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Warsaw is a fascinating city. I am not Polish but have spent about 3 months there over the past 20 years. It’s been a cool experience watching it continue to tr

Warsaw is a fascinating city. I am not Polish but have spent about 3 months there over the past 20 years. It’s been a cool experience watching it continue to transform. There’s a very interesting mix of surviving architecture, rebuilt, reimagined, communist, capitalist contemporary, and urban renewal. Here’s also a very young energy there due to all the schools and being a magnet for young people across the country to start their careers. A little gem example: there’s a communist era train platform that’s been reimagined as a Bangkok night market. In a nearby rail yard building is a very good pinball museum with playable antiques.

rhplus 2y ago
reimagined as a Bangkok night market Sounds like the Thai government’s decades long program of soft-diplomacy through food is working. https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/news/article/food-diplomacy-gastrodiplomacy-europe https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/news/article/food-diplo...
- rpastuszak 2y ago
  My bet is that is has more to do with the Vietnamese (largest non-European) minority in Poland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_people_in_Poland?wprov=sfti1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_people_in_Poland?wp...
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    > more to do with the Vietnamese (largest non-European) minority in Poland Vietnamese are not Thai. They are entirely different cultures. It's like saying a Poles are just knockoff Russians. Vietnamese are proud of their culture and gladly export it, just like the Thai diaspora. The train car conversion was probably done by Poles who formerly backpacked in Thailand
    - pndy 2y ago
      Parent commenter doesn't suggest that, just brings up the fact that there's indeed a large Vietnamese diaspora living in Warszawa.
      - alephnerd 2y ago
        > A little gem example: there’s a communist era train platform that’s been reimagined as a Bangkok night market. In a nearby rail yard building is a very good pinball museum with playable antiques. > Sounds like the Thai government’s decades long program of soft-diplomacy through food is working > My bet is that is has more to do with the Vietnamese (largest non-European) minority in Poland
        rpastuszak 2y ago
        pndy’s comment is correct. I just poorly phrased my comment, sorry for that!
    - jhbadger 2y ago
      Many sushi restaurants around the world are run by non-Japanese Asians (who often have a separate menu for their ethnicity than can be asked for if you know). Where I live (in the Washington, D.C. area) most Latin American people are Salvadorans, but they mostly run Mexican restaurants as that's the Latin American food that sells.
    - rpastuszak 2y ago
      I am aware of that. I visited Thailand several times and even attempted learning Thai (besides planning to move there for work in mid 2010s). I don’t live in Poland any more but I know several Poles with Vietnamese roots, hence my assumption/comment regarding the night market. Apologies if the way I phrased my comment was somewhat confusing! As a Pole who studied Persian I can see how people might expect ignorance in that matter. (pndy’s comment is correct)
mistrial9 2y ago
the only Polish person I know of that mentioned Warsaw recently said "no way - stay away from it" .. no idea why
- ses1984 2y ago
  Rural/conservative person maybe? My sister lives there with her husband and two kids, she likes it, it’s expensive though.
  - thrw087248 2y ago
    Coming from a German part of Poland[1] to Warsaw, a Russian city, it actually seems conservative. It was the first place I saw someone pray the rosary on public transport... kneeling. It blew my mind. There is also a lot of fetishisation of its history by conservatives, since history in Polish schools is told in a very martyr way, and history of Warsaw, its monuments and all that play well into it. If anything, it’s a very good place for conservatives. [1]: partitions and other shenanigans of Polish history.
    - panzagl 2y ago
      > since history in Polish schools is told in a very martyr way I think that's the perception of Polish history pretty much everywhere except Russia, Ukraine, maybe Lithuania? I'm genuinely curious as to what other theories of Polish history exist, especially in Poland.
      - thrw087248 2y ago
        I think outside of Poland people think of it as a victim mostly in the context of the XX century, but inside, the martyrology begins much earlier and was the leading ideological current in the XIX century. It just seems we have a long tradition of not wanting to own up to our faults, always ready to blame someone else for our misfortunes. This also jives with the catholic doctrine of noble suffering. Personally I’m a fan of taking responsibility. And in the context of falling into partitions we did have a role in that internally the country was a mess, conflicted and for sale. We could learn something from our western neighbours when it comes to forming some unity and valuing work/grit over aristocratic navel-gazing.
omega3 2y ago
> communist era train platform that’s been reimagined as a Bangkok night market. Do you have google maps link please?
- baskind 2y ago
  Here you go. Opens end of the week and over the weekend: https://maps.app.goo.gl/v3HFoRTtUPoug8yq8?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy https://maps.app.goo.gl/v3HFoRTtUPoug8yq8?g_st=com.google.ma...
ajxs 2y ago
Speaking of 'communist era train platform's, one of the many interesting architectural flourishes that you can find in Poland is how the names of some of the train stations around Warsaw are embedded in the structure of the station. An example can be seen at [1] Another little architectural flourish I love are the 'latarenki adresowe' (lit. 'address lanterns') you can see in the cities. They're a little lightbox that shows a silhouette of the street name and number. The older metal and glass ones you can find around the stare miasto in Krakow are especially beautiful. Some examples are [2] [3]. Some of the old buildings in central Krakow have really awesome relief art on the facade. This page has some amazing examples: [4] A great blog about history and architecture in Polish cities is Miasta Rytm: https://miastarytm.pl/ https://miastarytm.pl/ [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warszawa_Mi%C4%99dzylesie_railway_station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warszawa_Mi%C4%99dzylesie_rail... [2]: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c0/c3/10/c0c310bbb6b6ebed0a516bc97319f0d3.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c0/c3/10/c0c310bbb6b6ebed0a51... [3]: https://grochow.pl/web/files/article/cdf1ecfd640977b795cdd86a3e4e02bdP1010661.JPG https://grochow.pl/web/files/article/cdf1ecfd640977b795cdd86... [4]: https://miastarytm.pl/godla-krakowskich-kamienic-lat-30-xx-w/ https://miastarytm.pl/godla-krakowskich-kamienic-lat-30-xx-w...

rhplus 2y ago

reimagined as a Bangkok night market Sounds like the Thai government’s decades long program of soft-diplomacy through food is working. https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/news/article/food-diplomacy-gastrodiplomacy-europe https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/news/article/food-diplo...

rpastuszak 2y ago
My bet is that is has more to do with the Vietnamese (largest non-European) minority in Poland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_people_in_Poland?wprov=sfti1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_people_in_Poland?wp...
- alephnerd 2y ago
  > more to do with the Vietnamese (largest non-European) minority in Poland Vietnamese are not Thai. They are entirely different cultures. It's like saying a Poles are just knockoff Russians. Vietnamese are proud of their culture and gladly export it, just like the Thai diaspora. The train car conversion was probably done by Poles who formerly backpacked in Thailand
  - pndy 2y ago
    Parent commenter doesn't suggest that, just brings up the fact that there's indeed a large Vietnamese diaspora living in Warszawa.
    - alephnerd 2y ago
      > A little gem example: there’s a communist era train platform that’s been reimagined as a Bangkok night market. In a nearby rail yard building is a very good pinball museum with playable antiques. > Sounds like the Thai government’s decades long program of soft-diplomacy through food is working > My bet is that is has more to do with the Vietnamese (largest non-European) minority in Poland
      - rpastuszak 2y ago
        pndy’s comment is correct. I just poorly phrased my comment, sorry for that!
  - jhbadger 2y ago
    Many sushi restaurants around the world are run by non-Japanese Asians (who often have a separate menu for their ethnicity than can be asked for if you know). Where I live (in the Washington, D.C. area) most Latin American people are Salvadorans, but they mostly run Mexican restaurants as that's the Latin American food that sells.
  - rpastuszak 2y ago
    I am aware of that. I visited Thailand several times and even attempted learning Thai (besides planning to move there for work in mid 2010s). I don’t live in Poland any more but I know several Poles with Vietnamese roots, hence my assumption/comment regarding the night market. Apologies if the way I phrased my comment was somewhat confusing! As a Pole who studied Persian I can see how people might expect ignorance in that matter. (pndy’s comment is correct)

mistrial9 2y ago

the only Polish person I know of that mentioned Warsaw recently said "no way - stay away from it" .. no idea why

ses1984 2y ago
Rural/conservative person maybe? My sister lives there with her husband and two kids, she likes it, it’s expensive though.
- thrw087248 2y ago
  Coming from a German part of Poland[1] to Warsaw, a Russian city, it actually seems conservative. It was the first place I saw someone pray the rosary on public transport... kneeling. It blew my mind. There is also a lot of fetishisation of its history by conservatives, since history in Polish schools is told in a very martyr way, and history of Warsaw, its monuments and all that play well into it. If anything, it’s a very good place for conservatives. [1]: partitions and other shenanigans of Polish history.
  - panzagl 2y ago
    > since history in Polish schools is told in a very martyr way I think that's the perception of Polish history pretty much everywhere except Russia, Ukraine, maybe Lithuania? I'm genuinely curious as to what other theories of Polish history exist, especially in Poland.
    - thrw087248 2y ago
      I think outside of Poland people think of it as a victim mostly in the context of the XX century, but inside, the martyrology begins much earlier and was the leading ideological current in the XIX century. It just seems we have a long tradition of not wanting to own up to our faults, always ready to blame someone else for our misfortunes. This also jives with the catholic doctrine of noble suffering. Personally I’m a fan of taking responsibility. And in the context of falling into partitions we did have a role in that internally the country was a mess, conflicted and for sale. We could learn something from our western neighbours when it comes to forming some unity and valuing work/grit over aristocratic navel-gazing.

omega3 2y ago

> communist era train platform that’s been reimagined as a Bangkok night market. Do you have google maps link please?

baskind 2y ago
Here you go. Opens end of the week and over the weekend: https://maps.app.goo.gl/v3HFoRTtUPoug8yq8?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy https://maps.app.goo.gl/v3HFoRTtUPoug8yq8?g_st=com.google.ma...

ajxs 2y ago

Speaking of 'communist era train platform's, one of the many interesting architectural flourishes that you can find in Poland is how the names of some of the train stations around Warsaw are embedded in the structure of the station. An example can be seen at [1] Another little architectural flourish I love are the 'latarenki adresowe' (lit. 'address lanterns') you can see in the cities. They're a little lightbox that shows a silhouette of the street name and number. The older metal and glass ones you can find around the stare miasto in Krakow are especially beautiful. Some examples are [2] [3]. Some of the old buildings in central Krakow have really awesome relief art on the facade. This page has some amazing examples: [4] A great blog about history and architecture in Polish cities is Miasta Rytm: https://miastarytm.pl/ https://miastarytm.pl/ [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warszawa_Mi%C4%99dzylesie_railway_station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warszawa_Mi%C4%99dzylesie_rail... [2]: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c0/c3/10/c0c310bbb6b6ebed0a516bc97319f0d3.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c0/c3/10/c0c310bbb6b6ebed0a51... [3]: https://grochow.pl/web/files/article/cdf1ecfd640977b795cdd86a3e4e02bdP1010661.JPG https://grochow.pl/web/files/article/cdf1ecfd640977b795cdd86... [4]: https://miastarytm.pl/godla-krakowskich-kamienic-lat-30-xx-w/ https://miastarytm.pl/godla-krakowskich-kamienic-lat-30-xx-w...