Finishing Poland, Entering Ukraine

With such a short amount of time in Lublin, I feel a bit overwhelmed with the amount of information I must take in each day. Due to this urgency, I apologize but my descriptions are going to have to remain short and I am going to try to cover a lot, so try to keep up, okay?

Lublin is a city, like most historical cities, that is divided into two distinct parts: old town and new town. Every major European city I've been in has one. Paris actually has three: la vielle ville, current Paris and La Defense but that is besides the point. The old town is very charming. Thin cobblestone roads climb up the road between two historic gates on one of the four large hills that give the city of Lublin distinction from other Polish cities. These gates were once used as the city's defense against foreign invaders. Down the hill is a great opening, an expansive cobblestoned space once used for rallies, markets and other large gatherings. Overlooking this space is the castle. Within old town, the buildings are starting to crumble. My original imaginings were not completely incorrect, yet most of the buildings are still very functional. The crumbling is expected with the age. Old Town is popular for its restaurants and shops, and many of the local youth go to the pubs found there too. I had the pleasure of eating at a few restaurants in Old Town and my favorite is Madragora, a Jewish restaurant close to the old Dominican Cathedral.

Unlike American buildings, arches and vaults are very popular in European architecture and the interiors of Madragora is a good example of such use. The inside of the restaurant looks a tunnel, essentially, of which the walls have been painted and decorated with various Jewish images such as the dancing man a la 'Fiddler on the Roof.' Beautifully crocheted tableclothes cloak dark tables and the waitstaff lights a candle at your table when they seat you.

The food was wonderful. Elise and I shared a plate of duck, apples, beets, and fried potatoes. The cost was 40 zloty, the equivalent of 13 USD, and our entire group of seven enjoyed our trip there. Everyone was pleased.

New town is very different than old town. There is not that history and as earlier mentioned, Soviet communist oppression led to very different types of architecture. The Bloc housing. The emphasis during this phase of architectural history is the belief in function over aesthetic. These are seven, eight, or ten story buildings that look like Lego towers, blocky and plain with windows. There are many different colored complexes, some are pink, yellow, orange. Because there are no other aesthetics, the colors look tacky but its better than cold grey.

Graffiti is a big deal in Lublin, which I found welcoming rather than as destructive as I normally find it to be, despite its beauty. A lot of the new buildings- as in Soviet - are tagged. It is everywhere. Some buildings are tagged multiple times. What makes me the most okay with this is that none of the buildings in Old Town have been vandalised, and I almost sense the vindication of the Polish people through the tagging. It just seems appropriate.

To give you an idea of where Poland is economically, in comparison with the United States, I will give you an few examples of how transportation has been like.

The buses in Lublin run on gas, as in America, but the biggest difference is that the buses are old and they are not "electronic." They are pretty rundown. They run twice an hour in busy areas, in comparison with every 10 minutes in busy areas of Minneapolis. The use of the electric trolley is also popular here. To change direction, the driver exits the bus and pulls the connectors from the electric lines above the road and reorients them to the new lines. This is not a very poor area anymore either, although it is still a part of the poorer east Poland. This is quite common and is actually the best of what we will be encountering on this trip.

A short mention of the use of sand instead of salt on ice and the easy ability for one to fall on said ice - Ouch. -

The sky starts darkening around 3:30 PM so by 5 it is verifiably evening. That has been among one of the most difficult changes to accustom to. We are in class and lectures or tours until 5 or 6 PM and we rarely see the city during daylight on our own. Truly, we've all had our eyes open and alert at all times in daylight to take it all in.

We arrived in Ukraine the night before last and I will update this again soon. I have to go and do some homework. Miss you!