🐻 Ursus 🚜

Ursus Warszawa, that is where we live. Ursus is a district of Warsaw situated in the west on the edge of the city. 

Warsaw is so big that the districts also have sub-districts. In our case we live in Warszawa Ursus Skorosze.

Around 40 years ago it was a separate town, a suburb. Maybe that is the reason it is very green and calm. Also many young families live here. For me the step from a 10k inhabitants village in the Netherlands to this place was not so extreme as you might have thought.

It's a small district with around 5 times as much inhabitants compared to my hometown Neede in the Netherlands.

Bear
I knew that Ursus was the Latin word for bear, and indeed the district's logo is a bear. As you can see above, one of the sub-districts is called 'Niedzwiadek', means baby bear in Polish (a cub).

I am not totally sure what the thing with bears is here, another district in Warsaw is called 'Ursynów'.

Ursus tractors
The district's most famous inhabitant is tractor company Ursus, you might have seen the brand. Especially in the past their export quantities were large.

The factory moved to Lublin, but the former factory in our district is still there.
It is an abandoned place where many photographers go to shoot pictures, because of its amazing light.

Greeting
I even saw a tractor in full throttle on the public road last week. In the Netherlands I always greeted farmers by putting my index finger in the air. When I saw that tractor I just smiled and the driver saw it. And waved. 2 million inhabitants, but in Ursus we normally greet each other like we do in my village in the Netherlands.

Nice.

K+M+B

One of the things which were a total mystery for me. I noticed a lot of front doors had some letters written on it with chalk, plus the year.

Most of the times there was K+M+B, sometimes C+M+B. My Polish family also had It, so I gathered some information.

6th of January

For Christians (In Poland mainly Catholics) the 6th of January is the day of the Epiphany of Jesus Christ (Swięto Objawienia Pańskiego). In Poland it's rather called the Three Kings' Day (Swięto Trzech Króli) - who, to the legend, visited newborn Jesus and brought him gifts. The majority of Poles consider these 3 letters as kings' names - Kacper, Melchior, Baltazar in Polish. But some see it differently. Originally it should be C+M+B which is in Latin "Christus mansionem benedicat" – let Christ bless this house. Pluses are in fact crosses. The inscription is written with chalk (consecrated in church) every year at the 6th of January in order to give the home a symbolical protection. My family is modern and use a sticker instead :-)

Mystery solved!

Cool buses

I have seen many vehicles here which I never saw in real before. Especially the Polish built cars and buses were totally new to me since arriving in Warsaw. This blog post will be about buses of which I made photos on Warsaw's streets. 

Hype
In the Netherlands there was and still is a hype going on owning an old VolksWagen bus. A nice one fetches around 30,000 Euros nowadays. An awful lot of money but it is a good investment. Rust free nice ones only increase in value if you treat them with love.

In Warsaw they love buses. Really nice to see these old school buses still being used for either tourism/commercial purposes or just private use.

My personal favorite is the Jelcz.

A true Polish icon as these were public transport buses for a long time. People call this bus 'ogórek' (cucumber) because of its rounded lines and shape.

Nysa 

The Nysa buses are smaller than the Jelcz, maybe van is a better word for them.

They always seem to have this typical pastel painted color. I like them but always associate them with hipsters for some reason.

The Nysa van was produced in the town of Nysa, Poland, from 1958 until 1994. In the past, the Nysa was practically the only van-size ambulance used in Poland. Many vans were sold to the Milicja (Militia, military police) which was the only form of police during the Communist era in Poland; blue Nysa vans became a kind of "trademark" of the Milicja.

In the 1980s the production decreased. When Poland became a democracy again in 1989 the future was bleak for the Nysa. Development work had been minimal for the past 20 years. Most customers, including the Police, chose more modern, faster and safer vans of Western manufacturers, that became widely imported instead. The production was closed in 1994 after manufacturing 380,575 vehicles.

Żuk  

You could call the Żuk Nysa's sibling, as they share the same base. The Żuk (polish for beetle) was a van and light truck produced in Lublin, Poland, between 1958 and 1998 by FSC. It was based on FSO Warszawa which in turn was a copy of a Soviet passenger car GAZ-M20 Pobeda. The chassis, suspension and engine from FSO Warszawa formed the basis of the Żuk and the Nysa light vans designed in the late 1950s. 

The Żuk was mainly sold to state organizations and also to individuals. After 1989, with the liberalization of the Polish economy, the Żuk was able to maintain sales to the traditional markets and expand the number sold into private hands. The final few years of production was in parallel to its successor, the Lublin van, as a cheaper alternative.

The Żuk was a favourite of farmers. The Polish postal service (Poczta Polska, orange) and local fire brigades (Straż Pożarna, red) used them as personnel carriers or even as mini fire engines in country districts. End of production - 13.02.1998

Jelcz 

My favorite! Trucks, buses and trolley buses which were produced by Zakłady Samochodowe Jelcz, Jelczańskie Zakłady Samochodowe. 

This is the Jelcz 043, a bus which is famous as it served many many passengers of public transport. Back then, the buses were red (not really a surprise). Also the long trolley version was being used a lot. 

My wife and I had the pleasure to join a tour with it through the old Praga district, 

a fantastic experience. 

The sound of the engine, the nostalgia inside, the driver constantly performing trickery with all kinds of handles and switches, the smell, just fantasic.

STAR

More a truck than a bus, but I would like to include this brand. Fabryka Samochodów Ciężarowych "Star" was a Polish truck manufacturer. The name comes from the City of Starachowice, where the factory is located. Their first vehicle was the Star 20 in 1948. 

The most popular type was the Star 266. Robust, reliable and powerful engines for a low price. For many years FSC Star was a state-owned company. Star is now owned by MAN AG who eliminated the brand in January 2009.

I took the above picture at the Polish Army museum (Jerusalem avenue), where you can admire dozens of vehicles which were used by the Polish army (also airplanes helicopters and tanks). They are displayed outside and this section of the museum is free of charge. I might show you in some time!

Popek Monster

At least twice per month I was heading to Warsaw years ago. During those flights I started to recognize people, there were always a few other frequent flyers and personnel did not change so much. Pilot Grzegorz of Wizzair is my favorite, his landings are sublime.

It was a challenge sometimes finding an affordable seat. It was a continuous planning with many variables. Eindhoven, Maastricht, Cologne, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Paderborn airports. Wizzair, Ryanair, Eurowings and LOT airlines. I am glad I graduated in Logistics, it helped me not getting crazy planning flights.

During one of the flights from Eindhoven to Warsaw I was sitting behind a big guy with huge scars on his face. I noticed because personnel were pretty eager to talk to him. After departure other passengers came to him for some small talk and a selfie.

I noticed that he was very friendly to everyone and stood up from his chair to make a selfie every time. 

Popek

Then I noticed the guy's eyes where totally black. He was full of tattoos so it could well be that he has his eyeballs inked I thought.
It was getting a bit irritating with all those people coming to his seat. But he remained surprisingly good mooded. Ordered a huge meal finished off with a can of Red Bull in one go. I estimate it took him 1.6 seconds.
He must be some rapper or something I thought, while checking his tattoos. He sounded tired. It was a morning flight so could well be that he had a gig a few hours ago. He kept smiling. I then noticed he also had his teeth replaced gold ones, all of them. Holy crap, he probably sleeps hanging himself to a meathook I thought.

When arriving in Warsaw with my wife, I told her the story and described how he looked like. She knew him, a rapper named Popek Monster. Made sense to me knowing that he was full of scars, tattoos and had black eyes.

I googled and it was him, a Polish rapper.
Later I saw he started to fight on TV, as a Freefighter or something. People are always a bit negative about him, laugh when this tough guy rapper loses a fight. That his music is shit and his fighting even worse.

Probably true, but I saw a super friendly, spontaneous, patient and easy going guy in that airplane. Just making a living.

Lesson learned. Never judge too quick, reality is much nicer most times.

Pigeons

The Polish and their food

Food is important for Polaks. Apart from the fact that we need to eat and drink to stay alive, food plays an important role here.

Traditional but curious
Polaks are traditional in general, and so is their kitchen. However, Warsaw has plenty of expensive and luxurious places to eat less traditional. In fact it is popular because the people are curious. You can also see it in retail, foreign brands are very popular.

However, I have lost count of situations where someone said: "The food here is not bad but nothing beats schabowy z ziemniakami for me (pork schnitzel with potatoes). Or: "For the price of this dish I can buy 3 kilo of meat". A tad embarassing maybe, but I love to witness these situations.

Dishes
Let's pick one dish today, "gołąbki". In English: "pigeons". These cabbage rolls with meat inside are delicious. My favorite Polish dish. My mother-in-law Bozena can cook it so good, mouthwatering really.

You might think there's pigeon meat inside, but that's not the case. Right?

Let's start from scratch. It starts with this bad boy:

Kapusta

The complete kapusta (cabbage) needs to be cooked in one piece. So first find an enormous pan for this football sized kapusta.

The core needs to be cut out first. Then cook in water with a few spoons of sugar. In the meantime, prepare the meat. 

Hand mix 'kaiserka' (kaiser roll) with milk. Then add raw cut onions with beef, pork, rice, garlic, an egg, salt and black pepper.

As the cabbage leaves loosen, you can remove them one by one once cooled off. Then the stem needs to be cut out from the individual leaves. Place a piece of meat at the bottom edge of each cabbage leaf.

Then the rolling of pigeon envelopes can be done. 

Rolling, rolling rolling
Rolling, rolling rolling


Rawhide.

Now it's time to cook them in a sauce containing tomato concentrate and sour cream.
And a secret ingredient which remains classified. 

Et voila

Gołabki a la Bozenka

Seems easy and quick, but it's not. You need time to perform the art of making gołabki. 

You can wake me up in the middle of the night for these, mniam.

Wedel chocolate

Since 1851
Founded in 1851 by Karl Ernst (Karol Ernest) Wedel (1813-1902), the company and its products became known in most of Central and Eastern Europe. The logo of the company is based on Karol Wedel's signature.

Willy Wonka

His son Emil Albert Fryderyk Wedel (1841-1919) apprenticed in candy and chocolate factories in Western Europe before inheriting and expanding his father's business. His descendant Jan Wedel (d. 1960), the last member of the Wedel family to own the company, was considered "the Willy Wonka" of pre-war Poland. In 1894 the company moved its main factory from Szpitalna street in Warsaw.

Szpitalna street

I regularly go for a walk in Warsaw downtown (Śródmieście district) after Polish lessons. There I took the above picture and only after a long time I realized that there is a huge zebra on top of the building.

In 1934, during the time of the Great Depression, Jan Wedel opened a second factory in Warsaw's Praga district.
We also were there during an Ogórek tour (old school bus, more about that later).

Social welfare 

The company was also known for its very generous social welfare policies. As one of the first in Europe, it had its own creche, kindergarten, hospital and cafeteria, and rewarded its best employees with no-interest housing loans; its model was highly acclaimed by the Polish Socialist Party. Prior to World War II, Wedel became a successful private company, with shops in London and Paris.

WWII

The company managed to continue production during the first few years of the war; it also started producing basic food such as bread for starving Warsaw, and was the site of the underground teaching. Despite the family's German ancestry Wedel refused to collaborate with the Germans, and did not sign the Volksliste; increasingly this led to him and his employees being persecuted by the Nazis. The war devastated Poland and the company; the buildings at Warsaw were destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising.

Post war
After the war, Wedel rebuilt the factory, only to have the communist government nationalize the company. The Wedel plant itself was renamed '22 Lipca' (22 July) after the Communist 'Independence Day' (PKWN Manifesto), although even the communists chose to retain the Wedel brand name, with products bearing both the new and old logos. The company was reprivatized in 1989 after the fall of communism in Poland and still is very popular.

Nice souvenir

If you ever get a chance to visit Warsaw, I recommend to visit a Wedel 'pijalnia', where you can enjoy a nice hot chocolate (strong and intense) and buy a customized 'torcik wedlowski' if you would like.

All of them being decorated by hand, so also the mass produced ones. Not one of them is a 100% the same. However, the workers are so skillful that you would need a microscope to spot differences on some of them.

On the customized ones they sell in their 'pijalnia' shops they hand decorate its top with liquid chocolate. You can choose a custom design or for instance have names added.

My father and sister love Torcik Wedlowski. I always try to take one if I visit the Netherlands. It's like a giant KitKat but thicker, more chocolate less sweet.

Tina also loves Wedel

The former factory, now 'pijalnia' with the zebra on its roof is in downtown, Szpitalna street. A very nice area to walk around and have a break at Wedel.

When you leave, take the route on your right hand side, second left and enjoy walking the small streets.

Or just take the first left if you want to experience a million dollar view with the Palace Of Culture and Science towering above anything else. It's hard to catch a view on camera sometimes, but I think you can imagine the view while walking this street, stunning at the least.

Check out my blogpost about the Palace
Here

Spice envelopes

A few days ago I wrote about the home pharmacies in Poland. I would not call it hoarding, but after witnessing the below it starts to look like it...

The Polish and their collections of spice envelopes. Another phenomenon which is really fascinating to see.

The collections come in all varieties.
From neatly ordened: 

To, I need to pick words carefully here, less neatly ordened:

Spice envelopes
(przyprawy w saszetkach, small bags. W torebkach, bigger bags).
Of course the bags of Knorr etcetera are used a lot in Dutch households, but just look at it! They do have a lot don't they? I beg your pardon, WE have a lot don't WE?

Another example that the Polish are taking their cooking very seriously and are curious to other flavors. I really expected a very traditional kitchen with little room for experimenting, but it turned out that it was me who was the traditional one. In Holland we have a saying which goes like: 'What a farmer does not know, he does not eat.'
That was me. Was.