In town on a sunny December day

Two meetings in town - the sun is shining, my train (which started its journey in Piaseczno, two stops down the line) isn't crowded and it's on time. Below: looking up the line from W-wa Jeziorki station towards Warsaw, with the post-industrial office zone nicknamed Mordor (Służewiec actually) on the horizon. 

My meetings over, it's time to return home, getting my daily paces in by strolling around a city that these days I visit a couple of times a month. For a weekday afternoon in December, the pavements are curiously empty. Meanwhile, the skyline is continually changing as new offices near completion. Below: looking west along ulica Świętokrzyska.

Below: the Sezam building was completed and opened in 2018. The glass wall reflects the Palace of Culture. Notice how few people there are milling about.

 

To the east of the Palace of Culture rises Warsaw's new Museum of Modern Art, which was meant to have been completed two months ago. Will it open as promised in 2023? Doubt it. Somehow private-sector projects have a far better track-record of opening in time.

Below: Pasaż Wiecha, a pedestrian precinct running parallel to ul. Marszałkowska. In the middle distance, Widok Towers near completion. At pavement level this is where Bar Zodiak, famous in the late-communist era, once stood - now its place is taken by a KFC/Burger King/Pizza Hut franchise.

Below: on the way home, I stop off at W-wa Zachodnia to check progress. The roof over the covered sections of the long-distance platforms is coming on nicely, the footbridge spanning the station is also progressing (though not structurally connected at the northern end). 

My train also passed W-wa Główna station, where the footbridge is in a more advanced stage but still not open to pedestrians. We are entering a difficult state in our history; Omicron and Russia's military build up, Lukashenka's artificial refugee crisis on Poland's border - may it all come right.

This time two years ago:
Night time's the right time for snapping Warsaw
[including the Sezam building, all lit up]

This time three years ago:
Autumnal travel woes

This time four years ago:
Thoughts on Polish hypochondria

This time nine years ago:
Blogging resumes as Orange gets its act together

This time ten years ago:
The meaning of Clarkson 

This time 11 years ago: 
A bad day on the railway

This time 12 years ago:
In which I walk to work

This time 14 years ago:
Act 1, Scene 1, a blasted heath