Before the autumnal swing

My favourite time in Warsaw, and Poland, is Autumn. The colours and wild variety you get in different areas. Some places in the city will still have wildflowers popping their little heads up while in some places the trees could be bare of leaves after early temperature drops. The best time is early on when the lower canopies have dropped their leaves and you have a vista that includes the tree trunks and the yellow, red, brown leaves as a carpet.

John, Paul, Ringo or George?

Such interesting colours.

From little things big things grow. Like from Acorns you can get Spanish ham, Jamon Iberico, Que Rico!

I'm just nuts about nature (and word play).

Off the beaten trail.

A slightly more beaten trail.

Leaf you to it.

Forest dwelling creature

Praise to the sun.

On your bike love.

This is what I was talking about.

Sun on the pond.

A patch of warming sun.

These photos are from one of the numerous forests around Warsaw, Kabaty Forest. It is a great place to run, ride your bike, and for me, to see snakes, deer, and the wild elusive grandparents of Warsaw.

Milk machine

A small break from the trip around Wroclaw because...............Oh my freaking god! The coolest thing has arrived in Ursynow. It is an automatic milk machine! We were out walking in some great late afternoon Autumn sunshine and got to the edge of the market near our place and found something new! Admittedly we hardly walk down this part of the street, sometimes I will jog here but of course I am not really looking at the market for milk dispensaries, but more at the uneven pavers from all the cars going in and out of the market.

So, when we strolled past as the sun set we were most pleasantly surprised to find a milk vending machine. I haven't seen anything like it before, here or abroad. After researching it more on the interweb thing, it turns out it has only been in a month, so I don't feel that bad.

How does it work?

 So it is an easy concept, you pick a bottle type. There is plastic or glass, half a litre or a whole. Along with some milk additives like flavourings like Raspberry, Chocolate and Vanilla.

The milk is stored at a good temperature, but there is no change given, the only downside.

4 zloty or 1 Euro/1.23AUD/0.79pence for a litre is a good price too

so chose your bottle, we always chose glass for our milk.

put it into the dispenser

and away we go.

it is 4% milk too, full fat! Yes!

And seriously this whole process took 2 minutes, quicker than lining up at the shop

If you are near the corner of Braci Wagów and Filipiny Płaskowickiej check it out. There are only two locations in Warsaw (both in the southern suburbs) where milk is dispensed like this check it out on the website here. I recommend it, people need to be rewarded for their ingenuity. Also, for every machine there is only one supplier (farmer) ours is Danuta Podsiedlik.. Get on board people!

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

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.