Sunday 15 December 2013

Day in 'Manchester of Poland' - Łódź

The silliest mistake I have ever done,
Cont..d from Gdansk Post,
We had made reservation from Booking.com which was giving away 50% discount the deal was great for a perfect apartment near sea side, But somehow things don’t go as planned always.. We found out from the front office the reservation was done for Wednesday, which meant two days later...What? Angel exclaimed!!!, I now started to hate myself how can I do this silly mistake...?? It happened to be, that booking.com returns you to the closest date to the available offer, since our earlier booking was turned down by another hostel at last minute, I hastily booked non-refundable studio without even rechecking on...date’s; Now what? The staff at Golden Tulip hotel, were kind enough to understand our problems, gave us couple of options but neither of it felled under our budget, Thanks to their hospitality in offering us WIFI we took few minutes and figured out the best way is to spend another night in Train towards Lodz. Since we have weekend unlimited journey ticket.. Why not Angle said....with a frown on her face, I knew she really didn’t mean what she said, But what else we can do... we learned something here.

At the Train Station,
We showed our weekend tickets to the clerk at Gdansk station, requesting to reserve seats for Łódź, I knew she won’t get my accent, as I was repeatedly saying (Lords) thanks to the gentlemen standing next to us, who pronounced it in local dialect, what sounded as (WOOJ), Which raised our eyebrows, and letting the clerk back to work. 
On Saturday November 2013, at 22:25, train took off from Gdansk Glowny. “It’s our second night in Train” I said to Angel, “Yeah...thanks to you” she said... stretching her feet, she closed her eyes....Angle had put on the alarm. As usual again the train was on time waking me up early...”It was 4am still too dark for sightseeing I said, we thought to spend some time at Lodz station benches.
From my solo trips, I have learned lot on how to strike a conversation when idle. I caught up with a guy in his 30’s who was busy doing nothing on his cell, with few shared conversations I learned he was a working for a textile industry. “Lodz is often called as ‘The Manchester of Poland’ due to its links with Textile industry”, He said now it is turned more in to Films, than it would be as ‘Mumbai of Poland’ reframing to Bollywood, Nooooo! not yet he replied.

Public Toilet- 2.5PLN at all Main Stations in Poland




Walk on longest Street of Europe
A) Piotrkowska Street,
After getting direction from ‘Textile Guy’, we thought of heading to the longest street in Europe, filled with pubs, clubs, shopping and famous neo-renaissance buildings. Piotrkowska, 5km stretched Pedestrian Street caters to every taste. If you are tired you can always hop onto local Rickshaws for 2.5 PLN ride, per person. The street was going through remake when we arrived; we had to dodge through couple of construction materials on our way, but looking through part of completed section, one can judge it’s going to be stunning once it’s repaved.
Piotrokwska Street in Lodz
Walk of Fame, Similar to Hollywood’s walk of fame, Piotrkowska has it’s own HollyLodz, boulevard engraved with star plaques and names dedicated to local film industry Hero-Heroines, Directors and artist.
Julian Tuwim Statues at Piotrkowska Street 

B) Museum of the City of Lodz- (Muzeum Historie Miasta Lodzi)
Our stroll through Piotrkowska brought us to Liberty square (Plac Wolnosci), Angle was interested in visiting Church front of it, I thought to take seat at the square and get some Sun light, flipping through my notes I found out being a Sunday History of Lodz museum is free to visit for individual visitors. Opening its doors from 11am to 6pm I pointed to Angel, Why not since its free, the value is great considering time we have in hand.
Museum of Lodz City 
The museum itself is in the Poznanski family palace, who were among the wealthiest Jews in the city. Also to be found artifacts from Pianist-Arthur Rubinstein and honours awarded to World War II Hero- writer Jerzy Kosinkis
* Museum Webpage Click
Arthur Rubinstein artifacts in Museum
C) Manufaktura- Shopping Complex
Not far from the Museum, Red brick complex caught our attention, later we came to know from the Tourist information inside; it was once the property of Izrael Poznanski, Yes!! The same family whose palace we just visited. During her glory days it employed more than 6000 people for textile merchant. Manufaktura, at the present day is house to 240 shops, Offices, Cinema’s, Hotel and Museum of Factory a delight to local citizens. 




Public Toilet- Free to use at Manufaktura

I see Photo Opportunity -lying over on of the letters

D) Alexander Nevsky Catherdal
After visiting, Baltic Cities Orthodox Churches are one of my key interests and on my check list; Unfortunately, we could only get glimpse from inside, as it was closed when we arrived.

Alexander Nevsky Catherdal
Street Graffiti

 Łódź has world renowned Graffiti, Keep watch on streets you will be amazed!! 



In Park at Lodz  

Punting in Łódź:-

 By Bus :- Again, my Preferred choice is WIFI enabled Polskibus.com,  between 80-90 PLN it can ferry you from Berlin and In between 20-30 PLN from Warsaw, Krakow, booking earlier can even cost you less.

·     Major buses lines connecting Lodz, depart from Lodz Kaliska Railway station.

By Air :-  Lodz Wladyslaw Reymont Airport is connected with major airlines, Bus 55 runs between airport, city centre and train station.

By Train:-  Intercity.pl caters to your various needs, worth checking special offers on their web page as we found out weekend ticket was a great deal,
 * It cost 154 PLN (2nd Class); 247 PLN (1st Class) 
The ticket bearer is entitled to unlimited travel across Poland on domestic intercity and TLK trains, from Friday 19:00 hours until 6:00 am of next working day, In our case the Monday was national holiday, we could enjoy the benefits until Tuesday morning 6:00 am, On board you can take any free available seat, It’s better to take additional reservation ticket before start of your journey were you no need to pay anything extra, reach booking office show them your week end ticket and they will print a reservation for you...
Cost of Living in Poland- For Survival Guide Click8

Public Transport:-


-       Single  Ride 20 mins       
 2.60  PLN
-       Upto 40 mins  Ride        
 3.40  PLN
-       24 Hours Ticket
12.00 PLN
* There is student discount for ISIC holders under the age of 26, in all public transport, It always better to    buy extra tickets in hand  as Ticket vending machines are not available on ever stop/station.
* Do not forget to validate your ticket after boarding the bus/ Tram, If you are not sure ask someone where punch it,  There is on the spot fine of 140 PLN + cost of ticket if your caught by ticket inspector.