I’ve only been home five days and already I miss Poland. I miss being able to walk everyplace, or being able to use mass transit without first getting a ride to the bus stop (Arizonans will understand this.) I miss being able to eat out for less than in Germany or the States. And yes, there’s the reality of getting back to normal life after a great vacation. But there’s one thing I won’t miss, and remain surprised at – the shocking amount of graffiti I saw.
![](https://katrinashawver.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/krakow-street-compressed.jpg)
I’m not travelled enough to know if Europe in general is more inured towards graffiti, has sighed a reluctant sigh of urban acceptance, or if Warsaw has simply not raised the public funds to fight the ongoing battle. The city of Phoenix where I live is extremely proactive and has zero tolerance towards graffiti and even has a ‘Graffiti Busters’ program where they combine donated paint with volunteers to repaint any surface for free with the owner’s permission. The longer graffiti remains, the more encouraged the painters are. So for me it’s shocking; others may not even notice. Sometimes cultural shifts are neither right or wrong. But even a cultural capital and a nation’s capital have to fight the constant fight of that universal sign of blight: graffiti.