Weekend in Lodz

As I mentioned before, this past weekend was supposed to be all about Lodz. And sure enough it was. We kicked off Friday night with a sushi dinner. I have been longing for the food variety that's available in Toronto and that I've gotten so used to.


sushi! You can see the little boats with plates of sushi floating by. Though not the best I've ever had, it was just the kind of comfort thing we were looking for (some of us anyway).

After sushi we headed over to the theatre (yey air conditioning!) to watch Pirates of the Caribbean II. The movies in Poland are played in English with Polish sub-titles, so there was no language barrier. After the movie we called up some people and headed over to.... a gas station?

Ah yes, drinking in public places, though technically against the law (it's a 200 zl fine apparently), is a pretty much accepted thing in Poland. And since you can buy alcohol pretty much everywhere, including the gas station, for cheaper than at the pubs, people purchase their beverage and loiter around the nearest park or doggy parking lot. Why go any further, you might need another beer in 20 minutes. It just so happened that right next to this station there was a little park with a perfect little brick wall to sit on. So when in Rome do like the Romans, right? We bought a few beers and hung out for a while, until the police came by to break up the party and we decided to call it a night.

SATURDAY
Saturday we decided that it was time to cool off. So we managed to find a fairly clean outdoor pool (not an easy thing to do in Poland I hear) at a near-by hotel. The water was great and refreshing and we had an amazing time just relaxing in the sun.


The boys and Erin trying to catch some sun. Some need it more than others :)


The boys had a race, and as Vlatko is indicating in the photo, Pawel won.

After the pool we headed back to the dom to get ready for the evening festivities. The plan was to go to a foam party at a gay club in Lodz. Having never been to a gay club nor a foam party, naturally I was curious. Now, if you know anything about Poland, you might suspect that the gay scene is very underground. And sure enough, we were led down into a very doggy and dark looking part of the city by some of the locals, to a club in a random old-looking factory.

The boys were a bit scared at first and some suddenly got an intense urge to learn a bit of Polish:

"Monika, how do you say 'I'm not gay' in Polish?" - Javi
"Nie jestem gaj." - Me
"Nie jestem gaj. Nie jestem gaj. Nie jestem gaj. Ok, thanks." - Javi

Despite their initial reservations they loosened up and got into the party once the foam started.

Overall I have to say that the foam party was one of the most odd, fun and yet disgusting things that I've ever participated in. At the end of the night all I wanted to do was to get clean. You just never know what's lurking out there in the foam...

SUNDAY
The next day, we slept. Despite the dance music blaring out of room 304 and the church bells, we slept till noon. In the afternoon we visited the Lodz's old Jewish ghetto as well as the Jewish cemetery. Here are some shots:


A church of Our Lady of Assumption on the grounds of the ghetto; like many places of worship, during the war it was turned into a storage area during WWII.


Walking up to the gates of the cemetery.


Many people that were important in the development of the city are buried in here. The largest grave (which looks more like a small chapel) belongs to the Poznanski family who were rich factory owners.

After all the sightseeing, we just chilled in the evening (but only till 10:00 p.m.) and got ready for another week of work. Next weekend most people are heading to Gdansk, while Erin and I are planning a day trip to Torun, the birthplace of Kopernik (Copernicus). More pictures and crazy adventures are sure to follow, so stay tuned!