Everything You ever wanted to know about Poland (part 1)
Everything You ever wanted to know about Poland - (part 2)
DID YOU KNOW THAT ... ?
By Robert Strybel, Warsaw Correspondent
* Some historians believe that Polish sea captain Jan z Kolna led a flotilla of Danish ships to the coast of
Labrador and down to the Delaware River in 1476. That was 16 yeas before Columbus landed on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Since Jan z Kolna died during the
Atlantic crossing back to Europe, his discovery did not receive much prominence and died a natural death.
* In addition to the powerful Roman Catholic Church, which commands the allegiance of more than 90% of all Poles, three other denominations have the word
“Catholic" in their names.The biggest is the Polish Catholic Church (app. 40,000 members), a Polish spin-off from PoloniaÅ‚s Polish National Catholic Church,
the Old Catholic Church of the Mariavites (20,000) and the Catholic Mariavite Church (5,000).
* Starting with deep economic chaos (including 800% inflation) when the communist system collapsed in
1989, by 1993 Poland had achieved a real growth rate of 2%. In 1995, Poland led all of Europe, not only the former Soviet bloc, with an impressive 6.5% annual
economic growth rate. This year a 5% increase is expected a very respectable figure. Political conflicts and frequent cabinet changes seem to have little
impact on the economy which is developing according the reforms launched in 1990.
* The English word “billion" and the Polish word “bilion" do not mean the same thing. The English billion is a digit followed by 9 zeroes, whereas
the Polish one entails 12 zeroes. In Polish the following numbers are used: milion (1,000,000), miliard (1,000,000,000) and bilion (1,000,000,000,000)
* The most honey is consumed in Poland during the winter months. It is used in Christmas baking piernik, miodownik (gingerbread) as well as in such
Wigilia dishes as kluski z m1kiem and kutia. It is used to flavor krupnik (hot honey-spice cordial) and miodowka (honey- flavored vodka). Many Poles take miód
(honey) to relieve the sore throats and coughs of the cold and flu season.
* The traditional four-cornered cap (rogatywka or konfederatka) worn by Polandłs military was done away with after World War II by the communists and
restored by the communists in the early 1980s. The latter move was a ploy by communist strongman General Jaruzelski who tried in this way to prove he was a
patriot and sugar-coat the bitter pill of martial law.
* Poland's longest river, the Vistula (Wisla), travels 1,047 (app. 630 miles) from south to north. It begins as a tiny trickle in the Tatra Mountains, is
fed by brooks and streams and eventually turns into a mighty waterway which empties into the Baltic Sea.
* Despite the inroads made by sweet and sticky American-style soft drinks, more Poles (81%) still prefer
mineral water as well as fruit and vegetable juices to Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, Fanta, Tonic, Seven-Up, etc. which is purchased by 66% of all consumers.
* Snow and cold failed to stop Warsaw's first St. Patrick's Day parade held in 1998. The event sponsored by a local Irish pub in cooperation with the Irish
Embassy, featured bagpipers, dancers, clowns and floats. That night, Guinness as well as other brands of beer flowed freely to the tune of Irish ballads in the
city's pubs.
* The 1920 Battle of Warsaw has been called the 18th most decisive battle in world history. Only several
miles separated the invading Red Army from linking up with revolutionary forces in East Prussia, but the Polish Army smashed the red offensive at the gates of
Warsaw and saved Europe from a bloody communist revolution.
* Although the United States has seven times the population of Poland, its people commit 20 times more murders. Roughly 1,000 murders a year are committed n
the city of Chicago (population 3 million) each year, more than in all of Poland (population 39 million).
* Fuel consumption is measured in Poland not in terms of distance (miles per gallon), but in terms of how much fuel is needed to travel 100 kilometers
(about 63 miles). This reporter's Polish-built Fiat Uno consumes some 7.5 liters over a distance of 100 km -- the equivalent of 50 miles per gallon.
* The medical specialist known in Polish as a 'stomatolog' does not specialize in treating stomach
ailments. It means the same as 'dentysta' (dentist) and comes from the Greek word 'stoma' (mouth).
* The narrow back alleys, passageways, nooks, attics and cellars of Warsaw's quaint Old Town provided Polish freedom-fighters with get-away routes and
hide-outs during the 19th-century anti-Russian insurrections, the anti-Nazi Warsaw Uprising (1944) and most recently martial law, declared in 1981 to crush
Solidarnosc.
* During a recent visit to Warsaw, US Secretary of Defense William Cohen, who is of Jewish background, said he was proud that his ancestors originally came
to America from the Bialystok region of northeastern Poland.
* There are no ushers in Poland's churches. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis, and in many churches much of the congregation stands along the
walls and/or in the aisles during Mass.
* Edmund Obiala, a Polish engineer, is directing the construction of the huge Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Australia, which will play host to the next Olympic
Games in the year 2000...
* The blue skyscraper in Warsaw's Bank Square was originally conceived as an office building, but was redesigned as a hotel in response to the late-1970s
tourist boom. Martial law halted tourist traffic, so it was again redone as an office tower. More than a decade of weather damage to the unfinished building made
completing the job extremely expensive.
* Most coffee consumed in Poland comes from Africa and Indonesia, rather than Latin America, which
produces weaker-flavored varieties. Despite a TV advertising blitz pushing instant coffee (on which coffee companies make the biggest profits), ground coffee
still accounts for 83% of sales in Poland.
* Poland is Europe's biggest producer of apple juice and frozen fruit, and ranks among the world's top producers of blackcurrants.
part 3
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