [8]

£ódź - maybe because of a huge railway cargo terminal, £ódź Olechów - one of the biggests in Poland: goo.gl/maps/UNn2M

And because of a central location of £ódź in Poland.

A track gauge in Russia and in Poland is different (apart from one one-track cargo line in southern Poland, so called LHS, which lays hundreds of kilometers south from £ódź: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PKP_rail_line_65). The train must change it on the Russia-Poland border. As far as I remember, in Russia it is 1520 mm, while in Poland (and in western Europe) 1435 mm.

Speaking about Polish-Russia border, I meant of course the border between Poland and countries of former Soviet Union, in this case probably Belarus. Sorry for this simplification.

And answering the question what is carried - I may mention this article: kurierkolejowy.eu/aktualnosci/18856/Pierwszy-pociag-z-Lodzi-do-Chin-ruszy-w-kwietniu.html


In short - form £ódź to China: mainly paper from somewhere out of Poland and safety razors produced in £ódź (Gilette factory). From China to Poland - car parts, clothes, electronics, commercial materials and shoes. 80% of incoming goods stays in Poland, the other part goes mainly to Germany, France and Czech Republic, but also to Slovakia and Hungary.

And I don't suppose it to be able to change the economy of the £ódź region in the following years. Nowadays the city of £ódź suffers from big social problems caused by the collapse of the textille industry in 1990s, which dominated in this city (in fact, thanks to this industry the city appeared and grew up in 19. century). And being a terminal of one train from China, while still most of goods comes by sea, won't change it.

On the other hand even without this train from China the region of £ódź (especially the area nearby the Stryków town) is alredy becoming an important logistics centre due to the location in the centre of Poland, nearby the newly-built intersection of the main highways in Poland: north-south (A1) and west-east (A2).

Sorry for so many posts, but after some time I cannot edit the previous posts any more even if I come up with something more.

Language / How many tenses can be used for "pojechac" [24]

After this correction it's the best one possible.

Travel / DRIVING - CB RADIOS AND THE "PSY" aka - COPS - in Poland [12]

A channel designed for road traffic is 19.

It is used not only to warn about cops (on CB called "miśki", not "psy"), but for example to ask about how to get somewhere, or to ask generally about interruptions on the road, not only cops, but also for example traffic jams.

Be aware that language on CB traffic channel may be not necessarily understandable to a person who don't use it, not to mention a foreigner :) They use words in totally different meaning.

Travel / Cables on facades of krakow buildings [7]

As for me, they should be somewhere inside the building, for example in the staircase - but maybe it would be problematic to pull them somehow onto the roof. So they are on the facade. And again it is not easy to attatch this cable, since it's quite high. They would need a special crew which can work on heights, or at least they would have to rent a scaffolding.

Travel / Can i charge my laptop in a Poland's cafe with no charge? [7]


Czy jest tutaj darmowe wifi?

Where wifi pronounced in a Polish way - something like vee-fee.

Travel / Best way to get from Lodz to Warsaw? [48]

Yes, you can. Both bus and train. You have choice.

Even at night you have a night bus, which goes every 30 minutes, but the number is different. According to JakDojade.pl - it is the line N32.

Travel / ISIC and travel in Poland [8]

It is not exactly so. The regulations on the discounts in public transport in Poland are inconsistent. The legal act of higher order (an act stated by the parliament) says that all the university students up to 26 years old are entitled to 51% discount. It is not specified that foreign students are excluded from this right. On the other hand, an act of lower order, stated by the Ministry, whose purpose is to specify documents confirming the entitlement to these discounts, specifies as such documents:

* for students in general - a student ID issued by a Polish higher school
* for Polish students studying abroad - a student ID issued by a Polish higher school or the ISIC card with an identity document allowing to confirm the identity and the age

So it in fact limits the rights given by an act of higher order.

I am not a lawyer, but for sure something is wrong with this.

Travel / Driving in Poland, are there any rules at all? [149]


With hairdryers :) Apart from teddy-bears, there are crocodiles too. Generally the drivers' slang is practically a different language. However the cops understand it without any problems for sure.

There are still some enthusiasts of radio connectivity here, but undoubtedly the drivers are the main CB user in Poland. Or rather of one channel - 19.

What is interesting - in Poland it is illegal to use a phone which (or whose receiver) needs to be hold in hand while talking - but using the CB radio, holding the microphone and driving at the same time is fully legal, since CB radio is not considered as a telephone.

As far as this radio brought from France is concerned - in Poland the AM modulation is used on CB, while in the western Europe - as far as I know - it is FM. Maybe it's the case.

Travel / Driving in Poland, are there any rules at all? [149]


I would say that mostly the latter. In Poland a device called CB radio is quite popular among drivers - not only the professional ones, but in private cars too. It is not dificult for drivers to warn each other about roadside inspections. And not only roadsite, cops do use more sophisticated method too, like following the driver in an unmarked car and registering its speed with a special video camera - but they are still not a problem for the crazy drivers who just MUST overpass everybody. They are still able to recognize even unmarked police cars.

I suppose all these might be because of quite low traffic fines in Poland. And just because it's Poland.

Travel / Best way to get from Lodz to Warsaw? [48]

A map of the airport is here:
lotnisko-chopina.pl/pl/pasazer/dojazd-i-parkingi/parkingi/lokalizacja-miejsc-parkingowych/mapa-parkingi
As you can see, the bus terminal and the train station are nearby each other.

If you are looking for the timetable
modlinbus.pl/_var/images/rozklad/Lodz_rozklad_jazdy_20140416-0630_v5.pdf

For you important is the green box. "Lotnisko Okęcie" is the Chopin ariport in Warsaw. It's just an alternative name. "o." means odjazd - departure, "p." - przyjazd (arrival). So you need to look at the lower green box.

Unfortunately the bus is at 9:30 a.m., so you will rather not manage to catch it. The next one is 1:20 p.m., so you would have to wait for almost 4 hours. In this time you can be in £ódź by train.

I don't know what day you are flying but for example this Monday there are trains from the airport at 9:47 and 10:35 in the direction of Sulejówek. For you it would be best to leave at Warszawa Zachodnia station and then change into a train to £ódź. The search engine shows IR trains to £ódź fitting (in terms of departure time) to these from the airport. There are also some called TLK. Remember that a ticket for TLK is not valid in IR and vice versa.

It seems that you may use Warszawa Centralna (and Warszawa Śródmieście) station to change the train, but in this case you have less time or even you have to take a later train to £ódź. The best is to see the timetable for the day you need because it is sometimes different for different days.

If you want to use Warszawa Centralna (the advantage is that it is the initial station for some trains to £ódź) and the train from airport stops at Warszawa Śródmieście - these two stations are connected with an underground tunnel. There are very close to each other - one is just designed for local trains, the other one for long-distance ones.