Łódż - my city, my flat, trams, and a Routemaster bus

Due to a family inheritance, I had the pleasure for a few years to own and live in a 4th floor flat in the city of Łódź, Poland, overlooking its most famous street, Piotrkowska St (“P” Street) – at c. 5kms, reputed to be the longest pedestrian street in Europe. Łódź – pronounced “Woodge” -is actually Poland’s third city, after Warsaw, the capital, and the recent amalgamation of Kraków and its industrial satellite, Nova Huta, which has usurped Łódź’s position as the country’s second city. Unlike Warsaw, however, which was 90% destroyed by the Nazis in WW2, Łódź remains mostly intact as a beautiful “fin de siècle” and early 20th Century city. Formerly the prestigious residences of the merchants and factory owners (Łódź being mainly a textile making town), most of these early 20th Century buildings have been turned into flats. and mine, as you will see, is beautiful, once you leave the gloomy entrance hall and the creaking elderly lift. My flat is the only one that has a balcony overlooking this most vibrant of arteries – the city’s busiest commercial street - with its shops, restaurants, boutiques and bars. I loved sitting on that balcony, with a glass of crisp dry white wine, observing the goings on in P Street below – and once, as you will see towards the end of this film, I was surprised by the sight of a London Routemaster bus, driving along P street commemorating 600 Years of the city of Łódź! Watch out, also, for an extraordinary photograph, looking north and south along P street at the same time, taken by our friend Ania Alichniewicz – how she managed to stitch both halves of the picture together I have no idea! Łódź’s industrial past – mainly textiles – is evidenced by the warehouses now repurposed as high end retail outlets, cinemas and a leisure centre, and in summer the space between them is covered in sand, with deckchairs adorning the “beach” even though Łódź is over 200 miles from the nearest sea! It had a large Jewish population – one of its most famous sons was pianist Artur Rubinstein, preserved by this bronze statue of him at his piano. Originally there was a coin slot, so people could hear him playing music of another Pole, Chopin; but the local residents tired of the noise, and squeezed superglue into the slot, so it no longer functions. Because of its internationally renowned film school, Łódź is also known as the “Hollywood of Poland” with its own “walk of fame” - on the pavement outside the Grand Hotel, on P street, are brass stars recognising famous directors, actors, film-makers etc. from this industry.