Showing posts with label suburbs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label suburbs. Show all posts

Thursday, March 01, 2012

Willy-nowa

On one of the those sunny days we decided to pump up our tricycle tyres and hit the trails to one of our neighbouring suburbs. A suburb known for a few things:
  • It is one of the newer and quicker growing suburbs with plenty of activity in the construction world
  • It gets flooded often as it is built on a flood plain
  • It has a monstrosity of a church that could, nay, will rival (in some peoples eyes, not mine) the Palace of culture as the ugliest erection in town
  • Lastly it is the home of almost every middle manager ever to work in a corporation in Warsaw
So lets pump those legs and see what turnips.... get it.... a play on tubers, I mean words. OK, I'll stick to photography not jokes.

The horrid church, I just cannot show the enormity of size here. apparently you can donate money to the church and get a brick with your name on it, with one condition, only after you die does it get installed.....
Has anyone visited the box factory? Oh that was only in the Simpsons. But maybe these architects started there.
Modern cobbleless cobbles.
Oh wow, look more boxes!

No this isn't a brochure of how it will look. It actually is how it does look!
But to provide for the residents who now can't afford holidays because of the over priced boxes they have bought the beach comes to them. Of course it is sponsored so as to reduce costs and to make a Marketing Manager (possibly living in the community) appear to be doing his or her job.

And don't they just love it.

Plenty about, but no cricket bats and tennis balls.
Nothing like a sponsored beach to get you to want to ride your bike home. And so we did.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

The bedroom at night

Sorry, for those of you looking for salacious stories it isn't going to be what you thought from the title. But, you might as well keep on reading.

What happens when Warsaw's "bedroom" sleeps? 

The area where I live in Warsaw is known as the "Bedroom of Warsaw". This is because there are lots of young office workers living here, and as Poland workers average the second most hours in the developed world behind only South Korea, some of these people here basically sleep, wash and maybe eat before they leave again every day. Combine this with the fact that many people now living in Warsaw are from all over Poland then you can see why the place can be quiet on weekends. The line up of people to head home for weekends is evident on a Friday afternoon from 1400 onwards, if you go anywhere near an arterial route out of the city it resembles what Poles would love to call "masakra". The traffic will be banked up, lots of sad faces, hooting and tooting horns and there will be people getting highly frustrated at anything and everything. The other thing you notice in this neighbourhood other than the quite evident lack of the older generation, in the numbers you would find them in other districts, is that there are lots and lots of prams.  Nearly everywhere you turn, there are young mothers strolling talking on mobiles or even having a sneaky cigarette while walking bubs. Sometimes you will see them walking dogs as well, or at rare times there will be dogs, bubs, and grannies all together, the classic trifecta. 

Ursynow, in the last 2.5 years has changed a lot in my eyes. People only knew it for banks, wine shops and dentists, I am guessing three things that the young professional can't do without. In fact it is amazing how much young Poles care about their dental activities and it is not uncommon to see males or females in their 30's in braces. As for wine, the consumption of it now has gone above that of vodka and is second only to beer. However, since I have lived here there has been many cafes, bars and restaurants open up. In fact just within 100m or so of our house you can now find 2 fusion restaurants, a cafe/bar, an indian/pizza/kebab eatery, a Georgian restaurant, a sushi restaurant, an italian restaurant, another cafe, a bakery, a Chinese restaurant, and another two pizza shops. Where as only half if not less of these were here 1.5 years ago. So things are changing, I think people are slowly losing their willingness to go home to their country towns and villages and now are willing to spend more time in the city. Which is great for everyone, except maybe the isolated parents.

So these are just a few pictures at night from our balconies.
Twilight

Getting creative

Stormy weather

twilight and the penthouse

More twilight

more creativity with the zoom

thunder bolts and lighting very very frightening me
Twilight
More twilight
Setting sun
Sun is nearly gone

Sun is gone
Ok, so I love the late night skies. I hope you don't mind.