Rainy Night in Warsaw

Awful weather; cold rain and wind. Heavy rain. My walk from the office to Varso tower runs mostly underground; through Metro Centrum's passages, along the platforms of W-wa Śródmieście and W-wa Centralna, I avoid a total soaking.

Below: tipping it down, evening rush hour, looking north up Aleja Jana Pawła II. On the left, the base of Varso tower, across the street in the distance, the skyline is dominated by Rondo ONZ One; Złoty Tarasy shopping centre and the Lumen building to the right across the flyover. And I remember Warsaw without any of these landmarks from not that long ago!

Left: still looking north along Al. JPII as it snakes its way through central Warsaw, this time from the 42nd floor of Varso tower. That low cloud is passing rapidly across the city, blown south by a cold, wind.

Below: homeward bound after the event, the rain has passed. Looking north along ulica Towarowa; W-wa Główna station to the left, Warsaw Hub tower, with the Skyliner just behind it, and across the road, Warsaw Unit tower. That giant Warta sign is visible from Chynów station, on Kilometre 43 of the Warsaw-Radom line.

Below: the same cluster of buildings, through the trees and across the tracks. In the foreground, an east-bound suburban train approaches W-wa Ochota station, W-wa Główna terminus stands behind it, the beyond it, Skyliner, Warsaw Hub and Warsaw Unit.

Below: the Mercedes-Benz building on Aleje Jerozolimskie. Outside of working hours, the area around this building is dead. I suggest turning part of it into a Museum of Motoring, open at the weekend.

Below: back in Jakubowizna, the cloud bank overhead caught my eye. It passed; a short period of sunshine before the next load of clouds arrived.

This time three years ago
Saturday on the działka

This time four years ago:
The Ilyushin Il-12 'restaurant' disappears from outside my office

This time five years ago:
Walker's London

This time seven years ago:
Deconstructing political graffiti – London and Warsaw 

This time nine years ago:
Europe's peripheral woes

This time ten years ago:
Winter returns to Warsaw

This time 11 years ago:
Babcia vs. Roma action, Centrum 

This time 12 years ago:
Reasons to be cheerful

This time 13 years ago:
Skiing in the Beskid Wyspowy

This time 14 years ago:
What's to be done about Warsaw's unmade roads?

This time 15 years ago:
Jeziorki in the fog

West of Warsaw's central axis

I have little reason to wander west of al. Jana Pawła II*, so when I get the chance I do so to cast a fresh eye at the architecture of a part of town that I don't know too well. Below: ul Żelazna ('Iron St'), Mirów, an abandoned tenement remembering Tsarist days awaits its fate. Will it be torn down to be replaced by a steel-and-glass structure - or will old-school brick once more be home to urban families?

Below: another metallicly named street in Mirów - ul. Miedziana ('Copper St'), home to a nondescript 1960s piece of modernism that's well past its prime.

Left: heading south towards parts of Warsaw better known to me - this fin-de-siecle tenement in good condition stands on Al. Jerozolimskie**. The gate was open so I popped into get this snap - very Central European, very Grand Budapest Hotel.

Below: quiz: can anyone tell me where this 1930s bas relief is to be found? Kind of fascistic/masonic in feel with two very masculine-looking women on the right. "Through Self-Goverment and Social Work to a Mighty Poland". After the war, the word 'Ludowej' (as in 'People's Poland') was squeezed unconvincingly into the narrow space at the bottom, only to be removed after the fall of communism.

Below: further west along Al. Jerozolimskie, approaching W-wa Zachodnia station, and in between several new office buildings between the road and the tracks.

Bonus pic, below: two rakes of empty aviation fuel cisterns await being taken away from Okęcie airport, under autumnal skies. This sight will soon become a memory as the railway spur between the airport's avgas terminal and W-wa Okęcie station, running through the backs of działki on its short route will soon be closed and ripped up. In its stead, aviation fuel will be taken by train to a transshipment facility just south of the Poleczki viaduct and then pumped to the airport via a pipeline running under the tracks and under the S79 expressway.

* and ** Note the different style in writing Al. Jerozolimskie and al. Jana Pawła II. Both are correct. This is because Aleje Jerozolimskie are plural, while aleja Jana Pawła II is singular.

This time four years ago:
Plac Unii shopping centre opens

This time six years ago:
Visceral and Permanent, Part II 

This time seven years ago:
Autumn colours, locally

This time eight years ago:
Edinburgh

Autumn comes early

A wet, dull, cool September. Summer ended quickly this year. Jeziorki is in mud, the air is damp and the nights are longer than the days. Six months to go until the Spring Equinox. The Warsaw that my father visited in early August this year and last year - bathed in summer sunshine, energetic and proud - is changing into a greyer version of itself, drawing in upon itself ahead of the onset of winter.

Below: Rondo Dmowskiego, where the Rotunda is being rebuilt. Today a hole in the ground; before too long a new, modern take on classic post-war Warsaw architecture. In the meanwhile, the Crossroad of Warsaw looks like a provincial bazaar after closing time. In the background, the Palace of Culture, its summit hidden in low cloud.

Left: at the Palace itself, a strange installation has appeared at its feet. A mirrored cube with a white flag flying. What's all this about? And those coloured lines that appeared on Pl. Defilad? Are they linked? Something to do with this year's Warszawa w Budowie event? Warsaw will find out next week (however, I'm off to Łódź-Gdańsk-London-Sopot, so might miss it).

Talking of Warsaw under construction, the cranes are still hovering over D.H. Smyk (below). This wonderful piece of post-war modernism is being returned to its former glory as a department store.

Below: looking north up Al. Jana Pawła II, with the Q22 skyscraper in the centre. Opened a year ago, it represents the new wave of tall buildings that are reshaping Warsaw's Central Business District.

And the following day I found myself in Q22, looking down on Al. Jana Pawła II. Photo taken from the 21st floor.

Below. Q22 is in the background in this shot taken on the corner of ul. Świętokrzyska and ul. Emilii Plater. Evening rush hour, still in daylight. By the end of next month it will be darkness - darkness in the morning, darkness in the evening.

Make the most of going to work and going back home again in daylight. Below: waiting for the 07:38 from W-wa Jeziorki to W-wa Śródmieście, as a classic EN 57 (three front windows, ribbing along the sides) heads south for Radom.

At this time of year, and in particular in the weeks after the time change in late October, we have to focus on our physical and mental well being. It is not a happy season. When the sun comes out, make the most of it. Spend every sunny hour outside if you can...

This time last year:
Kriegslok passes through Jeziorki
[There was steam in Jeziorki last week - missed it sadly]

This time five years ago:
A little way west of Jeziorki

This time six years ago:
The Old Sailor's Tale - part II 

This time seven years ago:
Prague-Jeziorki-Moscow

This time eight years ago:
The passing of Lt. Cmdr. Tadeusz Lesisz 

This time ten years ago:
Summer ends, autumn begins

Contemplative imagery

Lent 2017: Day 37

April. With the clocks forward and sunset after seven; the clouds, driven by icy northerly winds, bringing hail like little white machine gun bullets, darken the sky or form a backdrop which the strong low sun can illuminate...

Below: sunlit blocks, Al. Jerozolimskie

Below: Forty - the trees just days away from coming into fresh leaf

Below: early April sunset, Jeziorki

Below: dusk descends on ul. Karczunkowska's temporary asphalt

Below: my train departs in ten minutes

Below: works train stands at W-wa Okęcie station. Half past six. Three months ago, it would have been dark for three hours already at this time.

Below: bowling green sunset, Pitshanger Park.

Below: the sun's gone down over West London, but still illuminates the peaks of the highest clouds.

Click to enlarge; allow yourself to be drawn into the image, sense the klimat...

This time five years ago:
Baffled: my first visit to Jeziorki's Lidl

This six years ago:
In vino veritas?

This seven two years ago:
Are we getting more intelligent?

This eight three years ago:
Lenten recipe: tuna, chickpea and pesto salad

This time nine years ago:
Coal train sidings, Konstancin-Jeziorna

This time ten years ago:
Jeziorki from the air

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

One for the record

Today, Tuesday 11 September 2012, temperatures reached 30C. The air-conditioning on public transport could barely cope. Below: Al. Jerozolimskie looking more like Buenos Aires or Beirut than the capital of a country associated with polar bears running around in the streets.

Early evening, the heat's still merciless. Foolishly, I took a jacket to work and spent the day carrying it around. I read in today's Gazeta Stołeczna (some of it sadly behind a paywall) that the water level in the Vistula has fallen to the lowest since records began in 1799 (58cm) and that interesting historical objects have started to appear from out of the waters... Below: P+R Al. Krakowskie tram stop. Until this time last year, Okęcie - which is what it is. A LOT Boeing 737 comes in to land.

Below: it's sunset at ten past seven. Still hot, but in a curious way; this is September heat - not the same as midsummer heat. Somehow more treacherous... by midnight, it will still be over 20C. Tomorrow, heavy rain is expected.

This time last year:
MOSTTOMOST

This time two years ago:
The half-closed airport

This time three years ago:
Last of the summer bike rides to work?

This time four years ago:
My own Polish Adlestrop

This time five years ago:
Laurie Anderson's chillingly prescient 'O Superman'

Big billboards: for or against?

Evidently they work. Towards the end of the 1990s, billboards covering entire buildings began to emerge in Warsaw. At first, they would cover façades of building undergoing remont, the money from the advertising contributing towards their cost. But advertisers' appetites for mega-format outdoor ads could not be satisfied by a handful of properties that happened to be in the process of being done up. The Universal S.A. office building (below, which for the last nine years is awaiting demolition prior to replacement by a newer development) has been a long-standing massive billboard.

Further along Al. Jerozolimskie, the corner of ul. Krucza (below). To the left, a privately-rented block of flats, an ad a mere four stories high. Across the road, Dom Handlowy Smyk, a lovely piece of functionalist architecture (built 1948-52) is hidden from view by massive billboards. More examples of Warsaw's mega-adverts here and here.

Below: flats on the corner of Al. Jerozolimskie and ul Marszałkowska, also covered by an ad for a TV programme. This form of outdoor advertising is becoming more and more prominent. The question is - should it be allowed? Gazeta Stołeczna is publishing critical articles, saying the mega-billboards make our city look ugly, block sunlight coming into people's flats and, at night when the ads are illuminated, they make it difficult for tenants to sleep.

I'd qualify that. Some buildings should not be covered up because they are architecturally significant (certainly the Smyk buiding, that defied the Socialist Realist orthodoxy of the time). But generally, plain 1960s wielka płyta blocks have no redeeming features, and the Mad Men opening credits-type urban vista pleases my eye.

The problem lies with the individual liberties of the people in the flats. They are paid, indirectly, through reduced rents (the money goes to the housing co-op allowing them to pass on savings to their tenants). Even if a majority of tenants want the billboard, there will be a minority who are annoyed by the ads, the blocked windows and glare at night.

How to square this matter is a tricky problem for all concerned. Question is - do the rest of us, citizens, passers-by, object, or even care? Please fill in the poll at the top (active for a week).

Poll result:
42% of readers call for a total ban on large format advertising, 50% want to see the large billboards on some buildings only, 3% are in favour of no restrictions, 3% don't care one way or the other.

This time two years ago:
Lenten recipe with prawns

This time three years ago:
Polish economy - recession thwarted

Strong late-winter sunshine

A big thanks to regular commentator Andrzej K. for tipping me off about this one - I grabbed the camera and rushed off around the corner to Al. Jerozolimskie to nab this shot (below) of the strong sunlight streaming in along Warsaw's main east-west thoroughfare. Note the cloudline along the horizon - almost perfectly straight.

Below: returning to my office on ul. Nowogrodzka, which runs parallel to Al. Jerozolimskie, with the sun low in the sky and blasting down the road.

It may be zero degrees, but spring in coming. It will be several weeks yet, but the longer period of evening daylight is most certainly welcome, as is the sunshine.

Sun shines down Al. Jerozolimskie

On sunny late afternoons at this time of year, the sun aligns itself with axis of Al. Jerozolimskie and bounces off the glass façades of the tower blocks that line the street.

Above: the sun reflecting off the Marriott back-lights the street (note shadows falling in both directions). Below: the effect is rather like on a film set. I think that Al. Jerozolimskie could do with another palm tree - several indeed (on Rondo Dmowskiego, Pl. Starynkiewicza and Pl. Zawiczy)

I recently posted more pics from my favourite east-west Warsaw avenue here.

This time last year:
Warsaw Metro vignette

This time two years ago:
The most dangerous word in the English language

This time three years ago:
What a difference a day makes