{"id":310,"date":"2008-10-25T17:28:39","date_gmt":"2008-10-25T21:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/?p=310"},"modified":"2008-10-25T17:28:39","modified_gmt":"2008-10-25T21:28:39","slug":"reporting-from-gdansk-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/reporting-from-gdansk-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Reporting From Gda\u0144sk, part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

I feel terribly uncouth and totally under-dressed. These women here walk on cobblestones in heels. HIGH heels. And then there\u2019s me with my sensible walking shoes (read: hiking boots). I can\u2019t walk in heels even on a regular smooth sidewalk, and just imagining the ordeal of walking on cobblestones gives me instant foot and back pain. I\u2019ll stick to my hiking boots and nevermind the dirty looks I got in a shoe store today (where I was trying on more hiking boots.)<\/p>\n

The churches here are indeed massive. There are more of them than 20 years ago, and they are indeed everywhere. Now, don\u2019t get me wrong. I adore churches. But only pretty, old churches. These are ugly clunks of concrete that make me want to drip battery acid into my eyes. Not only don\u2019t I want to enter one, I don\u2019t even want to be near one.<\/p>\n

And my favorite old church (Bazylika Mariacka<\/strong> aka St Mary\u2019s church) in Gda\u0144sk<\/strong> is wrapped in a nasty scaffolding \u2013 the renovations are supposed to take two years, as I\u2019ve been told. Actually, a lot of Gda\u0144sk<\/strong> seems to be wrapped in scaffoldings. There\u2019s either construction or renovation work going on everywhere.<\/p>\n

The Old City (Stare Miasto<\/strong>) didn\u2019t look as pretty as I had remembered it as a child. It\u2019s still very beautiful but it no longer has that mysterious, magical quality. Now it\u2019s full of bars with ugly awnings and shops and stands selling overpriced amber jewelry. I was unable to find even one shop that catered to a \u201cnormal\u201d tourist. You know, the kind of person who wants a couple of t-shirts, a book and a tacky souvenir. When I did find a place that sold t-shirts, they were too gaudy even for me, which should tell you a lot.<\/p>\n

I stopped by at the tourist office about five minutes before closing time, but the lady there didn\u2019t mind one bit. She gave me the scoop on all events going on in the city, told me her life story and discussed the American election with me. She also mentioned that the sky-high and still rising rents are forcing many old businesses out of Stare Miasto<\/strong>. \u201cIt\u2019s all for tourists now with prices that only tourists can afford to pay.\u201d<\/em> That\u2019s a curious sentiment coming from a woman who works at the tourist office, wouldn\u2019t you say?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I looked for the Bar Mleczny<\/strong> that Isabella mentioned in her comment to the previous post. I think I knew where it used to be \u2013 on the left side in that little hole-in-the-wall quasi-street behind the Neptune fountain, right? There\u2019s a dull and boring caf\u00e9 there now. In fact, there are dull and boring caf\u00e9s now everywhere. And dull and overpriced restaurants. Actually, those restaurants deserve a post of their own.<\/p>\n

But the people were nice. Unfailingly nice and helpful. And smiling. Poles abroad (and many foreigners, too) tend to complain about the quality of service in Poland. About the boorishness of people. About the sour expressions of women selling bus tickets. About office clerks in need of a serious attitude adjustment.<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t really experiences ANY of it. So, either the alien invasion of pod people has begun, or this is a secret government experiment, or something in the Tri-City (Tr\u00f3jmiasto = Gda\u0144sk+Sopot+Gdynia<\/strong>) water supply, but people were smiling and so obliging it made me feel a bit strange at times. Even \u201cmoherowe berety<\/strong>\u201d were friendly and helpful. One was so worried about my ability (or lack thereof) to find my way, she actually rode the bus with me and told me where to get off. (Or maybe it was the fact that when asking her for directions I said \u201ccmentarz<\/strong>\u201d – cemetery, when I actually meant \u201cszpital<\/strong>\u201d \u2013 hospital, don\u2019t ask me what I was thinking \u2013 I don\u2019t know.)<\/p>\n

I had to pay a visit to City Hall in Gdynia<\/strong> and everyone there was so patient with me and so accommodating, that it felt almost otherworldly. At the Era mobile phone shop I bargained with the sales lady and got a phone for half the price (because it was a discontinued model anyway) and I even talked her into unlocking it for me. At a restaurant I ordered a Greek salad, but without onions, olives and feta cheese, and the waiter said \u201cno problem, would you like to replace them with other vegetables perhaps?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

The cars came to a sometimes screeching halt when I began to exhibit even the slightest signs of wanting to cross the street. I was surprised by that. I\u2019ve read time and time again that no one stops for anyone in the old country. And since I\u2019m not a ravishing beauty (I\u2019m a dork in hiking boots) and since I was fully clothed when prancing around Tri-City (the two obvious reasons why drivers might want to stop for a woman crossing the street), they\u2019ve either learned to stop for pedestrians very recently, or I have the ability to control people\u2019s minds and don\u2019t even know it.<\/p>\n

I really don\u2019t have any reasons to complain except two: KFC here doesn\u2019t taste like KFC should, it’s so bad it makes me gag (I\u2019m a junk food connoisseur, with KFC being my particular field of expertise) and the stench of cigarettes everywhere makes me gag even more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

I feel terribly uncouth and totally under-dressed. These women here walk on cobblestones in heels. HIGH heels. And then there\u2019s me with my sensible walking shoes (read: hiking boots). I can\u2019t walk in heels even on a regular smooth sidewalk, and just imagining the ordeal of walking on cobblestones gives me instant foot and back…<\/p>\n

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