A village called Warsaw

Warsaw has these strange areas looking very much like far out in the countryside when in fact it's close to the centre of the capital. This building is a testament to how bad I am exploring my surroundings - it's just a few kilometres from home and I passed the building in the background numerous times. Behind my back is a small field of crops.
A somewhat overworked HDR from the same place can be seen here.

Wooden church in fall

I was visiting Łochów Palace recently. We are arranging a conference there in Noveber so we needed to see the place and plan for the events. On the palace (but it's actually more of a mansion than a palace) grounds they have this wooden church. It was very nicely framed by the yellow autumn leaves.

Warsaw skyline

I took this picture early this year from the Siekierkowski bridge over the river Wisla just south of central Warsaw. Since there are almost no mountains or hills around Warsaw it's hard to find a spot to get a clear view of the skyline.

Balkonger

This is a shot of the balconies of a building in Warsaw. The apartment block is locked in behind a fence and on the parking are only diplomatic cars from Russia. Seems diplomatic life is not always so glamorous, especially if you don't belong to the higher levels of the hierarchy. The building with these balconies lies just next to this abandoned apartment complex rumoured to belong to the Russians. Maybe the rumour is true.

The beach in Warsaw

On the Praga side of the river in Warsaw one can find a few beaches along the Vistula. This is Praska Plaża. It seems like a little oasis in the city, but bathing is probably not recommended.

Tatry

Sunset on the ridge over Przedni Staw in Dolina Pięciu Stawów Polskich (The valley of the five Polish lakes). A collection of a few more of my HDR-images of the Tatry can be seen here.

Fire engine

Today's photo is a fire engine from USA. It was parked in the fire station that I passed every day on the way to my hotel in Cambridge. More photos from Boston/Cambridge here.

Wianki

A collage of women with wreaths (wianki) on the eve of St. John. The wreaths are later thrown in the river by the unmarried girls in the hope that it is picked up by the future husband. Like the Swedish midsommarafton the celebration dates back to pre-Christian times. However, in Poland the church has been more successful than in Sweden to associate the old pagan celebration of the summer solstice with St. John the Baptist. The church was mercifully absent from the celebrations last night though, which centered more around drinking and having fun than being pious.

Girls throwing wreaths in the river in Warsaw.

Wreaths floating down the Vistula.

The park at night

A long exposure at night in the near-by Park Arkadia.

Fountains and people

Yesterday we went to see the newly inaugurated fountains below the royal palace in Warsaw. We were not alone... There has been much talk about the fountains in the last year - how much they cost; how many trees were removed to make space for them; and after the opening - how great the show is. So, every Friday and Saturday there are a number of 20 minute multimedia-shows at the fountains. We came there not expecting such a crowd. From our point of view we could not see anything of the light-show. But I got some good pictures of the crowd photographing the show.
Btw, the show is (of course) on YouTube, and it looks amazing. I need to go and actually see it some day.