I didn’t like Warsaw all that much when I was a kid. Yet I had to go there once or twice a year. It meant being far away from most of my friends and family members although the telephone did shorten the mental distance somewhat. It was a different world. Not only because of it being infinitely bigger than my hometown in the southernmost part of Denmark. Going to Warsaw was like travelling back in time because Communism had ended only a few years before my first memories were produced there. In the 1990’s Poland was shedding it’s socialist skin and growing into a Capitalist country - maybe even a Western country some day? Not that I was aware of those tectonics shifts. Nah, I was much more worried about the obligatory naptime at the kindergarden. God, I hated it.

My mom loves grocery shopping. Back then we wouldn’t go to Lidt, Biedronka, Netto, or a Carrefour in a big mall (they were just starting construction). We would either go to one of two local, small grocery stores or to bazars. The former left me traumatized. You’d have to drive to get there so you knew it was going to be a half-day endeavour. Our vehicle of choice before the millenium was the legendary Polski Fiat 126p. I own a bigger car today that can move three people around comfortably. Back then you could stuff a whole family into the Fiat, no problemo. Upon arrival you would immerse yourself into the labyrinth of stragany (stalls), each one offering a different range of products. Chinese knock-off clothing, homemade pickled cucumbers, decorative stones, fresh meat from the farm, screwdrivers, and my favorite: pirated video games sold by shady men with accents. You could get almost everything but you had to endure the long treck through the bazar led by a mom that had to check at least 15 specimens of a product before choosing the right one.

Grandmas selling birch branches in the bazar around Hala Mirowska, 2025

These days I don’t visit Warsaw as often. Actually, I’m not sure I’ve even been there since around 2010. It’s not the same city anymore because now my visits feel like travelling to the future. It has more skycrapers than all of Scandinavia and everytime I go there, they’re building a new one. Instead of Polski Fiats zooming around there’s an endless stream of Glovo and Uber Eats cyclists bringing out Bahn Mi and vegetarian burgers to young professionals in their minimalist apartments. Sure, some of the old bazars still exist (although much smaller and populated mainly by the elderly) and you also bump into lone stragany selling fruit around the city center. But this place has changed.

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