So then - here we are - ul. Nowogrodzka 12 (the stretch between ul. Krucza and Marszałkowska). A more central location would be hard to find. The new office is six minutes away from the platforms at Centrum Metro station. A huge number of buses and trams pass by, along Marszałkowska, Al. Jerozolimskie, ul. Marszałkowska, and even one (the 107) going up and down ul. Krucza. Below: it's the middle building on the other side of the street. Looming out of the mist - the Novotel Centrum hotel, located at the very epicentre of Warsaw.
Food-wise, there's a heap more choice than around the old office, located in Solec, the southern end of Powiśle. My favoured lunchtime haunt there was Qchnia, a Viet-Pol place. And R20 on Rozbrat, a quality restaurant if too pricey for regular visits. Around Centrum, there's enough bars and cafés within a five-minute walk of my new office to ensure that I could eat somewhere different every day for a month. So far, I've tried Namaste India across the road and the Nam Sajgon on Bracka - both very good. Beef noodle soup at the latter is good value (but I preferred the same dish at the Asia-Tasty in Hala Gwardii.
Above: Step off the main street and through the entrance. Below: the courtyard of the kamienica ('tenement' - the official translation of kamienica does not reflect the flavour of the building). A bit run-down, but plenty of character, klimat.
These doorways (left)beautifully reflect the ambience of a Warsaw (indeed Polish) kamienica. Zapuszczone, zapyziałe, podrapane, zaniedbane are some of the kinder descriptions - and you can imagine that smell that greets the nostrils as you go through into the stairwell - a mixture of dankness, cheap cleansing fluid, cooking odours, cat-pee. But step through into the apartments - new furniture, 72" flat-screen TVs and all mod-cons. Signs ban ball-games and warn of falling plasterwork.This time last year:
The topography of dreams
This time two years ago:
A regular interchange
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