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.

Cycling i Warsaw

Even though conditions for bicycling in Warsaw is slowly improving - new bicycle paths are built, recently the rules were changed to make it easier to follow them - every now and then you see these things that are typical of the attitude towards cyclists. We are not really important, and those who plan cyclepaths have no clue about cycling themselves.

The chimneysweep

Today's photo was taken in Kraków about a week ago. I was there for a conference and was sitting in my hotelroom in the evening, working (really!) when I happened to look out and saw this man cleaning the chimneys opposite the hotel. Against the setting sun he was just a silhouette, and I took a couple of pictures when he was working. When he had packed his gear, out of sight from me, he lit a cigarette and walked off. I managed to catch this image. If you want to see him working a photo like that is on Flickr.

Three weeks later

Three weeks after this photo we can really see that spring is here. However, the trees in the previous image were all pruned a couple of days ago - so no leaves here.