Poland Day 15- Day 19 (19th - 23rd of June)

Poland week #1 (Day15 - Day 19)

Day 15
We had a personal tour of Lodz with Tadeusz (in case you forgot: Ola's Grandfather). We saw Manufactura (a large commercial area and shopping center), which is being built/renovated from the old warehouses of what used to be a Cotton Factory.

What was Manufactura?
Was the main area in which cotton was produced, the #1 export of Poland in the 1,800's and beginning of the 20th century. The owner of this factory was Izrael Poznański, a wealthy entrepeneur of the time. He constructed a whole town "manufactura" for his workers. This town included a fire departement, stores, hospital, restaurants, etc (all these were exclusive for his workers and family). The catch to this little town was that whatever the people earned, they ended up spending at his stores/rent etc giving back to him his money. Although the costs of produce was very low for the people, as he wanted them to favor his location over others.

This area is now for public use and has been generously renovated and repaired for by a French company. The most interesting thing is that the outside was fixed but in its original state and therefore retains the same history. Much of Lodz is cared for in similar manners, as the buildings are under the UNESCO. If you are interested in finding out what Unesco means, just google it. After walking through Manufactura shopping mall and having a coffee we went to the working place of Ola's old friend from grade 1, Ola (her friend has the same name). They chit chatted for awhile and then we headed back to the apartement and had a wonderful polish dinner (curry lol guess Indian dish)... After supper we went with Tomek, Ania and Filip to the Old Cemetery where Ola's grandmother, great grandmother and great grandfather are buried. We walked around the burial grounds and saw many "cool" looking gravestones. We then went for a walk down Pietrkowska, a street with most of Lodz night life. We stopped and had a beer, where Darrin tried his first Guiness (it was delicious).

Day 16

We had a lazy day and walked down Pietrkowska. We saw a monument there which stands for Polands independance and freedom. In Poland the meals work differently then in Canada, we were supposed to be at Tomek's and Ania's house for supper at 3am. Since we woke up late, we didn't have much time to do anything else. We went there and had a very nice meal (chicken, potatoe and salad) - May I add the Polish know how to eat and cook! After supper we went to a pub near by with Tomek, Ania and there two friends: Agnieszka and Lukasz (Agnes and Luke). The pub has a pet camel! After having a beer we headed to park nearby where we walked abit and then played with Filip on the swings and seesaw ---> the six of us had more fun then the 10 month old hehe! We then went to Manufactura for an ice cream and to walk around. Afterwards we ordered and Pizza and went to Agnieszka and Lukasz apartement (They are known us the "Panthers" because of their last name). We sat around, talked (Darrin tried his best), ate and looked at cars and computers on the net.

Day 17

We met Tomek's daugther Asia (prenounced: Ash-A) who we walked around town with. We looked for a bowling alley, but the only one that was even a remote possibilty was only openeing in 1 month. We also stopped by a local computer store and purchased a wireless, optical mouse for Tadeusz to thank him for keeping us in his home. After walking around town all day we went for a 4pm supper at Aunt Bozenka's. The meal was fabulous once again. We then went out with Asia to a nightblub (more pubish) called "club 77". We tried many new drinks, Darrin slowly "learned" polish the longer the night went on.

Day 18

Very lazy day again! Ola slept till noonish and Darrin ate breakfast with Tadeusz and then played on the computer till Ola got up. FINALLY she got up and we headed out to the Cotton factory museum with our personal tour guide Tadeusz. On the first floor we saw machines from the beginning of cotton production till the early 1,990's when it closed down (China became #1 exporter of cotton over Poland). It was very interesting to see the progress of the machines and the amount of woprk required in the early 20th century to create such masterpieces (thanks to Tadeusz knowledge of these machines, we got to learn alot more about them. On the second and third floor there was an art exhibition that displayed works that were created solely with fabric's and material. Alot of these pieces were very delicate, yet stunning. The amount of time to create this art is incredible. After the museum, we went to the European Institute where Tadeusz knows someone who works. This building usually is not one you can just walk around, but thankfully because of family connections we got a private tour around this historical building from (Ania [another one], Ola's third cousin/aunt) - it was in english as she studied in England. This building was another building that has been conserved in the same manner as it was when it was constructed. Even for the institute to change a lightbulb, they need a special architect to come in and approve the change. This building was voted as the most conserved / protected building of original design. It was owned by a gentleman named: Robert Schweikert (a German man - after german retreat from Poland the villa was abandoned). Connected to this building is a soon to be hotel and an already functional conference center. This building was the base of Solidarity movement during the time of Communism in Poland. We saw many of the original pamphletes, photo's and signs used by the Solidarity group, as well as the balcony in which the leader used to speak to the people. The leader of this group was arrested by the communist government, along with his party, for trying to overthrow the government. The leader of the movement, Lech Walesa, is now the president of Poland.

Day 19

We met up with Ola #2 and her boyfriend Marcin. We took the tram / bus to Lodz's zoo. It was very inexpensive to enter (4 zloty/person - 1.75 $ canadian). We spent 3-4 hours here and then headed to their apartement. We ordered some pizza and hung out (Ola and Ola talked while Marcin, myself and his two friends duked it out in playstation soccer). We left around 11pm and headed back home.