Smolna, Tamka. Skarpa in black and white

Photos from Tuesday morning, before I fell ill with the dreaded flu. Grim feel of a February day when spring seems distant. A walk along the brow of the Vistula escarpment, from ul. Smolna to ul. Tamka.

Below: looking down the steps descending towards Park Karola Beyera, PKP W-wa Powiśle station to the right.

Below: the Szarytki convent in winter (more about this curious institution here)

Below: the footbridge over ul. Tamka, looking down towards Most Świętokrzyski. Two murals - to the right, the permanent one facing the Chopin museum, to the left, one used to advertise forthcoming televisual/cinematic attractions.

Below: the footbridge over ul. Tamka, looking up towards ul. Kopernika. To the left, the new Motel 1 is nearing completion (work started last March - the pace of construction is impressive - unlike anything the public sector touches!). Motel 1 will have 180 rooms priced between 200zł and 300zł a night with the accent on good design. I hope the name 'motel' does not suggest 'parking for 180 cars!'

Below: round-cornered buildings a Warsaw thing. Corner of ul. Karasia and Obożna, Hotel Harenda to the left.

Got home Tuesday evening - went straight to bed feeling awful.

This time two years ago:
15 years under one roof

This time four years ago:
Białystok: Ipswich of the East 

This time five years ago:
Sadness at the death of Tadeusz Mosz 

This time six years ago:
Interpreting vs. translating vs. explaining

This time seven years ago:
More than just an Iluzjon 

This time eight years ago:
Oldschool photochallenge

This time nine years ago:
Warsaw's wonderful nooks and crannies

This time 11 years ago:
Viaduct to the airport at ul. Poleczki almost ready

Five closed hectares in central Warsaw

I thought I knew Powiśle well; I'd worked there for five years, travelled through W-wa Powiśle station, walked many walks up and down the Vistula escarpment... and yet only yesterday did I discover a secret, walled-off zone right in the heart of the city - all five hectares of it.

Below: A footpath in the park on the Skwer Bohdana Wodiczko, under a lamp, ends in a gate, shut tight. What's beyond?

The park lies on the escarpment; a high brick wall runs up and along the ridge. Here and there, one can stretch up and peek over the wall. And here's a special vantage point... clamber up and... Let's take a look, shall we?

Looks like some kind of cloisters... On the horizon you can see the national stadium (right) and the Most Świętokrzyski. Below: further along the wall, further along the escarpment ridge, there's some railings, through which I can get a shot of what's within. Trees in leaf, blossom abounds. A lovely walled garden, hectares of the stuff, closed off from the outside world.

Well, I just had to check. This is the convent of the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul (Zakład Sióstr Miłosierdzia św. Wincentego à Paulo w Warszawie) The order is also known as the Szarytki. Well I never!

Here it is on Google Earth; to the left we have Nowy Świat, the right, the Vistula, at the lower edge Al. Jerozolimskie, along the top runs ul. Tamka. And in the middle, the convent. Click to enlarge.

Now, before we start accusing the nuns of hogging prime land in the heart of the city, I did some googling and discovered that they had plans to turn this closed object into an old folks' home. A very worthy use for such splendid land! However, the Szarytki did not reckon with the heritage buildings inspectorate, which didn't give them planning permission. And so, closed off behind walls, unvisited by tourists, unloved by Varsovians, the convent remains a mystery.

This time last year:
Progress by the ponds

This time five years ago:
Kaczyński's ignorance, deceit or folly? 

This time six years ago:
The British electrical plug and socket reigns supreme

This time seven years ago:
Easter, and the end of Lent

This time eight years ago:
That Icelandic volcano (anyone remember what it was called?)

This time nine years ago:
Views of Historic Toruń

This time ten years ago:
One swallow does not a summer make

Blossomtime sublime

Spring bursts forth in flower as it does each year; with a crystal blue cloudless sky, enhanced by a polarising filter, the Mood Sublime is once again attained. Photos worth clicking on to enlarge, and contemplating the transient nature of blossom.

Below: blossom in Powiśle (Rozbrat)...

Below: blossom in Powiśle (ul. Kruczkowskiego)...

Below: blossom in Jeziorki (ul. Karczunkowska, by the station)...

Below: blossom in Jeziorki (ul. Achillesa)

Below: blossom in Jeziorki (ul. Nawłocka)...

Below: blossom in Jeziorki (ul. Trombity)...

Below: blossom in Jeziorki (ul. Trombity)...

This time three years ago:
Novotel Forum clad in Orange

This time four years ago:
Prophesies

This time five years ago:
Icelandic volcano shuts down NW Europe air traffic

This time seven years ago:
Large, charismatic fowl

This time eight years ago:
Antonov An-26 in the twilight of its career

Raise a glass to Powiśle?

Here, on the race-track wall at Służewiec, we have the very finest in contemporary Polish street art. Contemporary political satire, witty and intelligent, post-modern in tone, referencing Soviet propaganda, and referring of course to Warsaw mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz's current crack-down on late-night boozing in Powiśle's hipster hang-outs such as PKP Powiśle, Na Lato and Syreni Śpiew. The caption: "Maybe one for Powiśle?"

The debate referred to is between the well-heeled who live in the exclusive apartment blocks like Holland Park and Patria (who don't like their sleep disturbed by the apparent rowdiness) and the young trendies who claim to have turned Powiśle into one of Warsaw's coolest districts, thereby raising property prices through gentrification - or rather trendification-by-proxy.

Who's right here? Hipsters are Powiśle's answer to the aircraft that fly over Jeziorki: noisy interlopers that keep the neighbourhood from turning to dull mainstream. Mrs G-W: let the klubokawiarnie thrive; they are the life-blood of Powiśle. Anyway, summer's ending, university term-time will soon begin, and those all-nighters will fade into memory until next summer.

And here (right) is the 1954 original (by V. Govorkov). "No (to alcohol)!" The only thing that's missing from the 2012 street art piece is the plate of food. Is this a message to Mrs G-W, or artistic licence?

In Soviet times as indeed today, over-indulgence was a problem. But who should determine the character of a district - the city authorities, or the market? Then there is the issue of the smell of fresh urine and vomit over the pavements...

This time two years ago:
Mud, rain and local elections (Mrs G-W gets a thumbs down)

This time four years ago:
There must be a better way (commuting woes, again)

Ul. Profesorska after the remont

Regular readers may recall ul. Profesorska in Powiśle (photographed here two years ago before its refurbishment/ renovation/ restoration or simply remont). There's a new gate, and the characteristic pre-war enamelled street-name sign has been faithfully recreated.


Here they are right, for comparison. One can see a reasonably high degree of fidelity, though that white border looks non-original and the typeface is not 100%, but in general I'm delighted that it's not gone the way of so many other pre-war street-name signs.

Left: the gate is unlocked so let's step through and walk down the refurbished steps, down the skarpa, and see what else is new...

I like Warsaw's steps; unusual features in a flat town whose contours are broken up only by the Vistula escarpment, which runs along the left (west) bank of the river.

Profesorska takes you from 98m above sea level (at the ul. Myśliwiecka end) to 88m (at the Hoene-Wroński end). The steepest part, the steps, lose 5m in altitude in just 20m.

Right: the building at the bottom of the steps has has a tasteful remont too. The current Google Earth image of this building, taken on 1 April 2011, shows the roof under canvas (copy and paste the grid reference into the 'Fly to' search box 52°13'27.21"N, 21° 1'57.51"E. And turn '3D buildings' on!

Below: looking up Profesorska, one can see the quality of the restoration work.


This time last year:
A late start to Lent
[Hmm... reading that post I can see the benefits of starting to exercise long before Lent starts. New Year's resolution for 2013 will have to be to start on 1 January.]

This time two years ago:
Midway through Lent

This time four years ago:
Pace of spring's approach accelerates

A slow farewell to Powiśle

We moved to ul. Fabryczna in December 2004; the office was operational in January 2005 with a new chief executive officer. Time now for another move, with a new CEO, from Solec, the southern end of Powiśle, to Śródmieście - to ul. Nowogrodzka (the Pl. Trzech Krzyży end). Below: the old office to the left, looking down ul. Fabryczna.

The office relocation has nothing to do with Mr Palikot and his Movement encamping themselves in the same building as us, but was planned long before they moved in upstairs from us. Below: his campaign trailer, chained to a parking meter. It perplexed the parking wardens; for this was not a car - so how could they give it a ticket? Clamp it for the duration of the campaign? That's exactly what Mr Palikot would have wanted! So, they left it as was...

Anyway, over the past seven (gosh!) years, I've grown very fond of Powiśle, an under-rated part of Warsaw, central (three bus stops from the Central Station), yet very quiet (click label 'Powiśle' below for all posts relating to this part of town).

The new location's great for restaurants, shops, public transport... but I will miss Powiśle. Below: blocks of flats at the Vistula end of ul. Fabryczna

This time last year:
A slow farewell to my Nissan Micra

Birthday thoughts on a gorgeous morning

On my way back to the office from a conference at the Ministry of the Economy on Pl. Trzech Krzyży. I miss the 171 bus; a 10 minute wait for the next one, or a 12 minute walk? I opt for the latter.

Above: Corner of ul. Książęca and Pl. Trzech Krzyży. A lovely kamienica (Come-yen-EET-suh) - the word 'tenement' does not express the concept well in this particular case.

Left: the Holland Park development by ul. Książęca. Posh, superbly located, some flats still available - and Warsaw property prices some 25% lower than they were in 2008. Today is wonderful. Strong sunlight and a top temperature of 24C - I cannot remember such a temperature on my birthday ever before. One must revel in such days; appreciate the warmth and the beauty.

Right: onwards, down the Vistula Escarpment, through the Śmigły-Rydz park. Here's a Socialist Realist sculpture; as with many communist era statues, it's got red paint on it. Eyes, lips and nipples. Not the red arms painted on Feliks Dzierzyński's statue in communist days (by heroes) or daubs of red paint spattered on Berling's statue, or on that of the Soviet soldiers on Pl. Wileński these days (by vandals)... but red nonetheless.

Below: fountains in Śmigły-Rydz Park. The trees are starting to turn to gold; may this October be as sunny as it was last year.

I'm still feeling 34 (I have 20 years experience of being 34). In my waking consciousness and in my dreams, I am indeed still in my mid-30s, and I get a shock when walking past a mirror and suddenly realise that my exterior apparition is out of kilter with the way I feel about myself.

I get to the office and find a large walnut cream cake and a bottle of South African Pinotage on my desk! Thanks guys!

Still, I have wonderfully fit parents (88 and 84 respectively); genetic factors and lifestyle are both important predictors of one's lifespan. I'm happier within myself than I've ever been - and so, roll on my 55th birthday!

This time last year:
Birthday treat

This time two years ago:
Autumnal bike ride

This time three years ago:
An embarrassment of abundance

This time four years ago:
Upon my 50th birthday (I was right to be optimistic!)

Bunker on Powiśle

Just across the road from Centrum Nauki Kopernik (Copernicus Science Centre) on the corner of Wybrzeże Kościuszkowe and ul. Leszczyńska is this WWII bunker. It was built by the Germans after the Warsaw Uprising to defend the depopulated city against the Red Army, which was massing across the river. According to Wikipedia, there are some 80 German bunkers from this time still in existence in Warsaw, mostly set up to defend the railway lines crossing the city.

This bunker has been recently restored; this and other such restorations suggest that Warsaw does not want to turn its back on its painful history. Unlike France, which still has to come to terms with the Nazi occupation (read this interesting article on the BBC website about the Atlantic Wall) Warsaw's streets, which ran with blood just two generations ago, remain as a testament to what had happened here, lest it should ever be forgotten.

Sadly, a walk around the bunker revealed no historical information, no plaque bearing dates or contextual details. I hope this will be rectified...

Incidentally, the Centrum Nauki Kopernik - which I have yet to visit (I came here with Eddie on the opening weekend but the queues were literally the longest I've seen in my life) proves that Poland can build outstanding museums. And just around the corner from here is Warsaw's first Bentley dealership.

This time last year:
Sunshine brings out the best in everything

This time three years ago:
There must be a better way (3)

A new lick of paint for W-wa Powiśle

The nearest railway station to my office, W-wa Powiśle, is a pearl of post-socialist-realist socialist architecture. Very moderne, very stylish. And its one of my favourite Polish railway stations - architecturally at least (I'll pass on a complete lack of signage, timetables at the entrance on ul. Kruczkowskiego and a working clock). But its all-white plaster finish had left it painfully vulnerable to anyone with a spray can and a vandalistic streak. Today I was delighted to see a new coat of paint being applied at the Kruczkowskiego end of the station (below) - and what an interesting scheme it is too!

The new paint extends up to platform level - I hope they manage to do the sides as well. It makes such a difference, especially in the bright sunlight of late-May. (Read about W-wa Powiśle architecture in this post about Warsaw railway architecture by Owen Hatherley)

Sadly, the vandalistic end of graffiti world, suffering from spray-can incontinence, will no doubt waste no time in daubing their tired, boring tags on top of the bright new street art, much as they did at W-wa Żwirki i Wigury and W-wa Rakowiec after artists set about improving the stations (for some reason the flamingo and stork cartoons at W-wa Al. Jerozolimskie were left largely untouched).

This time last year:
The ingredients of success

My favourite bridge, from topside

I've written about the Most Poniatowskiego before (notably here); unquestionably my favourite bridge in Warsaw. A damp winter's afternoon, wet snow, just around sunset - a good time to catch some atmosphere on the deck of the bridge before continuing by tram to get to Moni's school meeting.

Below: looking across from Most Poniatowskiego to the railway bridge over the Vistula that runs almost parallel. Four railway tracks are carried across the river, taking trains out of the Tunel Średnicowy and over to Praga and the east.

Below: last tram stop on the west side of the Vistula. Looking towards Praga on the right bank; the lights of the Stadion Narodowy (national stadium) to the left of the picture; construction is moving ahead in good time to be ready for next year's football championships.

Most Poniatowskiego connects two roundabouts named after statesmen: Rondo De Gaulle'a on the left bank and Rondo Waszyngtona on the right bank. Alight at Rondo Wosh (where the row of lights converge) for Sophisticated Saska and Park Skaryszewski.

This time last year:
Illuminating snow from beneath

This time two years ago:
Poloneza drivetime, winter

This time three years ago:
Looking up over Jeziorki

Blood on the tracks, again

A sense of déjà vu struck me on arriving at W-wa Powiśle yesterday morning. Ahead of me, I could see an ever-increasing number of people walking along the tracks from a stationary train. Then another train drew up behind the first one. More passengers spilled out across the tracks. Something serious had happened.

This also happened last January; then it was a broken-down train. This time - a person under a west-bound train at W-wa Śródmieście, just minutes earlier, as my east-bound train was passing through. The result - paralysis of all west-bound suburban services for the rest of the morning. The story is here (illustrated with one of my photos - reason why I have a camera with me at all times) and here in greater depth. TVN Warszawa is careful not to mention suicide. However, reading the comments on the page, it seems clear from eye witnesses that the man did jump; the platform was not crowded. If so, this is another case of someone who took his own life under a train; I noted one last November near W-wa Dawidy.

W-wa Śródmiescie is a depressing place. Especially when waiting for trains that are running 15, 30 or even 90 minutes late. The drabness of the architecture and lighting, the listless crowds, lack of seating and above all the smell, all conspire to deprive one of the very will to live. Yet unlike the mainline stations, Śródmiescie is not earmarked for a pre-Euro2012 facelift.

Looking at the photo above, bear in mind that just behind me was an east-bound train ready to depart from W-wa Wschodnia; it could not move because of all the people on the track. They should have got off on the other side, where rail traffic was stationary. One woman was almost crushed against the platform as she decided at the last moment to dart in front of the moving train.

This time last year:
Views from footbridges

This time two years ago:
Most Poniatowskiego in black and white

This time three years ago:
Frosty morn in Jeziorki

Szklanka

Eddie left home this morning at ten to seven to catch his bus to school. Three minutes later he phoned home to warn us all that the road outside the house was so slippery that he'd fallen over - painfully. The thaw was on its way. By this morning, the temperature was above zero, and the rain had been falling all night long. But the ground was still frozen after a week where temperatures averaged -3C. The result - one huge skating rink. The car radio warned repeadedly of szklanka (literally, 'a glass'); gołoledź (black ice). Today it was bad - very, very bad.

Left: ul. Górnosląska, half past eight. The pavement and the roadway were utterly treacherous. The only way down this road (a steep slope down the Vistula escarpment) was to slide one foot in front of the other, then gingerly to bring the other foot forward, as though one were on 30cm long skis. This method is illustrated by the man in the photo. I followed his example to descend Górnosląska, thus avoiding a painful tumble.

Below: Lunchtime - the temperature had soared to +6C (!). The meltdown was happening on a rapid scale. The szklanka had mostly melted (though by no means everywhere!). Pavements were drying out; here we see ice and meltwater between Górnośląska and Koźmińska. By evening it was still slippery enough to require great care on the pavements.


Right: the huge snow piles between the car parking bays and the pavement are melting. From out of the snow emerge broken bits of plastic spoiler, attached to the underside of cars' front bumpers. Our Yaris's spoiler became detached a few weeks ago as I drove over an icy mound in the middle of ul Trombity. I could neither re-attach it nor remove it; Toyota charged 120 złotys for fixing it. On Poland's roads, cars need higher ground clearance and tacky plastic bolt-ons like front spoilers are quite unnecessary.

This time last year:
Most Poniatowski in winter

This time three years ago:
Warsaw well prepared for snow

Ice in the Vistula

To Wybrzeże Kościuskowskie, for a morning meeting. By the Most Świętokrzyski bridge, I alight from the 162 at the bus stop by Pomnik Syreny, the statue of the mermaid that is Warsaw's symbol. The river is flowing rapidly, with ice floes scudding past. Icy accretions on the far side are building up. And note the lack of any buildings on the other shore.

Many years ago I read that it takes nine days where temperatures do not exceed -9C for the Vistula in Warsaw to freeze up entirely. Over the past week, the temperature has stayed resolutely above that level; a thaw is due on Friday.

Left: This is one of three Syrenki that grace the capital; there's a statue in the middle of the Old Town square and another on the bridge across the spiral roadway on ul. Karowa. All are portrayed as women with a fish's tail. Yet it is this one that most closely resembles the city's coat of arms.

By coincidence, on the day I write about Warsaw's mermaid logo, another mermaid logo hits the headlines. Starbucks Coffee, with its twin-tailed mermaid is going green and dropping the 'Coffee'.

The day started bright, but by the afternoon, gloom descended.

This time last year:
Upon my way to work and home

This time two years ago:
Zamienie in winter

This time three years ago:
Five Departures from Warsaw Okęcie

The topography of dreams

I have written before how actual landscapes influence dreamscapes; how many of my dreams are set in a location that is neither Warsaw nor London but both at the same time. Last night, waking up at 03:45 (02:45 old time), I dozed off to dream; and I dreamt about The River and the landscapes around the Most Łazienkowski - the bridge linking Powiśle where I work with Saska Kępa. A 100% Warsaw dream this time, then.

Prominent in the dream's topography were spiral ramps, rusting reinforced concrete, bridge supports, crash barriers and pylons - and beyond, a broad river, and a city with its back turned to it. And across the river the sophisticated Saska.

Above: looking under two off ramps towards the bottom end of ul. Fabryczna where our office is located.

Left: Spiral stairs lead down to the embankment from the bus stop. The bridge is crumbling in places, and supports are held up with steel props where the walkway passes under the road above.

My classic London dreams have long been of brick arches and tunnels under Paddington station; dark steam railway viaducts at night. Here's the Warsaw dream equivalent.

Below: there are bus stops on the bridge by both embankments, and a walkway separated off from the busy main road by crash barriers. Bus lanes in both directions keep public transport moving along this busy thoroughfare.

These empty riverbanks on either side are located in the middle of a capital city. Warsaw has done little with this natural asset; compare the banks of the Thames or the Seine as they flow through London and Paris.

Despite the bridge having been renamed in 1998, plaques bearing its original name (the General Zygmunt Berling Bridge) remain on both sides. Gen. Berling, a communist, is still commemorated with a statue on the other side of the river. It has been daubed with red paint in the past.

Soundtrack to the dream? Bruce Springsteen's Meeting Across The River from the 1975 album Born to Run; that ethereal trumpet and piano catches the ambience so precisely.

[See this post for some nocturnal atmosphere from the other side]