Well, it seems we have one now – and every morning I observe a lot of very unhappy drivers busy digging out their cars – and it literally is digging out, and I have photos to prove it! A few days more of snowing, and they’ll be looking for their cars under uniform heaps of snow… These photos were taken the day before yesterday, so it's actually worse now!
God, it really is winter, isn’t it… The temperature hasn’t risen above -10oC for over a week now, and snow is lying everywhere. And to think that I spent 5 years of my life abroad explaining to everyone that contrary to the common believe and stereotype, Poland does not lie close to the Siberia, there are no polar bears roaming the streets and that there hasn’t been a severe winter in years… Well, it seems we have one now – and every morning I observe a lot of very unhappy drivers busy digging out their cars – and it literally is digging out, and I have photos to prove it! A few days more of snowing, and they’ll be looking for their cars under uniform heaps of snow… These photos were taken the day before yesterday, so it's actually worse now!
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This is how cars in front of our building looked yesterday morning: Some of the snow has melted during the day, but this morning it started snowing again - it's practically a snow storm out there right now, with heavy clouds and strong gusts of wind which push the snow in every imaginable direction. So this is how the first snow of the year in Warsaw looks like:
I've been pretty busy the last few days since my parents came to visit. One of the things we did was go to a rock concert - the one by Tarja Turunen, the ex-voice of the Finnish band Nightwish. And – not surprisingly – the concert was incredible! She has an amazing, strong and well-trained voice of an opera singer, and is not afraid to experiment with it. This, against the background of strong, dynamic hard rock music with gothic elements, results in a combination which is unique and sends a thrill down your spine. Plus she’s amazing at establishing a rapport with the audience – who love her immediately – and seems to be a natural on the stage. So if you ever get a chance to go to her concert – by all means, do! Here is one of her songs which she sung at the very end – “Until my last breath.” Enjoy! By now it should come as no surprise to you that I’m crazy about flowers. This is one of the reasons why leaving Holland – the county of widely available fresh, beautiful and cheap flowers – is so depressing for me. Still, I am far from giving up, so this past weekend I dragged my husband to a flower exhibition held on the grounds of the Wilanow Palace in Warsaw. It’s an annual event during which the students who have graduated in the field of floristry showcase their final exam works. It was with a slight trepidation that I was going there – I was afraid of being disappointed with what Polish floristry has to offer as compared to the Dutch one. But I was in for quite a nice surprise – the works showcased were, in my opinion, of quite high quality, varied and rather creative, even if sometimes they lacked a certain flair. Sure, the quality and diversity of floral material itself was not perfect, but after all we do not have world’s biggest flower auction around the corner. And I think it will still take some years before we learn to use non-floral material in floral arrangements as well as the Dutch do. Pleasantly surprised as I was with the floral pieces themselves, the way in which they were showcased brought tears to my eyes – literally. Not only was the exhibition room dark and poorly lit, but the separate stalls were from cheap white plate and lacked the back wall, thus every arrangement had to me admired with things like radiators, fire extinguishers, floor crates, sockets, extension cords and other cables sticking out from the walls in the background. Not a good idea, believe me. It was virtually impossible to take a good photo under these circumstances….but I did try, and here are the results – what do you think? Last weekend, true to my decision to keep exploring Warsaw and the surrounding area in search of something interesting, we went on a trip to the Kampinos Forest. It’s a huge forest area north of the city, and I’m sure it has many picturesque areas, but there is unfortunately no detailed tourist information available as to where to find them…
We went on a hike along the yellow route and discovered that Kampinos is also home to thousands of blood-craving mosquitoes, which make the entire experience less than pleasant – to put it mildly. I only stopped a few times to take photos of mushrooms, and for each of them I have at least 3 mosquito bites to show… I will give Kampinos another try in a month or so, hoping that the mosquitoes will be gone by then… In the meantime, here are the mushroom photos – you’d better like them, since I paid for them in my own blood! ;-) I think I already mentioned once or twice that if your fingers are itching to take up the camera but there’s nothing much in the neighbourhood which seems inspiring enough, there’s always… a zoo. After all, animals are always interesting photo models. So here is a picture selection from the visit to the Warsaw Zoo.
For me, the best way to cheer me up and make me happy is to discover a new great place which is worth being photographed; if a few days pass and I come across nothing worth reaching for my camera, my high spirits plummet and I get restless. Now, in Holland it was quite easy to feed my inner need for photo-hunting and beauty and adventure – there were lots of beautiful and original places to explore, parks where birds could be hunted down, towns to visit, gardens bursting with amazing flowers, the sea-side changing throughout the seasons, cycling routes to explore – and so much more. In Warsaw, this is not so easy – I’ve looked really hard, and I keep looking, but it’s extremely difficult to find anything which even comes close to satisfying my exploration-and-photo-hunger. So when it got really bad, I went to visit one place when it is guaranteed you’ll find something photo-worthy – the zoo.
The Warsaw Zoo is not very big and the beginning of my visit was not very promising, but finally I’ve found something interesting – the Bird Pavilion, of course. So here comes the first batch of photos from my visit to the Warsaw Zoo, let’s start with a very original collection of small birds from America and Africa – enjoy! The Summer heat wave continues and sitting in front of a computer is becoming more than difficult – with no air conditioning the houses are so hot and stuffy, that even thinking becomes challenging! Let’s hope the temperatures will drop soon and I’ll be back to blogging in a nice, cool breeze…
It’s a tough choice whether it’s better to fight the heat indoors or outdoors; for those of you who prefer the latter, I have a suggestion – a visit to a zoo. Only it cannot be the kind of zoo with a lot of animals crowded in a small space – it should be a zoo with extensive grounds and animals spread out through the park. And the New Malta Zoo in Poznan is exactly this kind of zoo – it would take several hours to walk around its grounds, which include three huge lakes and lots of forests, and you only come across an animal ever 15 minutes or so – if you’re lucky. It’s almost like hunting – there’s no guarantee you’re going to see these animals at all! So here are a few photo trophies from my visit to the Malta Zoo yesterday – can you name all of these? ;-) I'm back from my trip to the " wild east" of Poland and I'm happy to report hat not only did I survive and haven't been devoured by mosquitoes, but I also got to see some beautiful and charming places. I’ve heard before that the most amazing views are along the rivers which run through this region of Poland, and I’ve seen for myself that this is indeed true for Narew – one of those rivers. Below are a few photos of Narew, taken from a bridge outside the town of Łomża – quite breathtaking, aren’t they?
As you know I’ve been living in Warsaw for abort 2 months now, and I still cannot make myself feel at home here. It might seem strange – after all, I am Polish, so this is my home country. BUT – Warsaw belongs to the so called East, while the area of Poznań, where I was born and raised, belongs to the West. I’ve always heard that these two parts of Poland are very different, but until now I never understood how big those differences are. Everyone does speak the same language, but for all I experience here these could be two different countries…
Anyway, trying not to get discouraged, I’m beginning to explore the eastern part of Poland, which is supposed to be full of beautiful, wild nature and amazing views. A few weekend ago we tried to visit one of the Nature Park, close to the Bug river. Unfortunately it was not a good time to do that – due to heavy rains the roads were flooded and the mosquito plague was horrifying, so we did not get to see much. Still, I managed to get a few nice photos – in all fairness this area looks really attractive in photos, while my memories from the visit itself are slightly less rosy. So here is the first glance at ”the East” – the palace-like building is the Palace in Łochów, the small wooden chapel and the lake are located on the place’s grounds, and the river is Liwiec. Enjoy! PS. Tonight I’m going for another weekend-away in the “ wild East” – keep your fingers crossed! |
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August 2012
AuthorA fiery red head, a writer and a photographer in love with beautiful design and all things creative |