Elżbieta Dzikowska came to Bolesławiec to promote the guide to Poland “Peas and Cabbage” and her album “The Smile of the World.” Dzikowska said that throughout her life she had followed the principle that, with a smile on one’s face, it is possible to emerge from the worst predicament. She quoted several beautiful proverbs about smiles, such as the Chinese maxim: “If you do not know what to give, give a smile.” She also spoke about the fact that Poles smile rarely, while the happiest people are the poor in the Third World.
The author of the popular travel television programs “Where the Pepper Grows” greeted the people of Bolesławiec with a smile and the pleasant information that she eats her meals every day from tableware made of our native ceramics. She likes this set and, although she has other tableware sets at home from important pottery centers in Poland, ours appealed to her the most
“…because I already had a husband, and he was good too!”
Elżbieta Dzikowska spoke in exceptionally colorful fashion about meeting her second husband, Tony Halik (a Polish traveler who died in 1998). She first saw him on an old “Wisła” television set—Tony Halik was talking about divers in Acapulco. Elżbieta was interested neither in the program nor in its host. At the time, she did not know that she would spend more than 20 years married to him.
Dzikowska received a research scholarship in Peru and went there, stopping in Mexico along the way. She was to use that time and do a favor for a journalist friend who had asked her to record an interview with Halik. At first she was unable to contact Tony, who was then working for the American television station NBC. But once they met, they did not part until Halik’s death.
Elżbieta spoke very warmly about their years together, recounting many anecdotes from their work. When Tony was asked how he earned money for his numerous journeys to the most exotic regions of the world, the witty globetrotter would usually answer: “I robbed stagecoaches, and my wife was a brothel keeper.”
During their many sea voyages, Tony Halik was the captain and Elżbieta was the crew. “I was the ‘senior private,’ so I always had a great deal of work during those expeditions,” Elżbieta joked about her position
She also spoke about trips to Finland, a country that was the travelers’ private state. “We never made a film there,” Dzikowska said. “It had everything except alcohol. Once I bought champagne, wine and vodka at a local shop, which turned out to be non-alcoholic drinks,” she added with a smile.
The traveler and her husband communicated with the Finns… by drawing pictures, and when matters were more complicated, by calling the hosts’ daughter in Helsinki, who knew English.
Today, Elżbieta Dzikowska has donated all the mementos of her husband to the Tony Halik Museum of Travelers in his hometown—Toruń
“When I met Tony, I already had one husband. He was good too,” Dzikowska said nostalgically at the end of the story about her second marriage.
Peas and Cabbage Without Bolesławiec
During the meeting, Elżbieta took the audience on a journey around the world, colorful and full of adventures. After the meeting, she was asked several questions, including how she liked Ethiopia, because a Bolesławiec couple was planning a trip there.
“Today Poles can travel wherever they want,” Dzikowska began. “In the past, our programs were a window onto the world. Ethiopia is a very interesting country. The south is wild. You must always have small change ready to pay for every photograph taken of the locals. I had a funny adventure there.
When Elżbieta was visiting Ethiopia, a naked local man approached her. He wore only beads around his neck and a Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder. He demanded that she take his picture. Dzikowska refused, but the frightened guide accompanying the crew advised her to take the photograph anyway. When she photographed the odd man, he immediately held out his hand for payment.
They met once more later. This time, the strange local suggested that she do “nio-nio” with him. The translator explained that it was a sexual proposition. “He wanted to go into the bushes with me, and completely for free!” Dzikowska laughed.
One reader asked her why Bolesławiec was missing from the “Peas and Cabbage” guides. Although the author initially answered in the negative and claimed that Bolesławiec appeared in her book about southwestern Poland, after checking it turned out that it was not there. Our region is represented by Grodziec and Lwówek Śląski, which is mentioned as a place where Napoleon stayed.
Dzikowska also described Pławna and Darek Miliński’s Pławna 9 Art Group, as well as the famous mime. For the traveler, he was not a resident of Bolesławiec but Grzegorz, who freed himself from drugs in Pławna and now performs at the Wrocław Pantomime Theatre.
The fact that our city is absent from the guide forces us to look humbly at our efforts to promote Bolesławiec and at their results.
(information: Grażyna Hanaf)