Polonia / Why do Lviv & Vilnius look nicer than Polish cities? [16]

That's quite a manky makeover. It just looks like a fairly dull modern house. Some of the old 60s and 70s angular houses have been updated in a far better way without hiding what they are.

History / 70th anniversary of 1943 Wołyń/Volhynia and Eastern Galicia Massacre - controvercies [454]


And remember the fallen, just as we remember our enemies' fallen soldiers now.


They never 'lived with you' by choice. Who would want to?

History / 70th anniversary of 1943 Wołyń/Volhynia and Eastern Galicia Massacre - controvercies [454]


Why would they take part in events on that day?

News / Is NORD STREAM dangerous for Poland's natural enviroment? [540]

And as you know, the number is far, far fewer.

USA, Canada / Do Poles in the US come to Burningman? [31]


I've been saying that all along.

Beavers, bushes, pubes, prostitutes. He can't control himself...

News / Is NORD STREAM dangerous for Poland's natural enviroment? [540]

Indeed. We invented everything and there are even some people from PL who move there.

News / Is NORD STREAM dangerous for Poland's natural enviroment? [540]


No. The U.K., though Britain will do. The Great part is the geographical description of the main island. And currently the only major fully independent country in the region since only part of Turkey is I. Europe.

And fortunately it has gas/oil too so doesn't have to do dodgy deals with r*SSia for oil and gas.

Off-Topic / Music Thread - part 2 [970]

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History / 70th anniversary of 1943 Wołyń/Volhynia and Eastern Galicia Massacre - controvercies [454]


Of course not. As mentioned, they weee kids who'd grown up in an information vacuum, having known (depending if they grew up in the part of Ukraine occupied by r*SSia or occupied by Poland) persecution from either.


Most of them could barely read, let alone find Berlin on a map or understand political theory.


At least you're right about that.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]


There was a cavalry charge against (I think) a mechanised infantry unit however the stories of cavalry charges against tanks are due to a film of a real cavalry charge made shortly before the war and shown by Pathé in cinemas worldwide.

History / 70th anniversary of 1943 Wołyń/Volhynia and Eastern Galicia Massacre - controvercies [454]


They didn't know what Nazism was.

Kids, brought up in an information vacuum, belonging to a nation that yours tried to exterminate by starvation.

Unlike r*SSia, who were allied with Nazi Germany and invaded Poland together with them.

News / Is NORD STREAM dangerous for Poland's natural enviroment? [540]


No, not all.

The only fully independent major country in Europe did not expect Ukraine to fall. And were it not been for that country, r*SSia would be in Kyiv now.

USA, Canada / Do Poles in the US come to Burningman? [31]


Have you ever been to Blackpool during Glasgow Holiday Fortnight?

Katie Perry? I'd heard the name but wasn't sure who she was so had to google her. It said she's religious. Christian apparently.

Language / How to correctly pronounce "złoty" in Polish? "ł" letter [17]


Or 80 even.

I knew someone from a rather posh background in pre-war Wilno who died well into his 90s about 10 or 15 years ago. He always used it and it sounded beautiful.

Thing is, he was a TV and film actor and when acting pronounced it the modern way.

Nowadays it's as close to the BrEng "W" as to be virtually indistinguishable from it.

Life / Differences between Irish, British, Polish, American and other nations culture, tradition, music - loose talk [241]


They became fashionable among students in the UK back in the mid 80s. Utter muck but fun at the time.


I once bought a chocolate flavour cherry wine in Poznan, for about 7zl. Dreadful and aimed at homeless and the poorest alkies. Worth a try though. As were those chocolate favour cigarettes (Nestor?) that used to be made in Lublin and are banned now.

USA, Canada / Do Poles in the US come to Burningman? [31]

It's a really big music/arts festival and very popular. Quite leftfield. I'm not sure what music they play however it's been happening for decades and has its own traditions.

I think it can be quite expensive. Plus a lot of work since you have to prepare stuff well in advance. As far as I know, you can't just pitch up with a sleeping bag like at Glastonbury.

There are music festivals in PL of course, most of them very mainstream however there's one, somewhere north of Warsaw, which is the nearest thing to that. I forget its name.


Hard to know where you pulled that gem from.

Travel / Winter break Road trip - Poland or Ukraine? [9]


We did 2 nights in Zamość and it was the perfect length of stay. And yes, Lublin is nice to visit.

Life / Typical Dentist-Hygiene in Poland [41]


That's shockingly expensive!

Work / Labor condition in a typical restaurant in Poland [4]


Not in Poland or elsewhere in the European Union. It's usually about 7.5 or 8 hours a day with good breaks (though you can do overtime if it's paid as such) although longer shifts can be possible and you usually get two days off though I think the legal minimum is one. Due to the 48 hour per week rule though, in practice it works out at 2 free days.

The law is applied strictly in Poland, and exploitative employers are dealt with quickly. The Labour Courts are quick and easy. They usually find in the worker's favour.

Don't forget to join a union.

These might be useful to you:

gov.pl/web/family/working-time-setting-and-settlement
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_Time_Directive_2003

Life / Typical Dentist-Hygiene in Poland [41]

I've never thought of such a thing. In Poland my friend does it all and doesn't charge, and in Britain the NHS do it all.

Life / Typical Dentist-Hygiene in Poland [41]


What is that?

Law / Selling a cello in Poland [4]


Like good violins, the cost difference between the best and an ordinary one is huge, and there have been many issues over the years/centuries in Europe with fake ones that purport to have been made by famous craftspeople. A few countries have specific rules about their sale and about their export. The best ones are also considered part of a country's cultural heritage.

Food / Buying alcohol, wine in Poland. It's very difficult. [86]


There are some fairly posh wine shops in Poland that have a really good selection.

A lot of the market is sweeter and semi sweet wines. Our Biedronka has a few nice ones (especially from South America, good Chilean Merlot and Argentinian Grenache) but way too many gimmicky ones in gold bottles or bottles shaped like things. Even in the posh shops, there's ones bought because they're fancy rather than how they taste. I once went to a wine tasting evening that the Chamber of Commerce had for its members. Everyone got crazily drunk but the one they all wanted to sample was 120 year old sherry that cost a fortune. It had actually gone black and was a bit nasty but it was the kind of thing that people with some money buy to show off to guests.

There's a good wine shop called Darwina on ul. Widok in Warsaw though generally we get boxes from the supermarket (and if it's white, stick a bit of Aperol in to take the taste away) or have a look at what Biedronka or Leclerc have on special offer.

Travel / Tourism in Poland [41]

Uphill from the station, quite a walk away, at the very top of (or just past) that district with the nice 1920s and 1930s buildings. It's been gone for a few years now since I fancied staying there again and looked.

Off-Topic / Music Thread - part 2 [970]

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Off-Topic / Music Thread - part 2 [970]

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Travel / Tourism in Poland [41]


Sometimes, we used to do the training in an even nicer hotel by the Czech border. They always used to go across because apparently there was a very cheap brothel just over on the Czech side They were always trying to get me to go with them though obviously I never did. Once (when I'd been invited but had declined) they said afterwards that there was only one good one there at the time so they all piled on the same one at the same time. They were all mid/late twenties guys (some of them very tasty indeed) and I rather regretted not going with them on that occasion.

Another (sort of) hotel story. I used to go away for weekends around Poland with a friend. I was a lot poorer then than now and my friend was always on a very tight budget (plus he's as mean as mustard and hates spending money). He'd booked the hotel and said it was called the 'Pensionat PCK'. I thought that sounded familiar however they couldn't possibly be a hotel named after the Red Cross and didn't think much about it.

It turned out not to be a hotel but a kind of przytulak with homeless families in. Clean, comfortable and cheap though.

A couple of times with the same guy, I stayed in Katowice. He also found a cheap place which was extremely unusual but cheap and I'd go again (except it's demolished now with expensive flats on the site). It was a 'sports hotel' connected to a tennis club, basically rooms above the changing room and bar. Being a tennis club, pretty well everyone in the bar and in the hotel were butch lesbians.

A convenient and cheap place to stay though; it's a shame it's gone.

Travel / Tourism in Poland [41]


These were definitely more likely to look like slightly dowdy housewives and bespectacled schoolteachers.

I used to teach intensive courses in a hotel near Łódź (I'll not name the location or hotel but it's a good one) and the guys I taught always used to order prostitutes by asking the receptionists who apparently get a kickback for it.


That's it, Ibis are part of the Accor chain like Mercure and Nivotel. You can sometimes get bargains if you have a loyalty card with them.

There's another story actually about that chain. It was the Novotel Gdańsk Marina. Actually a good hotel however my parents stayed there and there were two things. One is that it's badly misnamed, being quite a long way from the city (it's past the famous Falowiec building) and there were a couple of large family groups (both from Scotland) there for the weekend who obviously hadn't checked the location on a map before booking and were sad in the lobby constantly moaning about how far they were from town. The other thing is that my folks found a used tampon under the bed. The hotel did give them another room though.

Travel / Tourism in Poland [41]

Perhaps the most unusual hotel I've stayed at in PL was actually in a medieval castle. I forget which one, only that it was in the north east, not quite in Mazury and the next day we visited Święta Lipka. Lovely rooms and a real castle though as I remember it was fairly cold due to the thick stone walls. It had a small but nice restaurant/bar, and upstairs in the hotel there were lots of antiques and big heavy furniture.

I stayed in one in Kielce once that was Chinese themed. Quite a nice hotel, old fashioned but with character.

Scuse the typos in the last post; I'm on a crazy slow connection and it went a bit strange when I tried to edit.

Travel / Tourism in Poland [41]


I'd say it was more about her personality, a sort of Basil Fawlty if you know that TV show. These were 30 and 40 something married women, and given that it was day time, I really doubt they'd be dressed in crop tops, mini skirts, high heels and burdelówki.


True.

I've stayed in maybe 4 or 5 hotels in your city. No bad or really strange experiences however once when I stayed there (I think it was the chain hotel near the old synagogue - is it the Novotel?) something puzzled me. I was there with a woman friend for a meeting to do with a voluntary activity we do and she explained what it was about. It was pretty unusual.

Em before arriving at the hotel, I'd noticed something odd. There were groups of women, mostly middle aged in twos, threes or fours walking around town. They were all reseeds identically in big coats and red hats. In the hotel lobby there were even more women in small groups also dressed the same, with the red hats. When we were going to our rooms, there was a room open on the corridor with women in and they tried to hand my friend a red hat from the box.

It was to do with that TV journalist (I forget her name) who died of cancer and whose husband became (I think) the minister of health. Apparently, once a year they visit a different city in Poland and all dress the way she used to on TV. It was surreal to say the least to see a couple of hundred women all dressed identically walking around the town, most of them staying in our hotel.