Things that pleased me:
Dlugi Targ Street in Gdansk. Never seen so many gorgeous buildings in one place! Unmissable.
Ostroda. So beautiful it brought tears to my eyes and I never wanted to leave!
Polish hospitality isn't dead! Hurrah.
Most homes are on the internet.
The sudden preponderance of fruit teas. Never seen them in PL before.
I travelled on many trains with a heavy holdall on wheels, and on only ONE occasion did a male (teenager in a hoody) just stand and watch me struggle to lift my holdall. On all other occasions (about 15 or 20 of them) a man jumped in to help me before I had to put on my "weak woman looking for help" face. Every time I entered a compartment, for example, a man instantly stood up and offered to lift my bag up onto the rack. Much more quickly than a British man would help one, for sure. In fact a Brit would probably wait to be asked. I never had to ask once. At Gdansk Glowny an American guy grabbed my bag and carried it up the steps to the platform along with his own, saying he was better balanced that way! At Warsaw a tall man about 30 met me at the top of the stairs coming off the street, carried my case down, found my platform for me, carried my case again down the stairs and placed it in the train for me, shrugging off my thanks.
Polish adverts on TV. Absolutely hilarious.
Polish food, thank goodness żurek, barszcz, kotlet schabowy, keiłbasa, surówki, dill etc are still staple foods on the menus, and Western rubbish hasn't completely knocked Polish food off the menu. In the small towns there wwere no McDonalds, no KFC and no Burger King.
Prices are still reasonable for Brits even though the pound is weak. I was having lovely meals (for one) for just 30 zl and found lodgings for 35 zl.
Train fares are incredibly cheap. Bus fares even cheaper, but not so comfy.
Some things that dismayed me:
Top of the list has to be seeing a news report about the stag party Brits in Krakow. One was pissing, another puking up, into the flowers left in memorium of some war hero by his relations. I was so ashamed to be British that the next day I pretended to be German!
Being taken for a German irritated me, actually. I wore my Union Jack badge as I hated it so much. Masuria is overrun with Germans, so much so that my hotel had German TV beamed in by satellite.
The lovely little carved boxes and carved wooden figures that used to be absolutely everywhere are now nowhere to be seen. Pity.
I gave 5 zl to a crippled old lady aged about 90 begging in the street, and a well-dressed Polish lady stopped me and told me I shouldn't give her anything.
In 9 days I only saw one internet cafe, so it wasn't easy for me to write home or check anything. I only used the internet three times: twice in private houses and once in the tourist information centre.
The number of Poles that still smoke; the fact that chemist sells cigarettes amongst all their posters and signs about health supplements etc. On trains, people still smoke in the corridors and vestibules and cycle compartments, in a no-smoking carriage, so you are still likely to get a huge lungful as you are getting on and off. Also smoking is allowed in restaurants etc. In Warsaw there was a no-smoking section but you had to walk through a fug of thick smoke to get to it!
My friend, a doctor, while puffing away on a ciggie repeatedly remarked (about food) that 'this is good for you', 'that is unhealthy' etc, without seeing the irony. And although she's drunk tapwater all her life, suddenly she won't touch it and buys huge bottles daily. Other Poles, too, have succumbed to the anti-tap water brainwashing!
More to come, when I think of them ...
Helena
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