The viral video shot by an American tourist in Warsaw underground provided a striking image: rows upon rows of Polish commuters reading books. Poles really do read a lot, and, oddly enough, they mostly favour paper books. At the end of April, in Białystok, there was a book fair that impressed me with the sheer multitudes of kids begging their parents to buy them something to read. There is an old Polish gentleman buying Belarusian books in Białystok, there are scores of Polish teenagers with dramatic haircuts haunting the bookshelves at your nearest Empik. There is, too, a young man walking his dog in Sue Ryder Park with a large paper book firmly in his hand. He is actually walking his big Labrador - but he is not letting go of the fascinating plot.
The international book fair in Warsaw at the end of May is just as impressive - except that in Warsaw you tend to take everything for granted. It is supposed to be gargantuan and it just has to be held in and around the Palace of Culture and Science. I come soon after the opening, and the sheer scope of this thing is frankly bewildering. And just as ever, I become broke in a matter of seconds. Books have truly achieved a cult status in Poland.
Jassmine is the jazz club of Poland. Coming here is just as essential (and, quite frankly, inevitable) as booking a table at Birdland in New York. Things happen here, and on May 7, Piotr Matusik Trio were playing music from the Independence LP (2020). While that album is excellent in its own right, their brand of ECM jazz thrives in a live setting. The concert was a blast from beginning to end, the solos were engaging, and the audience were transfixed. Much to the annoyance of the waiters who did not nearly get enough orders. My Old-Fashioned was all but forgotten on the little square table, behind my back, the moment that the 12-minute opener "Longing" started playing. A shame, because they make good cocktails at Jassmine.
It is always great to discover Belarusian places in Warsaw, and the best discovery since Culture Cafe (slightly overpraised, but still good) was a place called Soulmates hidden in the midst of the disturbingly enormous Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły Park. Located by a skate park and opened by people who used to own a Minsk establishment called Soul Kitchen (for the record, Soul Kitchen is a brilliant Warsaw restaurant), Soulmates specialises in pastry. I have been here five times now, and I have never left disappointed. And with a freewheeling terrace like that, how could they disappoint? Bonus points for offering some of the most adventurous herbal teas in the city. Truly a place to return to, unlike the country we have all escaped from.
Finally, it is wonderful news that they have now allowed dogs into Ujazdowski Park. High-brow and trim, it only had one thing keeping it from being my favourite park in Warsaw. A certain roughness, a certain spontaneity. Well, they certainly have that now.
