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.

On your Bike

Recently, on a public holiday the old "Trouble and Strife" was off swanning about in Southern France, for work, and I was stuck at home alone and a little bit bored. I decided to whip out the old Amsterdam and hit the paved world. I headed down the road Aleja Komisji Edukacji Narodowej, thankfully most commonly named KEN instead. I then vanished into to Las Kabacki, the Kabaty Forest. As the weather was fine there were people everywhere, the paths were filled more than the roads. I pedaled around looking at all the people, dogs, babies in prams, old people Nordic walking and teenagers walking while sipping from half litre beers. 

Riding at a speed that must have been nearly the speed of light I needed oxygen and inhaled deeply. What is that smell in the air? It smells like pork and smoke. I followed the smell along with many other people and came to a little clearing. I was amazed by the numbers of people. They were spread out across a large area, from the tree lined fringes in makeshift bikinis, ie bras and underpants, through to small huts with tables and fire pits. There was music from stereos footballs flying about and people being unPolish. Yes, they were smiling, IN PUBLIC! Crazy!

Fire pits and huts

A Granny parade

The grannies keep on moving.

It also brings me to another Polish thing, well actually it is also very British. Why do men feel the need to take their shirts off the minute there is some sun about. Mostly it is the rotund, the sweaty and the surprisingly hairless characters that do it. I find it a little disturbing, but maybe that is just me. Many, have said to me that as I am from Australia I should be used to people without clothes on due to the heat, but I really don't recall too many shirtless portly gents other than at the beach. It is like in the UK where as soon as there is a snifter of sun it is get the pasty bits out and make them red ASAP. If women were to do it, in Poland at least, there would be massive public outrage, grannies protesting in front of the presidential palace and burning effigies of Prime Minister Tusk. So why can men? Maybe some Polish boys can answer that one for me.

A shirtless man tends his fire in preparation for the adding of pork in casings.

The nordic walkers smashing along.

I pulled over to enjoy the serenity

And was brutally attacked by wildlife

The amsterdam looks resplendent in timeless black and white.

I know it isn't Nowy Swiat, but this is deep in the middle of the forest, the trail is packed up ahead.

The meal before Marty went to France, all sourced at the local markets, fresh, cheap and bloody delicious

What has been happening in this hemisphere recently?

Spring is finally here, it has come to the Eastern Plains of Europe, to share all its wonder!


Over the last week, or so, there has been a huge amount of rain, and not spread over days/weeks, but mostly condensed into short burst of monsoonal style downpours. Scary if you don't live on the 5th floor, luckily we do! So these such storms didn't really change our days apart from the entertainment value of lightning and racing clouds.

We popped back to Sokolka last weekend, and it reminded me of one of the things that I truly adore about Poland. It is even evident when living in the capital, and that is meadows. Meadows of beauitful flowers are abound in Poland at this time of year and probably through till about October, or maybe if the weather holds out till November. It is amazing, I can be standing at a tram stop in the middle of the city or in the outskirting suburbs after one of my classes and stare at the bumble bees lazily bouncing from one flower to another. Through a waving sea of pinks, purples, yellows and whites. It is the same in Sokolka. Beautiful flowers everywhere, along with a million mosquitoes that you only notice in the afternoon when the sun loses its heat.

We took out a couple of old trusty bikes to have a look around the fields near Sokolka
And we certainly weren't disappointed when it came to meadows;
Flowers with sunshine in a blue sky;
And the surrounding environments.
Of course there are always plenty of dandelions popping up around the place, and I am thinking of making some beer from their roots..... but we will see. Yes, I think I am becoming Polish as they love to brew anything, normally they do it to make bimber, which is the pretty name for Polish moonshine. It can be made from literally anything. From fruit and potatoes, through to children's lollies aka candy to Americans.
Crazy cat lady or is it a Chernobyl mutant?
Oh we were right, it is just the cat lady, taking the cat out for a walk through the newly planted birch forest in Sokolka.
Yes, Spring is in full swing here in Poland. I just hope that the early inconsistencies don't have an impact on the apple crops, etc. Which is going to be important to us in August as we want to try to make a good quantity of Cider and in at least a couple of varieties of flavour. We were also thinking of makeing some preserved and dried apples too. So we will have to see how my "handy" skills go with these new challenges. The next post will tell you about the interesting beer I am making at present.