Happy Independence Day, Poland! Here are 100 things to love about Poland
Happy Independence Day to Poland!
Every time I feel weak and need a big dose of hope, I think about the women and men of Poland who just might be the most resilient people in the world. They survived the Nazis and the Communists taking over their country, but they never gave up hope.
I’ve been on four book tours in Poland and have visited more than two dozen cities. The country feels like my second home. Every city has welcomed me with open arms.
To all my Polish friends and fans, here are 100 things I love about Poland:
1. Your resilience. You survived two world wars, decades of Communist rule and being erased from the map for far too long.
2. Marie Skladowski, A.K.A, Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize who actually ended up winning two. I underwent radiation treatments for breast cancer and am eternally grateful for all the lives her research saved.
3. Lech Walesa’s bold voice when the country needed one most..
4. All those shipyard workers who cracked a hole in Communism and watched it fall like dominos in countries all over the world.
5. Frederic Chopin.
6. Pope John Paul II.
7. Black Madonna.
8. Wrocław gnomes. They’re both weird and whimsical.
9. Old town Warsaw.
10. Wawel chocolate. Yum!
11. E. Wedel chocolate. Double yum.
12. Dyngus Day. Odd, but interesting.
13. Pisanki and all the work that goes into painting those lovely eggs.
14. That crazy palm tree in the middle of the street.
15. Potatoes. (And I thought the Irish loved them.)
16. The gay rights rainbow that now lights up so no fire can extinguish it.
17. Name Day. How cool that everyone gets a day to celebrate their name.
18. No cars allowed in Kracow’s market square.
19. St. Mary’s Church. That ceiling!
20. Gdańsk.
21. Amber everything.
22. The Vistula River.
23. Bison.
24. Preserving Auschwitz-Birkenau for the world to see so we will never forget what hate and silence can do.
25. Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
26. The pier at Sopot.
27. Wawel Castle.
28. Maximilion Kolbe and the great gift of life he gave to another.
29. Krzywy Domek, that crazy crooked house.
30. Ice cream.
31. Sunsets.
32. The Warsaw mermaid.
33. Kazimierz.
34. Insignis Media, my amazing publisher who has published 7 books of mine in Polish.
35. Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.
36. The Solidarity museum.
37. The shipyard workers’ hard hats on the ceiling.
38. Statue of the Little Insurgent.
39. National parks galore.
40. Tatra Mountains.
41. Baltic coastline.
42. Statue of Neptune in Gdańsk.
43. Gestapo Headquarters preserved to teach the world to speak up to hate before it spreads.
44. Shopping malls that are more cosmopolitan than the ones in the U.S.
45. Salt mine Wieliczka.
46. Oskar Schindler’s Factory.
47. All that lovely hand painted pottery which I see every day in my kitchen.
48. Borscht.
49. All those great stores in Warsaw..
50. The Polish tongue that can make sz, sh, cz, sch, zh, rz sound so distinct and simple yet ties my tongue in knots.
51. Hospitality.
52. UNESCO World Heritage Sights, all 15 of them.
53. Hanna Suchocka. Poland had a female prime minister, long before the United States had a woman president – oh, wait, we’ve never had one.
54. The flag. Bold and simple red and white.
55. Hot chocolate so thick it’s like drinking pudding.
56. Playing piano with Artur Rubinstein’s sculpture.
57. All those trees. All those forests. All that nature.
58. Palace of Culture and Science. You either love it or hate it.
59. Train ride from Warsaw to Kracow. It’s like watching the world turn from black and white to color.
60. Stuffed hedgehogs at the toy store in Kracow. My grandson now has about six of them.
61. Dumplings. Those pierogi are filled with everything imaginable.
62. Łódź.
63. Warsaw Uprising Museum. Truly one of the most powerful museum experiences.
64. Best tomato soup in the world.
65. The sacred art in Katawice.
66. Vibrant radio hosts who made me feel so welcome.
67. Cab drivers who can’t speak English but somehow understand it.
68. Communist architecture so solid, sturdy and gray.
69. Memorials everywhere with fresh flowers to remember and honor Poles killed by the Nazis and Communists.
70. Wrocław market square.
71. Castles. Not every country has them.
72. Monasteries.
73. Palaces.
74. The trumpeter on the hour every hour in Kracow square.
75. Churches everywhere.
76. The faith of people who never gave up in the face of the unspeakable.
77. Changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
78. All that bread in all those lovely shapes and twists and turns.
79. Złoty. The money is so colorful and pretty.
80. Football.
81. Rzeszów.
82. The tall, thin, “feminist” monument in Rzeszów that makes people blush.
83. It’s affordable.
84. The brick outline of the Warsaw Ghetto remains so the world can never forget.
85. All that flowery art in colors bolder than nature created.
86. Milka.
87. Dominikah, Olga, Tomasz, Maria, Pawel and Anna, my Polish BFFs.
88. All those bridal shops in Kracow.
89. Poznań market square.
90. The Polish language sounds lovely whether whispered or shouted.
91. Empik. What a book store!
92. Hand painted chocolates.
93. Strange outdoor art.
94. Funky cafes.
95. The great food on the trains.
96. Werther’s Original soft caramels.
97. The weather. It’s like Cleveland, so I feel at home.
98. All that beauty in the square in Kracow.
99. Democracy. Sweet freedom after all those years without it.
100. The people. You bring me such joy.
I will never forget the love, laughter and joy at every book signing, hundreds of us packed into book stores and malls, staying long past closing time, hugging and taking selfies and sharing secrets through interpreters.
I hold you all in my heart and can’t wait to return to discover more things to love about Poland.