Warsaw, early autumn, photo miscellany

Here is a selection of photos taken of central Warsaw yesterday and today - I hope you enjoy them.

Al. Jerozolimskie, looking west. Above: a bus, headed for Awaria (this side of Trasa Zmieniona). Giant billboards promote men's fashion rather than financial pyramids. Below: another view, later the same day.

Below: outside the Institute of Applied Social Sciences. It's nearly two weeks since the academic year began, and still the University of Warsaw is recruiting students (a result of the deepening demographic dip).

Below: a classic view of Warsaw's ever-changing skyline with two skyscrapers - Zlota 44 (left) and the Cosmopolitan building on ul. Twarda 2/4 (right). The new architecture makes the Palace of Culture look dreadfully dated and threatening.

Below: ul. Chmielna, by Nowy Świat. Lovely pastel hues around sunset. Plenty of shopping, plenty of restaurants and bars, the clientèle a mix of tourists, students and office workers.

Left: work continues at a noticeable pace on the Cosmopolitan building. I counted up to 38 floors, and it's on its way up to 44. Once again I manage to snap it from midway up the Warsaw Financial Center building just across ul. Świętokrzyska.

I like the way these new skyscrapers are modernising Warsaw. I believe cities should grow upwards rather than outwards. In years to come, the skyscraper centre of gravity will move towards Wola, with several developments coming into fruition.

Above: another unattended suitcase brings the city centre to a halt. Police close off ul. Emilii Plater around the Lumen building and the Złote Tarasy shopping mall.The all-clear was given minutes after I took this snap.

Above: a recent mixed residential/retail development on the corner of ul. Franciszkańska and Bonifraterska. Glass windows, floor to ceiling, glass balconies, reflect off the late-afternoon sunlight.

Above: Al. Jana Pawła II, by Dw. Centralny. A Konstal 105Na tram waits, doors open, for the signal to proceed across the busy junction with Al. Jerozolimskie. Note Złota 44 in the background. Right: the Palace of Culture, its upper floors illuminated by a low, early-evening autumn sun, the Sala Kongresowa (Congress Hall) below already in shadow.

Above: Al. Jerozolimskie; trams outside Dworzec Centralny, Warsaw's central railway station.

Left: wooden steps from the fountain terrace by Wisłostrada leading up the Vistula escarpment, at the top of which lies Warsaw's New Town. The brick tower of a Gothic church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Below: waiting for the neon to be lit - sign at Warszawa Śródmieście commuter railway station.

So there we have it, Dear Reader - Warsaw, my kind of town.

This time last year:
Moaning about the trains again

This time two years ago:
Warsaw streets - Dolna, Polna, Rolna, Smolna, Wolna. Lost?

This time four years ago:
Ditches, landscapes, autumn

This time five years ago:
Golden autumn, Łazienki Park