I'm going to try and cut and paste the correct name of the city every time I type it instead of taking the time to turn my Polish keyboard shortcuts on. Although it may look like "Loads", the correct pronunciation is "Woodge".
Anyhow, the locals are fond of calling this town Hollylodz because of the cinematography school and the famous director who got his start here producing Polish cinema:
Yes, there are even stars honoring famous Poles as you walk the main street.
Like any other big city, there is always a cast of interesting characters wandering the street. I always feel sorry for those that are not there by choice such as this guy, schilling for my favorite, Pizza Dominium. And if you click on any of these pics, they will enlarge and you can see the look of consternation on each Łódźite's face as winter approaches. Either that, or they thought I was a complete dumbass.
There were also continuous sightings of this group of Santas who were ringing a bell and toting signs as they roved up and down the street. Stupid Amerikansky that I am, I naturally assumed that they were some sort of Salvation Army charity workers. And given my last post about the quality of my mom's Santa suit, I thought I'd get a picture with them for the amusement of you, the reader. After an awkward attempt at giving them money, we soon found out that they were striking textile workers. Luckily, they agreed to pose for a picture anyway.
In the middle of Poland, we still could not escape the influence of American food. Of course, the ubiquitous Mickey D's was there, but one of the oddest sights I've seen in Poland (and I've seen ALOT of odd sights) was a restaurant where we had some wings and beer. It was called The Rooster, and you could say it bears a striking resemblance to a place back in the states. Check it out. Maybe I'm being delusional:
Unfortunately, they do not have the Rooster in Warsaw but I will definitely be taking my brother Dave there when we visit Krakow in the spring. They have five locations in Poland. If you check out the website www.rooster.pl you will see that it is only located here. I guess it's the only place that could get away with such a blatant ripoff of an American concept. I'm certainly not complaining. I had more to write about being hassled by the train station police for quaffing a beer there, but I think The Rooster is an appropriate place to complete this entry. Thanks for reading! Do widzenia . . .
