Jewish festival around town.

On a beautiful and super warm summer's day we went out to see how town looked on days of the Jewish Festival, here are a couple of photos of what was about.

Mutant shadows.

Then let's just tack in some extra photos from Autumn just for the heck of it.

In the Royal Baths

Łazienki park is the "The Royal Baths" if translated, that said, there is no bath there for the public to enjoy, but it is however still a lovely place for a stroll and on weekends in summer it can be heaving with people. They also like to have events each year to celebrate the space that is there. This year they have been doing the Royal Łazienki Music Festival which has had numerous contributors. Last weekend I got to see Genso (Japanese drumming) and Marcin Masecki (remixed Mazurkas, a tradiational song in Poland). Luckily I saw it before the storm went crazy :D

Sokol-ture now with addedmusic and movies!

And now, time for something completely different.

A little bit of culture. Something new for a simpleton from the Antipodes. So when I was invited to a night of culture, classical music, intelligent conversation and collected antiquities I put on my best smile and some kind of fancy clothes to try and blend in. I don't really think it works.

The event was a regular on the Sokolka calendar where friends of the my in-laws host a Polish talented musician or musicians to play something, anything that they so desire to a group of interested (and invited) locals. I was lucky enough to get an invite no doubt through the rumours of how amazing this blog is and the cultural input I have through my Google sponsored interweb storyboard. There are plenty of videos and pictures, so I won't bother you too much with the words and prose. So I will just tell you the night was organised by some philanthropic friends, who own a recreated Polish country manor house. The house is full of great Polish history in the form of antiques and art and there is a cheeky dog and a number of horses out in the stables which can delight any girl or wife......

Contemplative crowd

Chandeliers

The invited artists

Pumping out the tunes so to speak

Close the eyes and feel the vibe

Something I must have if I ever buy a house in the country. One of the old tiled room heaters

maybe a little better photo

Where the coals go. All of these pieces are reclaimed from local properties that were going to just throw them away when renovating their environments.

Some of these are from the early 18th Century as well.

After the first performance we all get the chance to sit around have some snacks and maybe a cola beverage

Plenty of fruit and coffee to go round

Stories about anything and everything

And a great moustache!

Next up the families son and friend play some piano tunes

impressing the hired talent

Everyone sitting back and enjoying it

More eyes closed and absorbing the whole sound

More snacks

Maybe some desert

Back to more performance

Even the old people of Sokolka get the smartphones out for this one.

Feel the noise

And a token horse photo for all the female girls.