Since TravelersToday brought you some interesting tidbits about Ukraine in honor of Euro 2012, it’s time to learn a bit about Poland, the other country that’s co-hosting the soccer tournament. Read on to discover facts about Poland that you can’t discover from a stadium.
From SwiftPassportServices.com, we have learned:
• There have been 17 Nobel prize winners from Poland, including four Peace Prizes and five in Literature.
• Polish born astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was the first person to propose that the earth was not the center of the universe, and Johannes Hevelius – another Polish astronomer – published the earliest exact maps of the moon.
• In Wroclaw there is an annual city-wide medieval festival with activities like jousts, horse archery, and medieval dances.
• Pizza in Poland does not contain tomato sauce. The waiters bring sauce to the table in a pitcher, and you pour it on top.
• Polish toilet paper is made of crepe
• Marzanna is a tradition where people weave straw dolls and decorate them with ribbons. These represent the end of winter, and the beginning of spring. When the snow starts to melt, they proclaim the beginning of spring and chuck the Marzennas into the river or stream, symbolically ‘killing’ the winter. This is mainly popular with young children.
• Poland borders the Baltic Sea, along with many countries. Poland is surrounded by Germany, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Russia.
According to Anglik.net:
• The national symbol of Poland is the white tailed eagle
• The highest point in Poland is Rysy in the Tatra Mountains
• The most popular name for a dog in Poland is Burek, which means a brownish-grey color
Europedia says:
• Of all the people in the European Union, Polish people marry the youngest. The average age for marriage is 24 for women and 26.5 for men.
• Other famous Polish people include the classical composer Frederic Chopin, the writer Joseph Conrad, reknowned scientist Marie Curie, and biochemist Cosimir Funk – the man who invented vitamins.
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