Let's Move!

There was a lot of US press coverage recently about President Obama’s visit to Warsaw. Not about his speech congratulating Poland on the 25^th Anniversary of its first democratic vote, not about the message the visit sent about US and NATO support in the event of Russian aggression….but about his workout at a local gym.

While any security lapses that allowed a stranger to create a phone video of a head of state during a workout can be debated (and confiscating the cel phones of anyone in his proximity doesn't seem a practical plan anyway), the episode got me thinking about the differences I have observed between New York and Warsaw with respect to fitness.

In New York, I was a member of New York Sports Club, which at one point seemed to rival Starbucks for the number of locations near me, and there were three other clubs within a few blocks of my apartment. The largest chain I am aware of here, on the other hand, has four locations in all of Warsaw and the closest to me is almost a mile away. What seems to me is that there are not as many gyms per capita here as there are in New York, and the ones that do exist are surprisingly expensive compared to everything else. A full access membership in the ones I have taken a look at cost the equivalent of more than $60 per month (relatively expensive in my view), and the ones with swimming pools are considerably more. I have yet to join a gym, partly because I haven’t found one that has the combination of proximity and opening hours that I want (that, and I needed a break anyway).  The one Obama went to is in a Marriott, so I expect a lot of the clients there are hotel guests. Maybe it is just the neighborhood where I live, or maybe full-service gyms are simply not as much in demand. And I am willing to be there are probably not have gyms with a pizza night either. 

So how do people here keep in shape to offset a diet full of pork, potatoes and pierogis? Cycling, for one thing. While Warsaw is not Amsterdam, cycling is pretty popular here. The city is mostly flat and rush hour traffic can be heavy, so biking is a practical way to commute. There are bike shops all over the place, indicating to me that the cycling is not just for commuting. There are bike lanes all over the city, many of which are dedicated sections of the sidewalk. 

Follow the red brick road

For more open riding, one park I have been to (more of a nature reserve, really) seemed to draw a lot of mountain bikers on the day I visited. Similar to New York, there is a bike share program but, unlike New York, it is practically free (the annual fee is 10 zl - just over $3 - and usage charges are pretty low if you exceed 20 minutes per ride). I have yet to give it a try, being a bit hesitant to face the tram tracks (and the issues I have even with walking, which I'll get to) - which is kinda silly since I used to ride around Manhattan. Soon, though.

There are also clusters of fitness equipment in a lot of public spaces. One was installed right near my apartment just after I moved in, and it was immediately popular from what I can see. Yes, some children treat the equipment like playground apparatus, but I have seen people of all ages using it and getting kids used to exercise equipment can’t be a bad thing.

The family that exercises together....

While I have not seen as many gyms as in New York, I have seen that there are quite a few yoga studios. I dabbled a bit in yoga while in New York but am hesitant to try here since I have not learned much of the language yet and I would probably throw off a class if I did a warrior pose when I was supposed to do crow or something. I am still trying to remember how to introduce myself, so I can't devote the brain space yet to remembering  "w dół stoi pies". There are also places near me with basketball courts, indoor climbing walls and boxing. 

Running also seems popular here. The Warsaw marathon was held shortly after my arrival and I often see people running in the parks and along the streets. I don’t know if it is an established trend, but I have also seen people on roller blades occasionally. One weekend, I am not sure what the occasion was, but the street that runs past my building was shut for a while to allow a procession of seemingly thousands of skaters.

I am curious to see whether biking and running are as popular in winter, although one coworker of mine told me that he bikes in through almost any type of weather. The bike share program closes from the end of November until the beginning of March, but there will be ice skating rinks and the year-round ski slope in the city. I'm sure people find a way to stay active. 

So, if I am not going to a gym and I am not riding a bike, then what am I doing, I suppose you ask. The answer is walking as much as I can. It is my favorite way to explore a city, and I keep learning more about how the city is laid out and finding interesting pockets to go back to. The only problem is that I have yet to figure out how people move here when they are walking. In New York, people are fairly predictable in their walking patterns (even the tourists) and I developed ways to get through crowds, past people and generally stay out of people's way. Here, most walk as quickly as New Yorkers and everyone seems to be very focused on where they are going and not paying attention to others - yet they don't seem to collide with one another. I have not figured out yet why this is and, as a result, I often feel I am in someone's way, even when there are only two of us on a very wide sidewalk on a weekend when the city is empty.

But I will continue to walk, I will start to ride the bikes and soon I will start going to a gym. Winter is coming, and there are pierogis to eat. 

All Consuming

As I have been settling into my new apartment, I have been doing a lot of shopping. While the apartment I rent was furnished, I have needed to supplement the things it came with (dishes, pots/pans, etc) and want to personalize it a bit. I have needed to stock my kitchen with things to cook, I need to get my work clothes cleaned occasionally, and, as I would like to blend in a bit with the locals I have started buying some clothes also.

This is all notable because my thoughts about shopping in former communist countries are tainted by what I learned when I was growing up and as the cold war continued into my adult years. I remember a college professor I had (who had escaped from East Germany) telling the class what things were like there. She explained that, when walking down the street, if you saw a line outside a store you joined it. It didn't matter what they were selling, you bought one whether you needed it or not. If you don't want it, you can sell it to someone or trade it for something you do want. And, of course, there was this Wendy's commercial from the 80s (a favorite of mine) that spoke to the common American view of the communist world.

Well, Poland has not been a communist country for 25 years and things have changed a bit. To quote the Lonely Planet travel guide, it is "a case of goodbye Marx, hello Marks & Spencer".  There are two malls within easy walking distance of my apartment, and a third is an easy tram ride away. There are two supermarkets around the corner from me, numerous fruit and vegetable stands and the aformentioned Alkoholes. It seems that every block has a pharmacy and an eyeglass store. Unlike New York there are still bookstores everywhere. And, as I mentioned in my last post, there are the flower sellers everywhere.

As with everything, there are small differences between the shopping here and what I am used to. The first thing I confronted on my first trip to a drug store was the lack of bags. The EU had been pushing its member states to reduce the number of plastic bags in circulation so you normally don't get one unless you ask for one - and pay for it. I notice that in clothing stores, wine shops and other places where you pay more money they tend to give you one but in supermarkets and other shops you either bring your own or pay for what you need. I had been trying to do that in New York but only after I built up a supply to burn through. To avoid building up a surplus, I now tend to carry a bag with me whenever I go out in case I need to pick something up.

Then there is the idea of going to a mall to do grocery shopping. Every mall here seems to have a supermarket as an anchor tenant. While I have several to choose from near my apartment, the Carrefour supermarket at the nearby mall is Wal Mart sized and better for bigger shopping trips. You have to dodge the mall rats when heading out with your stuff but one gets used to that.

The malls themselves are pretty nice (I suppose they have not been around long enough to get run down) and have some features that I found interesting. Most seem to have a coat check, dry cleaners, and currency exchange kiosks. In addition to a food court, the ones I have been to have several full service restaurants, some with outdoor seating areas. There biggest gym near me is at a mall and is next to a pierogi restaurant (I am not sure to what extent they hurt each others business). While in Poznan (a city halfway between here and Berlin) I went to a huge mall in what had been a brewery that had art exhibits in some of the open areas.

Another interesting thing - good for convenience, but maybe not so good for stores' profit margins - is that the stores tend to be clustered together by type. If you need sneakers, the Adidas store, the Nike store and the big sports-clothing-and-equipment store are next to or across from each other. One open air shopping center in Warsaw has an entire mall with nothing but home furnishing stores.

The larger supermarkets can be overwhelming. I have seen entire aisles dedicated to bottled water, kielbasa or vodka. They are big enough that someone drives around in a zamboni to clean the floors. The Carrefour near me has a McDonald's inside.

One thing that took no getting used to is Ikea. On stepping into the store closer to me (Warsaw has two!) I appreciated part of the key to their success. If it weren't for the language on the signs, I would have sworn I was in their store in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The layout is identical, the Swedish meatballs taste the same and I think the music was the same also. There are subtle differences in merchandising (there are not king/queen/double/twin bed sizes, for example) but, like McDonald's, you know exactly what you are getting no matter which store you enter.

Because Poland is a member of the European Union, goods from other member countries are readily available. As I have already mentioned, Carrefour (France), Marks & Spencer (UK) and Ikea (Sweden) have a significant presence here. But other stores have good variety also. The wine selection ranges from all over the world, there are "specialty" sections in supermarkets (and entire shops) dedicated to cooking staples from other countries, and I have seen vegetable stands that indicate the country their produce comes from.

The old communist-era things have not yet disappeared, though. Also near me is Hala Mirowska, an old marketplace that takes me back to Armenia whenever I go there. It is a pair of beautiful old buildings with two supermarkets inside, but also including (and surrounded by) stalls where you can buy meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, individual eggs, spices, loose dry goods by the kilo, clothing, household goods and pretty much anything else you need.

Hala Mirowska

Hala Mirowska II

One of the many produce sellers

Going there is an exercise in competitive shopping, where people seem to have their favored vendors and little patience for people not as intent on their shopping as they are. I love it there, but how could you not love a place with multiple stalls selling nothing other than several varieties of cole slaw?

There are also people who have less formal "shops", whether it is someone selling strawberries out of the back of his car, the man selling socks from a table next to a bus stop, the couple selling all sorts of household items in a space adjacent to a local supermarket, the woman selling honey in the archway of a building arcade or the family with a produce stand that sets up outside my building every day. Sometimes I don't feel like walking to the mall and also want to throw some business to the little guy, plus I like to think the vegetables are a bit fresher.

So, other than the early closing hours of a lot of places that I mentioned in my last post, there is little to prevent you from getting almost anything you want when you want it - and the malls and Alkoholes are there for later hour needs. And no matter when it is, you can get flowers.

And as I mentioned before, things are a lot cheaper here, so there is more and more to buy. But that is a topic for a later day.

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A Side Trip to Montenegro

In the category of Another Sweet Business Trip, I spent a few days recently in Montenegro, a country that was formerly part of Yugoslavia. Herewith a couple of pictures and a hearty recommendation of Montenegro as a very nice place to visit.