Having spent five years living and working on Poland – my adopted home – it saddens me that PiS spewing their hate and lies (not unlike many other countries in the world today) won the election yesterday. My Polish friends tell me that things are returning to the pre-1989 conditions where it is no longer your qualifications for a job, but what party and who you know that secures you employment, let along keeps you from being fired. The press is being controlled by the state, the courts are being “reformed”, pushing out certain judges, and the university system is being “reformed”, pushing out more mature and experienced academics and filling positions with younger (and cheaper) academics who are supposed to tow the line. These changes (one of many) are on a reverse course after decades of progress.
But on a happier note, and maybe a turning point, Orban’s party lost the mayoral election in Budapest. Maybe the deplorables of the world are finally going to start going back to their caves.
In honor of the Poland I know and love (not lead by any PiS person) here are some photos of some of my favorite places/things.
All Saints Day (November) where graves are decorated with flowers and candles – sometimes hundreds of them.
The Easter Market at the Rynek in Krakow. ul. Druga in Gdansk, the main street with these amazing gates.
Spodek in Katowice. Built in 1971, a classic example of socialist architecture. It’s a multi-purpose facility with hockey rink, gym, hotel and lost of parking.
City Hall in Lublin.
Majdanek concentration camp near Lublin in December. Visiting concentration camps in the winter/bad weather is the best way to truly understand the terrible living conditions in those camps.
This is a statue of Jesus in the Lord’s Ark Church in Noaw Huta (Krakow). This Jesus was modeled after a concentration camp resident.
City Hall in Sandomierz.
Entrance to the shipyard in Gdansk. A visit to the Solidarity Center near the shipyard is a must.
One of my most favorite places in the country – St. Mary’s Church in the Rynek in Krakow.
Walking up to Wawel with the cathedral on the left. This is my favorite place in the country – the beautiful Wawel Castle and Cathedral.
My second favorite place in Poland – Zaspa. This is a neighborhood just outside of Gdansk where there are nearly 100 murals on the sides of socialist buildings – an outdoor museum.
I love traveling and have been lucky enough to do a lot of it across the United States, most of eastern Canada and Europe. Here are some of my favorite places and memories from Europe. Hopefully there will be many more photos once travel is allowed again. Additionally, I am a real estate market analyst focusing on housing and senior housing issues and this had led me to travel all over for work. I have conducted research in Poland and the U.S. housing and senior issues, creating original data, and publishing results in a variety of publications. My book about senior housing issues in Poland is now available on amazon. https://tinyurl.com/yxml38bo. It too has some unique photos in it.
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Adventures in pictures 