I am now in the Diamond hotel. Hotel Diament. It is quite interesting. Got just a bit of history last night from a private student. It is used to be a 5 star hotel 30 years ago during communism. Up until the early 90's it was used almost exclusively by miners working in the local mines. It has a certain Eastern European communist style feel to it. Or in the case of Poland "Central European."
I can't put my finger on the feel of these communist style buildings.
There is a huge communist style building in the center of Katowice. No windows.
Hotel Diament:
Three small bunk beds in a square room. White laced curtains blackened by coal dust. A red faux velvet curtain to cover the dirty white ones. Smudges of coal dust on the brown carpet. Black masking tape around the windows and pencil marks above the mirror: JB 23.2
But I am painting the wrong picture.
That was the first room.
For unknown reasons the cleaning ladies moved me into a different room yesterday afternoon.
The second room has three small bunk type beds in a square room and nice clean wallpaper. Only some black stains on the carpet.
The toilet is quite interesting. Your poo doesn't drop into the water. So no splash on your bum. This is especially nice when you pee before shitting because then you don't get pee on your bum.
So after evacuation, the poo sits on an elevated shelf. Then you pull up a round plastic knob and the water pushes the poo into a small pool of water. Then it goes away somewhere.
Another advantage of this system is that you can see you poo after evacuation. Just in case you are worried about intestinal problems etc. Color, consistency and all the rest.
Nice wallpaper can do a lot for a room.
There are no phones, no Internet, no televisions. There is an interesting restaurant downstairs. The food isn't terrible but a bit pricey for Poland.
Hotel Diament's restaurant
Monday 26th March 2007
12PM
A big square. Lots of tables. A retired miner staring into his beer at the bar. A waitress in white.
Two scrambled eggs on a plate with six small pieces of ham, water without gas, two pieces of bread. 18 zl.
Hotel Diament Restaurant
Tuesday 27th March 2007
1PM
A big empty square. Lots of tables. Two retired miners staring into their beer at the bar. A waitress in white.
Salmon, potatoes, beetroot. Herb tea. 24 zl.
I keep thinking David Lynch. Don't know why. Maybe it is the red curtain in my room.
Left my passport at the front desk just in case.
I did find a really nice park in the old part of Jaestrzembie. And the library has free Internet access in the park. Really nice. Clean. Serene. So possible weekends at the park. I haven't seen a nice park in ages!!!
I think the next section of Godzeenie will be called Diament Hotel. The section I just finished was called Block 7A. I lived among large blocks of flats in Zory. My block was called 7A.
So onward! Hotel Diament!
My curiosity is back
at least
for a while