All day I dream about solidarity.

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EASTERN EUROPE WAS UNDER COMMUNIST RULE from the start of the 20th century up until 1989. Lenin and Stalin had worked to set up a Communist government based on the teachings of Karl Marx. Forming such a government is not all that easy. Forcing people to give up all that they had worked for, to in turn share everything, is usually met with resistance. Stalin was the most effective at squashing the opposition (and was not afraid to), and often used extreme force. Many people who didn't agree with his policies were sent to the Gulag labor camps in Siberia. Farming and food was controlled by the government. People starved when they were not given enough food--even though some of them worked the farms to produce the food. Stalin was responsible for the deaths of approximately 30 million. Despite this he was looked upon by some as a great leader. His army was responsible for defeating the Nazis, and he made the Soviet Union a world super power to be reckoned with.

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COMMUNISM HAD A STRONG GRASP on Eastern Europe until 1989, when several key things happened. The most significant was the fall of the Berlin Wall. On November 9th of that year the Berlin Wall, one of the strongest symbols of oppression, was shut down and the gates were opened so that the East Germans could enter the free area of West Berlin. The wall was a strong symbol of communism and in a strange way acted as a reverse prison--erected to oppress those on the outside of the wall instead of those within.

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Several months prior to the wall falling, Solidarity Leader Lech Walesa was elected president in Poland. For the previous decade he was the leader of the Solidarity Movement, whose main goal was the formation of labor unions. Started in the shipyards of Gdansk, it continues to this day. He won the right to form a labor union and organize a strike, quite unheard of under communist rule. Stalin would have had him killed. While we were there the state run doctors had been on a nearly two-week strike. As much hype as there is pushing for socialized health care in the good ol' US of A, many countries that have it are failing. Doctors in Poland are underpaid so the good ones often leave for Germany or other western European countries where they can make more money. Those doctors that remain are overworked, and patients are kept waiting for months before being seen by a physician. What it boils down to is: you get what you pay for. If you have money and insurance, you'll see a good doctor. If not, wait in line; if you survive you'll get taken care of when it's your turn. So when Lem twisted his ankle in Poland, it was either wait weeks for treatment or get on the next train back home to Germany.

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OTHER THAN THE HEALTH CARE issue that affected Lem, Poland was a good time. Don't get too excited though, it's no Barcelona. By the end of our week there we came to realize that we should have spent more time in Berlin. Our Polish guide Kuba was excellent, and so were the spots. Only problem was that others had been there before, and those few excellent spots had either "been killed" by other skaters or had become a bust. We started to equate it with going to Ladies' Night at the bar. High hopes--only to find out that the girls are few in number and those who are present are not often single. We also came to find that several previous "Poland" articles in the other mags included photos from other countries. "Where is that long marble hubba?" we'd ask.

Kuba would respond, "Ahh, thata hubba is in Lithuania."

So with that in mind, quite a few of the photos you see here are from our two days in Berlin, not our week in Poland. We did manage to skate what remains of the Berlin Wall and one of the few Stalin Squares that remain in Eastern Europe.

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