That Time When Warsaw was Poland’s Hipster-land…

Like I mentioned on a previous post, I traveled to Warsaw last summer to be part of the public rejoicing provoked by the inauguration of the soccer Euro Cup and to visit a dear friend of mine who’s coming to Duke next fall:

(Yet another picture of my crazy friend Lidia)

But besides soccer and friendship, visiting Warsaw was quite fun because of one particular reason.

The Polish capital -the hometown of my favorite classical music composer, Frederic Chopin– has reflourished both culturally and economically in the recent years becoming significantly trendy for a great number of artist (both right-wing -like Fronda, the ultraconservative Catholic publication- and specially left-wing). Restaurants serving local food made of organic products abound; art galleries are popping up exponentially;  bars offering an impressive variety of local beer are all around… It was like being in Durham and in Europe at the same time! Warsaw’s contemporary renaissance boosted its hipsterism! Don’t expect long beards and tatoos; don’t expect people wearing weird vests and skinny pants; don’t expect hundreds of monocycles on the street: basically, don’t expect Warsaw to be Portland. Warsaw’s hipsterism is different but super cool.

So since this adventure represents happy memories to me, I wanted to share some photos of Warsaw, aka Poland’s Hipster-land, with you:

(Hipster bar in Warsaw. Yes, the bar is made of books and the seats are made of molded plastic boxes. June, 2012)

(When the author of this blog became a mix of Jesus Christ and a badass Asian dude sticking out his tongue. Fronda: the ultraconservative Catholic Polish publication)

(A Polish beer: mainstream? Not at all!)

(A Polish soccer jersey: mainstream? Not at all, episode 2!…)

(Now that I think about it, isn’t being a Frederic Chopin fan a bit hipster too?…)