I'm so bored in Poland!

CIty I'd LOVE to explore is Kraków!!! Everything I've seen thus far in books is breathtaking:-)

Well I bet the air in Opole is fresher than we have in LA.. What gets me all the people to come to Los Angeles for a vacation. Are they crazy??? Opole may be a dump but have you seen our TRASH?

Again - sorry to be down on Polish cities, but my daughter (half British, and widely travelled in the UK) studies in Krakow. 4 year ago she was crazy about it. Now, she has realised what Krakow really is - a kitsch, overblown, ridiculously expensive polluted rotting city full of highways.

It is also full of Americans ( "Oh Harry, isn't it just gorgeous!") and the UK drunk brigade.

Whenever I am down I cheer myself up by thinking that at least I don't live in Krakow. It is nothing special at all, unless you are from Krakow, and full of it. And Krakow people vote PIS. That surely tells us all we need to know.

The really beautiful Polish cities were built by the Teutonic Knights along the Vistula, or by their Kraut brothers (eg: Wroclaw)
Krakow is plastic, and not a touch on at least 5 UK cities I could mention in terms of architecture or geography. So I will.

York/Edinburgh/Oxford/Edinburgh/Bath

Here to help as always:)


Excellent. But I have day-tripped Krakow for 30 years, and it doesn't meet the hype.. Wroclaw beats it hands down IMO, as do many Polish cities. It's the same with the Czech Republic. There are 4 or 5 towns that are on a par with Prague, without the crowds.

DougPol, they said the same thing about Prague and it turned out just to be a lot of bad press issued mostly be jealous ex-pats, soured on the job scene here, and so hightailing it over to Europe to "escape", only to find the job scene over there even worse!

You didn't burst my bubble, sorry. 'Have to try harder than thatLOL

Agree with what I've seen in pictures of Wrocław. A friend showed us some images on her iPhone. Drop-dead gorgeous!!

When you say "Kraków", you certainly mean the Old Town which is a town within the town separated from the rest of the city by the "planty" which were once the fosse around the ramparts. I wish the ramparts had still been there with all its towers; only a small part has survived until today. The best way to feel like in an ancient Kraków again is to imagine they are still there. Kraków is best to see off-season, when the Main Square is really bigger because there are no open-air restaurant tables around it. It is really nice in winter just before Christmas when there is some snow and a lot of open-air stalls selling hot sausages (last time I was there in winter some three years ago, I almost exlusively heard Spanish among the crowds of tourists). With all the lights and snow on a winter evening you can really feel as if moved back in time into a true mediaeval town when you come up to certain old buildings.

True, but don't forget the mulled wine. Straight to the cns.

Don't you have "mulled wine" in GB???? It is not a Polish thing but a (continental?) European custom.

It's much less common in the UK. My brother is the only Brit I know who regularly makes it, and that is because he used to go to German Christmas markets and liked it there. You can always tell who's had a glass by the dopey grin from ear to ear. I have fond memories of the square in Kraków at Christmas. Eating grilled Oscypek with cranberry sauce, and drinking mulled wine.

yes we have 'mulled wine' in GB but it might have been one of those German Christmas customs introduced by the German royals. Like Christmas trees and candles and so on.

Coud be (re GB) and most probably it's very recent in Poland (post 1989?) but it has always been very popular in wine producing areas. In France, they've been drinking "vin chaud" in various recipes ("mulled wine") since close to 2,000 years ;).

Mulled wine is a much older British tradition than that British Bird. It dates back to the thirteenth or fourteenth century, the Wassail cup I think it was called then. It was more of a hot punch or ale than wine, but anyway alcohol based and spiced/sweetened. There's a carol called '|Here We Go A- Wassaling'! Then it seems to have fallen out of fashion.

Of course, Atch, "mulled wine" is as old as wine production is.

And long may it continue. Yum, yum! They sell bottles of pre-mulled wine in M&S and Tesco now. But it's much nicer to prepare your own with cloves and oranges etc. Smells just gorgeous.

oh well spiced ale, sure.
But "mulled wine"....less so perhaps.

Absolutel, Atch, better to buy a bottle of good wine and prepare one's own....

Just off the top of my head, is it possible that wine was a bit too expensive for the average Joe, so that's why it was mostly ale and mead that got 'mulled'. Perhaps the upper classes enjoyed mulled wine.

Did a quick google and found a very interesting link:
oakden.co.uk/potus-ypocras-hippocrass-medieval-mulled-wine/

An early English recipe for mulled wine. Looks do-able even nowadays. Spikenard root might be a bit hard to come by and 'guinea grains' but I'm sure a bit more googling would uncover a few acceptable substitutes! When the evenings get colder I'll by trying it anyway.

You've got me feeling all Christmassy. btw, is anyone else burning coal yet? We had some delivered yesterday (620 PLN/tonne), and it was just in time.

"...wine was a bit too expensive for the average Joe..." Definitely.

How nice that someone is feeling Christmassy. Far too much misery and malice on this forum. Out with the misery say I and on with the fairy lights!

On with the fairy lights and a vat of medieval mulled wine I say!!

We're getting far too jolly British Bird. We'll be sent to the off-topic section shortly to think over our sins. Can't have irrelevant 'enjoying yourself' on Polish Forums.

I was coming to tje old place at xmas now I dont know if I can due to business. Never been bored there for even 1 minute. Oh and I should point out it wasn't because I was wearing tracksuit squizeeing fruit.

I am never bored in Poland. There is always something to do.

Exactly. Only halfwits or demented ones get ever bored. Intelligent broad-minded people are always able to find an interesting activity.

@pawian
Depends what one is used to, if a person got used to being excited by a lot of expensive adventures and hobbies then loses access to them. Regular things become dull and lacks challenges (due to increased dopamine resistance).

Which leads to higher need for a higher dopamine kick, just like with addictions. One reduces it by doing it less over a longer period of time. (Which is difficult)

I just walked into a school and asked if I could talk to their English class. I will never forget that experience. At their request, a one-time, one-hour thing became 5 times that.

I also went to see a priest in Radom to ask how he can reconcile the difference between what the Vatican says and what the Polish government does about illegals. It was memorable, too,

BTW, even as an atheist, I appreciate the magnificent beauty of the Polish churches, including the one in Radom where I received my first communion.

When I visited that church, I was so impressed with the singer that I waited till she came down and invited her for tea. We had a nice conversation till well after closing. Then I walked her home and never saw her again.

My point is that no place is ever boring. You are.

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@Novichok
You show us your more human side.👏

The strange thing about nostalgia trips like the one I took 5 years ago is that those are best done alone. Then you are free to do all kinds of weird things without asking your traveling partner.

Boring starts when the two of you (editorial) just stand there unable to decide what to do next.

Yes, true.


Well, then one side has to be more decisive than the other.

It reminds me a little of what Americans tend to say after moving to Canada. I would call it "prescriptive" life. Where from one day to another, there is no distraction towards anything new happening around. And everyone follows the same pattern of wanting to buy, do, or build something better for themselves (!), rather than planning anything that would involve joining efforts with other people. It's all about what "I am going to do tomorrow". Furthermore, today is of no significance to anyone. Do correct me!, but folks here do not appear to enjoy the present moment, nor see one another's company as anything worth their interest.