Warsaw in today's snow

Coming home last night it started to snow heavily; clearly, the forecast thaw was not going to happen. Indeed, in the morning, there was a 20cm / six-inch covering of snow on the ground.

Above: looking north along the tram tracks at the top end of ul. Marszałkowska as it crosses Królewska. The trees of Ogród Saski (Saxon Garden) dressed in snow give a fairy-tale appearance to the scene. Traffic's heavy, though it's lunchtime. Below: the southern end of Marszałkowska, looking towards Pl. Unii Lubelskiej.

Left: the temperature's just below zero, though salt melts the snow, creating large puddles. This one's not too deep; even so sandal-wearing's not to be encouraged. We're on the corner of Świętokrzyska and Marszałkowska, where the second line of the Metro will cut under the first line. This junction's still a dreadful mess even for pedestrians, forced to take long detours. Work on the second Metro line is scheduled to be completed by October 2013, claimed Jerzy Lejk, president of the Warsaw Metro two months ago.

Above: a line of trees on the path from ul. Grzybowska to Al. Piotra Drzewieckiego. Below: Rainbow Repaired - or is it? The burnt sections of the rainbow on Pl. Zbawiciela have been replaced by new artificial flowers - but look at the colour mismatch between the new ones and the undamaged original ones, faded by the summer sun. Looks awful. The artists should replace the lot regularly, otherwise the effect will be washed out. (The photo's a bit soft, taken through the grimy window of a moving tram.)

Right: on Krakowskie Przedmieście, between Świętokrzyska and Traugutta, Holy Cross church (Kościół Świętego Krzyża), a Baroque building finished in 1792. It took 110 years to complete (so perhaps we shouldn't complain too much about how long it's taking to build the Warsaw Metro).

Below: socialist-realist architecture on ul Gagarina, built in the late 1950s; named after the Soviet cosmonaut in 1961.

Left: photo kindly sent in by Marcin Daniecki showing unconventional, though practical, approach to dealing with 20cm of snow on the steps to Imielin Metro station - pile it up on the middle of the staircase. The real test will happen in the evening, when commuters are all rushng off one train and piling home up these stairs - one hopes everyone will be sensible about it!


This time last year:
Art, design and modernity

This time two years ago:
Happy ever after

This time three years ago:
Road and rail let me down again

This time four years ago:
Alignment and synchronicity

This time five years ago:
Retro shop, ul. Fabryczna