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Katowice Adventures

Poland Traditions & Interest

Tim Firkowski

Saturday, 08 August 2015

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Silesian Insurgents' Monument in KatowiceAfter returning home from Oświęcim we had some lunch consisting of bigos, pork roast & kopytka (small potato dumplings) (sorry no food photos.... JUST KIDDING!) and then relaxed at home to stay out of the heat of the day. On Saturday we will be going to Jan & Maria's camp in Żarki as it will be one of the hottest days. My thoughts were to share some of my grilling specialties with them, so after the worst of the heat had passed we went to the store to do some grocery shopping. I had some difficulty finding some of the ingredients, but was able to improvise. The results should still be just as good. One of the problems was finding some ground beef but there was plenty of ground pork. It was decided to pick up some meat and grind the meat ourselves.

After our grocery shopping we went to Katowice. We stopped near Oko Miasta (The city eye) which has a large roundabout. We parked by the Silesian Museum (although it was closed) and wandered around by the building used by the Polish Philharmonic Orchesra & the new International Conference Center which has some mind blowing architectural uniqueness

Bigos, Pork Roast & Kopytka& the Sports and Concert arena that looks like a UFO.

I had been through this area before, but it was going through MAJOR updates at the time. Just about everything in the nearby area had been rebuilt and now there is a beautiful new highway system there. One of the things that did not change was the Silesian Insurgents' Monument. All the reconstruction was done around this monument. It is a monument to those who took part in the three Silesian Uprisings of 1919, 1920 and 1921, which aimed to make the region of Upper Silesia part of the newly independent Polish state. Each of the wings represent each of the uprisings.

Since I was in Katowice and not far from the Archives there, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to add to my collection of photos of the Archives in Poland. I had no need to research here, but at least I can say I was here! :D

State Archives in KatowiceBefore returning home we stopped at a local mall to get some ice cream. Raspberry is popular in Poland, so I decided to get some vanilla ice cream with raspberry topping.

Poland's version of Home Depot

Silesian Mining Museum

Katowice International Conference Center

Sports & Concert Arena

Tram stop in the City Eye

Tags:

Silesia Poland Katowice Archives Polish Food Żarki

About the author

Tim Firkowski

I have been doing genealogy research since 2002 & have worked full time as a Professional Genealogist since 2008. I specialize in Polish and American-Canadian Genealogy. As a member of APG, I was the 2010/2011 President of the New England Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists (NEAPG). I have Certificates of Completion for studies in "Foundations of Forensic Genealogy" and "Advanced Forensic Genealogy Techniques". I have been a volunteer librarian at the local Family History Center, and a genealogy research consultant at “Ask the Expert” Ancestry Road Shows. I have traveled to Poland numerous times & researched in churches and archives. At conferences and special events, you may find me dressed up in my Sherlock Holmes outfit, or my Kujawy (the folk costume from the region in Poland where my ancestors came from).