Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with europe and poland

How do I find my Polish grandfather

sien — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:34:21 -0800

My father and his mother were separated from his father by events in WWII in Poland. I'd like to find him. I've tried a few things but would much appreciate more help. Are there any Polish Mefites out there or anyone who has searched for people who are probably dead. My grandfather was a Psychiatrist in Poland who was in the Polish Army who managed to survive the war. He sought a divorce from my grandmother after the war but was at least alive in 1950. I have his birth date and know what he was in life and have one web page that refers to him. But beyond this I don't have anything.

I've called the Polish consulate in my city but they were pretty unhelpful. I've looked online for services that have records but they all look dodgy. Some may not be, but all of them look poor. Are there any reliable services that find people like this? Are there any in Poland?

I don't speak Polish so web searching is heavily curtailed.

Any help would be appreciated.

FleaMarketFilter: Looking for all Flea Markets in Europe

dripdripdrop — Fri, 23 May 2008 09:55:20 -0800

I'm looking for flea markets in Europe. Specifically we will be going through Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Croatia, Bosnia (Sarajevo), Slovenia, Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland (Krakow) before settling in France, but any other suggestions in Europe are welcome. I'm interested in the kind of flea markets with old, random crap, not the new, cheap crap. I've been to the flea market outside Budapest on Nagykőrösi út and loved all the old nick nacks.

Please be as specific as possible about addresses. If I get a lot of answers I'll put together a Google Map for sharing.

Eastern Europe: Hiking

mateuslee — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 01:40:26 -0800

Cool places to take day-trip hikes in Eastern Europe: suggestions? My brother is coming to visit me in Amsterdam for a couple weeks and, aside from the usual visit to the Netherlands, he wants to take a trip to Eastern Europe. He's pretty into the great outdoors and probably wants to do some hiking. Giving time constraints, I don't think we'll be camping - but aside from that I'm open to new ideas. I hear there's a very nice, old forest in Poland.... he seems interested in this. Any other ideas / indie travel-agencies / suggestions? Thanks!

Where should we visit or stay in Eastern Europe?

D J Robertstein — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 10:54:44 -0800

Where should we visit in Eastern Europe? Me and three or four freinds are planning to have a bit of an interrail this summer and unlike last time, we've opted for more of an eastern European slant. So far it's looking like this:

France - Italy - Greece - Bulgaria - Romania - Hungary - Poland - Germany

We're hoping to see a bit more of the countryside and will be camping a fair bit as well as using hostels. However, we know nothing of Eastern Europe save for a Michael Palin documentary.

Does anyone whos been around that area have any suggestions of places to go, things to see and stuff to do? We're on a fairly low budget, but we could save cash for certain things if it's worth it.

Sorry for the vague post but we're ignorant and in the early planning stages. Thanks!

Honeymoon suggestions for Eastern Europe in September?

UMDirector — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 08:53:33 -0800

Next September (16th ish) I will be going to Eastern Europe for a honeymoon. Any travel suggestions? Resources? Must sees? My fiances grandparents are polish and mine are hungarian so we thought it might be interesting to go to Poland, Hungary and maybe somewhere else (also more affordable from what I hear). We will probably have between 7-10 days for travel. Not sure if we want to freelance it or do some sort of travel package thing. Neither of us have ever traveled in Eastern Europe so we have no idea what to expect (is there as much English spoken as western europe etc)....any information, thoughts, suggestions etc would be greatly appreciated!

Krakow or Budapest this winter?

mdonley — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:29:19 -0800

EasternEuropeFilter: I'm taking a course to become certified as a teacher of English to speakers of other languages in November-December. It's available in Krakow and Budapest for about the same cost. Where do I want to live for a month? I live in southern California and while I could commute an hour by car each way to Santa Monica for a month, the course (to prepare for the CELTA, or Cambridge English Language Teaching Assessment) costs so much more here in the States that I'm actually saving money on housing, food, gas, etc. by heading over there.

It's a full-time thing - every weekday, 9 to 5 or thereabouts - so I won't have much time for sightseeing save on the weekends, when I'm not doing homework or preparing model lessons, etc. It's a very intensive schedule from everything I've read about it, and both schools are run by the same organization, so I'm not worried about the quality of the course being different.

In both cases, I'll probably be living in a shared apartment near the center/old town. While Budapest is larger than Krakow, does that necessarily mean it's got more/better things to do?

Most importantly, which city's going to give me the best value for money? It might cost about the same to get over there, but if I'd pay twice as much for groceries or warmer socks or copies or time in internet cafes in one place or another, that's enough to make my decision.

Thanks!