Poland Day One and Two – September 24 2014

Pozdrowienia (Greetings)

So for starters don’t even try to pronounce anything that you see written in Polish!

Arrived in Gdansk on Tuesday night (much later than expected, since there were delays out of Frankfurt which was my connecting city). Originally I was planning to rent a car in Gdansk and drive to Gdynia where I am speaking at a conference (the 50th Annual Congress of the International Society of City and Regional Planners – ISOCARP). And, I was supposed to come Monday night but given my fractured foot (read all about that one in the Berlin/Helsinki trip last month), I decided to come a day later — giving me lots of time (not really) to finish various projects.

Flight was uneventful except for the delay. As the plane touched down in Poland, I realized I was last here about 35 years ago when the world was a very different place. Gdansk Airport is quite new, very modern… but like all European airports they hide the elevators (lifts) — no signage for it and out of the way.. and often require a key. Because of my “boot,” it’s easier to take the lifts rather than stairs (especially with baggage), but that’s always an extra step. Decided to take a taxi from Gdansk to Gdynia; too dark to see anything. Unfortunately, I really won’t get to see much of anything due to both the conference and also the fact that walking isn’t so easy on cobblestone streets with the boot. Can’t wait for it to be off.. (I think I’m back to shoes in about two weeks.. or so I hope).

Decided to eat at the hotel after my late arrival. I was the only one in the hotel restaurant. Food was pretty good.. better than when I was in Poland a long time ago. From what little I’ve seen thus far, in general, Gdynia is a new city… with a large seaport and waterfront that includes a broad promenade, a boardwalk, and lots of areas to exercise, run, walk, do par courses, and also eat at a handful of fish restaurants.

Eventually, I fell asleep.. and then woke up to attend the first day of sessions (today, Wednesday) at the conference which is about Urban Waterfronts. I focused on the sessions that are in the “track” where I am the keynote speaker — Community, governance, and policy for waterfronts.

The conference participants seem interesting (I don’t know a single person!) — predominantly from Africa, China, South America, and all over Europe. Only four Americans including me, one Canadian, two or three Brits — but the official conference language is English. This morning they had an interesting “presentation marathon” with 10 participants presenting their projects (architecture and planning) to the whole conference. They had exactly 10 minutes, and as soon as the 10 minutes was up the slide switched to the first slide for the next presenter. They did a good job, but most were cut off before they finished. The audience all voted for the best presentation. Then the sessions began. It’s an interesting mix of topics and papers — with some of the African participants discussing access to water (meaning clean drinking water and an adequate supply for bathing, cleaning, and cooking) to others focused on the “design” track where they are discussing state of the art architecture and master planning for waterfronts. But most of the presentations are dealing with real projects and challenges.

Lunch was what I remembered Polish food to be — starchy and lots of carbs. They always seem to serve meat or fish and always rice AND potatoes AND bread, and just a tiny amount of salad. Tonight I went to a restaurant fairly close to the hotel (which is called Rozany Gaj — and which I think is pronounced “rajnee-gay). The restaurant was called Barracuda and it was on the walking area of the waterfront. The driver couldn’t go all the way to the front door since it was located in a pedestrian only area.. so I walked about two blocks, which was really nice.. people exercising in the dark; doing some kind of group exercises; skateboarding; inline skating, etc. Close your eyes and it could have been Venice (CA). I ordered the baramundi which is a local fish (without a translatable name). And naturally it came on a bed of risotto (beet root) and potatoes, and about two limp asparagus. Vegetables still don’t have a leg up here.

By the way, there were a few throwbacks to my earlier trip… when I checked into the conference, the woman was so frazzled because two people wanted to use credit cards instead of cash! She literally told one of them to come back in an hour when she finished with the first person. They’re in the EU but they don’t use Euros; costs are pretty low (not like the rest of Europe); and you can see some remnants of life from 50 years ago..

More tomorrow; I’m fading (It’s 11:30 pm) and tomorrow is a long day.

Best –

Fern