Coming into land from the east

Strong westerlies when flying from the UK to Warsaw mean two things: one - a quicker flight home, as the plane has a good tailwind, and two - an unusual approach to Okęcie airport. Rather than Runway 33, used for landing into the prevailing north-westerlies, we landed on Runway 29. So instead of flying over Piaseczno and Jeziorki, we came in over Konstancin and Ursynów. Right: the Vistula east of Konstancin. Note the strips of land, ripe for organic produce, farmed by hand, and sold at high prices to the supermarkets of the West.

Below: Ursynów and the Las Kabacki forest. In the foreground, the upmarket Kabaty district. When I first visited it in April 1993 with Moni (then aged two), this literally was all fields. I wondered why the Warsaw Metro bothered going out this far. Now, it's all built up. Between Kabaty and the forest is the Metro depot, acting as a natural barrier to developers. But all round the forest, land is being nibbled away. Despite being protected by law, the Las Kabacki, 900 hectares of it, will shrink over the coming decades. Yet Ursynów needs all of this forest if it to stay sane.

Below: flying over the Warsaw-Radom railway line. In the foreground the new viaduct linking Okęcie with Ursynów. In the distance, one can just make out the headlamps of a coal train heading towards the Okęcie sidings in the foreground.

This time last year:
Where am I? In the village
I must go down to the sea again