A fading clockface

Another evening view of the city centre showing the clock tower fading as the mist descends over the city, bringing with it a winter chill and thoughts of staying indoors with a good film and homemade broth. Winter has its attractions…

Hanging Christmas decorations on the Palace of Culture

Every year we see Christmas decorations on huge buildings, but we rarely think about how they get there and who puts them up. They started hanging them today on the Palace of Culture as it was the first dry day for over a week. If you enjoy climbing high-rise buildings, this is definately the job for you!

(click on the picture for a closer view)

Marriott Hotel at night

This is the view from the car park where I leave my car everyday. It was slightly damp and there was a light mist hanging in the air but it was a quite nice view of the Marriott Hotel. The lights on the building flash up and down the building and the top few rows repeat the time and date of any upcoming events that are being held in the hotel – certainly a colourful edition to the city.

Co-ordinated cleaning

The weather has been atrocious lately – misty, dull days with the sort of drizzle which gets your clothes soaked without you realising it. However, there was a break in the clouds on Friday which gave the chance for these chaps to hang off the side of the Intercontinental Hotel for a while. I know I’ve shown this before, but I haven’t seen this many window cleaners on a building at the same time. Are they moving up or down? I wonder if they sing as they work?

Chinese gazebo

Buried in the depths of the woods behind Wilanów Palace is this rather splendid Chinese gazebo. Mostly the home of pigeons now, it still provides an interesting focal point for a walk through the woods and beyond to the bridge.

Another hidden building

This is in the same place as the Era advert I posted sometime ago, taken whilst waiting in traffic at the junction of Jerozolimskie and Marszałkowska. You have to admit it’s prominent, but sad to see them covering buildings this way instead of renovating the facade of the building itself.

Galeria Mokotów

There are three key shopping centres in Warsaw; Arkadia in the north, Złote Tarasy in the centre and Galeria Mokotów in the south. If you like spending the day shopping they have much to offer and all the main European brands are here. For us, the shopping we do here is functional and usually consists of a quick dash into Carrefour for the weekly shop. ‘Browsing’ is not on my agenda for a day out – but for some people I know they consider this to be the perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Madness!

View north along ul. Wołoska

Wołoska runs through the heart of the Mokotów Business District past Galeria Mokotów and the numerous office buildings which line the street here. With three lanes running both ways, you would have thought the traffic would run smoothly here, but the numerous traffic lights means that rush hour can be hectic. In Warsaw, the trams are crammed with people running away from the city centre at 8:30 in the morning (to here) and the ones running into the centre have plenty of space. Most of the large corporates moved out of the centre, but this has lead to Mokotów becoming a very crowded part of the city.

Wilanów Palace

To the south of Warsaw lies Wilanów, one of the few areas of the city that escaped the bombing during WWII. The Palace was built for the Polish king Jan III Sobieski between 1677 – 1698. It is now open as a museum and for a small fee (5 złoty per person), you can walk around the vast woodland gardens behind the palace which run alongside the lake. Well worth a visit during the summer for the rose gardens, and the museum tour if you have plenty of time!

Blue Palace

Unfortunately I didn’t have my tripod with me, but I snapped this on the way home from work the other day looking east along ul. Złota. Recently they have changed the lighting on the Palace of Culture and it repeatedly shimmers from blue to green to red. Sala Kongresowa can be seen in the foreground where concerts and large cnferecnes are regularly held.