Mining and Shopping — Just Looking

On Sunday morning, September 22, after another spectacular breakfast, we drove to the Guido Coal Mine in Zabrze, about a half-hour drive west of Katowice. The mine was built in 1855 by a guy named Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck.

The mine is no longer working, but they’ve turned it into a most interesting museum.  Here's a sign near the entrance:

To begin is easy.  To endure is an art.

Maciek and Elżbieta, ready with helmets on. We all had to wear helmets.

And then we went down to 170 meters below ground. 

Here, an employee is locking other museum-goers into the elevator. (We were next.)

As we exited the elevator, the guide greeted us with the phrase, Szczęṡċ Boże, which means “godspeed,” or “May God be with you.”  That’s how the miners greeted one another underground, instead of saying, “Good afternoon.”

The guide was terrific, although Zach and I couldn't understand a word.

Horses were used to pull the coal cars through the mine.

Once in the mine, the horse spent the rest of its life down under.  

At one point, there were 80 horses kept in stables in the mine.

How meaningful this mine museum must be for visitors whose fathers or grandfathers had worked in this mine.
I wondered what was going through the heads of these young visitors.

We fell in love with this little tyke.

Got any questions about what these things are for? Just ask Zach.

Back in Katowice, we took a radically different self-guided tour of a brand new shopping mall right in the center of the city. 

The mall just opened four days ago, and on this Sunday afternoon it seemed the whole city had turned out to have a look.

Inside, it was super glitz, Americana, and money, money, money:

Grandma never wore makeup at all.  What would she have thought to see Max Factor in Poland?

An Apple Store! With nobody in it!

Starbucks? Here, too?

There were two things I actually liked very much. The two-story food court gives the shopper a lovely view!

And, there is a lovely linguistic appreciation of the Śląsk language on display. It’s a terrific encouragement to keep a dying dialect alive. 

Here you see the word for "bed" in Śląsk and then in Polish.

Later in the evening, we talked about the need for people to have spaces where they can sit and talk. Places where city folk can touch nature, see trees. Would the city planners of Katowice have served their residents better by building a beautiful park instead of the shopping mall in the center of the city? Or, can this monument to capitalism be justified by its convenience? Now, people who live in the city can walk to the shops instead of having to drive a long distance. Who can answer these questions?

Our walk back to the car took us past some independent computer stores.

We delighted in what we imagined to be the American pronunciation of these borrowed words.

We had dinner at a lovely restaurant that specializes in Silesian cuisine.

Zach had a bowl of sauerkraut soup. He says, "It was good."

I ordered barszc and it came in a big cup. It was so good I had to drink half of it before taking a photo!

The next day, Maciek and Elżbieta drove us to the bus station. We waited in the rain for the bus to arrive, kissed our cousins goodbye, and headed southeast to Nowy Targ and the Tatra Mountains.