3 Siostry

Two blocks from the Baltic Sea, nestled among the narrow streets, lies a cozy little club run by three sisters, Beata Szlapka, Ola Gosk and Natalia Gosk.  This Sopot establishment opened almost exactly one year ago and is aptly named 3 Siostry, Three Sisters.  A comfortable respite from the tourist-filled streets the club offers excellent food, inexpensive drinks, and a fun, quirky atmosphere.

With shoes nailed to the ceiling and an eccentric collection of old chairs arranged around small tables, entering the club feels similar to entering your crazy aunt's living room, bizarre but very cozy.  Natalia commented that the original plan was to carpet the entire ceiling and even nail some furniture to the ceiling, but it quickly became too expensive and impractical. Most of the decorations were donations from friends and patrons, though a few purchases had to be made to achieve the complete feel the sisters wanted.

After Ola left a previous small club partnership, she and Beata teamed up to find property for a new venture.  They found a perfect location on a corner of Bolesława Chobrego and Grunwaldzka, however, it was a bit too large for the two of them to manage on their own. They turned to their youngest sister, Natalia (pictured below), who just graduated from the University of Gdansk and was trying to raise money to go to school to become a Russian translator.  The three sisters do everything for the club -- cooking, cleaning, serving -- by themselves or with a few friends.

They opened their doors on May 29, 2009, and, according to Natalia, have had a pretty successful first year. Simply doing a Google search for "3 Siostry" turns up quite a few review sites that are overflowing with praise. Even their Facebook page boasts over 300 fans, quite a large response for a small local club just starting up.

“These three sisters are really efficient and brave,” patron Krzysztof Filipkowski remarked. "To start a business is no joke.”

Zusia

The bit of free time in the mountains provided a unique opportunity to spend some time with the grandchildren of the couple providing us housing.

Zusia is six and currently attends a full day 0-class, similar to the American kindergarten.  Full of curiosity and enough words to fill a library, Zusia invited me to see her life the first night we arrived.  She lives with her mother, father and brother, Antek in a small apartment within the house were were staying.  Ushering me into their space she showed me the bedroom where she sleeps a couple feet from her parents and brother.  Noticing my camera, she showed off a pink toy camera from her drawer of toys, the whole time bombarding me with questions and comments in Polish.  Her mother entered soon after, and attempted to explain to her that I only spoke English as I tried to politely excuse myself from their space.   

The next day, Zusia invited me to go on a walk with her. For a solid hour, I got a tour of her playground, the forests and hills up the street from her house.

Despite her knowledge of the language gap between us and my blank stares and shrugs, she rambled on and on in Polish, telling me where to take pictures and dragging me to where I needed to be when I didn't understand.  Throwing rocks into the stream and making daisy chains, her curiosity, determination, mischievousness and sense of adventure shone through the communication barrier.

Wieliczka Salt Mine

Due to the closure of Auschwitz from flooding, we decided to alter our plans and visit another historically significant attraction in the Krakow Area, the Wieliczka Salt Mines. One of the oldest and largest in the world, the Wieliczka Salt mines have been continually mined from the early thirteenth century until 2006, when they were forced to discontinue excavation because of low demands and expense. We ventured forth on the city bus line, escorted by Pawel, a teacher from the Sopockie Szkoły Fotografii. Wieliczka lies about 10 miles outside of Krakow and it didn't take long for us to reach this small touristy town. While waiting for our English tour it was interesting seeing the diversity of the people gathered for this subterranean historical hike on a sunny Thursday. Large groups of young Polish students sat gathered on benches under trees while waiting for their own group tours.

At the time the tour was about to start we were packed together with about fifty other tourists and gently squeezed towards the entrance of the mine. Following in the steps of the million visitors the mine receives annually, we descended 378 wooden stairs, arranged in 54 steep flights. Slightly dizzy and disoriented at the bottom, we gathered around our guide ready to set out on the 3.5 km hike around the mines.

The Wieliczka Salt Mines official website has a thorough online tour of the various caverns, displays and cathedrals we saw. Trying to grasp what the tour guide was saying, through accent, echoes and the mere size of our group was rather challenging, though the sights and vastness of the carvings and tunnels made more of an impression than I think her words would have.

One of the most spectacular sights the mines have to offer is the Saint Kinga’s Chapel, built and decorated over a period of 100 years. Everything, from the floor to the chandeliers, is crafted from rock salt. Adorning the walls are shallow relief scenes from the New Testament, chiseled carefully from the salt walls. We were lucky enough to enter the chapel during the closing song to a private mass. The acoustics in the chapel are both haunting and gorgeous, with voices echoing in the vast chamber.

Exploring Sopot

In the morning, while waiting for all the members of the group to congregate, I wandered along the beach, people-watching and enjoying the smell and sound of the Baltic Sea.  Apparently, this area is well known for it's amber, and after a really large storm pieces of this golden treasure will wash up with the surf.  Dennis pointed out that locals knew that last nights storm was not large enough for the amber to surface, but that didn't stop the tourist from looking.  Most of the people I passed had their eyes trained on the sand.

Our afternoon was filled with culture.  We attended a half-hour poetry reading in a small theatre by the sea.  Many cultural events, like theatre and concerts are supported by the government.  We were hoping to catch a philharmonic concert that Dennis thought he had seen an advertisement for, however, it turned out that the concert is on Sunday.

The Adventure Begins

Though storms in the Midwest delayed our initial departure by a couple hours, the rest of our trip went quite smoothly. Waiting in Des Moines allowed us to break out our cameras and start experimenting.  Pantalis went all out, crouching in the middle of the hallways and snapping quite a few photos before we left Iowa.

The Munich airport was abuzz with Duty Free Shops and cafes.  In typical European fashion, though it was only noon in Germany, many patrons were enjoying tall glasses of draft beer.  On the whole, the airport felt very modern.

Upon reaching the Gdansk airport, exhausted from lack of sleep, we were greeted by two of Dennis's old friends from Poland.  I got a ride home with Krzysztof, a lively old neighbor from Dennis's years in Poland. He laughingly pointed out that we could find his car by trying to find the oldest car in the lot.  The ride to the hotel featured a wide host of scenery, including modern shopping walls,  Communist-dated residences, and dense, vast forests.  During the ride Krzys provided familiar complaints of traffic and new construction.

That evening we got a taste of the night life in the Spatif bar.  The photography school that we are working with was hosting an exhibition for graduating students.  Though a little overwhelming at first, the atmosphere provided a fun introduction to young Polish life.  Adorning the walls were large black and white cutouts of Polish actors, musicians, and Spatif frequenters.  Only the next day did Dennis point out that Krzysztof is actually featured in one of these cutouts -- you can see his white pants at the top of the photo above.