We left Wrocław in the morning for Łódź (pronounced WOODZH, to the best of my knowledge) which was about 220 km (137 mi) away. We punched "avoid tolls" in the GPS, hoping that we'd see more smaller towns along the way, but it didn't work out that way. We saw some of the suburbs, but were soon on the freeway.
So for those who are wondering what driving in Poland is like, I have to say it's not much different from the US. You drive on the right side of the road, traffic lights operate the same with some variation, road signs are pretty intuitive, although they're in metric (which if you've noticed, I'm trying to acclimate my readers to). To be honest, in many ways it's easier. No one hangs in the left lane, trucks are kept at a slower speed and stay in the right (by law, I believe)--with none on the road on Sundays that I saw. Gas is expensive however, at about 6.20 PLN/liter (about $5.50/gal) and I was worried about parking space thanks to the incident in 2017 (see the Spain blog). While parking was tighter than the US, it was nowhere near as confined as Spain (or England and Ireland for that matter), so I worried for nothing. Although once we were at our destination, I didn't drive around town--we used public transportation.
Enough rambling, back to the travelogue.
I've heard Łódź described as a Polish Detroit because of its industrial past and grittier atmosphere. The city's name translates as "boat" in English. Today, it is mostly known for its film industry as well as a film school that Roman Polanski attended.
Our hotel was the ibis Łódź Centrum (notice a pattern?) which was in another great location for transit and sights. It would have to be quick, we were only here for one night (28-29 October)!
View from our room
The main tram station, just down the road from us.
An older tram. Łódź had the most variety of trams that we saw.
Our first stop was the
Manufaktura complex, which is a former textile factory which has been converted into a shopping and event center. It was huge and the brickwork was impressive.
Manufaktura entrance
Outside the building. This takes up the whole block.
A Fe photo-op
The next stop was
Piotrkowska Street. It's one of the longest commercial thoroughfares in Europe and is one of the main arteries of the city. We took a bus that dropped us off somewhere in the middle.
The street has many attractions, but one we really wanted to see was
Rosa's Passage. This is an interior alleyway (passage) that is covered with a mosaic of mirror pieces. The artist's daughter was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer and she created this as an expression of her daughter's journey from "not seeing to seeing."
Views of the Passage. It would have been better with sunnier weather, so see the link above.
Street sign and street view
Church of Pentecost of the Holy Spirit
Lots of street art here. This is Arthur Rubinstein, a Polish-American pianist born in Łódź.
Gutenberg House. There is a statue of Johannes Gutenberg above the entrance.
The Schicht Tenement Building, in the Art Nouveau Style.
I hate to admit it, but it wasn't until our last city that we had a Polish donut, or paczki, at a bakery on this street. Just a window really, where you could see them make them and order through a sliding window. Fe got a toffee, and I got--naturally--coffee. I have to say, it was one of the best donuts I've ever had. I'm not in the habit if taking pictures of my food before inhaling it, so you'll only see Fe's.
View of the donuts
Fe and her toffee donut. She ate it all, which was unusual. I was expecting to have some of her leftover but not this time.
After all this, we were on the same street as the hotel, so we walked there and then had some dinner at the next door mall, the
Galeria Łódzka. Then it was back to the hotel to pack our luggage for the trip back to Warsaw and our flight home.
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