Christmas shopping - final countdown

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

Polish fans of U2 in white & red

U2__Poland_Live_From_Chorzow_August_2009_flaga_biao_czerwona
przez jenaniston

'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

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 Uprising 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)

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 recipe 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!

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




Other 'Somwheres in Poland':
Somewhere in Poland - my favourite bridge
Somewhere in Poland (2) - 843 km of beaches
Somewhere in Poland (3) -  The Far East

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, it 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 it, 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

More photos of Warsaw:
Warsaw - old pictures, new pictures part 1
Streets in bloom
When the green turns into gold
Making a panorama

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

20 years of freedom

4th of June is important date in our history. On July the 4th 1989 we had first free elections - finalization our long way to independence. So each city organized some events - exhibitions, concerts, shows... Below - some photos taken in Warsaw. Pay attention to the first poster - it was painted by my classmate - 10 years old Mikolaj - currently known painter. I was really happy to see this poster again.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

According to ice cream my choice is always the same.
My brain has only one algorithm implemented,
in any programming language it can be written using two lines of code:

If ice_cream
then Malinova

See Malinova on google maps

Malinova café, appeared several years ago and quickly became a significant place of the all ice cream lovers.
You can take-away or enter painted in delicate violets interior and sit at a small round table surrounded by pink soft chairs. Before or after (or both) you can take a walk in Mokotowskie Fields Park or explore the green streets of Old Mokotów district - a mixture of old villas and modern apartments.

Check out other places in Warsaw:
Wanna cake?

International Children's Day

So today we are celebrating International Children's Day. For all travelling kids and they parents I've prepared a map of places in Warsaw, that could be interesting for both of them. On my map you can find parks, playgrounds, museums, skate parks, swimming pools and other attractions. Have fun!


View Warsaw For Kids in a larger map

Somewhere in Poland (3) - The Far East

The Far East is about 200km east of Warsaw. I know that in some countries it could be a distance to the nearest supermarket, but here it's a distance to different culture. Some guidebooks call our eastern border "exotic Poland". Only there you'll find a mixture of cultures containing Christian, Orthodox, and Muslim believers.
However, Poland is considered to be catholic country (33 millions of Christian catholics) and churches are significant signs in our landscape, finding a typical church in the Far East it's not so easy.
The Far East is orthodox (half million believers) and in the villages you'll find orthodox churches with characteristic towers with triple crosses. Some people do not even speak Polish there - the mixture of Belorussian and Polish with
characteristic "singing" accent is in use, as the settlers from Belarus had been here before the Poles arrived from the west in XVI century. So speaking polish does not mean 100% success in communication, however, those languages are similar, and after some tries you can get across when asking for a way or just chatting with someone in a village. What's more some inscriptions on shrines, crosses and graves are written in Cyrillic. Young people, that haven't had Russian at school are not
able to read it. Orthodox celebrate they events according to Julian calendar, so everything happens there two weeks later.
You can spend Christmas or Easter in Warsaw, and then two weeks and two hours drive later you'll have it again!
Not only orthodox, but also Muslims have found they place in the east. Two mosques built in XVII century are still in use by descendant of Tatars who were given this grounds four hundred years ago.
The East has his unique quiet atmosphere, even dogs in the villages seem to bark more silent. Wooden houses with characteristic shutters and porches and decorated corners are popular here.
If you accept only tourist attractions mentioned in Lonely Planet - Bialowieski National Park would be a good choice - meeting a bison in the wild it's still possible there. Finally, if you are interested only in clubs and bars sections of the above guide, you have to know that only in the region of Bialowieża grows a grass used for making world famous Żubrówka Vodka (Bison Vodka). Cheers!

Check out more interesting places in Poland:

Somewhere in Poland (2) - 843 km of beaches 

Somewhere in Poland - my favourite bridge 

Somewhere in Poland (4) - Water way to the border

It's going to rain tommorow....

How do I know it? Numerical weather forecast calculated on Warsaw University have been one of my favourite web pages for many years. The forecast it much more accurate than in TV. For planning all outdoor activities this page is a must. Of' course you should not reschedule your tomorrow walks, just take a raincoat. There's no bad weather, there's only bad clothing.

The Bridge of Sighs

Imagine there was a bridge upon this street. Those who were beneath it - had the right to live. Those who crossed it - did not. They were Jews walking between large and small ghettos in Warsaw during the II World War.The Chłodna Street (Cold St) was essential for a traffic in the city so the German occupation authorities decided to exclude it from the Ghetto and therefore they built the bridge that joined both parts of it. The Jewish called it: "Bridge of Sighs". The sighs for a normal life that went on under the bridge.
See more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_ghetto
Today the Cold Street is one of my favourite samples of Warsaw. It is all this city is about: tragic history, skyscrapers of glass, suspicious business and underground culture. It is peaceful and nostalgic. All cobbled with forgotten tram-tracks in it. Go there to see what a strange feeling it is when you cross a symbolic line of the Ghetto Wall in a pavement so easily while for the Thousands it was a dream that never came true.
In the corner of the Chłodna St and Żelazna St (exactly were the Bridge of Sighs used to be) there is the Chłodna 25 Cafe - a very important place in a cultural map of Warsaw with loads of good off -artists' concerts in the evening and aromatic latte in the morning (open daily from 8am till the last customer). You will find a mural of the Ghetto Bridge just opposite the cafe.
When you walk the Chłodna St towards the West you will have a chance to meet suspicious guys standing in front of dark "houses of games", lawyers and sellers of brushes (all these guys work in the same ruined pavilion).
If you go the eastern direction instead you will get to the bustling Jana Pawła St (the street of the Pope John Paul II) and to the old Market Halls of Mirów. There is a fantastic flower market in the front of it. It is open every day all year round.
Before you take a tram to the city centre have a good look. Would you believe all this area was completely flattened of bombs?

Ride a cruiser!

Wow! This is something that Warsaw was waiting for years. It's hard to believe, but we haven't had any 100% backpackers oriented activity so far... There have been some guided tours, of' course there's a lot of pubs, clubs, concerts, events and generally a lot of to do...but nothing so special as ELECTRICTOURS. Now you can simply connect sightseeing with fun. Warsaw seen from the comfortable saddle of a cruiser bike with unique design looks much better, you can see more and bring home pictures with you sitting on a bike, that makes impression on everyone.


See Electrictours - Warsaw Bike Tours for details or ask at the hostel

To see other posts on cycling click here.

Wanna Cake?

Hidden in a green bush Cafe Misianka serves the best cakes on the right bank of Vistula. It's not widely known, but on Sunday morning it's hard to find a free table. For all off-the-beaten-track-cake-lovers it's a must!

See Misianka on google maps

Surrounding the cafe Skaryszewski Park (called by locals Skaryszak) is worth a walk or a bike tour. It has nothing to do with pompous Royal Baths Park, where everything (running, cycling, dogs & laying on the grass) if forbidden. Here you are free to do all these typical park activities.
Skaryszak provides typical and 100% local park atmosphere, with slowly walking oldies, running kids, and students reading books on the grass . It's big enough to provide a cozy place for everyone - in a shadow of big trees, on a sunny grass, or at the bank of one of lakes.
Te park not only provides relaxing atmosphere in all shades of green but also gives unique possibility of boat cruises in the middle of the city. "Pod Pstrągiem" ("Under The Trout") restaurant rents kayaks and water bikes, after some paddling you'll surely stay here for grilled trout and a a glass of cold beer.

Check out other cafes in Warsaw:

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice-cream!

Warsaw Street View

"Street view" option it's not (yet) avaliable for Warsaw on Google Maps but
I've find a local service that allows to view street panoramas of Warsaw.
Please click www.norc.pl for exploring streets of Warsaw in your browser.

Somewhere in Poland (2) - 843 km of beaches

I like the sea with it's faraway horizon, but I rarely go to the seaside, and never in the summer. I simply do not like this holiday atmosphere - noisy crowds, fastfoods, kitsch souvenirs and smell of fried fish. I'm looking for places when I can contemplate the horizon without seeing it through someone's deckchair. Poland has 843 kilometers of coast line, so it's still possible to find such place. Recently I've camped on a high cliff, 10 km east of Ustka. Wild camping is officially not allowed in Poland but (not officially) it's tolerated (except for national parks), finding a place for tent it's very easy in comparison to Western Europe.

See this place on google maps.

Othere places somewhere in Poland:
Somewhere in Poland - my favourite bridge
Somewhere in Poland (3) -  The Far East
Somewhere in Poland (4) - Water way to the border