Majówka

Majówka, is the name given to a sneaky little time of the year. It is the first week of May when Labour Day and Constitution Day fall and create a holiday bonanza. The time is spent by many away from the cities and they head to the lakes, seaside, mountains, even abroad. All this as you can take off from work 3 days and gain 6 extra and get 9 days of leave, in a sense, if you include the weekends. We went to Berlin for a short part of this and then came back to enjoy the quiet times that exist in the capital on such an occasion. We thought it would be nice to stroll through the Pole Mokotowskie park which was originally the cities airport, or as it would have been called then aerodrome.

The Metro was empty but when we got to the parks I was blinded. Mostly by the volume of super white flesh that was on display.

 

Bikes welcome

The first sun devotees

It was a free for all at the fountain.

The wild flowers of the park attracted some to strip off even when not overly prepared for such an event

After the park we headed more centrally, in one of the "stinky" underpasses in Centrum there is a holographic Coke advert. So it isn't my bad photography skills but it changes depending on the angle you look at it.

The murals are tidied up and the H&M boobs are out in a rather gratuitous display

The Novotel went Orange in sponsorship only to see the orange fade rapidly to a sick salmon colour, it is now being removed.

I wanted to take Marty to see a mural I had noticed a few weeks before of Chopin

I really like its style

Freddy banging out a tune

I think that is his mother enjoying it in a very Polish way.

I do like the colour tones though.

Granny getting down to it.

Counting the keys

The difference between the outrageous H&M and the conservative M&S is pretty evident.

Next stop, the new metro line.

Farmers Park(et) - if you go down to the woods today..........

Something great about where I live is that there is quite a lot of green within easy touching distance. There aren't really any decent sized parks to jog around, but there is a big forest. So what would you expect to see?

Nettles

pretty nettles

angry looking nettles

wild flowers maybe

trees, no doubt

However, this is only a very small part of what you will encounter in Kabaty. As, just before you can enter the forest you actually have to cross a farmer's land. Which, to be honest, you have to feel for him a bit. There must be hundreds or thousands of bikes, dogs, prams, the odd dirt bike, the main inhabitant of these areas is a bipedal creature often passing through, other times lying in or some even stealing small "samples" of his planted fields.

A typical scene

But, look a little closer.

Near naked

Dogs and evil gingers

Graffiti

An more bipeds escaping

I tried to take another photo of these two people to give an example of the space and size of this non-traditional thoroughfare.

They are having fun.

I zoomed in on the photo to see they are taking photos

On closer look they are just again trying to get nude.

So you travel a small well worn road to find the true farm

Peas

Barley

Looks just as good in black and white

Wheat

Decent head of wheat that.

Potatoes in flower

Who ever thought potatoes could be pretty?

And what is this? A love heart bush?

No, it is just a wild horseradish

What is this odd creature? I think it eats only wheat

Here it is caged and trying to escape into the forest, like so many other bipedal creatures.

I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff. No.IV

So as the day was wrapping up, and we had had our fill of international tunes, food, and sights, we decided we should quickly take a stroll to Koneser. On the way there was funnily enough a sausage stand there.

Even with all this international flair and excitement, this old Baba Yaga still couldn't get into the spirit of things.

On the way to Koneser, we heard some interesting tunes and popped into the Indian section which wasn't in a courtyard but more a small car park.

They were cranking out the tunes, it was a really nice vibe actually to stand around with a sitar a harmonium and some tabla action in the background combining with a slightly more Western violin, or was it an Afghani Rabab I can't remember, either way it was pleasant.
I swear the bloke on the Sitar looks like a beatnik version of yours truly.

Also in the corner Ganesh and Buddha were enjoying the tunes.
There some questions asked though. Like "Will this match our credenza, Dear?" To which no doubt the Polish males reply would either be "I'm listening" and followed by "Yes of course dear" without really listening and hence not knowing what he was agreeing to. Where as the Australian male would instead say "What the bloody hell is a Credenza?!". Ahhh culture you will never bore me.

As we came out of the Indian enclosure, sounds like some place to put illegal immigrants, we heard some more music with a bit more rhythm coming from our left. We strolled down to find it was the end of day parade. It started with the the Brazilian contingent.
I love the massive brick wall and the tiny head poking out of the window to watch.
They were shaking it like a Polaroid picture.
You have to love a massive headdress.
I wanted some blur, but I would be lying if I said I wanted it this blurry. Oh well it is still colourful.
After the thrill of the party, we saw what I think has to be the scariest clown ever!
So we popped into Konoser as they had a photo exhibition of the Praga world through the 50's and 60's and some slightly earlier photos. It was really great.
After that it was time to call it a day in old Praga town. The street was still closed to traffic and the folks were still flowing in and around.
But as beautiful as the buildings are we knew that the left bank was calling us.
So until another day workingman's town, keep shining brightly.
Lets get on that tram and see what the other world or Warsaw has for us......