Christmas is over?

Not in Warsaw! After Christmas you can still enjoy all the lights along Krakowskie Przedmieście and Nowy Świat Street, but people of Warsaw favourites are the Nativity Scenes beside the altars of the oldest and the most beautiful churches and cathedrals of the capital. Located around the Old & New Town they are Christmas peace of art. It's worth to take a walk around them and see them all; it'll take you no more than an hour. Take a look at the map.

Nativity in modern style; Church of St Anne on Krakowskie Przedmieście Street (photo by "fotopasja")

View Most beautiful churches & cathedrals with Nativity Scenes in Warsaw in a larger map

How to make 'Kutia'?

Kutia Wigilijna, or Christmas Cooked Wheat Pudding, consisting of whole or cracked wheat (rice for the aristocracy!), honey and nuts (and sometimes raisins, poppyseeds and cream) is typically the first course served at the Christmas Eve dinner known as Wigilia. On About.com I have found a perfect recipe to cook real Kutia. Try it :)


Makes 6 servings Polish Christmas Cooked Wheat Pudding - Kutia
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 3 hours
Total Time: 4 hours
Ingredients:
Note: Wheat berries are available at health food stores and online, but kamut berries, whole-grain barley or rice can be substituted (cooking time must be adjusted) with good effect.
.
1 cup wheat berries or kamut berries, rinsed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup poppyseeds
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
4 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
Zest of 1 lemon
2/3 cup plumped raisins
1/2 cup ground walnuts (optional)
1/2 cup coarsely ground blanched almonds (optional)
5 plumped figs, chopped (optional)
5 plumped dates, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup half-and-half
Preparation:
Place rinsed wheat berries in a large pot or Dutch oven and cover with water by about 5 inches. Stir, cover and let stand overnight.

When ready to cook, drain the wheat berries, rinse, drain again and place back in the pot. Add 6 cups cold water and salt, bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until tender (anywhere from 90 minutes to 3 hours). Drain and set aside to cool.

Prepare poppyseeds by placing them in a saucepan with water to cover by several inchesen the fingers. Drain and grind once in a poppyseed grinder or 3 times in a regular grinder.

In a large bowl, combine cooled, cooked wheat, ground poppyseeds, confectioners' sugar, honey, vanilla, zest, raisins and some or all of the following, if using -- walnuts, almonds, figs and dates. Mix well and add half-and-half, incorporating thoroughly. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Cooking for Christmas

Polish Christmas tradition is very old and rich. In the afternoon, after the first star shines on the sky, families gather together around Christmas table to celebrate the time baby Jesus was born. During this festive dinner we give each other presents, we sing Christmas carols (in Poland you can find hundreds of them!), we put some hay under the tablecloth, we leave one empty plate for a stranger and of course we eat twelve traditional dishes prepared especially for Christmas time. The meals represent twelve Apostles. The main offerings are fish and mushrooms as due to the nativity fast, no meat is allowed on Christmas Eve.

The traditional dishes are: mushroom soup, beet soup with small dumplings called 'uszka', carp: fried and in jelly, cabbage with pea, cabbage with mushrooms (something like Polish 'bigos'), boiled or fried 'pierogi' (dumplings) with cabbage and mushrooms; pasta with poppy, sugar and honey; dry fruit compote. There are also served traditional cakes such as gingerbread and poppy-seed cake. Below you'll find some recipies:

Dumplings with cabbage and mushrooms:
Ingredients for cake:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup warm water
pinch of salt-to taste


Ingredients for filling:
0.5 kg sauerkraut, 17.63 oz
0.2 kg of dried mushrooms, 7.05 oz
1 onion,
salt, pepperExecution: Pour water over dried mushrooms and let stand for about 1 hour.After an hour, cook mushrooms until soft in water in which they were soaked. Sauerkraut pour water and cook for about 15 minutes.When cooked, drain off and cut the cabbage.After cooked, drain off mushrooms and cut into very fine or run through a meat grinder.Dice the onion and fry in oil. Add the chopped cabbage and sliced mushrooms to the onions. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 10 minutes. Mix flour with salt and add hot water.Knead the dough.Roll out the dough.Trim the appropriate glass shapes.Then we put the stuffing in the center of the cake.We combine the two sides, and glue. Boil water, add a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of oil. At the boiling water throw dumplings.Cook over low heat about 5 minutes. Serve with fried onions.

A letter to Santa Claus

If you are spending the time before Christmas in Poland, think about taking home not only memories but also presents for your beloved ones :) There are plenty of traditional Polish products which should have its place on a present list to Santa Claus!

1) Laces from Koniaków
Beautiful and amazingly precise handicraft from Koniaków, a village in the South of Poland, in Beskid Śląski (Silesian County). Laces from Koniaków are absolutely unique and well-known around the world, especially tablecloths, traycloths, curtains and... underwear.
Original licensed laces from Koniaków you'll find here (also a lingerie) and here.

Traycloth, size M costs around 50 pln.

2) Folk art paper cutting from Łowicz
Łowicz is a small town in Łódzkie County, nearly 90 km from Warsaw. It's a very important spot on Polish cultural map, because the town has always had its own culture as well as local dialect, dance and clothes. Folklore from Łowicz had a big influence on whole Polish tradition. One of the Łowicz's specialities are paper cuts, which were very fashionable home decorations of XIX and XX century, especially before Christmas and Easter. A paper cut from Łowicz has to be symmetrical, cut with the scissors used originally to cut sheep and colorful. You can buy them on folkstar.

Paper cuts aren't very expensive. The price depends on the size. Small cuts cost 20 pln but price can rise up to 150 pln if the cutting is very big with a lot of details. It looks amazing on the wall.

3) Honey
The Drahimski Honey (from the Polish Seaside) which has very light, yellow colour or Spadziowy Honey (from the Polish Mountains) which is more brownish are traditional Polish honeys made according to the traditional recipe. If you want to be sure that a jar you are buying contains original honey, visit one of the eco e-shops or honey e-shop :)

4) Winter clothes
They are made of wool of the sheeps from Tatra Mountains. Good woolen products you can buy in Zakopane, Nowy Targ or in the internet (merino-polska.pl). The choice is very wide: slippers, quilts, blankets, jerkins, sweaters and many many more.

Shopping in Zakopane

5) Gingerbread fromToruń
From over 700 years, gingerbreeads have been baked in Toruń and made the town famous. According to the legend, it were the bees who told the princess to add honey to the gingerbread she was baking. The cake was supposed to be given to a king as a present. He liked the gingerbread so much that he has made it famous all around Europe. Small gingerbreads are often called "Katarzynki" from the name of the princess who has made them for the first time. Gingerbread from Toruń is believed to be the most delicious and also it is ideal sweet for lovers ;) You can buy them in Toruń or in almost every supermarket in Poland.

Prices of the gingerbreads are very different. It's also great decoration to hang on a christmas tree.

Happy Birthday Palm!

The Palm from De Gaulle's roundabout is 10 years old! Many people wonder why there is a canary island date palm in one of the Warsaw's most popular spots. The palm is part of a project 'Greetings from Jerusalem Avenue' by Joanna Rajkowska. The author of the project had planned to put a lane of palms along the street called Aleje Jerozolimskie (Jerusalem Avenue) but at the end they decided to put just one palm at the junction of Jerusalem Avenue and Nowy Świat street, on some kind of a traffic island.

The tree is 15 m tall, it's waterproof and made mainly of plastic. There was a long discussion going on during preparations to make the idea of the palm come true. There were many doubts about who's gonna take care of the palm, who will pay for it, how long should it stand on the roundabout, about copyright lawsand of course about its political and cultural context.

Origins of the project date back to the artist’s journey to Israel (in Tel-Awiw there is a street called Jerusalem Avenue too) and her attempt to realise and the others aware of the significance of Jerusalem Avenue to Warsaw, the street’s history and the vacuum caused by the absence of Jewish community. It was supposed to be also a social experiment, testing whether the Polish society is ready to absorb such a culturally alien item. The spot at which the palm has been placed before the year 2002 had been used for a Christmas tree :)

The palm still sparks extreme feelings. It has divided Warsovians into those treating it as a symbol of a city and a society welcoming the others, developing, focused on the change, and those that support order, tradition and a city closed for strangers. The palm brings about many divisions and fuels conflicts deeply hidden in Polish society. It contains a lot of humour and irony as well, which saves it from definitions that could subdue it to any ideology. However, despite many different statements about the palm, it has become a symbol of Warsaw and one of the most characteristic points of the city.

More about the Palm you'll find on the official website: http://www.palma.art.pl/

View in Poniatowski's Bridge direction

Warsaw Christmas Walk

Enjoy winter in Warsaw by walking around beautifully lit city with a cup of mulled wine in your hand :) This map will show you where to eat the best "makowiec", where to see the most beautiful nativity scene and the tallest christmas tree in Poland!

Click here to download the map and fall in love with Warsaw for Christmas :)

Presents from St Nick!

Probably you have already noticed that in Poland we celebrate much during autumn and winter. That's because during those seasons we don't get much sunlight here and we have to focus on something joyful. You have heard about Andrzejki recently. Nearly week after it we enjoy Mikołajki - Saint Nicolas Day. It's not only Polish tradition, you can meet it in many other countries, but the way it is celebrated is slightly different everywhere. Even in Poland there is a variety of ways to celebrate Mikołajki, depending on a region you are currently in...

Most popular gifts for Mikołajki are gingerbread cookies or Santa Claus made of chocolate. (piernikarnia.blogspot.hu)

In some parts of Poland, probably in the south, people have believed that St Nicolas is a patron of shepherds and that he saves the ewes and cattle from wolves. On 6th December, people used to offer St Nicolas wreaths made of flax and some herbs. They also put eggs, which are a symbol of life and fertility, on them.

In the north of Poland, in Kaszuby, St Nicolas was called 'Gwiazdor'. He acted like St Nick but he looked different - he was wearing fur and all his face was smutty.

In Poznań people believe that at night on 5th December, Santa Claus looks through a window and if he sees that all shoes of in the household are clean, he leaves a gift for each member of the family. But if the shoes are dirty - he leaves a rotten potato.

In the centre of Poland (Mazowsze), over hundred years ago on 6th December somebody from a village dreesed up like a St Nicolas and in a company of an angel and a devil he visited all the children who lived in a town. He asked them if they know all the prayers well and he asked their parents if their behaviour was good. If the child was polite, was given a small present (gingerbread, apple, nuts) if not - he received a rod!

Polish story about St Nicolas tells that he was a bishop of Mira (some area in today's Turkey). One day, a man living in Mira has gone out of business and he lost all his possessions. The worst was that he wanted to send away his daughters to become prostitutes. To save them from this fate, bishop Nicolas is believed to pop three sacks packed with coins through a chimney of the man's house. The coins fell on the floor and you could find them strewn around, even in shoes, slippers and socks. That's why on 5th December night people (I mean Santa Claus :) give each other small gifts (sweets are most popular) by hiding them inside big colorful socks or under the pillow.

Gwiazdor - St Nick from Kaszuby

Fortune-telling in Poland

If you want to know the name of your future husband or what is waiting for you in future you should know more about Andrzejki, the old Polish tradition celebrated during the night on 29th November, which is believed to be magical. 29th of November is the St Andrew's Day, which is well known also in Scotland, Greece and Russia. In Poland St Andrew's Day is the last day to party before adwent begins. Adwent is the time before Christmas which is meant to be spent in peace and a holy reflexion. Andrzejki is the last chance to have some fun :)

In Poland this night is all about predicting the future. Originally, it was only for unmarried women to gain knowledge about their future husband or the time they will get married. Currently, nobody believes in this all 'fortune telling' and does it only for entertainment. There are several traditional ways to tell the future...

Wax future telling: You take a candle and pour a wax to a jug or a bowl filled with water. There is one condition: you have to pour the wax through a key-hole. When you finish, take the wax out and see what shadow does it give on the wall. Whatever shape you will see, this thing is your destiny.

What is it???
taken from: garnek.pl

Shoe race: Girls gather together in a room (the bigger the better). Every girl taking part in a shoe race takes off her shoe. They put shoes in a line towards the door. Then they take the last shoe from the line and put it at the front. They do the same with the rest of shoes until they reach the door. The shoe which will be the first by the door wins the race and the owner of the shoe is the first one to get married.

Drawing lots: You have to find a box and put different things inside: a leaf, a ring, a beadroll, a coin. Close your eyes and pick the first thing coming to your hand. A leaf means that you'll become a spinster, a ring - that you'll get married very soon, a beadroll - that you'll become a nun and a coin - that you'll be very rich someday.

Predicting future from cards: Take out four aces from a deck of cards. Then close your eyes and pick one of them. Ace hearts means peaceful and calm home you will build in future; ace spade means that your husband will be commanding and strict but very loyal to you; ace club means that you should expect a big suprise in your love life. Ace diamonds is good news coming soon.

Think pink!

Maurycy Gomulicki is a Polish modern artist, making happy and optimistic, but also a bit controversial art.
What is characteristic for his output, is that almost everything he makes, he makes it in pink. It's not only his favourite colour, but it also has its meaning. Pink is a way to demonstrate the ideology of the artist, a kind of manifesto of what he believes in. Pink is for Maurycy a symbol of joy, happiness, gladfulness. It's not a praise for mindless hedonism, but it is meant to be an inspiration for people to get from life what is most important for them. To take what's the best and to treat life as a present to unpack.

Why is it so interesting? Because in Poland many people don't treat life this way, we still have some kind of inferiority complex of developed countries from West. We have a frustrating history, many of us still remember it (ex. the sad and grey days of communism) It sometimes seems that we are a little depressed by it. And so dedicated to our everyday lives; frustrated by all the unhappiness we have to struggle with; problems we have to solve that we lose our optimism and good energy somewhere. Gomulicki tries to inspire, to change people's point of view. Life is simple, you just have to notice that and don't pay attention to bad things that depress you. That you have to think of yourself, be good for yourself, pleasure yourself and make yourself feel happy. That's the true meaning of life and this is what everybody has to learn: be happy even if it's difficult.

And he makes his art with this message. He takes pictures, he makes sculptures, he paints, he makes neons. his works connote simple happiness, all the small things that can bring us joy and remind us that the only thing that is important is our pleasure :)

Take a look at his works in different places of Poland:

fot. Mikołaj Długosz

This neon is called "Światłotrysk" or "A big glass of pink orangeade". It is located in Kępa Potocka park in Warsaw (see it on a map).

Taken from the artist's website

Women's breasts are also a thing that bring joy :) Two swimming breasts you can find by the pier in Sopot, famous Polish seaside town where many people travel to have a good party :) (see it on a map).

 This is a photo taken by the artist to show that even everything's grey there is still beauty to be discovered.

More about Maurycy Gomulicki you can find in his Flickr Gallery and personal blog.




   

Oldschool Polish TV Cartoons

Today in Łodź there has been an opening of a sculpture of three bears from a famous Polish cartoon of 80's. It has reminded me that in Łódź there are many other little figures of cartoon characters. Together they create a path of old but unforgetable cartoons watched by children everyday before sleep. In public television there was an evening programme called "Dobranocka" which was a show for children transmitted at 7 pm, before news. Everyday there was a different cartoon to watch. In 80's and early 90's several animations were extremely popular:
"Przygody Kota Filemona" ('Adventures of Filemon the Cat') which told the story about small white cat which was very clumsy but also very sweet and his flatmate, Bonifacy, who only slept and complained all day.
 "Zaczarowany Ołówek" ('the Enchanted Pencil') was made in the late 60's. It had no dialogues. It tells a story of a boy named Piotr and his dog, aided by an enchanted pencil, which can materialize anything they draw.
"Plastusiowy Pamiętnik" ('the Diary of Plastuś') about a man made from a modelling clay who lived in a boy's pencil case
and, the most loved by every child in Poland - "Miś Uszatek" ('Teddy Floppy-ear') who was still a child but he acted and talked like an adult man... However, the cartoon was also popular in other countries; it is one of the best-selling exports of Polish television.

   

 

The main characters of 'Enchanted Pencil' in Łódź on Traugutta 18 street, before the Łódź House of Culture. (map)

Teddy Floppy-ear on Piotrkowska 87 street, before the Tourist Information Centre (map)

Filemon the Cat and his friend on Zwycięstwa 1 square, by the entrance to the Museum of Cinema (map).

Photos by Marta Rauk from Puszka

Poland by bus

If you are looking for a cheap transport around Poland (and to some cities in Europe) meet Polski Bus. It has appeared in Poland over a year ago and it has immediately gained popularity. Reasons? 1) It's very cheap: price of a single ticket costs you even 1 pln if you make a booking soon enough. 2) There's no need to go to the station, you can buy your ticket through the website (which is often not so easy in Poland) 3) It's comfy, quick and reliable (I have checked it by myself :).

Visit their website to check the timetables: http://www.polskibus.com/en

Places you can travel by Polski Bus

Jaws

Polish designers are doing quite well when it comes to making home decorations useful. Jolanta Uczarczyk comes from Kraków and she has made a felt shark to eat you dirty clothes or children's toys. You can find her works here: http://uczarczyk.art.pl/.

Polish 'frykasy'

'Frykasy' is a Polish word for 'goodies', 'deli', 'sweets'. 'Polskie Frykasy' come from Wrocław and are souvenirs from Poland made for travellers-foodies :) In colorful packages you'll find traditional sweet tastes of Poland: gooseberries in chocolate, apples in chocolate and cinnamon (most popular in autumn!), aronia berries in chocolate, rowanberries in chocolate, milky cream fudge, different kinds of honey and preserves. You can buy them in supermarkets, 'Empik' shops and here: folkstar.pl Bon appetit!

Hołubiec-step

What about...a little bit of Polish Folklore? Student's Action „Wytnij Hołubca” during the Polish National Dance Day

7th October – this date will definitely go down in history For the second time Polish students tried to teach people how to make a HOŁUBIEC STEP – a Polish national dance step. It is supposed to express joy and happiness. What's the aim of the action? - We want to show people that the is nothing to be ashamed of! On the contrary, The Polish Foklore is very representative and we should popularize this type of culture since it's deeply rooted in our tradition. We mey go even further! Why not mix folklore with modern forms of artistic expression: music, dance, design?
Take a look at the short movies screened during the action and see how young Poles mix folklore with electro music :)

Guess where this film has been made!

Hołubiec  in Warsaw with a song of Monika Brodka, well known Polish singer.

A video from Olsztyn

Something for dog lovers

It's nothing unusual that dogs are very popular pets in Poland. But there are only five breeds that originate from Poland. One of them is Polish Tatra Sheepdog, known also as 'Owczarek Podhalanski' and the 'Polish Mountain Sheepdog'. In other countries, like USA, the Polish Tatra Sheepdog is considered as a rare breed. It comes from Podhale, in the Tatra Mountain area of Poland and its live goal is to protect livestock :) It's an ideal dog for this task, cause Tatra Sheepdogs are great protection dogs and also good companion. They are 'family' dogs. They are not attackers, they rather move threats away, but, however, they may become aggresive when something bad is happening to "their" family. They have very loud bark and they look awesome! Have a look:

This dog lives in Tatra Mountains in Chochołowska Valley, near Zakopane

You haven't been standing here!

"You haven't been standing here, sir!!!" were the most popular words in Poland during the communism time. In Polish they sound "Pan tu nie stał!!!" and they were used to express the frustration connected with somebody else taking a place in a looong queue to the shop. Sounds strange? It was a pretty normal situation in every place in Poland 40-50 years ago. Under the communist rule, shops were constantly running out of products. Shop supplies weren't sufficient for peoples' needs and people were living in constant lack of something, for example toilet paper, soap, ham, chocolate etc. Even basic products like those were almost impossible to get. That's why gigantic queues were formed in front of the shops. When the goods were delivered, everybody wanted to get some. But unfortunately it was always not enough to please everybody... That's why words "Pan tu nie stał!" became so legendary, everyone was fighting for a place in the queue.

There is a shop called "Pan tu nie stał" (shop online or in Łódź on Kilińskiego street) selling clothes and home accessories bringing back "sweet memories" from that period in Polish history. The graphics used on the t-shirts are old fashioned and most of them is originally from the PRL time (that's how we call the communist period in Poland). Have a look:

"Cześć" is a word for "Hi" in Polish.

T-shirt with a graphic of a traditional Polish dinner served in milk bars

A mug from a Polish milk bar. It was popular also in Polish homes.

A queue to the butcher's in 70's in Poland

  

What on earth is 'Oscypek'???

'Oscypek', pronounced something like 'Oh-stzee-peck', is traditional Polish smoked cheese, made of salted sheep milk. It is produced especially in Tatra Mountains in the very south of Poland. In 2007 'Oscypek' became a protected trade name under the EU's Protected Designation of Origin geographical indication. There are some strict regulations which you have to follow if you want to produce delicious 'oscypek', for example:

• cow milk can be mixed with sheep milk, but there musn't be more cow milk than 40% of all the milk used
• cheese can be produced only from May to September and sold until the end of October
• 'oscypek' should weigh between 60 and 80 dag and be 17 - 23 cm long...

 ... otherwise, it isn't 'oscypek' :) Some sellers don't obey those rules and sell their products under the name 'scypek'. If you'd like to buy an original 'oscypek' you have to have your eyes wide open :)
To buy the best 'oscypek' you have to visit southern areas of Poland (which are stunningly beautiful!), for example: Zakopane (amazing town under the highest mountains in Poland), Kraków (very popular city, which used to be a capital of Poland many, many years ago), Nowy Targ (a place where every week a big market takes place) or Bukowina Tatrzańska.

Traditional 'oscypek'
source of the photo

Many kinds of smoked cheese are sold on Krupówki, famous market street in Zakopane
source of the photo

Poland celebrates the International Day of Chocolate!

Sunny summer is coming to an end so it is good to make your life sweeter. That's why the International Day of Chocolate was invented. On this particular day, on De Gaulle Rondabout (this one with a famous palm) cups of delicious milk chocolate are served to the pedestrians.

To celebrate the Day of Chocolate you should visit one of the E.Wedel shops. E.Wedel is the oldest Polish confectionery. Founded by Karol Ernest Wedel in 1851 it produces variety of high-quality chocolate. It's the most popular chocolate in Poland. But not only chocolate is the Wedel's speciality. You must try also "Ptasie Mleczko" - chocolate covered marshmallow; "Mieszanka Wedlowska" - assorted chocolate covered candy; "Torcik Wedlowski" - a large, circular, chocolate covered wafer with hand-made decorations and "Pawełek" - chocolate bar with a flavored filling that contains a small amount of alcohol.

On De Gaulle roundabout in Warsaw there is a palm made of chocolate!

The chocolate is served to the pedestrians by E.Wedel

Enjoy :)

You can make a trip to see the chocolate factory in Warsaw in Kamionek district. It is located on Prague on Zamoyskiego Street no. 7. Here you can check E.Wedel shops around Poland: http://www.wedelpijalnie.pl/pl/lokale

Spiderman in Warsaw!

It may sound crazy, but while hanging out in Warsaw you can see a Spiderman. Even if he's not saving the city from the bad guys, he's still pretty amazing. He appears on the streets from time to time joking around and making people laugh. The police seems to treat him as a one of the city characters and punishes him only when it is completely necessary. Have a look at this short video:

Lately, he has been seen on Bankowy Square, sticked to the tram no.20 :D

Photo taken from: www.kontakt24.pl

Something about Łódź

It is often said that Łódź is an uglier sister of Warsaw. I can agree that they are related somehow, but I'd never say that Łódź is the ugly one. Even if it's only 135 km (84 mi) away from Warsaw, it is far different from the capital of Poland - and this is what makes her worth sightseeing.

Łodź has left her brightest times in the past - it used to be one of the biggest manufacture centres in Poland. Giant factories were everywhere, not much of them have survived. Łódź was focused on the textile industry, it was even called a 'Polish Manchester'. By the time right before the World War I Łódź had become one of the most densely populated industrial cities in the world! The textile industry declined dramatically in 1990 and 1991. However, countless small companies still provide a significant output of textiles and old factories are being turned into galleries, cinemas, theatres and culture centres. The alternative culture is growing there very quickly - you can observe it on the streets, on the walls of buildings, in cafes and pubs... everywhere.
During the World War II, Łódź was captured by Germans. Soon the Nazi authorities set up the Łódź Ghetto in the city and populated it with more than 200,000 Jews from the Łódź area (approximately 900 people survived the liquidation of the ghetto in August 1944).

These days, history is still alive in Łódź. There are many beautiful old buildings, especially tenement houses still waiting to be renovated. They seem to be ruined, but they still have something eye-catching. So, what Łódź has to offer? 
Piotrkowska street:  is the main artery and attraction stretching north to south for a little over 5 km, making it (one of) the longest commercial streets in the world. A few of the building fronts have been renovated and date back to the 19th century.
Łagiewniki: you can get close to nature in this largest city park in Europe. Actually, you can say that it is an urban forest! You can ride a bike there, rent a paddleboat, sightsee old chapels and enjoy the nature.
The 'Poznański' Palace: is known as a Louvre in Łódź and it became a City of Łódź History Museum with many events taking place there.
Manufaktura: it used to be a giant factory, right now it is a multicultural centre of spending free time in shops, restaurants, clubs, cinema and museum.
M2: it is a museum of Polish contemporary art. It has got a wide collection of Polish most important avantgarde artists. There are plenty of museums and galleries in Łódź!
Film School: Łódź is also a national film centre. It has got the most famous film school in Poland. Scenes of David Lynch's 2006 film 'Inland Empire' were shot in Łódź :)

Check out a great map of Łódź here: http://www.use-it-lodz.pl/

And finally, how to get there? Very simple! There are plenty of trains going from Warsaw Central Station. All journey by train takes only 2 hours. Check the timetible here: http://test2012.rozklad-pkp.pl/bin/query.exe/en?

All the details are important in Łódź

'Wolności' Square (the Square of Freedom)

Buildings of Łódź

Giant mural next to the Piotrkowska street

The details of Manufaktura

Cafe 'Wolność' ('Freedom' cafe)

the Baltic Sea

Some pictures taken at the Polish seaside:

After the sunset in Łeba

Łeba

Łeba, western beach

The sea in three colours; Łeba

Gdańsk

Seashells on the beach in Gdańsk

Łeba

Łeba

Harbour in Łeba