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. [85]


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 [933]

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Off-Topic / Music Thread - part 2 [933]

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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.

Travel / Tourism in Poland [41]


I'd agree with that since I've usually had pretty good experiences in Polish hotels, however the last one I stayed in in Germany a few weeks ago was exceptional. Better than one a couple of years ago in Neukolln near Hermanstrasse U-bahn where I was the only guest who wasn't ar*SSian streetwalker and where there were junkies passed out in the street outside. I was a bit worried about leaving belongings there.


I can live without that. Must have a kettle though which many don't. I have a folding travel kettle though for such eventualities.


In my experiences, that's not been a problem in Poland however it's normal in parts of the Arab world. Sometimes they reset automatically every day, no matter how long your stay is so you get locked out of your room every day, often at random times.

Travel / Tourism in Poland [41]


I'd guess the lunch since it was after a conference organised by a publisher. It would have been nice if the hotel had lost out for the whole stay for 30 rooms though.

The owner may well have been able to go to the police however the amount of money she'd have got in total would have been less than the individual money each woman there would have received had they sued for defamation.

The courts take it quite seriously if someone calls a married woman a prostitute in front of witnesses.

Off-Topic / Music Thread - part 2 [933]

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Travel / Tourism in Poland [41]


This was with a hot horseradish sauce as I recall. It was nice.

There's another story. Not my own however I knew a couple of people there at the time.

There was a three day conference, organised I think by one of the big textbook publishers for Directors of Study and Senior Teachers at language schools. It was in the mid or late 90s in a hotel in I think the South West. On the final day, they had a farewell lunch.

The hotel was run by a rather stern woman of a particular type. Some of the participants at the conference were married and their wives were Polish. Their wives came to the lunch. The woman who ran the hotel walked into the dining room, saw the participants' Polish wives and shouted at the top of her voice "you have brought prostitutes into my hotel. This is a respectable hotel and these women must leave now".

So they did. With their husbands and all, very rightly, refused to pay the bills.

Travel / Tourism in Poland [41]


The ones I've been in have ranged from superb to comically dreadful. Most have been OK.


A few. I stayed in a hotel in Olkusz that turned out to also be a sort of brothel for lorry drivers. The client I was visiting couldn't believe that my employer had put me up there. My underwear was stolen from the room. The restaurant was actually OK with rather nice food however the main thing on the menu was "sztuk mięso" (jaki sztuk? jaki mięso). I also stayed in a hotel in Kołobrzeg (that was supposed to be 5 star but definitely wasn't a 5 star clientele) where there was a massive fight in the bar, vodka bottles and all, and the hotel receptionists had to sit on the perpetrator until the police arrived.

I stayed in a lovely one in Bialystok however it was next to the big Orthodox Cathedral in the centre and it was Easter Sunday for them. And my room was right next to the bell tower with the giant bell that they ring at various points during the liturgy. Not great when you've a hangover.

There's a few more stories though those three will do for now.

Travel / Best route for driving Berlin to Leszno, Krakow, and Vilnius [12]

@EricRDD
95% of hotels in PL are OK in fact. That was maybe just unlucky.

Food / Buying alcohol, wine in Poland. It's very difficult. [85]


With a lot of luck.

They have a few good things however ours seems to specialise in dull wine in fancy bottles.

I used to buy as M&S which had a good (ish) selection but now it's gone. Leclerc has some good wines at reasonable prices though.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

I grew up around them and have quite a few longstanding friends from that subculture. They're usually fine as long as you don't get into discussing religion.

Often very nice people, albeit with a rather bleak worldview. Plus the converts to it are very keen and when doing missionary work some can be a bit persistent. Others are more half hearted and the6 actually get very few converts despite all that standing in town next to racks of leaflets.

I always smile and say hello when I pass them though.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

A few years ago, we used to get Ukrainian people knocking on our door. They'd heard that a Ukrainian persno lives there who has a good job and citizenship and wanted to know how it was done. Now we get old ladies kockig on the door saing they've heard that a Ukrainian lives there and would he like to come to an important meeting. When pushed, they say it's a meeting about the Bible and leave copies of The Watchtower.

Off-Topic / Music Thread - part 2 [933]

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News / European News and Poland Thread - part 4 [635]


He wasn't.

Travel / Best route for driving Berlin to Leszno, Krakow, and Vilnius [12]

A train from Wroclaw to Krakow is about 3 1/2 hours but comfortable.

The trains that sometimes get crowded tend to be just before or after a public holiday or at the start/end of university terms. These tend to be the cheaper 'TLK' and 'Interregio' trains. The normal intercity ones are pretty good for space. For one to be very crowded, you'd really have to have caught it at a bad time.All intercity trains have reserved seats and there's usually plenty of room, though of course Fridays and Mondays will be a bit busier.

Incidentally, when booking trains (I use the booking service intercity.pl), always have a look at first class. Because of dynamic ticketing, if seats in second class are selling well and seats in second class aren't, the first class tickets can sometimes be cheaper.

Poznań is a pleasant place to stay. There are some good quality hotels at a fair price near the seventeenth century Old Town Square (it's a gem) and some big hotels near the conference centre by the railway station on the edge of the city centre. Looking at booking.com etc, just a minute ago there seem to be a few new ones in the old town, in nicely restored buildings. There's also the Puro and the Radisson which are in great locations. One thing that Poznań does well is restaurants, especially around the Old Town.

I'd avoid some of the hotels around ul.Sw. Marcina and ul. Ratajczaka, particularly the larger, older PRL-era ones that look as if they're good value. Most are a bit more run down than the pictures of them online suggest.. One charged my Amex card twice and tried very hard not to refund the money. If we hadn't both spoken Polish well and threatened them with the courts for weeks, I'd still be waiting for the refund. They assumed we were naive foreigners who didn't speak Polish and could be ripped off. Well-known chain hotels are fine though.

Off-Topic / Music Thread - part 2 [933]

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Off-Topic / I am a polish communist. [83]


The running dogs of late stage capitalism.


Me too.

There's English English and there's local variants.

Travel / Best route for driving Berlin to Leszno, Krakow, and Vilnius [12]


They're safer than some of the older roads but still have their moments. It's worth having a look online for accident stats Europewide. Poland is high on the list.


This is a good idea. Driving long distances after flights isn't pleasant, and Berlin is a nice place to be.


This is a good idea.

It sounds a very thorough vacation with lots of places to see. Personally I'd find it interesting but tiring. Doing the journeys by train is a good way to mitigate that and certainly more relaxing.

You mention a visit to the Auschwitz Memorial. That's a heavy place to go. What you see stays with you for ever and it's good to clear your head a bit afterwards by relaxing. After a first visit there, if I was driving afterwards my mind wouldn't be on the road.

Edit

You also mention Poznan. That's a lovely place to visit and worth a day/night. The Beekeeping Museum in Swarzędz (next to Poznań) is great.

Off-Topic / I am a polish communist. [83]


Criticising the grammar of second language speakers is never nice.

Though (and I'll hope your not offended), the word criticise is spelt criticise.

News / Future of Polish-Ukrainian relations [669]


Heads of State meet Heads of State and attend ceremonial events. Heads of Government meet Heads of Government and attend political events.

Quite simple to understand. We're surprised you didn't know that. Or perhaps not actually that surprised.

Life / The climate for gardening in Poland [340]


I like them.

A friend has grown an avocado from a stone and it's looks quite good. Indoors only of course and she keeps it in a smallish pot so it doesn't grow too large.