Warsaw 1991 #3of5

We found a parking place near Warsaw’s Culture Center. It sits in the middle of a four block area, and there is space galore available for market booths, now that Stalin’s Socialist culture is not important. In 1985 there was nothing but open space, and the area looked bleak and forbidding.

The most amazing thing were the thousands of small metal “boxes” lined up row after row, in the open space around the Culture Center. A few “stands” were independently designed, but most were a metal box approximately two yards wide, two yards high, and one deep. The top half of the front lifted like the hood of a car, and stuck out like a roof. The bottom half was pulled out to enlarge the “store” so there was room for the operator inside. Most of the booths contained clothing of some kind, radios, audio tapes, videos, food items, soft drinks, and other things we didn’t need. We found nothing to buy. In 1985 we bought a cane, in 1991 Emmy bought two amber broaches, and a book, but that was about all we spent in Poland, except for food, campsites, fuel, parking, and other necessities of life.

When we entered the Culture Center we found several large halls designed in a formal manner, lined with marble, pillars, and statues, and would you believe it, the most expensive department store we saw in all of Poland.

We decided to ride the to the 33th floor to see the view, and that gave the “last of the big spenders” a chance to do his good deed for the day. In front of me at the ticket booth was a man with two young daughters. We had seen them earlier, and could tell they were on an outing and were having a lot of fun, fun that is until the father was given the bad news that admission to the and to the observation floor would cost 10,000 Zloties ($1) for each.

His face fell, he turned and we could tell he was explaining to his daughters that tickets to the top of Warsaw's Culture Center were just too expensive. Well, there was no way that would happen, so guess who bought the tickets, and guess who enjoyed the smiles of the girls and the thanks from the father. Later, when we were ready to leave the top, they were still enjoying the view, and were pointing with excitement at sights in the city below. Well, it wasn’t much, but it was fun. Wouldn’t it be nice to solve real problems that easy.