1st of August: Godzina W (Hour W)

There is a city...

 

 

August 1, 1944. The day the Warsaw Uprising went off. Backed up with just 3 days of armor and ammunition supply, civilians stood up for 63 days. The number of victims reached up to 180 thousand, with 16 thousand deaths among the insurgents. Approximately 85% of the city communications, infrastructure and houses were bombed to the ground. Every year on this day Warsaw symbolically stands motionless for a minute, to pay homage to the heroes who sacrificed their lives in the name of freedom. 

 

'Godzina W' means 'Hour W', code used for 17:00h in action 'Burza' (storm): the Warsaw Uprising.

 

My wife showed me the above video some years ago and I remember I got goosebumps watching it. One of the things I really wanted to do is to be there, in the center, amongst all those people. Feel it.

And so we did (put sound on):

 



I am really sensitive for these kinds of things, I will never forget the feeling.
Some people made a lot of footage that day at more locations, which you can see below,
really impressive.

 

Cześć i chwała Bohaterom! - Thanks and glory to the heroes!

Canaletto

Bernardo Bellotto, alias 'Canaletto', an Italian who played a big part in reconstruction of Warsaw after WW2. He died in here in Warsaw in the year 1780.　

Wait a second...read that sentence again.　

How in the world can a person who died play a part in reconstruction of the city after the 2nd world war? 　

And who was this 'Canaletto'? It was Bernardo Francesco Paolo Ernesto Bellotto, a painter. I have seen several of his paintings and was amazed by the level of detail in them.

Photograph: Andrzej Ring, Lech Sandzewicz

August 1944　

It is August 1944 and the Polish resistance are in violent clashes with the Nazi forces that have occupied Warsaw. The resistance intend to liberate the city from what the Polish poet Czesław Miłosz has called the “dark, black and red world of Nazi occupation”.　　

During the Warsaw Uprising, the ill-equipped Polish resistance succeed in inflicting serious damage on their oppressors, with 20,000 Nazi troops left wounded or dead. But it is the civilian population that suffers the greatest losses, with 150,000 people killed in air strikes and in fighting across the city.　　

In retaliation, the Nazis raze the Polish capital to the ground. More than 85% of the city’s historic centre is reduced to ruins. Unlike in other European cities, where damage largely occurs during the fighting, Warsaw is systematically destroyed once the two months of conflict have ended, as an act of revenge by Hitler’s forces.

What follows is the story of how Varsovians (residents of Warsaw) reconstructed their city – in part from the cityscapes, or vedute, of the Venetian painter Bernardo Bellotto (1722-1780), often referred to as Canaletto after his more renowned uncle.

Bellotto, who was made court painter to the King of Poland in 1768, created beautiful and accurate paintings of Warsaw’s buildings and squares. It is testimony to the veracity of his work that almost 200 years later, those paintings were used to help transform the historic city centre from wreckage and rubble into what is now a Unesco World Heritage Site.

In the summer of 1947, the architect Hermann H Field led a small group of American designers to study the post-war reconstruction of Europe. They visited England, Czechoslovakia and Poland, where they surveyed Warsaw, Kraków, Katowice, Wrocław and Szczecin. Their photographs capture what has become a topos of post-war urban ruination: the exposed innards of buildings.　　
Archive footage from British Pathé shows the buildings in 1950 appearing to fall arbitrarily. Across much of the city, only basements, low walls and the occasional ground floor section of a building remain. The grass lined alleys bring to mind the ruins of Pompeii.

The Varsovians who had not escaped Warsaw lived among the devastation, and would often find corpses buried in the rubble. Early on it was suggested that the remains of the city should be left to memorialise the war, and the entire capital be relocated. 　　

Clouds of dust asphyxiated Warsaw’s inhabitants. According to the Polish writer Leopold Tyrmand: “One of the philosophers calculated that Varsovians inhaled four bricks each year at that time. One must love one’s city in order to rebuild it at the cost of one’s own breathing. It is perhaps for this reason that, from the battlefield of rubble and ruins, Warsaw became once more the old Warsaw, eternal Warsaw ... Varsovians brought it to life, filling its brick body with their own, hot breath.” From the start of the rebuild, the city’s own rubble was utilised in the reconstruction process, and original fragments of Old Town buildings were recovered.

“Rubble from the former ghetto district was used to produce new bricks for the modern quarter, while architectural details from demolished buildings in the Old Town were put on to the reconstructed facades,” explains Małgorzata Popiołek, an expert in heritage conservation at the Technical University of Berlin.　　

While much of this work was done by construction workers and specialised builders, Małgorzata says local people were required to help clear the vast amounts of debris. “The entire nation builds its capital” became the city’s rallying cry.

When the rubble that was to hand would not suffice, more material was imported from neighbouring ruined cities. And to ensure it was all put back in roughly the right place, Bellotto’s cityscapes were used as references for key locations. 　

Throughout history, the artist’s 22 street scenes have been hotly contested, and removed from Warsaw’s Royal Castle on numerous occasions. Napoleon’s officials took four canvases in 1807; Emperor Nicholas I of Russia seized the whole series in 1832; German authorities did the same in 1939.　　

By this time, Bellotto’s paintings were especially prized because so many of the works documenting Poland’s history had been blacklisted by the Nazis. (Their blacklist consisted of artworks they believed had to be destroyed in order to implement the “Germanisation” of Poland.)

Andrzej Ring, Lech Sandzewicz

When Warsaw was bombarded in September 1939, the Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs wrote of its concern for the safety of Bellotto’s paintings – but in fact, all 22 street scenes survived the war. Since 1984 they have been exhibited in the Royal Castle’s Canaletto room.　　

Bellotto’s paintings, along with the expertise of Polish architects, art historians and conservators, enabled the reconstruction of the Old Town to take place in an impressively short period of time. Most of the work was finished before 1955 – although additional construction continued into the 1980s, and the city is arguably still feeling the impacts of the second world war even now.
　 　
The contemporary city is not, however, an entirely accurate recreation of Bellotto’s images. For one, Bellotto used a camera obscura to trace pencil drawings of the architecture, which were then transferred on to the canvas and finished off with watercolours. The use of that optical device has led to some minor inaccuracies.　　

Warsaw now. The city places several of these 'cubes' showing the Canaletto painting of the particular place. 

　 　

Walking through Old Town today, Varsovians are keen to tell the difficult story of their city. Bellotto’s paintings are reproduced on boards to explain their crucial role in the rebuilding process, and the Visitants’ Church proudly advertises that its organ retains some of the original pipes that were once played by Frédéric Chopin. Everywhere you go there are evocations of Warsaw’s tempestuous past, and of its reconstruction.　　

For Warsaw’s reconstruction, though, it was the work of a single artist that provided the crucial blueprint. Without Bellotto’s accurate record of the city, Warsaw would surely look very different today.

What a story :)

Sources: Wikipedia, The Guardian.

Graffiti

Like many big cities, Warsaw has a spray problem. I have always had a weak spot for good quality graffiti, since I was a teenager. You might have seen it on some pictures I shared, there are many "tags" placed on walls with spray or markers. I am really not a fan of these and that is an understatement.

Graffiti in the middle, tags on the side

 

Obviously this is not legal and the city has taken the initiative to open areas where artists can show their work. There are a few areas in the city where it is allowed, you will see the below sign at those locations.

These areas are very nice and colorful, with some really good pieces amongst them.

However, the spray problem (and especially the tags) did not get smaller. The thing is that the people who place their work at the legal locations are graffiti artists, not to be compared with the group of people tagging everywhere.

And also artists bomb of course (spraying over an existing piece which is not theirs). That's the fate of street-art and graffiti. Below you can see some photos I took at a couple of legal areas.

 

 

 

 

 

Also our local pet shop around the corner got a slight make-over recently:

 



 

I made the below video when I was in the bus (Puławska street) with Mrs MyWarsawDream and mama Mrs MyWarsawDream. The wall is from a horse race track named tor wyścigów konnych Służewiec. Also here it is legal to place graffiti. So sit back, relax and enjoy (put your sound on).

 



 

Czesław Niemen

Czesław Niemen (February 16, 1939 – January 17, 2004), born Czesław Juliusz Wydrzycki, and often credited as just Niemen, was one of the most important and original Polish singer-songwriters and rock balladeers of the last quarter-century, singing mainly in Polish.

 

Niemen was born in Stare Wasiliszki in the Nowogródek Voivodeship of the Second Polish Republic (now in the Grodno Region of Belarus). Czesław Niemen belonged to a community of Poles, living outside the eastern borders of contemporary Poland, on the eastern lands of the historical Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (called 'Kresy' - 'borderlands' - in Polish). 　

In the dawn of World War II these ethnic Belarusian lands were annexed by the Soviet Union and became a part of Belorussian SSR, according to Europe's post-war reorganization performed during the Yalta Conference.
 

1960s

He made his debut in the early 1960s, singing Polish rock and soul music. He possessed an unusually wide voice range and equally rich intonation. He was also an ardent composer and a keyboard player. 　

In 1964 at Congress Hall, Warsaw, Niemen, together with his group, played as a support act to Marlene Dietrich during her concert. She heard his song "Czy mnie jeszcze pamiętasz" ("Do you still remember me?") there. She enjoyed it so much that she soon recorded her own version of it "Mutter, Hast du Mir Vergeben" ("Mother, have you forgiven me?") writing her own lyrics for the song.

 

Soon after his first successful concerts in France, he started to use the pseudonym Niemen instead of his real name, gaining wider notoriety in Poland and making it easier to pronounce by foreigners (Niemen is a Polish pronunciation of the Neman River, which flows in close proximity to his place of birth). His song of 1967, "Dziwny jest ten świat" (Strange Is This World) is commonly acknowledged to be the most important Polish protest song of that era (in 1972 an English version was also recorded). The song was influenced by the American blues tradition. He was one of the first Polish performers to wear long hair and colourful clothes and introduced the style of psychedelia to communist Poland, which annoyed the officials. 　

The first three LP album's Niemen recorded with his band "Akwarele" (Watercolours). Subsequently, he recorded with his other new bands: "Enigmatic", "Grupa Niemen" and "Aerolit". In 1969 he changed musical style to progressive rock while recording the monumental album Enigmatic. The most notable song from it was "Bema pamięci żałobny rapsod" (A Mournful Rhapsody in Memory of Józef Bem), based on the 19th century poem by Cyprian Kamil Norwid. The rest of Enigmatic songs were also in sung poetry form. Niemen played Hammond organ, later mellotron and Moog synthesizer on his records.
 

 

 
 
 
1970s
In the early 1970s, Niemen recorded three English language albums under the CBS label, two of them (and three more in Poland) with the Silesian band SBB. With SBB Niemen performed at the Rock & Jazz Now! opening show for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich sharing the stage with Mahavishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin and Charles Mingus and subsequently toured with the band of Jack Bruce. In 1972 he also contributed with a song performed by him in Wesele (The Wedding) by director Andrzej Wajda, laureate of an honorary Oscar. In 1974 he recorded Mourner's Rhapsody with Jan Hammer and Rick Laird from Mahavishnu Orchestra. In the seventies, Niemen turned to jazz-rock fusion and electronic music (Katharsis album). 　

Later years and death

Niemen went on to compose film soundtracks and theater music, and in the 1990s he showed interest in art, painting and computer graphics. 　
He died of cancer on January 17, 2004 in Warsaw. His remains were cremated and placed in a columbarium niche on Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw on January 30, 2004. 

 

Legia Warsaw
Nowadays you still hear his songs on the radio, these still get airtime. Next to this one of his most famous songs is about Warsaw, 'Sen o Warszawie' is the title. It means 'dreaming of Warsaw' and is the anthem of football club Legia Warszawa. Every home game this songs is blasting through the speakers and all fans are belching out its lyrics, really nice. 

A nice end of this week's blog post...

Source: Wikipedia

 
 
 
 

Pomnik Kościuszkowców

It might not look so huge on the photos I took, but it is huge. 18 meters high, "Pomnik Kościuszkowców" it is called, monument to the Kościuszkowcy. Or Kościuszko Infantry Division Memorial.

Kościuszkowców, try to pronounce it 😉

Now check the below photo with our friend included :) Pretty impressive when standing there in real I can tell you.

This memorial commemorates the attempt by the Polish 1st Division "Tadeusza Kosciuszki" to give aid to the Warsaw insurgents. Kościuszki was a national hero living a long time before, they named this division after him. 

In September 1944, catastrophic landings took place on the west bank of the Vistula river with the result of more than two thousand dead, missing and wounded on the side of the liberators. There was no chance and is a black page in Polish history. The lack of support from the Red Army, who were sitting out and anticipating the fall of the uprising, the attempt was doomed to fail. Some call it courage, some stupidity, but I do not have an opinion about it. 

 

Thanks to its overall appearance, the statue is being nicknamed 'Batman'. 

I really like to be in this part of Warsaw, the Praga district on the other side of the Wisła river from our perspective. Soon I will publish a post about a day out with 4 of our friends, photographers from Warsaw. We walked through the district the whole day and made some great photos. 

Take care folks, see you around. 

Krasnoludek

"Krasnoludek" - dwarf in Polish. You see many of these Krasnoludki in the streets of Warsaw. If you pay attention to it you will see so many of them, it is insane. 

Let me show you some photos I took, showing this dwarf sprayed on the ground or stickered elsewhere. Especially during the last few months, the stickers are placed all across the city.

Śródmieście district

 

City center

Now the million dollar question: who or what is this? 

It is "Krasnoludek Chodnikowy", a bit odd to translate but "Dwarf on/of the pavement" would do here. That explains why most of them are sprayed on the ground using a stencil template. 

Instagram account of Krasnoludek Chodnikowy

 

But why? Just for fun? 

I would say partially. There is a statement behind them. It is a sign of the so called "Orange Alternative".

Orange alternative
The Orange Alternative (Polish: Pomarańczowa Alternatywa) is a Polish anti-communist underground movement, started in Wrocław, a city in south-west Poland and led by Waldemar Fydrych, commonly known as Major in the 1980s. Its main purpose was to offer a wider group of citizens an alternative way of opposition against the authoritarian regime by means of a peaceful protest that used absurd and nonsensical elements.

By doing this, members of the Orange Alternative could not be arrested by the police for opposition to the regime without the authorities becoming a laughing stock. The Orange Alternative has been viewed as part of the broader Solidarity movement.

Initially it painted ridiculous graffiti of dwarfs on paint spots covering up anti-government slogans on city walls. Afterwards, beginning with 1985 through 1990, it organized a series of more than sixty happenings in several Polish cities, including Wrocław, Warsaw, Łódź, Lublin, and Tomaszów Mazowiecki.

It was the most picturesque element of Polish opposition to Stalinist authoritarianism. It suspended activity in 1989, but reactivated in 2001 and has been active on a small scale ever since. A statue of a dwarf, dedicated to the memory of the movement, stands today on Świdnicka Street in Wrocław, in the place where events took place.

Dwarfs -krasnoludki- in Warsaw
They appear everywhere, however, the most can be found in the district Ursynów. They left the Kabacki Forest and set off into the city. Many people first thought that they are advertisements.
But all it promotes is some positive energy, kids like them and it is a funny and colorful sight.

Śródmieście district

These sprayed dwarfs appeared in Warsaw in 2010. Piotr Ginalski, 'father' of many of the dwarfs, What is it all about? This is what mr Ginalski answered when he was asked:

Why dwarfs?
"Because dwarfs are cool! In my childhood, in the 1980s, I heard the legends about the Orange Alternative, later I met Gamon and the Dwarves (spelled like Tolkien spells the word). There the idea of painting dwarfs on the city streets was born."

Mokotów district

"Major Fydrych, with whom I was doing happenings in 2006 and 2010, appeared at the vernissage of the exhibition in Hoża. We met there after a few years break. But now, I do things my own way, although I do not cut myself off from the past."

Dwarfs can be found throughout Warsaw, in Lodz. Is the choice of their place random?
"Yes and no. Dwarfs emerge from the Kabacki Forest and are found on the routes that I usually move. They are also where I live, meaning Ursynów. But there are places where they are not accidental. They guard, for example, Plac Wielki Przygody - it is a pity that they have to do this instead of officials who do not want to protect this green space."

How do people react when they see the birth of a dwarf?
"Definitely positive. Ladies in the grocery store always smile warmly, in the paper shop I already have a discount on cardboard, which I use to make templates. Parents with children often ask for a dwarf, but there are also interesting situations ...
An elderly lady in Mokotów, she said that Stańczyk, whom I painted on the sidewalk as a horned devil! Another time, someone passing by called the police suspecting me of painting anti-government slogans. They were very surprised when they saw that I was painting dwarfs."

What is the police doing in such a situation? Are they arresting a dwarf?
"Yes - one of them at Dzielna street. We are planning to take it off from there. It was funny when I rang to ask if I can pick him up again because I'm organizing an exhibition for the Capital City of Warsaw. It turned out that he was evidence in the case and could spend up to three years in prison."

"An interesting situation also took place under the PiS headquarters (leading government party in Poland), where I painted patriotic white and red dwarfs. Security took my portfolio with the templates. The next day, all of them were painted blue."

Ochota district

People often think that dwarfs are advertising. But for what?
"Once I heard that it was an "Intermarche" (French retail chain) advertising, so I started to practice painting red dwarfs with black dots (like Biedronka's logo, another supermarket chain names after a ladybug).

Do the dwarfs have any specific plans for the future?
"For now, they are going to defend Placu Wielkiej Przygody (green area in Warsaw). The Ursynów district started following the profile of krasnoludki on Instagram, I would prefer that it start to observe the movements of developers around the square and the mood of the residents who want to protect the greenery in their neighborhood."

"And besides, I hope to cooperate with one of the Ursynów community centers. I see that children are very interested in dwarfs. I often give them photocopies of the characters, together we draw faces and color them with markers. I would like to do workshops for these kids."


What a nice guy :)
Take care folks!

Polish superstitions (4-6)

A while ago I wrote about Polish superstitions. Three were handled, but there are more.

Many more. This week I will write about another three. Starting with dwarfs.

Can’t find something? Ask the dwarfs
This method applies to all things lost at home. Just step out of the room where the lost item should be, close the door behind you, and then loudly tell the dwarfs: ‘Play and put away’. You will not see those little friends, but they are there.

The missing item will then show up. I tried myself, with mixed results.

Where there’s a squirrel, there’s smoke
Another superstition says that a squirrel on a roof is a sign of fire closeby. So if you notice one of those little creatures on top of your house, don’t hesitate: call the fire department.

I did not see any on roofs so far. There are tons of them in the city, in the various parks. A while ago we were sitting at a bus stop and mister squirrel did not bother and just sat next to us :-)

A chimney sweep, a priest & a white horse
Encountering a chimney sweep is said to bring good luck in many cultures, don't ask me why. In Poland, however, for the superstition to work you need them to ‘confirm’ the good luck by grabbing one of your buttons. Another variation of this belief which is super-Polish: There’s nothing better than seeing a chimney sweep, a priest and a white horse in a row. That combination is the best omen of them all.

This one will make Polish people laugh I bet. I have this feeling that no-one has ever heard of it and my source was taking the piss outta me :)

Thanks for reading folks, cheerio

Free bicycle repairs

For cyclists the city of Warsaw offers a free service for two-wheelers, available in the Summer Recreation zone on Poniatowski Bridge beach between the 23rd of June and the 26th of August. Inhabitants of Warsaw will not only do a technical inspection, but also do basic repairs and adjustments. Service technicians will help in repairs and inspections of bicycles free of charge.

If a problem cannot be sorted on the spot, they will provide further advice. During the hours 10:00h - 18:00h chain wear and bearings checks can be done, as well as brake and suspension adjustments and cleaning of vital parts. You can even have your inner tube replaced in case of a flat tyre.

Next to this the city has installed small unmanned service points for riders to perform fixes to bikes.

See below map: the blue and green circles are places where people can rent a bike. I blogged about these before, Click here

The black icons are the small unmanned stations.

I made a picture of one of these so you can get an idea how this would look like:

This is one at Marszalkowska Street. I guess they put the orange cone next to it after someone broke his neck because of it. I can imagine it is pretty tough to pass it after a heavy night out.

There are tons of these stations across the city by now. This and the free bike repairs, affordable bike renting and investment in the city infrastructure for bikers makes me conclude that the city takes it seriously. 

Which is super. 


 

Polish customs: Wedding games and more

If you ever happen to be at a Polish wedding party and you hear the word 'oczepiny': run and hide!

Oczepiny is a common Slavic tradition which symbolises the transition of the bride from maiden to married woman. Traditionally the bride had her hair cut or shortened and a cap put on. This is also where the name comes from, as czepiec is Polish for 'cap'.
 

The most insane wedding games are organised. It usually starts with the throwing and catching of the bride’s bouquet, still pretty normal. After that anything can happen. You may be asked to pass an orange to the aunt you don’t know. Without using your hands...through your pants...

Or that same aunt needs to pop a balloon which is on your lap, without using her hands.
Check the video to get an idea how that would be.

You could also be asked to change your gender for a while and dance the rumba or the tango with a person of the same sex, you could be asked to down far too much wódka in a very short time, or even worse. As a foreigner you are pretty much f****d, because most Poles can handle a lot of alcohol.

Second wedding party
This is called 'poprawiny'. In a nutshell it is a continuation of a wedding party the day after the main event. The continuation can last several days, I know a couple who partied 5 days in a row, but mostly it is one day. I experienced it and had breakfast with people who went all the way the night before, just a few hours later.

Our wedding
So, our wedding. How did it go? Well...none of the above. Apart from that it was typical Polish with lots of food and drinks, singing and dancing. I forgot to mention that Polish weddings last longer than in the Netherlands, where most wedding parties would end around midnight or a little later.
People who know me good know that I am not really a party animal, I would prefer a calm and relaxed dinner over a loud party. But I have to say I really enjoyed it, with my Bavaria 0.0%. Yes, me...singing and dancing. I have many witnesses and a lot of material caught on film. Which I obviously will not show.

Take care troopers

The Warsaw Ghetto

Some time ago my wife came up with the idea to go for a walk in and around the center. She found a route online where you can walk around the Warsaw Ghetto (where the walls used to stand during the second world war).

I had seen these so called 'markers' before, but never realized that these were part of a route.

The Warsaw Ghetto boundary markers are memorial plaques and boundary lines that mark the maximum perimeter of the former ghetto established by the Germans in 1940 in occupied Warsaw. The markers were erected in 2008 and 2010 on 22 sites along the borders of the Jewish quarter, where from 1940-1943 stood the gates to the ghetto, wooden footbridges over Aryan streets, and the buildings important to the ghetto inmates.

The Warsaw Ghetto

The Warsaw Ghetto ("getto warszawskie") was the largest of all the Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Europe during World War II. It was established by the German authorities in the Muranów neighborhood of the Polish capital between October and November 16, 1940; within the new General Government territory of German-occupied Poland. There were over 400,000 Jews imprisoned there, at an area of 3.4 km2, with an average of 9.2 persons per room, barely subsisting on meager food rations. From the Warsaw Ghetto, Jews were deported to Nazi camps and mass-killing centers. In the summer of 1942 at least 254,000 Ghetto residents were sent to the Treblinka extermination camp during "Großaktion Warschau" under the guise of "resettlement in the East" over the course of the summer.

The death toll among the Jewish inhabitants of the Ghetto is estimated to be at least 300,000 killed by bullet or gas, combined with 92,000 victims of rampant hunger and hunger-related diseases, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and the casualties of the final destruction of the Ghetto.

The walk

While walking the route, I learned that there was not one big ghetto. The ghetto was growing; a smaller ghetto was being connected to the bigger ghetto by the footbridge I mentioned earlier.

The shadow you see over the line marking the ghetto wall is the shadow of the marker of the bridge. 

I can remember I got this strange feeling when walking there, felt chills over my spine. Remains of the ghetto are very limited, as this area was bombed to the ground.

Below you can see some remains of the ghetto wall. This place was close to the wooden bridge, connecting the big ghetto with the small ghetto.

Besides the official markers and plaques, there are several places where you can see the shape of the ghetto and a text sprayed onto the wall.

Polish and Hebrew for "here was the ghetto."

Earlier that year 
I spoke to an older man once during one of my walks after Polish classes, he was born right before the war he told me. My Polish was very limited, but the man spoke in a very calm and fascinating way. It was exactly here:

It was in ulica Waliców where we met, also former Warsaw ghetto. What you see is the zabytek (monument) of Waliców 14.

I told then man that I was fascinated by Polish history, especially the 2nd world war and post war era. There has been some controversy about the subject of the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto lately, Israeli journalists were poking up a fire around this subject. Therefore I always am very cautious when talking about it, choosing my words carefully. Same counts for the communism era by the way, the limited history lessons I followed covered just a very general description.

But we walked along and kept talking.

The old man also spoke slow and with care, he was a very wise man. He told me that he will never forget this time, but that we now live in 2018 and the world has changed. We should make the best of it now and not look back too much. You can understand that this was pretty impressing for me as I understood his Polish, but could not really respond to him in a way I wanted.

He felt it and changed the subject to my brand new fast "trampki" (slang for sports shoes). This man also used slang words, so nice. We walked along for a while talking about Poland and Warsaw, it was really nice.

The most bizarre was that we ended making jokes about being married to a Polish woman. Well, he made the jokes and I listened...