~~graffiti~~

While walking in the Łazienki Royal Park you can drop by at an open-air art gallery.

Christmas is coming...

The commercial aspect of the festive time has been here for about a month already: decorations in streets and shopping malls, Xmas discounts, foreign carols in shops, the hectic atmopshere of preparations...

Still a week before Christmas proper. Still no sign of winter. There were a few feeble attempts on the part of snow to leave a lasting impression... but no, temperatures continue to keep above zero, the aura reminds of November from my childhood.

Therefore the right conclusion, that the photos below weren't taken this year - too much snow!
This is how the Łazienki Royal Park presented itself last year (the days right after Christmas - and the first lasting snow of that year... - a little late though).
It's the last year's idea to install this illumination and thus mix these time travellers with the 21st century strollers...

A really good impression at night, especially if the lights are reflected in the snow.
This year the illumination is there again, inviting for a stroll in the Royal Park.

foggy, autumny

The Dreszer Park in the morning subtly suggests taking a stroll instead of waiting for a bus.

crossing the Centre

A warm, late summer evening. The Palace seemed shy beside his younger brothers.

Chopin concerts

Starting in May, throughout summer until the end of September, the Royal Łazienki Park holds outdoors concerts of Chopin music every Sunday.
They take place by the emblematic monument erected here in 1926 in the modernist part of the Park. At noon and at 4 pm Warsaw inhabitants as well as tourists gather around the pond at the feet of the statue to admire the performence of Polish and foreign pianists. It's a good idea to arrive somewhat earlier to find a good place to sit!
After a concert you're invited to explore the picturesque park in a greater detail and spend there a leisurely Sunday.

Breakfast Market

Since the arrival  of the event called "Targ Śniadaniowy" - Breakfast Market  two years ago Warsaw has seen its vigurous development and expansion.

Originally from the Żoliborz district where it began to be organised on Saturday mornings, this open-air market has appeared in other Warsaw districts as well as other Polish towns.

My pictures tend to focus on sweets but you can taste here all kinds of dishes from all over the world, as well as, more importantly, local products. There are stands of well established Warsaw retaurants as well as compltetely unknown,  nascent small companies which are making their first steps here trying to attract customers. So you can become the first customer of future succesful groceries and restauant!

It's called "breakfast" market, but the opening times (9/10 am till 4/5 pm) suggest very late Sunday breakfast or lunch (we call it brunch now? riiight?),  not to mention all kinds of desserts and snacks. And so you can try here Japanese takoyaki, Turkish baklava, Brasilian dishes, Spanish paella, Vietnamese dumplings, vegan ice-creams, (vegetarian and vegan dishes seem to be taking over!), dried fruit, home-made hummus and halva and loads of home made sweets and desserts: fabulous meringue, vegan cupcakes, what not...  I usually end up having a lunch/dinner at the market and making provisions for Monday. There is also usually a corner for kids and live music in the background.

Sometimes there are "theme markets": here are some pictures from one which focsued on ecology (even though I get the impression that ecology is an ever present underlying theme of most events) (Żoliborz 2013)

As the market caught on, it was soon exported to other parts of the city.
As a Mokotów inhabitant I was happy when the market found its place beside in III Park Jordanowski in Odyńca street last year, finally to move to a green square beside Królikarnia this year, which i belive is even a better suited localisation with a lot of space and trees and bushes which form a natural barrier from the busy Puławska and Woronicza streets.

The aim of the market is to nourish Warsaw inhabitants offering somehting unusual while making them get out of homes, spend time outdoors and create neighbour bonds.
Personally I've always been wary of external attempts to create bonds but I do enjoy the market and its variety. It attracts all sorts of people, friends, families, tourists and thanks to the fact that it takes place on different days in different locations of Warsaw, it's not overcrowded (perhaps except for the original Żoliborz one) and it does have a cosy cameral atmoshpere of a neighbourhood meeting.
The locations and times are to be found on the Markets's official website.

Museum Night 2015

The Museum Night has been organised for the past 10 years or so and every year it attracts Warsaw inhabitants: both the young to whom eveing outings are nothing new, as well as those less accustomed to nightlife. Organised in the middle of May, it benefits from usua fine weather, encouraging to go out.

This spring has been unusually cold and rainy (which continues into the summer), but luckily May 16 was tourist-friendly.
My route on this particular night began in the Królikarnia Palace, located in the distant Mokotów quarter (which happily happens to be my living place). The palace and the surrounding park are worth visiting for their own sake only...

... but it was the preultimate day of the "Majątek (Estate)" exhibition, which I concentrated on.
It gathered remains of the collection of the von Rose family, who used to live in an estate near a town now known as Olsztyn - before the war called Allenstein. Their house, burnt and destroyed during the progress of the Red Army, sheltered the remains of these monuments in its ruins.

The other part of the exhibition presented photos and films shot by Zofia Chomętowska, a photographer related to the Krasińscy family, the prewar owners of the Królikarnia estate.

Królikatnia is a sculpture museum and a storehouse of statues which are exhibited seemingly at random...

Given the proximity, we then headed for the Mokotów Tram Depot, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. The celebration and the Museum night became an excuse to open their gates on this special night. We could see antique trams, places where trams sleep, where they are serviced and repaired.... In the meantime there was an artistic part taking place.

Then we went to the Centre, where we spent almost an hour queuieng before the Musuem of Asia and the Pacific. Our main aim was to see the exhibition on Japanese wedding customs, but we also happned to see a dance with Asian fighting fans, performmed by Szkoła Tańca z Wachlrzami Bojowymi.

Yes, queueing is the worst part of museum nights. Some places are literally besieged by tourists. On the one hand the night can be a great opportunity to see unusual places and programmes, but sometimes wasting time in a frustrating line is just not worth it.

Finally I also went to the Plac Defilad where food trucks gathering was taking place and went home past midnight.