To town to moderate a panel discussion about packaging waste at the British Embassy, so off the beaten track (with the current rail diversions, Warsaw's new embassy district is even harder to reach by public transport than usual). Train to W-wa Służewiec, tram to Metro Wierzbno, Metro to Politechnika, and then a pleasant walk from there.
I notice that the old Hungarian trade office on ulica Szwoleżerów 10 has been fenced off. Fearing it may under threat of demolition, I walked around the perimeter and saw a notice saying that it is about to be modernised. Great - it's a wonderful piece of post-war Modernism and deserves a second life. Poking my lens through a gap in the fence, I snap the building. At the moment, it wouldn't look out of place in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
Built in the early 1970s, the building functioned as a showcase for Hungarian products (which I suspect were in as short supply on the Polish market in communist times as they were back home). It fulfilled this role until 2012, when it was closed. It was listed in 2016, preventing it from being demolished - a likely fate given the number of embassies that have sprung up in close proximity to this building. The British, Indian, Japanese, Spanish, South Korean and Netherlands embassies are all clustered around here, and were all built in the 21st century.
The walk back from the British Embassy to catch a tram back to W-wa Służewiec took me up ul. Agrykola, a lovely car-free thoroughfare running down the Vistula escarpment, with the Łazienki Palace park to the left.
This time two years ago:
Ignoring the UFO phenomenon?
This time four years ago:
Poznań by night
This time six years ago:
West of Warsaw's central axis
This time ten years ago:
Plac Unii shopping centre opens
This time 12 years ago:
Visceral and Permanent, Part II
This time 13 years ago:
Autumn colours, locally
This time 14 years ago:
Edinburgh
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