Returning to post

I has been a while and since I posted and it is difficult to pin point one reason for it. I had some technical problems and had to live without internet for some weeks. Again! I have not felt all that well as my heart has not been beating evenly and this slows me down. I have been having some sort of identity crises swapping Australian kind of life for a Polish one. The last is not really a problem, rather something positive, but I must say it is confusing having the two identities in me and swapping them depending on current place of residence.

For now, I seem to prefer my Polish life style to the Sydney one and I hope it will change again in few weeks as Australia is my home and I want to have genuine and positive feelings about living there. The life I lead now is the result of the choices I have made over the years. Nobody to blame or to thank for but myself. I always thought that the choice for Australia was a brilliant one and I loved my Aussie life for many years. Then few things changed and some of the things I loved about my life in Sydney disappeared. A lot good things are still there for me, but Poland is a competition.

I have been visiting Poland almost every year for the last decade and each time I stay in my beautiful Gdansk. I call the place “my” even if my adventure with Gdansk started only recently. The place grew on me with each visit, there is some magic to this part of Poland and I am not the only person who thinks that. My best Polish friend who lives in Warsaw also says that there is magic in the Tricity. She is right.

Even if I do not want to compare the two countries and understand that it is not possible to do that sensibly, I catch myself on random thoughts giving Poland advantage over some aspects of my Australian life. This is only a temporary feeling, I know (or hope?). I believe, I will come to my senses soon. But for now, I am enchanted by Gdansk.

What is it that makes me see Poland in rosy colours? It is definitely not the politics or general characteristics of the “Polish nature”. They are sad, confusing things that worry me a lot but I do not want to think about them now. Many small, rather insignificant things add up and make me feel comfortable and satisfy my need of beauty in life.

Old Europe has its undisputed charms and Poland and particularly Gdansk are a part of it. When I stroll to the green market I am already in the Old Town of Gdansk or rather The Main Town as it is correctly called. I make a little detour for coffee in the Long Market, sit in an outside garden of a coffee place; read or watch passers-by. They are many of them and various nations, as I am always here in a tourist season. This is like a sitting form of flâneuring. They are very pleasant moments allowing for observations of people and surrounding architecture originating in XVI and XVII centuries. There is time for reflection and a bit of philosophising. Life in a slow movement…
                                                              
                                                                     

                                        

It does not take any effort to pay a visit to local Museum to see the famous Last Judgement painted by Hans Memling in the XV century. I just discovered that the famous painting has links with Florence, the place that fascinates me.      

                                                 

                    

The exhibition of the museum is more substantial than it has been some years ago. There are wonderful medieval treasures in form of sculptures, embroidery, the gold and silversmith art. There is also a good representation of Dutch paintings. I left the place with a WOW feeling.

Poland is not a rich country, but certain decisions of the town authorities contradict that. If there is going to be a fence in the town it is made of a wrought iron and is of the old-fashioned design and quality. There is a lot of granite as parts of pavements and the cobble stones are individually placed when repairs are needed. Some years ago, I saw asphalt street being ripped off and replaced with granite cubes for the street to look as it originally did some centuries ago. Not a short street, I must add.

Rides by public transport in Poland are free for retirees, not like in Australia only cheaper than for those who pay full fares. I am not trying to say that the Polish retirees lead a good life. Just the opposite, Australia better takes care of its older citizens.

Tram stops have light displays showing the forthcoming trams and times to departure. And this is 100% accurate, no need to use the information from a mobile. While traveling on a tram, the stops are announced. I was rather surprised on one of my first tram trips when I heard the announcement sang to the tune of the Bizet’s toreador song. It was announcing The Baltic Opera stop. Just before I managed to get over the nice surprise, a voice of a small child told me the next stop will be the stop by the Children Theatre. I hesitated if I should not travel to the end of the route just to hear the announcements. I lately discovered that the two announcements may be the only ones.

It is very nice and decadent to ask for half a kilo of blueberries and pay around 4 A$ for it. Raspberries and strawberries are also a reason for a great indulgence at a small cost.

                                                                   

In my kitchen after the visit at the green market

I just realised that I may have overdone in compensating for my break in posting, so I stop here even if my list of nice things about Poland is not finished yet. 

Place where a lot has happened

Some time ago, I have been told that I concentrate too much on the past rather than living in the NOW. I got a bit defensive about it, but on reflection I think I may have misunderstood the message and intentions of the person who commented on my posts. This time I must admit that the past is flooding my thoughts and feelings.  It restricted my actions and it is time that I do something about it. The Tri-City of Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia causes excessive reflections. So much has happened in this place not only for the Polish modern history but also for me personally. I decided that writing I about it may help to get it out and forget. Here it goes…

I have not considered Gdansk to be my home town until quite recently it has started to change. Before I left Poland for living in other countries, I considered myself to be a Warsaw girl. I lived in Warsaw for about 15 years and felt at home there. I only visited the area around Gdansk from time to time. Almost each visit, however, triggered off some important change in my life. I have not realised that until quite recently, but the pattern is very clear.

It was not far from Gdansk that I fell in love for the first time. They are nice and tender memories confused a bit by the fact that it was me who left the relationship and not for a good reason. I simply grew out of it. Maybe this is a good reason enough? The object of my reminiscing lives in Gdansk now. When I pass his place of business, and I do sometimes, I cannot stop the memories to come back.

Yesterday, I walked from Sopot along the beach towards Gdansk. And again, I passed the place where my life took one of those critical turns. There, I met my future husband during one summer holiday. It was also the time where I said good bye to my first love. It was confusing and created a sense of guilt in me. It was quite an appropriate feeling for I was still a catholic girl and a Polish one to it. Guilt is speciality of Poles and a Catholicism is based on it.  So, I felt bad, but my life at the same time moved in the new exciting direction and the bliss of the first grownup love followed.

There is another place in the Long Market in the Old Town of Gdansk, where I learnt computing languages and this made me a programmer and started my IT career lasting many, many years. It was the start to my successful professional life. It is difficult not to pass the place where I studied those languages when I stroll in the Old Town and then it is difficult not to think about the times passed. Actually, it was more that studying involved there. 

There are two facades but the buildings are internally joined 

                                               

The room now looks very much the same as I remember it

After some years, life took me away from Poland and Australia became my new home. But before I moved there, me and the new man in my life spent part of our honey moon in Sopot staying in the Grand Hotel. It was a grand place, as the name indicates, but it was a tired grandness, only a memory of grand times. The communistic rulers did not approve of excesses in comfort and elegance, so the place was badly kept. It still meant a lot to me to be there. We had a room with a view. It was not a grand room, definitely not a honey moon suit, but the windows opened towards the sea. I thought it was fantastic.  I remember opening the window and inhaling the smell, the smell of sea I always found wonderful.

During my years in Australia I have not though about Gdansk at all and very little really about Poland. Of course, I knew about Solidarity and Walesa. It was Gdansk again…

After years my life went through another turn and I found myself on holidays in Gdansk. A single person again. With the help of my dear friend I reacquainted my old admirer. We went through a period of mutual infatuation and since we both were single it seemed sensible to plan our autumn years together. That is how I came to live in Gdansk. We shared the memories of our young years, love for literature and inclination to philosophising. We both loved under-cooked vegetables which is rather uncommon in Poland. That seemed enough to enter another relationship.  It was not that idyllic as I had imagined, but there are beautiful memories that come to me very often when I am in Gdansk. There is a lot of melancholy around it as the man has passed away.

There are a lot of good, happy feelings as well as I love my life style when in Poland. I also find my Gdansk place very comfortable and beautiful. I hope I will be able to return here for many more years. If I would be asked now what my Polish home town is , I would definitely answer – GDANSK!

Au revoir to Gdansk

I will be going back to my second home tomorrow. With some regret I will be saying “see you later Gdansk”. A lot has happened in Gdansk for me. Good, fantastic, uplifting, bad and sad. This year it has been more good than during my last stays here. I have been able to reflect on what next and even if I do not have all the answers I feel that I have made progress. My proverbial “how to live prime minister?” has some answers now.

I have done a lot of flaneuring in Gdansk and I discovered a lot of beauty in the old streets, old parks, coffee places and European lash nature. I am aware that I lived through the summer best. The doom is just around the corner and I am flying away to my warm count

My favourite park

My favourite street

I always loved the concept of café life. The famous café Les Deux Magots in Paris the hub of literary life always woke up special feelings and reflections in me. Mind you it was in the first half of the XX century but some of that atmosphere is still alive in Europe. I do not know people in Gdansk I could sit for hours at a table in a corner of an atmospheric cafe and discuss important things. But I can go to a place of an old beauty and sit there for hours with a book, notebook or a computer. 

This is the view from one of such cafes 

 But I can go to a place of an old beauty and sit there for hours with a book, notebook or a computer. They usually even have a wi fi.  Nobody comes to indicate that my time in the place is up. Such is the case in Sydney and I think in the whole Australia. Coffee places are places of business and that requires that new orders are placed frequently. The European ways are not money spinners and I have no idea how it all functions from the financial point of view, I suspect not very well for the owners but great for me – a customer.

I will be missing all that.

Mr.Tusk - the President of European Union

My most popular post to date has been Why do I like and respect the Polish PrimeMinister Donald Tusk.  Obviously, when we blog about somebody or something popular it rubs off on the blogger. Thank you Mr. Tusk, no more the Prime Minister of Poland, for my undeserved popularity.

Mr. Tusk advanced to the President of the European Council. This is international recognition of his talents and I, his fan, am very happy about it. He took over his new post a couple of days ago and yesterday gave his first speech in English. 

 I have attached a link. It takes about eight minutes and shows Donald Tusk as I knew him from the past. Relaxed, even if he jokes about being nervous. If it is possible at all, I think he appears relaxed and at the same a bit nervous. Apparently, he has been criticised for not speaking English or French. I think he made a good progress in English. His German has been always fluent though, I hear. This is  not surprising for  a person with Kashubian  background. Kashubia is a northern part of Poland with its own language which uses many German words. So, from the linguistic point of view one should not criticise Mr. Tusk all that much. How he will manage in his new post we’ll see and I think he will make a positive mark on Europe. He is still my hero.

Kashubia

                                              

In my previous post I mentioned Jurata and its special location on a very narrow peninsula. The attached map of Kashubia shows it well. Jurata belongs to the Kashubian district. I first heard Kashubian language during my holidays in Jurata. I was surprised that in Poland people speak other languages or dialects than pure Polish, but they still do.

Mr Tusk comes from Gdansk. That is the place where I live during my visits in Poland. My Polish neighbour tells me that her son went to school with Donald Tusk who would have been called those days - Donek, diminutive of Donald. My neighbour is no gossip so I do not have any juicy stories to tell.

I was happy to see Mr. Tusk giving Mr. Van Rompuy, the previous President of European Council,  a piece of amber for luck. Polish like to offer presents and amber is a stone from Gdansk. Sometimes Gdansk is even called an amber city. I love it myself and each time I visit Gdansk I land up with a new piece of amber jewelry. The piece of raw amber I bought this year got chipped, I think I need to replace it during my next visit with a better looking and undamaged specimen. I will take care of it better than I did in the case of the current, sadly chipped one.

                                             

Day 2 of sightseeing in the Tricity

After the Old Town in Gdansk it was a time show my Aussie friend recent history of the town. I heard of a new museum Roads to Freedom and that it was a must to see. For some reason I had not seen it before. I was not even sure how to get there even if I knew that is was not far away from the shipyard. I must have passed it in my walks to the green market or the Old Town but somehow never saw an entrance to the museum. In my role of a tourist guide, which I played not all that brilliantly, I was supposed to know how to get there without any  hiccups. So I checked the situation in internet. I knew the street but why didn’t I see the entrance when passing the place? When we were near the museum I understood.  Not a salubrious entrance but communistic times were not salubrious times and this is what the museum shows. The museum is going to move in the near future to the still being build European Solidarity Center. I pass this impressive building often and it grows fast. Next time I come to Gdansk it will be most likely ready. I cannot wait.

But back to The Roads to Freedom. We walked down the stairs leading old shabby environment showing us how it was before Poland re-gained its freedom. We bought our tickets looking like old fashion cards from the time of martial law in 1981-83.  I believe that the ration cards were used for longer than this period. The first exhibits show typical Polish shop of the times. Not much there, vinegar and mustard were on the shelves, other things may have been available for the chosen ones but they were under the counter rather than displayed.

This is how the typical shop looked like. The men on the left just managed to buy toilet paper and this was the way to carry an unexpected purchase.

                                  

The museum covers the modern history of Poland, the events I was not aware of even if I lived in Poland in the 70ties.  I was in Gdansk in January 1971 learning about programming in Cobol and PLAN, the ICL assembly language. Memories, memories... That aside, December 1970 was a tragic time for Gdansk and its shipyard workers who protested against sudden increase of food and other everyday items. As the result of riots which were brutally put down 42 people were killed and over 1,000 wounded.

The events were not covered by news, they were the times the government could hide such things. Not to people of Gdansk, of course, they were involved themselves and saw things happening. My Polish neighbour, who worked at the time in a pharmacy, remembers the panic and how she was helping to sterilise surgical instruments in a great hurry. One month later nobody wanted to talk to me, a girl from Warsaw, about what happened. It was not safe to talk. I knew that something horrible did happen but it was only when visiting the museum I put the pieces of the puzzle together. If you are surprised at my ignorance I left Poland in 1976 and now I am catching up with my Polish history knowledge.

The museum has a multimedia tour covering events from 1956 to 1989. I would recommend using the audio tour and sit for a while at the computers reading the stories of the times. It is all both in English and Polish. And very inexpensive.

I like one of the last exhibits, domino of abolishing communism, with Poland starting the chain of changes.

                                        

I got carried away writing more than planned so the second part of the sightseeing day 2 – lunch in Polish style will be a subject of my next post.

Day 1 of sightseeing in the Tricity

After my last post I was encouraged by two of my friends to write more about Gdansk churches. And since I like both gothic and baroque architecture and art I may indulge my friends and myself  one day. Today, however, after getting curious how many churches are in the neighbourhood and finding out the number I lost enthusiasm for a while. I counted 69 churches just in Gdansk not in the whole Tricity. I guess that at least 20 of them would have historical value and be worth while writing about. Suddenly I felt like after eating too much sweets, a bit queasy after that much goodness. So I will leave the subject for some later time when I am less focused on the number of the churches in Gdansk.

From 1358, Gdansk/Danzig belonged to the Hanseatic League, a commercial and defensive confederation of northern European merchants guilds and towns.

Walking the streets of Gdansk memories of Lubeck, Bremen or Amsterdam may spring to mind. Old northern European merchant towns have similar looks as they had similar function. Names of the streets remind us of occupations of their citizens : Long Market, Coal Market, Fish Market, Wood Market, Beer Street or Amber Street.

It was a long period from the twelfth to the sixteenth century when Danzig was an important and prosperous trading centre. This was reflected in the buildings of the town. Majority of remaining buildings in the Old Town come from  the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century.

One of my favourite places is The Crane –Zuraw. It is one of the oldest buildings which current shape comes from the 15^th century. It was used to load cargo and and place masts on ships. Whenever I am in the Old Town I make a little detour, if needed, to have a look at this proud, heavy and very Gdansk monument of its Hanseatic past.  

                                     

Another favourite of mine is the Neptune Fountain. It is standing in the middle of the Long Market and is considered to be a symbol of Gdansk. Certainly, the most popular place to take a photo while sightseeing in the Old Town. I have several photos of my own taken over the years in front of the fountain. And I still have a leather card case with the image of the Gdansk Neptune. Ach, memories...

As I was writing in my previous post, another favourite of mine is St Mary’s Basilica. If you put together my favourite historical beauty spots in Gdansk, it looks  like a top list from a tourist guide. Not too original, I am afraid, but and it does not matter or even means that everybody visiting Gdansk should see the places and I can  guarantee no disappointment.

Sightseeing in the Tricity

The Tricity is an urban area of three major Polish cities at the Baltic coast. Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia. They are adjacent to one another, in a row,  and the distance from end to end is approximately 20 km.  The population of the Tricity is over 1 million people. When I come to Poland these days, I stay in Gdansk.

I like to have friends coming to stay with me and when that happens I play a role of a tourist guide to present the town in the best possible way. I have been conscious of the fact that I may not be the best guide in the world and I want to improve.

The last week one of my Aussie friends, who was travelling through Europe, came to spend few days with me in Gdansk. I have a feeling that I have not made an impression on her of a super guide but I did improve my sightseeing program considerably this time. I had been aware of the fact that not everybody is keen on seeing all the churches a town has to offer. And Gdansk has many, many of them which are worthwhile seeing if one is big way into sacral architecture. But who is? I may be a bit, but this is not normal and I know it.

This time I planned not to overdo with churches and selected only three to visit. St Mary’s Basilica because it is so impressive and the biggest brick Gothic church in Europe. Oliwa Cathedral because it has a famous organ with moveable parts and because I love it. 

Oliwa Cathedral

St Nicolas church because of the organ concert from the cycle Closer to Bach. I was happy with the plan but it did not work. On reflection, this was actually fortunate.

We saw only one church,  the huge St Mary’s Basilica which has a room for 25,000 people. Each time I enter the church, its size makes an impression on me. I feel small and insignificant aware of a higher power to which glory the church was built.  The major construction work was carried  from 1379 to 1502, but even if the church was structurally then completed the work has not finished to this day.

                                                     

Many years ago I saw the church destroyed and empty but with each visit I find new restorations and additions of altars and historical artefacts.  The church ever changes. My favourite object there is stone Pieta from around 1410. I always go to the chapel housing the sculpture to once again admire its sad beauty. The sculpture is in a glass cabinet  and unfortunately does not photograph well.

           

There I go, started to write about a church and got carried away. Will have to continue the subject of sightseeing in the Tricity in my next posts. No more stories about churches,  I promise.

Back in Gdansk

May seems to be the time for me to go to Poland. I have been doing that for quite some time and here I am – in Gdansk again. I came only yesterday and I have a jet-lag. Not the best time to write perhaps but I set myself a target of one post per week and I missed it the last week already. 

Some time ago I really hated the over 24 hours trips and traveled very infrequently to avoid the long flights and related expenses. I still dislike the trips but am more philosophical  and patient about the exercise. And I came to like Gdansk and consider it my second home. This morning I went for a walk to check how is the town after some months not being here.

 It is the 1^st of May and a public holiday in Poland. I walked empty streets in a sunny weather but it was fresh coolness is in the air. I suddenly remembered the smell and temperature of spring from many years ago. So different to Australian and I have  forgotten it for many years. Today it was like a refresher course in understanding some things about Polish spring again. One of my very close friends said a few days ago some words describing me and she said in closure ... and you are European to boot... Maybe I am to some extent European  but I forgot the basics like how the spring air feels.

Walking in sun was pleasant and warm enough even if I did not wear a coat. This was actually a mistake as I am still nursing my Australian cold and the clouds soon appeared bringing the temperature down to about 10 degrees. My understanding of Polish weather is not up to scratch yet.

It is much greener this year than it was the last year at the same time of May. 

That is how the park looked the last year  at the beginning of May

And  this is today, the 1st of May. Climate change?

 It is  much greener this year than it was the last year at the same time of May. My favourite chestnut trees are fully in bloom now and the lilacs are about to explode with their fragrant flowers

In Sydney it is past 10 pm and I feel suddenly very sleepy...

Linden trees are in bloom!

It is only lately that I started to notice beauty and details of nature. Trees and flowers open up a new way of experience to me. Well, it is the time in my life to smell the roses. This could be it. Now, that I spend the most beautiful months of the year in Poland I notice its nature in a different, more profound way.

Lindenstrasse today

I suppose I always liked linden trees as they are typically lining up streets making them look like alleys. This effect I always admired. However, I have learnt to notice more than that. Right now linden trees are in bloom. The flowers are not very showy as far as the visual side is concerned but they smell divine.

The street next to the house I stay in when in Poland used to be called  before the II World  War Lindenstrasse. At that time Gdansk was called Danzig and was The Free City of Danzig, half Polish, half German.

The Free City of Danzig (German: Freie Stadt Danzig; Polish: Wolne Miasto Gdańsk) was a semi-autonomous city-state that existed between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (today Gdańsk) and surrounding areas. It was created on 15 November 1920^[1][2] in accordance with the terms of Article 100 (Section XI of Part III) of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles.

The German name of the street was fully justified  by the presence of the trees and I am sorry that the name has been changed after the war to the name of Julian Tuwim, a Polish poet. While I love Tuwim’s poems, I would much preferred the exact translation from the old German name. More appropriate in my opinion as the linden trees are still  it their old place.

It is nice and warm at the moment in Gdansk and my windows are open most of the time. The smell of the trees comes to my place which is perfumed with linden fragrance. Lovely...