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.
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.
