Drink coffee watching people pass by!
by gzal
One of my favorite things on sunny days or warm evenings downtown, after relaxing wandering around its streets, is to sit down and have my favorite mocca in Mercer's Gourmet Coffee at 25 Nowy Swiat Str.
In case you are tired of walking or just feel thristy on your way from Lazienki Garden to the Old Town don't hasitate to stop in the middle and have a sit in Mercer's for their wide selection of coffees, fruit shakes or their smoothies as they call it.
They are open daily from 7AM to 11PM.
Warsaw Tip
by Spader
A lot was memorable about Poland and Warsawa. One really good time was when we sat down on a wall in Stare Miasto and listened to our new casettes by different Polish artists, like Sztywny Pal Azji (I think it's the bands name). Can't understand a word but 'Nieprzemakalni' will allways be a favorite.
Large-scale slide and video projections :-)
by matcrazy1
Krzysztof Wodiczko is internationally renowned for his over 40 as for now (2006) large-scale slide and video projections on architectural facades and monuments all over the world. Whenever he choose your or closeby city for the presentation do not hesitate to go for it.
He was born in Warsaw in 1943, immigrated to Canada at age 34 and now he is Professor of Visual Arts, Department of Architecture, and Director of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. I didn't see but remember from TV news his video/slide projection on the wall of the Town Hall Tower at Krakow's Market Square (topic: AIDS).
His exhibition in Zacheta National Gallery titled Monument Therapy (Pomnikoterapia) consisted of the three parts: video presentations of his monumental projections on TV screens, presentations (movies) on large, full size movie screens, and presentations of his artistic strange, industrial designs. Unfortunatelly taking any pictures of the exhibition was strictly forbidden :-(.
I liked most the second part which was like a virtual night travel around famous buildings of the world combined with hearing moving stories of single people of various cultures, who experienced something very traumatic, tragic and couldn't deal with it alone, people who for example survived Hiroshima bomb explosion but lost family or lost a son in car crash or suffer poverty etc. The very private stories of those people showed to the large public during the projections on large buildings or monuments worked for them like a kind of psychotherapy, that is what Wodiczko calls Monument Therapy. Each Wodiczko's projection is about to move spectators about the leading topic and public problem like victims of car accidents, AIDS, poverty etc Look here.
I've watched interview with Wodiczko and his students on Polish TV and he seems to be a very nice and open person, beloved by his students at MIT. I would like to see his next projections in Poland, in Auschwitz for example (topic: Holocaust and Nazism), in Warsaw (Palace of Culture and Science; topic: Communism), and in Gdansk (Gdansk shipyard, topic: struggle for freedom). Should I e-mail a letter of invitation (or suggestion) to him? Join me, e-mail here :-).
Natalia, Kathy, Rusket and others :-)
by matcrazy1
1. I was lucky to meet Natalia (napi_pl) from Warsaw and enjoyed her company a lot even if we didn't have much time to talk. Well, her VT travel motto is "I belive I can fly" and, indeed, she believes in it :-). Thanks for coming, Natalia and welcome to the next VT-meeting... the question is not if but when and where. What about Krakow?
2. Katarzyna vel Kasia = Kathy (not a VT-member yet) came with Piotr (ZiOOlek). Well, I enhjoyed a lot watching your crazy dance with Brad :-) Thanks a lot for coming and welcome to VT!
3. Rusket, thanks a lot for interesting talks on travels, Norway, life, VT etc. etc, and for your very sympathetic mascot called Elge (you taught me how to pronaunce ir correctly haha). Warning: Norway and Stavanger is high on my future travel list.
Chopin benches
by Dabs
In celebration of composer Frederic Chopin's 200th birthday, there are 15 black granite benches placed around Warsaw at sites that are connected with his life. Each bench has a button you can press to hear a 30 second snippet of one of his compositions, a route map and an explanation regarding what connection that place has to the life of Chopin. Chopin was born near Warsaw and lived there until he was in his early 20s. He moved to Paris where he died in 1849 at the age of 39, having never returned to Poland. He is buried at Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris but his heart was removed and was returned to Warsaw, buried in a pillar at Holy Cross Church.
I don't travel with a phone but several sources say that each one has a special code where you can take a picture with your phone, send to the instructed number and get free access to Chopin melodies, facts, figures and photographs.
Some of the places you can find the benches include Krasinskich Square, where Chopin performed his f-minor concerto in 1830; Miodowa and Kozia Street, where Chopin was a frequenter of cafes; the Radziwill Palace, where 8-year-old Chopin gave his first public concert; Saski Park, where little Chopin used to play; Nowy Swiat near the Zamoyski Palace where one of Chopin's sisters used to live; Lazienki Park near the Chopin Monument.
Sign in with Facebook
Statue in front of Lazienki Palace
Pork knee
Sobieski Statue
The front entrance
