Poland I love, my Poland

We often say „my country”, „My Australia” or it could be any place we love and the place we know from the way back. Childhood, happy times, times of personal growth, typically it is a place of our youth. When I say “my Poland” this is the country I was brought up in. Of course, I think about my childhood with tenderness and nostalgia. I also think about Poland of those times with fondness. At the same time this is not the country of today and not  Poland I love.

Is Poland of today “My Poland” ? Yes, it is more my Poland than the country I remember from the past.

Weekends in Gdansk have proved difficult for me and I decided that I need to make some changes in my weekend routine not to get depressed. Today was time for a new approach and I went to  the Old Town. It is a pleasant  walk through the park with my favourite chestnut tree alley, passing the cranes of Gdansk shipyard and three  crosses of Solidarity. But I will write about it some other time.

 I live next to the Medical University and to my surprise in the small park nearby there was a crowd of people instead of normally empty weekend spaces. The university organised an event for the people of Gdansk to inform about health issues in various medical streams. I have not seen anything like that in the past in Gdansk. Smiling  medical students talking to people of different ages, taking their blood pressure and other more complicated medical tests. A band playing on the stage,  people sitting on the grass, some doing yoga. It may sound normal to an Australian but in Poland this is not a normal view. Some time ago one could not even walk on grass without penalty. And now families sitting down to their picnics! This is Poland I love. Relaxed and caring for its people.

I had lunch in the Old Town in a restaurant called Kokieteria – Coquettish at the bank of Motlawa.  The weather was beautiful, the view as well and not too many tourists yet. In a couple of weeks there will be a continuous stream of people passing by.

 The service was perfect, timely, friendly and knowing their menu very I typically have one glass of wine with my meals but this time the waiter came up to ask – would you care for another glass? - in such a perfect moment that I could not give any other answer than – yes, it would be nice. And it was.

Maybe the salmon was not of the perfect pink colour in terms of My Kitchen Rules judges but risotto made of millet groats was beautifully creamy and well spiced. The crust on the salmon was delightful. I enjoyed the scenery, the food and the chat with Pan Tomasz who was taking care of  my meal and enjoyment  in the restaurant.

Asked if I would like tea or coffee after the meal, I ordered coffee not expecting anything to write home about, after all it was a hotel restaurant. To my surprise my espresso was fantastic, so was the subject  knowledge of Pan Tomasz . He knows about coffee more than many baristas and this is not even his job. And again – This is Poland I love. Friendly and professional.

Talking to Pan Tomasz I found out things about Polish life which is perhaps challenging, but I left believing that the new generation of Poles will make the country really special and successful. And not in too distant future.

This is Poland I love. Giving me hope that the country will be soon a really good place to live.

On my way back home I passed one of many small bridges of Gdansk with locks attached to its lace. The locks were put there by couples in love. I guess they symbolise permanence of their feelings. I wonder what was said and felt by people who decorated the bridge in such a way.  This is Poland I love. A romantic country.

June is a season for strawberries in Poland and Poles are very patriotic about this particular fruit. In Gdansk everybody believes Kashubian strawberries are the best in the world.  Kashuby is this the northern part of Poland.

The fruits are not sold in punnets here. If you want to buy them in a container, you need to buy 2 kg thing like the ones on the picture.

Otherwise you buy them by kilos for about 1- 2 dollars  in season. And again this is Poland I love.  It has fantastic strawberries.