Everything You ever wanted to know about Poland (part 1)







Everything You ever wanted to know about Poland - (part 11) 
DID YOU KNOW THAT ... ?
By  Robert Strybel,   Warsaw Correspondent



 




 

 
















*   Pope John Paul II has accepted an invitation from the city fathers of his southern Polish
hometown of Wadowice to visit it again in 2002. But he added the remark: 'Jak Bóg da' (God willing). He last visited his birthplace two years ago.

*  Polish Americans visiting Poland this year saw their buying power shoot up over night during the first week of July. Due to various internal and
international factors, one day they were getting only 3.95 zlotys to the US dollar, and the next day as much as 4.30 zlotys.

*  Poland's Solidarity movement was born during the August 1980 Gdansk Shipyard strike. Following nine years of political struggle with the communist regime
it led to the collapse of Soviet bloc and the democratic development of the Europe's eastern half.

*  France's major Polish burial ground is the cemetery in the Paris suburb of Montmorency. Among the famous Poles buried there are writer and early writers
and early US traveler Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, poet and freedom-fighter Cyprian Godebski, 19th-century romantic poet Cyprian Kamil Norwid and World War II
commander Gen. Kazimierz Sosnkowski.

 

*  According to legend, Warszawa (Warsaw) got its name from fishermen named Wars and Sawa. Historians
believe that in actuality it was named after a nearby village called Warszowa.

*  During his recent first presidential trip to Europe, George W. Bush made his keynote foreign-policy address at Warsaw University where he supported NATO's
continued enlargement and pointed to Poland as an example other ex-communist countries could follow.

*  Both their self-imposed isolation stemming from their religious-cultural beliefs ('the chosen people') as well as limitations on settlement, land
ownership and craft guild membership forced Poland's Jews to specialize in trade, inn-keeping and money-lending, making many of them rich and successful.

*  Poland's standard half-liter (app. 17 oz.) short-neck beer bottle is now being gradually replaced by a long-neck bottle of identical volume. At first
glance it resembles the old American 12 oz. long-neck bottle, except it is 5 oz. larger.

*  For information on transferring money to family and friends in Poland via Western Union, phone: [phone] (for information in English) or
1-800-990-4440 (in Polish).

*  Former US President Bill Clinton earned $100,000 for the lecture he delivered in Warsaw in May 2001. Former Polish President Lech Walesa also addresses
groups at home and abroad but earns only about $10,000. per lecture.

*  Hot beer soup, usually served over cubed farmer cheese, was once Poland's most typical breakfast food; the less better off ate Zur (sour ryemeal soup) for
breakfast.

 

*  The world's largest chalka (braided egg bread) ever created was baked in June 2001 in Kielce, Poland.
It was made of 290 lbs of dough, was 8" tall and was 38' long. The bakers are hoping their creation will make it into the world-famous Guinness Book of
Records.


 

*   Polish-born pontiff John Paul, the former Kraków Archbishop Karol Wojtyla, is credited with
enriching the Vatican menu with such Polish delicacies as jajecznica na boczku (scrambled eggs fried in bacon), flaki (tripe), pierogi and sernik (cheesecake).
 
*  When Poles switch off their phones, callers are likely to hear the recorded message: 'Abonent jest
czasowo niedostepny. Prosze zadzwonic pózniej.' (The subscriber is temporarily unavailable. Please phone later.)

*  Poland's last execution took place in Kraków in 1988, the last year of communist rule, when a serial killer was hanged in Kraków. But 69% of all Poles
favor the restoration of capital punishment, removed from the penal code in 1998.

*  Poles have created unique styles of weaving, lace-making and embroidery, not to mention such folkcrafts as wood-carving, wycinanki, pisanki and
palm-making, but have contributed nothing original to the field of knitting field. Contemporary knitting patterns are available in Poland but come from Western
European sources and are translated into Polish.

*  Local farmers were surprised when a pack of wolves killed and maimed calves in the heavily forested Wegorzewo area of Mazuria (northern Poland) in June
2001. Wolves are most commonly encountered in the rugged southeastern Bieszczady Mountain area.

*  The anti-Russian revolution of 1905-1906 failed to restore Poland's independence but it did lessen Moscow's grip, allowing the restoration of lower-level
Polish schools and the creation of Polish patriotic associations.

*  Warsaw's Stadium Dziesieciolecia (built in the mid-50s to mark the 10th anniversary of communist rule) is now Europe's biggest open-air market. Dominated
by vendors from the former Soviet republics, its business volume ranks it in the top 20 on the list of Poland's 500 biggest firms.

*  Former Polish President Lech Walesa has become a vegetarian for health reasons. But he admits it takes a lot of willpower to say 'no' to roast chicken,
bigos and breaded pork cutlets.

*  A prezydent (president) is the chief executive of Poland's major cities, while a burmistrz (mayor) stands at the head of smaller cities and towns.

*  Skeptics who said that after 123 years of foreign occupation it would take decades to meld together the three partition zones after World War I were
proven wrong. Within a few years, a unified army, public administration, school system, railways, currency and other elements of independent statehood were all in
place and functioning surprisingly well.

*  For information about renting a cell phone while on w trip to Poland, phone the NY-based Omnipoint company at [phone]. Most American cell phones do
not work in Europe.
 
 
The  END.






















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