After our classes at the Central School the three of us go for lunch at the Warszawa hotel. We order appetizers but for some reason each of us is served two portions. We ask but there is no explanations, we just get to eat double today.
In the afternoon foreign policy classes at the Center for International Studies for three and a half hours. Again, very official, stiff teaching by the professors who just push the party line.
In the later afternoon se set off to Lublin with Giallina. The "highway" is pathetic, no guardrails, lots of potholes, bumps, narrow turns, a mess. Truck drivers make things worse by using their high-beams very liberally, a coupld of times I risk an accident because I am totally blinded.
Lublin is rather underwhelming and unimpressive. The old town has been restored but still... too neglected, dirty.
I am at the same time a bit ashamed and a bit proud of the many times we broke the law today. Silly and unjust laws perhaps, at least some of them, but still laws. Bought fuel on the black market, moved it in illegal plastic tanks, drove into a pedestrian area of town, paid with Polish zloty for the hotel room that, as foreigners, we should have paid in dollars at the official rip-off exchange rate.
21 March 1980
20 March 1980
Class in Polish foreign policy
First lesson in Polish foreign policy. It is not held at the university but rather at a think tank run by the ministry of foreign affairs.
Our teachers are former Polish diplomats. The tone is very formal, official and while they are likable and reasonable people they stick to the party line. Let's see how it goes but we get the definite feeling that they sometimes don't really believe what they tell us.
Our teachers are former Polish diplomats. The tone is very formal, official and while they are likable and reasonable people they stick to the party line. Let's see how it goes but we get the definite feeling that they sometimes don't really believe what they tell us.
18 March 1980
Hope for travel to the East
Another visit to Orbis gives us some hope, apparently, for some reason, we are now likely to get an individual visa to the USSR and we'll be able to travel with Giallina and stay in various hotels and camping sites. We'll have to decide on an itinerary and not change it a bit after the visa is issued, but apparently we are on!
Evening at the restaurant "Under the Pigeon", pretty good and sooo inexpensive. (We did not eat pigeon.)
Evening at the restaurant "Under the Pigeon", pretty good and sooo inexpensive. (We did not eat pigeon.)
17 March 1980
Tour organization for DDR and USSR
After our usual morning classes we spend the afternoon touching base with the respective tourist offices and consulates to organize our trips to East Germany and the Soviet Union. It seems we'll have quit a lot of problems in both cases. Especially in the case of the USSR: we are told at the ORBIS tourist agency that apparently all the Western exchange students who tried before us were refused a visa.
Marta again returns to try her luck with me and Andrew...
Evening in Stefan's room with a few friends. We all eat various cuts of meat, red beans and peppers. Everyone is so kind to us it is almost embarrassing. Even with those who dont's speak much English there is no problem of communication.
Marta again returns to try her luck with me and Andrew...
Evening in Stefan's room with a few friends. We all eat various cuts of meat, red beans and peppers. Everyone is so kind to us it is almost embarrassing. Even with those who dont's speak much English there is no problem of communication.
16 March 1980
Lazenski park, old Jewish ghetto, change of the guard
Quite a full Sunday that starts with a tour around town in the company of our new acquaintance Jurek.
We first visit the Lazenki park, a mix of green and classic buildings and fountains. The Chopin monument is a moving permanent exhibit here.
Afterwards we move downtown and witness the very martial change of the guard at the monument of the unknown soldier.
FInally we walk around the old Jewish ghetto. There is an enormous monument to the victims of the Nazi repression there. A few people labor on the public gardens, it's the so-called Sunday voluntary work instituted by the socialist regime to show people's solidarity to the common good. The look on their faces shows something less than unbridled enthusiasm however.
In the evening another dinner with Marian and Ewa, but this time they take us out to the Krokodyl restaurant, one of the best in the old town. Another superb meal in Warsaw, repleated with red meat and good wines. I do feel a bit guilty about being able to splurge like this in the face of widespread penury meat in the city. But not enough to give it up! And it would not help anyone to give it up anyway.
We first visit the Lazenki park, a mix of green and classic buildings and fountains. The Chopin monument is a moving permanent exhibit here.
Afterwards we move downtown and witness the very martial change of the guard at the monument of the unknown soldier.
FInally we walk around the old Jewish ghetto. There is an enormous monument to the victims of the Nazi repression there. A few people labor on the public gardens, it's the so-called Sunday voluntary work instituted by the socialist regime to show people's solidarity to the common good. The look on their faces shows something less than unbridled enthusiasm however.
In the evening another dinner with Marian and Ewa, but this time they take us out to the Krokodyl restaurant, one of the best in the old town. Another superb meal in Warsaw, repleated with red meat and good wines. I do feel a bit guilty about being able to splurge like this in the face of widespread penury meat in the city. But not enough to give it up! And it would not help anyone to give it up anyway.
15 March 1980
Warsaw Museum and lines for bread
In the morning the three of us go to the Warsaw Museum and watch a film on the systematic destruction of the city by the Nazi. The first part of the film focuses on the diabolically methodical approach to the destruction, the second part on reconstruction. The Russians' contribution takes center stage in this second part, which is highly propagandistic in nature.
As we drive away we see a long line of people, at least forty, queuing up for bread!
We then go for lunch at the "Habana" restaurant, which ha actually very little Cuban anything to show.
In the evening Stefan comes to talk to our room and tells us how when at official meetings (he is the president of the SGPiS students' association) they are always kept apart from the Russians. He makes no qualms of his growing disillusionment with the socialist big brothers.
Note: In 1983 they have established the Warsaw Uprising Museum, fully dedicated to the tragedy of the city during the Nazi occupation.
 |
| Patient Poles line up for bread. |
We then go for lunch at the "Habana" restaurant, which ha actually very little Cuban anything to show.
In the evening Stefan comes to talk to our room and tells us how when at official meetings (he is the president of the SGPiS students' association) they are always kept apart from the Russians. He makes no qualms of his growing disillusionment with the socialist big brothers.
Note: In 1983 they have established the Warsaw Uprising Museum, fully dedicated to the tragedy of the city during the Nazi occupation.
14 March 1980
Fusilli alla carbonara
Uneventful day of classes and reading.
In the evening I go to the girls' dorm to cook pasta. For the occasion I invested in a 30-zloty pot of sufficient capacity. I also bought Polish pasta (fusilli to be precise), not without serious reservations (will be be made of durum wheat?) about its quality.
I also bought eggs and bacon (the closest I could find to Italian pancetta or guanciale) to make carbonara.
The end result is actually pretty close to the real thing, and the girls like it quite a lot!
In the evening I go to the girls' dorm to cook pasta. For the occasion I invested in a 30-zloty pot of sufficient capacity. I also bought Polish pasta (fusilli to be precise), not without serious reservations (will be be made of durum wheat?) about its quality.
I also bought eggs and bacon (the closest I could find to Italian pancetta or guanciale) to make carbonara.
The end result is actually pretty close to the real thing, and the girls like it quite a lot!
12 March 1980
Car wash and cold pork broth
After a history class Ann and I go to the Victoria anticipating a good steak, they are well known for their "Chateaubriand". After we park the car two rather destitute men ask whether we'd like Giallina cleaned while we eat. I decline, she is clean enough. besides, they asked for three dollars, while on another occasion, when we were with Polish friends, the rate was only one and a half.
As we walk in we realize that Canaletto restaurant is closed. and the "taverna" does not have it on the menu. We settle for another lunch. A waiter still asks to change money as we are about to leave. As we walk away a bit disappointed a taxi man drives by and he also asks to change money. We find that the two men had claned our car anyway! Well, I give them 200 zloty.
We then go with Ann to various tourist offices where we find no information at all on Wroclaw, Gdansk or Lublin, three cities we'd like to visit over the next several weeks. Poland is clearly not geared up to welcome international tourism. Or domestic tourists, for that matter.
On the other hand we walk into a photographer's shop to get some passport size shots in anticipation for various visas we'll be applying for in the near future. We get 21 pictures each for only 71 zlotys! Several days later I will come back to this shop and have more photographs taken of me, and I will use them for my passports, driver's licences, ID cards etc for many years to come, to the point that by the time I ran out I hardly resembled the twenty year-old man pictured in them.
In the evening we dine with Marian and Ewa. Lots of pork and a special sausage, kind of a "coppa", made by Ewa and served with a tasty cold broth.
As we walk in we realize that Canaletto restaurant is closed. and the "taverna" does not have it on the menu. We settle for another lunch. A waiter still asks to change money as we are about to leave. As we walk away a bit disappointed a taxi man drives by and he also asks to change money. We find that the two men had claned our car anyway! Well, I give them 200 zloty.
We then go with Ann to various tourist offices where we find no information at all on Wroclaw, Gdansk or Lublin, three cities we'd like to visit over the next several weeks. Poland is clearly not geared up to welcome international tourism. Or domestic tourists, for that matter.
On the other hand we walk into a photographer's shop to get some passport size shots in anticipation for various visas we'll be applying for in the near future. We get 21 pictures each for only 71 zlotys! Several days later I will come back to this shop and have more photographs taken of me, and I will use them for my passports, driver's licences, ID cards etc for many years to come, to the point that by the time I ran out I hardly resembled the twenty year-old man pictured in them.
In the evening we dine with Marian and Ewa. Lots of pork and a special sausage, kind of a "coppa", made by Ewa and served with a tasty cold broth.
10 March 1980
Duck, moon and stars
After our usual morning classes we go for lunch at another "Duck Place", i.e. the restaurant Kmicic. I eat my usual duck, kaczka. Somehow there is never want of ducks in Warsaw.
In the evening we all go to a party at the home of a certain Leszek, also called Dyndol. Lots of friendly people and kanapki and vodka abound. People start behaving funny. A certain Jan sets up a barricade of furniture for the purpose of cornering Ann and making clear his predilection for her. This despite the fact that he is married, his wife Bozena is pregnant and everyone at the party is aware of this. I try to make some sense of this hitherto unheard of (to me) behavior but Alina explains to me that this is normal: "Jan is used to Bozena", she says, and it is natural that he is looking for fun with other women. All Poles do this, apparently, once they "get used" to their partner, and make no apologies for it. I will hear this expression on a number of occasions in the next couple of months. Apparently it is standard operating procedure.
Ann is a bit confused because at the same party Vadim promises "the moon and the stars" if she agrees to accept his love. Well, in the end the matter is resolved innocently and harmlessly, and we all go home safe, if a bit perplexed.
In the evening we all go to a party at the home of a certain Leszek, also called Dyndol. Lots of friendly people and kanapki and vodka abound. People start behaving funny. A certain Jan sets up a barricade of furniture for the purpose of cornering Ann and making clear his predilection for her. This despite the fact that he is married, his wife Bozena is pregnant and everyone at the party is aware of this. I try to make some sense of this hitherto unheard of (to me) behavior but Alina explains to me that this is normal: "Jan is used to Bozena", she says, and it is natural that he is looking for fun with other women. All Poles do this, apparently, once they "get used" to their partner, and make no apologies for it. I will hear this expression on a number of occasions in the next couple of months. Apparently it is standard operating procedure.
Ann is a bit confused because at the same party Vadim promises "the moon and the stars" if she agrees to accept his love. Well, in the end the matter is resolved innocently and harmlessly, and we all go home safe, if a bit perplexed.
09 March 1980
Church in Warsaw
A pretty easy and uneventful Sunday.
We are not religious but Andrew and I decide to go and have a look at a Church downtown.
The Church is packed to the brim with people. In fact the crowd overflows the building and many faithfuls listen to the Mass from outside. We are of course aware that Poland is a very Catholic country. The official Church has found a modus vivendi with the Communist government, but it remains one of the few channels through which dissent can be aired, if cautiously.
The election of a Polish pope two years ago has galvanized the nation and has provided a ray of hope for the opposition to the Soviet domination.
We are not religious but Andrew and I decide to go and have a look at a Church downtown.
The Church is packed to the brim with people. In fact the crowd overflows the building and many faithfuls listen to the Mass from outside. We are of course aware that Poland is a very Catholic country. The official Church has found a modus vivendi with the Communist government, but it remains one of the few channels through which dissent can be aired, if cautiously.
The election of a Polish pope two years ago has galvanized the nation and has provided a ray of hope for the opposition to the Soviet domination.
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