And off for a Saturday stroll

Last weekend the wife was off at university making her grey matter work and improving constantly, whilst I would normally sit around and watch football or chat to Australian friends or maybe bake something. This week, it was full of bright sunshine and encouraged me to pop outside and see what the world of Warsaw gets up to on a fine spring day. I didn't really have a plan but I wanted to get some street photography in as well as maybe pop into some parks. So I jumped on the ol' Metro system and headed to Politechnika station and got the camera ready. I thought which way..... uni or town, I chose town and headed towards Plac Zbawiciela, as I know it is where lots of "cool kids" hang out, and there are some great arkady to hide in to snap people goofing about.
As I strolled in past the Karma Cafe which I refuse to go to because of their completely shite service and inability to be productive for fear of not looking cool. I breezed past the tram stop:
I saw a group of elegantly dressed more senior individuals and I am guessing they were off to the Theatre as there was something big happening there, I noticed later in the day.
The plac is really a great people-watching spot, it has many cafes and the big Church of the Most Holy Saviour - no I am not making this name up - on the southern end.
You might even get lucky enough to see an old man who looks like a garden gnome doing sudokus with a pen that doesn't work so that every time he writes something he has to shake it afterwards.
People just turn their faces to the sun and soak it up, notice man in background shaking pen.
The old and the new in the Arkady.
Click so you can clearly see this man's lion impersonation. So after hanging out around the plac Zbawiciela, I thought it was time to double my plac intake and head to the plac Konstytucji.
It is interesting, prior to my move to Poland I had neither interest in women's legs or shoes but since coming here I have seen an increase in interest in these areas. I am really fascinated how women in Poland whether in the bigger cities such as Warsaw or even the small regional towns have a vast collection of shoes. Not just that many, but, many I would consider to be applicable for extreme sports. Even in the dead of winter you can see women wearing 5 inch heels on iced and salted paths. Then not just that, but they are happy to wear very short skirts (like this) with or without stocking/tights or jeans/pants so tight it must cost a fortune in lubrication. It always brings me to a great quote probably from Austin Powers:
" - How do you get into those pants?
-Well, you can start by buying me a drink".

So, the short of it, probably much to the chagrin of my beautiful and long-legged wife, I find myself always looking at the myriad of high heeled shoes, boots and associated long legs of the Polish female species, as no doubt many foreign men have and also I have noticed many Polish women do themselves. More on this no doubt in the future.
So strolling along Marszałkowska into the plac, I got to see a really cool art installation with multiplug electrical cables.
Also, I got to witness the final of street badminton, just below the fish and chips sign.
LIPS! Yes they advertise lips here, they are always wanting to buy new ones, oh hang on, it is just me being smart and changing the PHILLIPS sign. Sneaky, no?
Something nice about the old communist architecture in this place are the wide arcades (arkady) that let great shadows form, and fun places to hide and take photos.
So the rest of this is just stencils, I like them, they are a fun source of graffiti.

Cans on shelves...... not sure it has the same impact in English.



Zbaw sie means save yourself, it must be a dangerous tiger-cat, but it is always nice to finish with a cat born on the 13.8.2004 awwww makes it nearly 7 now!

Autumn, or Fall, as the stating the obvious call it

Autumn is always going to be my finest memory of Poland. It is the time of year I first visited, the time I fell in love with Marty, and its also the greatest celebration of colour around. Growing up in Adelaide, we are lucky as we had some really beautiful plantations of oak, ash and other deciduous trees like in Victoria Avenue. So, with the Summer months ending, and the environment getting down in its temperature, it was surely time for the leaves to run away for another year. So we took a stroll through the Zoliborz area in the Western side of the River to the North of the City Centre, which included around the Citadel.
The sky was clear and the leaves were still about while someone had kept their car nice and clean for a decent reflection.
The area around the citadel is full of Oak and Birch trees so there was a plethora of colours about.
That said, I thought a little black and white might nicely catch the little winter house for birds. It is something that I really like about the inner city of Warsaw, that in many locations you can find bird houses erected as the older trees have been removed, therefore, there are no hollows for native birds. So they erect these and now that the leaves have gone you will also see bird feeders out with all sorts of yummy, if you are a bird, treats.
Even dappled light onto a birch tree can have a pleasant effect.
But, you must face it, that Autumn is all about the colours.
Reds, to greens. Oranges, to browns. It really has it all.
Plus that delicate soft light that in Summer can burn out your retinas, but at this time of the year just makes things nice to look at.
It makes the sky a beautiful rich blue and the yellows seem vivid but still tasty and fresh.
When you get the orange hints in, you think warm and happy thoughts even if the wind says, "no you aren't".
With these times you can find the most simple and delightful clashing colours.
Or simply move it to black and white to get the same.
Even when you walk around staring at the colours of Autumn in a modern 21st Century city like Warsaw, you still stumble across the reminder that war has played a big part in the history here, and no I don't just mean in the name of the city!
Then the memories come about to be more obvious.
You think, wow, if I was older I may have been part of this too.
Or I could have just run up these steps like Rocky instead.
So instead of the negative and sad, I focused on the cool and nouveau.Yes, back to my old favourite, silly and wacky stencil art. The graffiti without the unreadable writing, just the unfathomable pictures! Life is better when you think happy or wacky thoughts.