february in bits, part 1
In which Marysia’s gorgeous grandkids come to visit, there's some heavy hot chocolate, and I walk home from a tram. Whoo!
RAG: If you don’t want Steve to start gushing and getting all clucky and begging you for children, get him away from the computer now.
1st February, the kids arrive and we go shopping at Carrefour.
Let me preface this by saying the kids are gorgeous, but of that wonderfully just-this-side-of-spoiled generation. Unfortunately. In the end, though, all you remember is how cute they were. Darn it.
The kids are Magda (almost three) and Piotrek (five), and their parents are Maciek and Ola. He works in insurance, she’s a doctor, they’re both still doing university courses, and they live in Warszawa. School holidays for Warszawa started at the beginning of February, and the kids’ preschool was hit by some kind of crazy virus. All the kids got sick. The preschool is also like a daycare centre, which means it would usually be open for the holidays, but because of the Epidemic, they closed it - leaving all the kids sitting around home. So, Maciek and Ola brought their two sick children to Łódź to visit with their grandmother for the school break.
Car ride to Carrefour (big supermarket). It wasn’t actually as cold as their outfits suggest, but y’know, sick kids…
Piotrek.
Piotrek, Magda.
Ridiculously photogenic, these kids.
The end of the hour-and-a-half-long shopping trip, Piotr has a glove fiasco and Marysia is tired.
Seriously. Photogenic.
2nd February, I head out for some random stuff.
The first of those “random” places being a cemetery to visit family. I went with Dominika (distant, distant cousin) and Ela (distant, distant great-aunt, I think).
A huge number of trees were knocked over during those gale-force winds at the end of January. Seeing this one, we figured that no one in the groundskeeper’s office of the cemetery had noticed it yet.
Theeeeeen we headed to Manufaktura.
And to this store, Almi-Décor.
You walk in and you’re lost. It’s like a plush, bordering-on-kitsch heaven. There are accessories galore, everything matches, there are mirrors on every second wall, and it’s like a huge maze - you have to walk around in a square to see the outside rooms, and then there are hidden alcoves off to each corner, and all the rooms in the centre of the store. It’s really more the size of a hotel than a store. Or you can compare it to Ikea, but it’s prettier.
Anyway, so I only got to take about five photos before a member of the staff told me that photography isn’t allowed and would I please put away my camera and visit the website instead. So, there you go. Security and everything.
Um, we were in there for about an hour, gushing over pillows and leather armchairs. So, when we came out, it was dark.
And Manufaktura is pretty at night. Fountains, lights, and an ice-skating rink in the square somewhere. Insane.
Also, no idea if you can see this, but - back in the day when the Manufaktura square was still factory land, there were apparently apartments on this spot. There was a set of stairs that led up to one of the floors, and a tree grew around them… so as you can see, when they built all the new buildings, they left the tree.
Then we went to Wedel. E. Wedel is a Polish company that produces truly delicious chocolate, and they have a restaurant at Manufaktura where their specialty is - what else? - hot chocolate. Rich, creamy, ohGodwhy-worthy hot chocolate. The place was beautiful, too - we could see out onto the square and the ice-skating rink, the lighting was low, the jazz was smooth… and the waiters were all surprisingly friendly. In a country that doesn’t seem to understand customer service, this was rather refreshing. It could just be that when you’re inhaling chocolate fumes each day, you become a little cheerier. Endorphins and serotonin and all that.
We ended up with plum hot chocolate (way too sweet), cherry hot chocolate (smelled purty) and some luxurious cream-and-marshmallow concoction. The smell was mouth-watering… it was ridiculous.
Aaaaaand Saturday, 3rd February, wander home and some rare sunshine.
Waiting at the tram stop on Kościuszki, the sun began to peek out; and twenty minutes later at the bus stop, the clouds were almost completely gone.
Walking home through the village…
I really like the birds in that tree.
Chickens and sports club graffiti: Hooligans ŁKS.
Łódzki Klub Sportowy (Łódź Sports Club, funnily enough) is a bit of a horrible, crazy tradition here. It’s along the lines of Little Athletics, I suppose, and there are different sports clubs around the city: Widzew, Chojny, Ruda… I’m pretty sure the house here falls under the “jurisdiction” of ŁKS Ruda. Anyway, these clubs are also gangs. If someone asks you who you support, you shouldn’t answer. If you say Chojny instead of Widzew, you can say goodbye to your teeth. Some of the districts get along, though, and apparently there’s a 100-year-old rhyme that explains the relationships, but I haven’t mastered it yet. Unfortunately, these clubs are mostly at each others’ throats, calling each other Jews and Skinheads and going to nightclubs in groups to cause fights. It’s a friendly atmosphere.
Anyway, so there’s that local culture lesson.
RAG: If you don’t want Steve to start gushing and getting all clucky and begging you for children, get him away from the computer now.
1st February, the kids arrive and we go shopping at Carrefour.
Let me preface this by saying the kids are gorgeous, but of that wonderfully just-this-side-of-spoiled generation. Unfortunately. In the end, though, all you remember is how cute they were. Darn it.
The kids are Magda (almost three) and Piotrek (five), and their parents are Maciek and Ola. He works in insurance, she’s a doctor, they’re both still doing university courses, and they live in Warszawa. School holidays for Warszawa started at the beginning of February, and the kids’ preschool was hit by some kind of crazy virus. All the kids got sick. The preschool is also like a daycare centre, which means it would usually be open for the holidays, but because of the Epidemic, they closed it - leaving all the kids sitting around home. So, Maciek and Ola brought their two sick children to Łódź to visit with their grandmother for the school break.
Car ride to Carrefour (big supermarket). It wasn’t actually as cold as their outfits suggest, but y’know, sick kids…
Piotrek.
Piotrek, Magda.
Ridiculously photogenic, these kids.
The end of the hour-and-a-half-long shopping trip, Piotr has a glove fiasco and Marysia is tired.
Seriously. Photogenic.
2nd February, I head out for some random stuff.
The first of those “random” places being a cemetery to visit family. I went with Dominika (distant, distant cousin) and Ela (distant, distant great-aunt, I think).
A huge number of trees were knocked over during those gale-force winds at the end of January. Seeing this one, we figured that no one in the groundskeeper’s office of the cemetery had noticed it yet.
Theeeeeen we headed to Manufaktura.
And to this store, Almi-Décor.
You walk in and you’re lost. It’s like a plush, bordering-on-kitsch heaven. There are accessories galore, everything matches, there are mirrors on every second wall, and it’s like a huge maze - you have to walk around in a square to see the outside rooms, and then there are hidden alcoves off to each corner, and all the rooms in the centre of the store. It’s really more the size of a hotel than a store. Or you can compare it to Ikea, but it’s prettier.
Anyway, so I only got to take about five photos before a member of the staff told me that photography isn’t allowed and would I please put away my camera and visit the website instead. So, there you go. Security and everything.
Um, we were in there for about an hour, gushing over pillows and leather armchairs. So, when we came out, it was dark.
And Manufaktura is pretty at night. Fountains, lights, and an ice-skating rink in the square somewhere. Insane.
Also, no idea if you can see this, but - back in the day when the Manufaktura square was still factory land, there were apparently apartments on this spot. There was a set of stairs that led up to one of the floors, and a tree grew around them… so as you can see, when they built all the new buildings, they left the tree.
Then we went to Wedel. E. Wedel is a Polish company that produces truly delicious chocolate, and they have a restaurant at Manufaktura where their specialty is - what else? - hot chocolate. Rich, creamy, ohGodwhy-worthy hot chocolate. The place was beautiful, too - we could see out onto the square and the ice-skating rink, the lighting was low, the jazz was smooth… and the waiters were all surprisingly friendly. In a country that doesn’t seem to understand customer service, this was rather refreshing. It could just be that when you’re inhaling chocolate fumes each day, you become a little cheerier. Endorphins and serotonin and all that.
We ended up with plum hot chocolate (way too sweet), cherry hot chocolate (smelled purty) and some luxurious cream-and-marshmallow concoction. The smell was mouth-watering… it was ridiculous.
Aaaaaand Saturday, 3rd February, wander home and some rare sunshine.
Waiting at the tram stop on Kościuszki, the sun began to peek out; and twenty minutes later at the bus stop, the clouds were almost completely gone.
Walking home through the village…
I really like the birds in that tree.
Chickens and sports club graffiti: Hooligans ŁKS.
Łódzki Klub Sportowy (Łódź Sports Club, funnily enough) is a bit of a horrible, crazy tradition here. It’s along the lines of Little Athletics, I suppose, and there are different sports clubs around the city: Widzew, Chojny, Ruda… I’m pretty sure the house here falls under the “jurisdiction” of ŁKS Ruda. Anyway, these clubs are also gangs. If someone asks you who you support, you shouldn’t answer. If you say Chojny instead of Widzew, you can say goodbye to your teeth. Some of the districts get along, though, and apparently there’s a 100-year-old rhyme that explains the relationships, but I haven’t mastered it yet. Unfortunately, these clubs are mostly at each others’ throats, calling each other Jews and Skinheads and going to nightclubs in groups to cause fights. It’s a friendly atmosphere.
Anyway, so there’s that local culture lesson.