The first six photos were taken in St.Mary's Church (Gdansk), and the last two photos in Sopot.
Showing posts with label Gdansk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gdansk. Show all posts
Friday, October 2, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
My Summer Holidays, Last Part, At Last!
I will not be bothering you, again, with my enchanted holidays - this is the last part. I have realized that my Summer Holidays are over and now I must face a new year of studies, hard work and sweat, travelling by public transport. I hope I will not kill myself this year – O I hate French public transport so much! French people are so afraid of draught that they always close the windows, and it really stinks!
So, when we went back to Lublin, from Gdańsk, we stopped at a restaurant to eat something. I will never forget the joke my sister played on me in the toilets. My sister and I went to the toilets after lunch. Unfortunately, I noticed there was not any toilet paper, therefore I asked my sister to bring me some. I opened the door, my sister gave me this holy paper and I thought she was still behind the door - waiting for me - so, I did not take the trouble to lock the door. I was about to slip on my pants, when someone opened the door. It was not my sister; it was a mother with her daughter! Sod it!! I hope I have not traumatized her daughter.
Gdańsk is a beautiful place! When I was there I could not say if it was a Polish town or a German town or a town from somewhere else! It is so atypical there! It is very different from the other towns in Eastern Europe. You will find people from all over Europe. You will hear people speak Polish, German, Dutch, English etc.… It is very easy to understand each other. If you do want to visit Gdańsk, I advise you not to come during “Jarmark św. Dominika”, as it is crammed with people and tourists. It is hard to go for a walk at that moment, but if you are obsessed with shopping, you have to go and see “Jarmark św. Dominika”; I assure you that you will spend all your money freely there.
I stop writing about my holidays! You do have instead some photos. I miss you Poland!
So, when we went back to Lublin, from Gdańsk, we stopped at a restaurant to eat something. I will never forget the joke my sister played on me in the toilets. My sister and I went to the toilets after lunch. Unfortunately, I noticed there was not any toilet paper, therefore I asked my sister to bring me some. I opened the door, my sister gave me this holy paper and I thought she was still behind the door - waiting for me - so, I did not take the trouble to lock the door. I was about to slip on my pants, when someone opened the door. It was not my sister; it was a mother with her daughter! Sod it!! I hope I have not traumatized her daughter.
Gdańsk is a beautiful place! When I was there I could not say if it was a Polish town or a German town or a town from somewhere else! It is so atypical there! It is very different from the other towns in Eastern Europe. You will find people from all over Europe. You will hear people speak Polish, German, Dutch, English etc.… It is very easy to understand each other. If you do want to visit Gdańsk, I advise you not to come during “Jarmark św. Dominika”, as it is crammed with people and tourists. It is hard to go for a walk at that moment, but if you are obsessed with shopping, you have to go and see “Jarmark św. Dominika”; I assure you that you will spend all your money freely there.
I stop writing about my holidays! You do have instead some photos. I miss you Poland!
Friday, September 11, 2009
My Summer Holidays, Part Five
August 6th 2009: We are heading for Gdańsk!
I will not talk about the roads and the drivers again, I promise! There were lots of tailbacks!
We stopped at Lubartów and Warsaw before going to Gdańsk. I have nothing to say about Lubartów; we wandered around the market about an hour - as we were waiting for our uncle to leave his work. I have a bad memory of a cake I bought in a weird small cake shop. Then we stopped at Warsaw and stayed all night. We were at “Złoty Tarasy”, a huge shopping centre where it is very easy to get lost - this is amazing. I did not know there is a Topshop in this shopping centre - I love this shop! Unfortunately, it is not like in London. It is very small compared to London; there were lots of clothes from the old collections and a few from the new one. We did shopping about two hours; I’m in love with this shopping centre, even if it is very expensive!
Then we went to the old town and the new town. It is so beautiful there, but it attracts too many tourists for my liking.
Did you know that during the Second World War, Warsaw was entirely demolished by the f****** Nazis. There was nothing left but the ground and some ruins. So the old town and the new town are not really old. At the end of the war, the world said Warsaw would never exist again but Poland proved the opposite, Warsaw rose from the ashes! All was reconstructed even the old town and the new town; they are the exact copies!
When you go to Warsaw, you will see that people say the new town and the old town. Indeed, the old town is inside the great wall – what remains of the great wall - and the new town outside the great wall. I hope you have understood. I mean that at the beginning, when the city was born - in the 9th or 10th century, I do not know exactly – the town was built according to the following pattern (the same used in every towns in Europe at that time): there was the ‘town council’, the church and the houses; a great wall was gathered around the town as a protection against the enemy - this is the old town. The town was built next to Vistula River (every town was built next to a river). As the town was growing, there was no place inside the great wall anymore, so the houses started to be built outside the great wall - this is the new town.
During the Second World War, Everyone had to fight even the children; they made barricades with everything they had in hand to prevent the enemy from getting in the city.
If you go to Warsaw in the old town, you will see a little statute of a boy scout. It is to honour the memory of the scouts who fought for their country during the war.
You will see also the statute of Jan Kiliński, the hero of Warsaw. The shoemaker was one of the commanders of the Kościuszko Insurrection of 1794 - an uprising against the Russian garrison in Warsaw. People do not say that the uprising – it drove out the Russians for a while – was due to beer trade. Russians stopped beer sale and it got on Kiliński’s nerves. I love that! NO BEER?! IT’S WAR! We arrived at Gdańsk in the evening of August 7th 2009.
On August 8th 2009, we decided to visit Szymbark Skansen, as my uncle’s friends told us it was great there. The shame of it! I’m really irritated because of that place! I really had the impression of a park mixing Walt Disney Resort and Auschwitz concentration camp. I’ll explain everything to clarify my impression. This place is famous for its upside down house, a funny house indeed! You can find some swings, slides etc. You can buy some ice-cream, waffles and drinks. There are a lot of shops, people can get tattooed, many traditional houses are for sale and lots of advertising posters. You see children running and playing. At first sight, I thought we were in a kind of a theme park - a very touristy theme park. When I walked further in the park, I noticed something completely unpleasant. It is outrageous! Next to that shambles, you do have a house that comes from Siberia and a soviet train. It is to show people how polish people were deported to Siberia and how they lived there. They are notice boards that show historical facts and photographs. This is a serious place! I saw children laughing and playing in the Soviet train! This is not a game! How people can be so disrespectful?! I was shocked! This house from Siberia shows how bad were the living and sanitary conditions; the wagons of the Soviet train are very small and yet, they were overcrowded during the journey! The prisoners lived a real nightmare. Look at the map and see how many kilometers there are between Poland and the remotest part of Siberia.
This is a part of Polish history that should be remembered and taken seriously! People should keep silent when they are on this side of the park and not let their children play there and make a noise! They should stay some time in silent contemplation at this place to pay homage to the thousands of Polish people who died in Siberia - because of the Soviets. They should meditate on what happened! Szymbark Skansen makes me sick! It should be closed!
We stopped at Lubartów and Warsaw before going to Gdańsk. I have nothing to say about Lubartów; we wandered around the market about an hour - as we were waiting for our uncle to leave his work. I have a bad memory of a cake I bought in a weird small cake shop. Then we stopped at Warsaw and stayed all night. We were at “Złoty Tarasy”, a huge shopping centre where it is very easy to get lost - this is amazing. I did not know there is a Topshop in this shopping centre - I love this shop! Unfortunately, it is not like in London. It is very small compared to London; there were lots of clothes from the old collections and a few from the new one. We did shopping about two hours; I’m in love with this shopping centre, even if it is very expensive!
Then we went to the old town and the new town. It is so beautiful there, but it attracts too many tourists for my liking.
Did you know that during the Second World War, Warsaw was entirely demolished by the f****** Nazis. There was nothing left but the ground and some ruins. So the old town and the new town are not really old. At the end of the war, the world said Warsaw would never exist again but Poland proved the opposite, Warsaw rose from the ashes! All was reconstructed even the old town and the new town; they are the exact copies!
When you go to Warsaw, you will see that people say the new town and the old town. Indeed, the old town is inside the great wall – what remains of the great wall - and the new town outside the great wall. I hope you have understood. I mean that at the beginning, when the city was born - in the 9th or 10th century, I do not know exactly – the town was built according to the following pattern (the same used in every towns in Europe at that time): there was the ‘town council’, the church and the houses; a great wall was gathered around the town as a protection against the enemy - this is the old town. The town was built next to Vistula River (every town was built next to a river). As the town was growing, there was no place inside the great wall anymore, so the houses started to be built outside the great wall - this is the new town.
During the Second World War, Everyone had to fight even the children; they made barricades with everything they had in hand to prevent the enemy from getting in the city.
If you go to Warsaw in the old town, you will see a little statute of a boy scout. It is to honour the memory of the scouts who fought for their country during the war.
You will see also the statute of Jan Kiliński, the hero of Warsaw. The shoemaker was one of the commanders of the Kościuszko Insurrection of 1794 - an uprising against the Russian garrison in Warsaw. People do not say that the uprising – it drove out the Russians for a while – was due to beer trade. Russians stopped beer sale and it got on Kiliński’s nerves. I love that! NO BEER?! IT’S WAR! We arrived at Gdańsk in the evening of August 7th 2009.
On August 8th 2009, we decided to visit Szymbark Skansen, as my uncle’s friends told us it was great there. The shame of it! I’m really irritated because of that place! I really had the impression of a park mixing Walt Disney Resort and Auschwitz concentration camp. I’ll explain everything to clarify my impression. This place is famous for its upside down house, a funny house indeed! You can find some swings, slides etc. You can buy some ice-cream, waffles and drinks. There are a lot of shops, people can get tattooed, many traditional houses are for sale and lots of advertising posters. You see children running and playing. At first sight, I thought we were in a kind of a theme park - a very touristy theme park. When I walked further in the park, I noticed something completely unpleasant. It is outrageous! Next to that shambles, you do have a house that comes from Siberia and a soviet train. It is to show people how polish people were deported to Siberia and how they lived there. They are notice boards that show historical facts and photographs. This is a serious place! I saw children laughing and playing in the Soviet train! This is not a game! How people can be so disrespectful?! I was shocked! This house from Siberia shows how bad were the living and sanitary conditions; the wagons of the Soviet train are very small and yet, they were overcrowded during the journey! The prisoners lived a real nightmare. Look at the map and see how many kilometers there are between Poland and the remotest part of Siberia.
This is a part of Polish history that should be remembered and taken seriously! People should keep silent when they are on this side of the park and not let their children play there and make a noise! They should stay some time in silent contemplation at this place to pay homage to the thousands of Polish people who died in Siberia - because of the Soviets. They should meditate on what happened! Szymbark Skansen makes me sick! It should be closed!
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