Cultural: Communist Era Museum
We spent a little time on Thursday afternoon checking out a small museum in Warsaw that showed various common items and habits from communist days.
Here it is: Czar PRL - Life under Communism Museum.
This is the fourth time we've been there but the first time there was a crowd. It's one of the stops on the Warsaw City Tour, but we decided to just take my brother in law and twin sister. We had planned on taking them the day they arrived but their flight plans all changed and we couldn't go that day.
When we told my sister that the furniture that was common when we first came to Poland looked a lot like this, she said, "Oh, that's "mid century modern" and it's becoming really popular with the 20-30 year olds. Huh?
Whatever.
While it is more or less stuff that someone's grandma had - that's part of the charm. For some of these people - it's not what grandma had - it's what they remember from their childhood - and they are only in their 30's!
Did you read that about the pantyhose?
A lot of this furniture is STILL out there and no one wants it. We have a glassed in case that we've offered for free and no one wants it. we don't have the heart to just junk it though. So it's waiting in our entrance area - waiting for someone who will love it.
While we were there, there was a tour group with a guide that spoke English. So, we enjoyed hearing her give her talk to the people there.
One of the interesting points of interest was a soda machine. They put their money in, and the glass was sitting there (chained to the machine). It filled up, you drank it, then rinsed out the cup and set the cup down. The next person drank from the same glass you did - and so on.
One of the interesting things about the museum is the location. Too many times visitors to Warsaw visit places like the big malls or the expensive hotels. When they leave Poland, they think it is rich and that everyone has money. Some people have money, but many are still struggling.
Many of the buildings still haven't gotten a face lift--where we parked, this was very evident.
Because most of you reading here are interested in sewing and quilting, I took a lot of pictures of that part of the life of the woman during those days.
Lucznik is still a very common Polish brand of sewing machine.
Not sure if you can read this - for sure not if you are trying to see it on a phone, but did you like the part about this family showing off because they had a sewing machine?
Sometimes when I see this stuff, it looks like what MY grandmother had in the states - not what I had! I'm 55 and my grandma died when I was a teenager.
If you can see this, it says that the sewing machine helped the would be fashionista.
People my age and younger do not remember the Great Depression. Ration cards are something you've only heard about.
Ration cards
If someone snagged this many rolls of toilet paper at the store, they put it on a string and carried it home. They were happy to show it off. Often the stores were empty of goods and they had to stand in line for hours to be able to buy things - as they needed to be first in line when the store opened in order to get something as there was little available to buy.
An old fashioned stroller. We'd probably call it a baby buggy.
There were more things to see here - but it's enough to show you for now.
Have a wonderful day! Be sure to check out the backings my sis has for you1