QUEERWARSAW
Arkadia
Arkadia shopping mall, “Radosława” Roundabout
Shopping malls can be found all around the world. Then why do we stop at one of them in Warsaw? Because it is here – unfortunately, or perhaps luckily? – where all the urban life flourishes! Why is on Sundays the Krakowskie Przedmieście Street often empty, but Arkadia center is crowded? One of the authors of this book has suffered a nervous breakdown when an acquainted group of genteel ladies from Żoliborz district decided to move their traditional coffee and cream puff meetings from the elegant Nowy Świat Street to… Arkadia. It is no wonder then that the strict downtown becomes deserted, and stores and gastronomic facilities give way to second-hand clothes shops or plastic banks that are open till 5 pm, and restaurants – to kebab bars. Arkadia is also a very multi-class place, where pensioners and post-lumpenproletariat hurrying to “Karfur” (Carrefour supermarket) after sugar on an occasional price mix with the clientèle of expensive boutiques and refined cáfes. It is worth to pay attention to the representatives of each social class in order to notice that Arkadia is thought of (alike other malls) as a place for spending one's free time and taking strolls. According to the local custom, the outer garments are to be left in the car (except for the post-lumpenproletariat that would obviously not recover the clothes left on a tram) in order to present to the biggest possible number of people one's brand new pants, suit-jacket, scarves, jewellery and other accessories. Sleek gays and femme lesbians can present themselves here en tout and always count on an enthusiastic audience. Mall centers already perform nearly all social functions, well, maybe except for living in them - but this too was planned by one of investments in Ochota district. If almost all functions, then also the sexual ones. The role of sexodrome is 16. Arkadia mall successfully performed by the malls' bathrooms and parking lots. Web dating ads swarm with the descriptions of “the fourth cubicle away from” a certain clothes line store. But today in mall centers gays mostly give in to quite a different need: hunger for being a star. A handful of useful information: Arkadia is open seven days a week from 10 am till 10 pm, except for Sundays when it is closed an hour earlier. In the late afternoons (especially during the post-seasonal sales) and on the weekends the crowds are so huge that it considerably decreases the comfort of shopping. So, those interested are recommended to shop on the week days, from the morning until the afternoon hours. See also: ▶ Rasko, ▶ Swimming pool, ▶ Złote Tarasy
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