Christmas shopping in Warsaw
There are several European cities you might think of while deciding where to do Christmas shopping and you probably would not put Warsaw among them. Still, we will try to convince you that Poland’s capital can be a good place to find an oryginal gift for a good price too!
For the best bargains come to Warsaw in the second part of November. This is when shopping malls get decorated for Christmas but it is not “a peak of shopping season” yet.
If you are fancy of Christmas illumination, trees and all this fever, visit Warsaw in the beginning of December. Traditional outdoor markets take place in the second or the third weekend of December in Zamkowy Square, or Mariensztat Square and in the centre of culture in the 21 st Łowicka St.
Shopping malls are open 7 days a week, usually between 10.00 and 21.00
Most of shops listed here should be open from Monday till Friday between 11.00 and 18.00 for sure. Check their websites for Saturday hours (Saturday = Sobota in Polish)
Here are some tips where to go for Christmas hunting:
Shopping malls in the centre of Warsaw:
·Złote Tarasy (ul. Złota 59)
shopping mall with amazing roof of glass, right next to the Central Railway Station
www.zlotetarasy.pl
·Arkadia (ul. Jana Pawła II 82)
the biggest shopping mall in Warsaw
www.arkadia.com.pl
One street shopping:
·Warszawska Nike (ul. Mokotowska 24)
The first Nike concept store in Poland, vintage & collector’s Nikes (Nike, as a Goddess of Victory is one of symbols of Warsaw :)
www.warszawskanike.pl
·Fumo (ul. Mokotowska 26)
Clothing with such brands as: Desigual, Cop.Copine, Skunkfunk
www.fumo.pl
·GaliLu (ul. Mokotowska 26, entrance from Koszykowa)
Neo-perfumery, natural cosmetics and Spa
www.galilu.pl
·Mimbla (Mokotowska 51/53)
Beautifully designes, wooden toys, Polish brands
www.mimbla.pl
· Niebieskie Migdały (ul. Mokotowska 61)
Furniture for children’s rooms
www.niebieskiemigdaly.com
· DDR Studio (Koszykowa 33/ Mokotowska, entrance from a backyard)
Furniture and more, vintage design (from the 50s.up to the 80s)
www.ddrstudio.com
· Słodki, słony (ul. Mokotowska 45)
Confectionary, buy makowiec, traditional Christmas poppy-seed cake
www.slodkislony.pl
Polish clothing:
De Lux:
· Joanna Klimas
Atelier and cafe run by one of top Polish designers (ul. Nowolipki 2). If you are not sure you can spend so much money, you can still afford a cup of coffee and have a look at the designer at work.
www.joannaklimas.com
· Maciej Zień
The boutique of this one of the most talented Polish designers can be found in Promenada shopping mall (Ostrobramska 75 C), expensive
http://zien.pl
Exclusive:
· Solar
(at most shopping malls)
www.solar-company.com.pl
Popular:
(at most shopping malls)
· Reserved
reserved.com
· Mohito
mohito.pl
Young designers:
· Polscy Projektanci (ul. Chmielna 30)
· Green Establishment (ul. Nowogrodzka 21)
www.gestablishment.com
Markets:
· Hala Mirowska (Pl. Mirowski 1)
Fruit, vegetables, flowers, some vintage can be found too
· Koło (Obozowa/Ciołka Streets)
flea market, weekends’ mornings only
Food:
· Wedel (ul. Szpitalna 8)
chocolates and sweets, for Christmas Poles usually buy ptasie mleczko and torcik wedlowski
http://www.wedelpijalnie.pl
· Krakowski Kredens (Nowy Świat 22)
Preserves from a grandma’s cupboard: jams, juices, liqeurs, sausages, Christmas baskets - all beautifully packed!
www.krakowskikredens.pl
· Pasieka (ul. Freta 7/9)
Restaurant and miodosytnia, a place where you can degustate and buy excellent Polish mead
www.pasieka.win.pl
· Blikle (ul. Nowy Świat 35)
140-year-old confectionary run by Blikle family
www.blikle.pl
The best Polish vodkas brands:
Żubrówka, Wyborowa, Belvedere
Others:
· Traffic (ul. Bracka 25)
Elegant book-and-musicstore, lots of Polish jazz and Chopin
· Bubu (ul. Solec 50)
Handmade jewellery, interesting designs and materials
www.bubusolec.pl
· Nowińska Gallery (at Bristol Hotel, ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 42/44
Unique amber jewellery, classic and avant-garde designs
www.nowinska.pl
· Bolesławiec (ul. Prosta 2/14)
One of the largest manufacturers of hand-crafted and hand-decorated tableware pottery, using the unique worldwide stamping technique
www.ceramicboleslawiec.com.pl
· Krosno glassworks
(at most shopping malls)
The largest and most well-known producer of household glass in Poland, one of the world market leaders in this trade.
www.krosno.com.pl/en
· Artykuły propagandowe (ul. Górczewska 24)
Polish flag, ballot box and more propaganda stuff...
www.okopowaflagi.pl
Pokaż Christmas Shopping by Hostel Helvetia na większej mapie
Oct 14, 2009
Aug 7, 2009
Polish fans of U2 in white & red
'Something going on here. There's something going on in this country,' said Bono during absulutely fantastic U2 concert that took place on the 6th of August in Chorzów (southern Poland)and he added: 'We could feel it the last time we came. This country is going somewhere very special. Is it faith? Faith in the future. Poland! Europe needs more countries like Poland...'
It was the second time when Polish fans of the group formed a huge Polish flag: those in grandstands were keeping white shirts, towels or papers, those in the field - the red ones. They did it for the first time four years as U2 started to play "New Year's Day" song.
The song was written in the 80s and treated about Lech Wałęsa the leader of "Solidarity", Polish movement that brought up Europe to the collapse of communism. Thirty years ago, when Bono sang: "we can break through, though torn in two we can be one" one could hardly believe it was possible.
Last night we turned red and white again to say U2 how important the song was for us. How important was mentioning US behind the iron curtain.
See Tomasz Bereźnicki's cartoon about the white&red flag for U2:
http://www.bereznicki.pl/
Free at last we can support now the U2 latest action dedicated to: Aung San Suu Kyi, democratically elected leader of Burma, who has spent many of the last 20 years under house arrest. Whatever the critics say, we believe that rock&roll can stop the traffic!
See more details on U2 official website:
http://www.u2.com/stream/article/display/id/4770
Jul 31, 2009
WARSAW WILL STOP!
August the 1st
5 PM
WARSAW WILL STOP
for a moment to commemorate 65th anniversary of The Warsaw Uprising.
Facts
The Warsaw Uprising beggined August the 1st 1944 and was quashed after 63
days of heroic fight to liberate Warsaw from Nazi/German occupation. It was the
biggest and most heroic uprising during the Second World War.
Warsaw could have been the first European capital liberated; however, various
military and political miscalculations, as well as global politics — played among
Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt - turned the dice against
it.
During the 63 days of the uprising, an estimated 200,000 of Warsaw's
inhabitants lost their lives (so every day were dying as many people as in WTC).
Eighty percent of the buildings on the city's left bank were destroyed. After the
suppression of the Uprising, all of the city's inhabitants, both insurgents and civilians
were expelled from Warsaw and sent to POW, death, labor, or concentration camps.
After their departure, German forces razed the building that were still standing.
During communist rule in Poland (1945–1989), any commemoration of the uprising
was banned.
Monuments and museums
The Warsaw Rising Museum
The monument of small insurgent (Old Town, Podwale St.) – A
small boy in too big helmet and with the big rifle in his small hands..... not only
adults have fighted against the occupant.
Warsaw Uprising Monument at Krasinskich Square (shown two top phtos below) (close to Old Town,)
Links
www.warsawuprising.com
www.polandinexile.com/rising.htm
Books
Norman Davies, Rising 44
Photos: 1,2 - Warsaw Uprising Monument 3,4 - One of the aniversary events (2006)
5 PM
WARSAW WILL STOP
for a moment to commemorate 65th anniversary of The Warsaw Uprising.
Facts
The Warsaw Uprising beggined August the 1st 1944 and was quashed after 63
days of heroic fight to liberate Warsaw from Nazi/German occupation. It was the
biggest and most heroic uprising during the Second World War.
Warsaw could have been the first European capital liberated; however, various
military and political miscalculations, as well as global politics — played among
Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt - turned the dice against
it.
During the 63 days of the uprising, an estimated 200,000 of Warsaw's
inhabitants lost their lives (so every day were dying as many people as in WTC).
Eighty percent of the buildings on the city's left bank were destroyed. After the
suppression of the Uprising, all of the city's inhabitants, both insurgents and civilians
were expelled from Warsaw and sent to POW, death, labor, or concentration camps.
After their departure, German forces razed the building that were still standing.
During communist rule in Poland (1945–1989), any commemoration of the uprising
was banned.
Monuments and museums
The Warsaw Rising Museum
The monument of small insurgent (Old Town, Podwale St.) – A
small boy in too big helmet and with the big rifle in his small hands..... not only
adults have fighted against the occupant.
Warsaw Uprising Monument at Krasinskich Square (shown two top phtos below) (close to Old Town,)
Links
www.warsawuprising.com
www.polandinexile.com/rising.htm
Books
Norman Davies, Rising 44
Photos: 1,2 - Warsaw Uprising Monument 3,4 - One of the aniversary events (2006)
Jun 25, 2009
Making a panorama
Making photo panoramas is very useful skill of every photographer. City squares, mountain ranges,lakes - they never fit into one shot.
Some automatic cameras have even this function built-in, but since I'm a user of DSLR I'll focus on more professional method.
This is Mariensztat Market. Mariensztat is a very beautiful part of Warsaw, a bit forgotten, a bit neglected but with nice architecture and almost no tourists, although it's 5 minutes walk from Castle Square (this picture taken on Sunday afternoon, when Old Town was full of people). See it on Google Maps
It's perfect place for a rest, for an action of romantic novel or for...making a photo panorama. Moving people are the worse thing that can happen - they will have different position on the pictures and can make panorama stitching software crazy, or at least spoil the final result with a blurred ghost.
When I started to read about panoramas it turned out that I need a tripod and special head. Well - it's sometimes useful, but not obligatory. I've made a lot of nice panoramas without it, and this one was also done directly from hand.
So the basic recipy for a panorama is:
1. Set your camera in to manual mode and measure the light in the lightest part of the area and set the aperture. Use this setting to make all pictures.
2. Turn autofocus off
3. Make several shots covering the area you want to have on your final picture.
Each next shot should begin in approximately 2/3 before the end of the previous to allow seamless merge. To sum up: neighbour pictures must have common part.
4. Google for "panorama stitching software". I use PTGui. You can download trial version from here.
5. In most cases it's enough to load pictures and relay on the program. Software finds common point in the pictures, adjust them and merges into panorama.
6. Finalize result in any photo editing software. Crop, add some contrast, add some saturation and sharpen.
Of 'course this is not a full detailed description, but Internet is full of it it's no sense to repeat it once again because the objective of this post is of course...to encourage you to visit beautiful Mariensztat!
Some automatic cameras have even this function built-in, but since I'm a user of DSLR I'll focus on more professional method.
This is Mariensztat Market. Mariensztat is a very beautiful part of Warsaw, a bit forgotten, a bit neglected but with nice architecture and almost no tourists, although it's 5 minutes walk from Castle Square (this picture taken on Sunday afternoon, when Old Town was full of people). See it on Google Maps
It's perfect place for a rest, for an action of romantic novel or for...making a photo panorama. Moving people are the worse thing that can happen - they will have different position on the pictures and can make panorama stitching software crazy, or at least spoil the final result with a blurred ghost.
When I started to read about panoramas it turned out that I need a tripod and special head. Well - it's sometimes useful, but not obligatory. I've made a lot of nice panoramas without it, and this one was also done directly from hand.
So the basic recipy for a panorama is:
1. Set your camera in to manual mode and measure the light in the lightest part of the area and set the aperture. Use this setting to make all pictures.
2. Turn autofocus off
3. Make several shots covering the area you want to have on your final picture.
Each next shot should begin in approximately 2/3 before the end of the previous to allow seamless merge. To sum up: neighbour pictures must have common part.
4. Google for "panorama stitching software". I use PTGui. You can download trial version from here.
5. In most cases it's enough to load pictures and relay on the program. Software finds common point in the pictures, adjust them and merges into panorama.
6. Finalize result in any photo editing software. Crop, add some contrast, add some saturation and sharpen.
Of 'course this is not a full detailed description, but Internet is full of it it's no sense to repeat it once again because the objective of this post is of course...to encourage you to visit beautiful Mariensztat!
Jun 18, 2009
Somewhere in Poland (4) - Water way to the border
Built in 19th century Augostow Canal is an engineering marvel that probably soon will be added to UNESCO worlds cultural heritage list.
This water way was built to improve transportation and avoid high taxes for transport on Vistula River, now is one of the main attractions of north-east Poland.
See on Google Maps
It's 105 km long (84 km in Poland / 20 in Belarus – not possible to cross the border) and there are 18 manually controlled water locks,
(14 in Poland) that allow kayakers to finish their trip 80 kilometers and 41 meters lower then the starting point.
It's popular as well for kayaking as for bike trips to the water locks. Marked bicycle paths go through beautiful scenery of surrounding forests and lake shores.
Wikipedia
About the region
Most beautuful kayak routes
Canoe and kayak routes in Poland
This water way was built to improve transportation and avoid high taxes for transport on Vistula River, now is one of the main attractions of north-east Poland.
See on Google Maps
It's 105 km long (84 km in Poland / 20 in Belarus – not possible to cross the border) and there are 18 manually controlled water locks,
(14 in Poland) that allow kayakers to finish their trip 80 kilometers and 41 meters lower then the starting point.
It's popular as well for kayaking as for bike trips to the water locks. Marked bicycle paths go through beautiful scenery of surrounding forests and lake shores.
Wikipedia
About the region
Most beautuful kayak routes
Canoe and kayak routes in Poland
Jun 15, 2009
Warsaw - old pictures , new pictures - part 2
Have you seen The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw? It's not far from the Old Town, next to the Saxon Garden. Well, looks like typical monument...but take a look at the old postcard. What you can see now it's only a part not existing Saxon Palace (built in 17th century, destroyed during World War II). There are plans to rebuild, probably the reconstruction will start after 2012.
Every hour there's a change of guards, it's good moment to shot some interesting pictures from Warsaw.
More
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Saxon Palace
Jun 8, 2009
3D VR 1905
Three Dimensional Virtual Reality. It sounds very modern, but we have been having it in Warsaw since 1905! It is called FOTOPLASTICON and is still working in the same way as over hundred years ago.
Address: Al. Jerozolimskie 51 see on google maps Open daily except for Tuesdays 10-18, admission 1PLN (appr. 0,25 EUR), free on Sundays.
Now you can walk through the streets of many cities by using Google Maps street view option. Hundred years ago people had the same need of virtual traveling and fotoplasticons were very popular across the world.
Fotoplasticon gives possibility of viewing photographs, made with technology called stereoscopy. Each eye has it's own point of view (close left one, then right one - you'll see that the view is a bit different- in your brain these two pictures are mixed into 3D view).
So for viewing 3D photographs a "double" picture (see the photo above) is needed. It's made with special camera having two lenses. As the distance between lenses is similar to the distance between eyes, watching this double picture gives impression of three dimensions when you see the left picture with the left eye and the right with the right one – you need some kind of binoculars for it.
Exactly the same trick is made for contemporary 3D movies - there are two views and the glasses you wear in the cinema allow to separate "left" and "right" movie and direct it to the proper eye.
Interesting links:
More about fotoplasticon in Warsaw
Stereoscopy
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