Day 79 – 81, Warsaw, March 28th – 30th 2012
Posted: March 31, 2012 Filed under: Warsaw | Tags: 35mm, adventure, almond, aloe, art, Berlin, black and white, blood, cake, cars, chmielna, coloured flash, contemporary, donut, doughnut, drink, eating, eye, eye moisturizer, eyebright, film, Food, gallery, Glasgow, glass, glass heart, heart, holga, ii, installation, Jana Pawla, job interview, locked in, lomo, lomography, lovely, magic teapot, mai-thu perret, Marta, martin boyce, medium format, Needless, old town, pavel novak, Poland, processing, recesky, rose jam, sculpture, security guard, stare miasto, sunshine, sweet, tea, the great tea scape, torun, transfusion, transportation, travel, traveling, travelling, vacation, vera, Warsaw, wax, weather, wind, wind tunnels, xx1, Zachęta Leave a comment
Tea 80, Loads of Yunnan Green Superior for study support!, the apartment, Warsaw
Tea 81, Sencha Sakura, the magic teapot (above), Warsaw
Day 79, well, what happened on this day? I guess not a great deal, we did go and pick Marta’s coat up from the dry cleaners and then wandered around in the sunshine, it was a little windy today so much of our time was spent trying to avoid the wind tunnels between buildings. We wandered around Jana Pawla for a while visiting the places we didn’t manage to go to the night before, the little tea shop, which is a bit expensive, then into the XX1 gallery to see the show that is on at the minute, although I think it might be shut now. ‘Transfusion’ by Pavel Novak, apparently the Polish version of a super common name such as my own! He had presented a few paintings alongside a sculptural glass installation of clear glass heart casts. The work looked good in the space, especially with the sun beating through the window, glistening from and through the glass casts. They weren’t exactly presented perfectly in the space though, somewhat ‘plonked’ on the end of white poles. The press release seemed to say they should appear to be floating at heart level, but they weren’t floating.
Day 80, Thursday, we didn’t really leave until late, later than we had intended really. Marta was studying for a job interview most of the day, I did pop to Galleria Mokotow for a short while to buy some eye moisturizer stuff from the pharmacy, as I had managed to lose my other one somewhere between Torun and Warsaw. When we did eventually leave we headed straight to central and to a photo development shop where we dropped off Marta’s first ever medium format Holga film! That was very exciting, and they had it ready in an hour, which amazed me, stuff like that in the UK usually takes about 2 weeks! While we waited we went back to Zacheta, to see the newly installed sculptural installation show called ‘New Sculpture?’. The show is good, I’m glad I got to see the other spaces in this gallery. There were various large scale works by a number of artists including Martin Boyce (giving me a sentimental thought of Glasgow) and Mai-Thu Perret, as well as others. We wandered around in there for a while, attracting various suspicious glances from the guards. The security guards in Poland are pretty hardcore, even more so in the health and beauty stores, Rossman’s is the worst, they may as well handcuff you as you walk through the door, and don’t even think about going in for a simple browse, not unless you are a massive fan of the serial voyeur!
Show seen we headed back outside, then had a whistlestop run around the old town to try to find a shop we had been to before that sells a great almond cake, we found the shop but sadly no almond cake! Then we had to rush back to the photo shop to collect the film, but not without a quick diversion to the donut place on Chmielna to fulfill our sweet cravings. We were both quite excited about the Holga results. We really didn’t know what to expect, especially as the film that Marta had bought was such a cheap one that we didn’t even know if we had put it in around the right way to begin with! But we were not disappointed! The results were very pleasing, though we both realised that we had been a bit foolish, Marta had been using the different colours of the flash when she had taken the photos. But it turned out we had both totally forgotten the film was black and white! Needless to say coloured flashes are utterly pointless in this case! Two of the photos are below, so I must credit Marta for them!
Day 81, the last day of employment for Marta! And also a job interview for her too! She had headed for this very early in the morning, I just about remembered to wake up and wish her good luck, before crashing back into sleep again. When I eventually awoke I spent some time on the computer before deciding to head into town. This was made a little difficult, I had been locked in! Marta had accidentally taken the keys with her to work. I sent her a message asking where they were, she looked in her bag and there they were. Luckily she managed to get permission from her work to come back and free me. Once that fiasco was sorted I went into town and walked around the shops for a while. The biggest thing on my mind was (and is) a hunt for this camera, a DIY lomo (yes, Marta’s Holga experience has inspired me). But this is a little different, one you build yourself from total scratch and that uses standard 35mm film. It’s called a DIY Recesky Twin Lens Reflex (or TLR), and looks like it could be good fun. I spent a lot of time searching around in the camera and gadget and toy shops, but to no avail. I think I am going to have to buy it online when I am in Berlin, the problem is the delivery times, but I will still keep looking for the next few days I think.
After the fruitless search I went and met Marta outside her work. She arrived carrying a load of stuff including some leftover cake from her goodbye cake collection and a goodbye present she had been bought, the fantastic teapot you can see above. The cups are double-walled to keep the tea warm for longer! A really great present, in my opinion! We christened it with some Sencha Sakura, a floral, delicately flavoured tea (she had been bought this as well as some Chinese Sencha and two flower teas). The tea was good, delicate and green, a very good sencha, and the flavoured aspect was very well balanced and didn’t take away from the tea too much!
Day 61, Krakow, March 10th 2012
Posted: March 13, 2012 Filed under: Krakow | Tags: 20 year old, academy, art, art school, bear brick, cars, cold weather, drink, florianska, Food, Glasgow, krakow, market square, Marta, milk bar, old town, photography, Pu-erh tea, rewind, tea, Tea house, the great tea scape, thegreateascape, thegreatteascape, transportation, travel, travelling, Ukraine, vacation, Warsaw, weather 2 Comments
Tea 61, 20 Year old Pu Erh, Herbaciarnia, Krakow
So, the 10th. What I did on this day may come as a surprise to many of you, but I actually decided to return to Warsaw. I have decided that I will attempt to stay in Warsaw for a little while. My next intended stop is the Ukraine, and after a bit of deliberation I decided the weather was still too cold there for me, and that I still wasn’t done with Warsaw, so I decided to come back, sit out the cold weather a while longer and get to know Warsaw a bit more. This all hinges on finding somewhere cheap and easy to stay at for a month or so, but will probably be the case.
The morning was spent getting my stuff together, and then I went with Marta (Malgorzata’s flatmate, not Warsaw Marta), to the art school to have a look around the studios and see what their system is like (not the sort of system I agree with at all), and we talked about art and our passions and intentions with it for a while. Then I went to town and to this tea house called Herbaciarnia. This is tucked down a small staircase off of Florianska street in the old town that leads to the main square. It was an amazing find. The place is in the basement and the vaulted ceiling is bear brick and a bit like the little tea house under the church in Warsaw. I ordered a tea, a 20 year old Pu Erh tea. This was a great choice, it was a really amazing tea, one you could feel working, the warm glow you get in your cheeks and the tingle up your spine. It was a really amazing, meditative tea. Really wonderful. A while spent there until it got a bit cold from all the people coming in and out of the door. I paid, left the building, went to a milk bar for some simple but satisfying soup and salad and then went to the bus station, which it took me ages to find, getting lost in the train station because of all the construction work going on. Then I got on the bus and headed back to Warsaw!
Day 59, Krakow, March 8th 2012
Posted: March 13, 2012 Filed under: Krakow | Tags: art, bits and bobs, chai, chaiovna, china, czajovnia, drink, Food, furniture, Glasgow, Glasgow School of Art, india, Istanbul, japan, jewish district, jozefa, Kazimierz, krakow, memory banks, oven, ovna, photography, Poland, putuo shan, restaurants, room, scotland, tea, the great tea scape, thegreateascape, thegreatteascape, tiger springs, travel, turkey, vacation, Warsaw, Zapiekanka 1 Comment
Tea 59, Long Jing “Tiger Springs”, Czajovnia, Krakow
So, the unavailability of internet has wreaked havoc on my postings, a terrible, terrible neglect and I must apologise, but sometimes that’s how things go…
So, I think my last post was on the 7th of march, it is now the 13th!! :.S oops!
So, going back into my memory banks to the 8th… This day started slowly, I stayed in the apartment / dorm of my hosts for most of the morning. Malgorzata stayed home too and we spent most of the time talking and I also helped her with a script she is writing at the minute. She wants the film she intends to make to be in English and so I helped her with word order and the usual things, such as expressions and the simple way of how to say things, or how not to say things….one notable example being the English expression of being ‘pissed off’ with someone, this had become to ‘piss on’ someone! This provided a lot of laughter! She also showed me a few films she is into, and we watched bits and bobs of all of them. In the afternoon I had organised to meet another traveller and to go to this tea house called Czajownia. This is a very similar name to a place in Glasgow called ChaiOvna.
We met at about 3 and went straight in. This place is really amazing, it is divided into different loose themes, Japan, India, China (I think) and with different decoration and furniture in each. We were in a more Chinese styled area. The menu is really massive, a comprehensive list of teas from all over! I was in tea Nirvana! We were given the menus and a little bell to ring when we were ready to be served, a neat touch, though we both felt a little rude about ringing for attention!
I initially chose a really exciting sounding Putuo Fo Cha, a rare and exclusive tea from the island of Putuo Shan. To my disappointment this tea was so rare they had run out of it! I was a little upset, but then asked what would be a good alternative. I was recommended Long Jing “Tiger Springs”, and I took this.
It was a good tea, delicate, light in colour and flavour. Extreme clarity came with the tea, both in appearance and in flavour. The guy who prepares the tea does so with extreme care and consideration, he really knows what he is doing and he has turned his preparation into something of a show (albeit unintentionally), timing, pouring, heating, all the proper processes to make each and every tea according to each and every teas requirements. This is really a great, great place, unfortunately I never made it back there before I left Krakow, but the next time I’m there I will make that my first stop.
After this tea we were both still chatting about life and travel, and tea of course. So we ordered another. This time it was not strictly a tea, but a traditional Turkish drink called Sahlep. This is a milky warm spiced tea that is only served in the winter in Turkey apparently. Isabel (the woman I had gone for tea with) had had it before, during her various trips to Istanbul, her favourite place in the world it would seem. She was very excited about trying such a drink outside of Turkey. She assured me it was quite a good one, so I’m confident I had a decent Sahlep experience.
EVENTUALLY we left the tea house and I went to meet my host. We were meeting around the corner in Kazimierz, near the famous Zapiekanka stall on Plac Nowy. We then went to a little bar, the name of which I have forgotten. We ordered a beer each and waited for Malgorzata’s friend to arrive. She had organised that we meet so I could talk to her about Glasgow School of Art, she was hoping to go there on her Erasmus exchange, and wanted to find out more about it (I studied there). She arrived a while later with a friend, and we spoke for a while about it and about travel and all those things. Then they both had to leave and so we all went. Malgorzata and I went back home via the Zapiekanka stall, this was my first experience of it. Put very simply it’s a bit like a Polish version of Pizza. Bread, cheese and a mushroom sauce base on which you can have different toppings. I had spinach and onions, and it was a very good choice. They taste great! And the serving is MASSIVE! Really, really great! Especially so when it’s 11pm and you still haven’t had dinner!
Day 41, Warsaw, February 19th 2012
Posted: February 20, 2012 Filed under: Warsaw | Tags: 2012, 80%, art project, bank, bomb, building, castle, centrum, competition, concrete, destroyed, drink, embassy, embassy buildings, euro, euro 2012, facade, feature, Food, football, Genmaicha, Germany, Glasgow, hitler, London, Mazowieckie, metal fencing, Metro, o clock, old town, palm tree, parade, photography, poet, Poland, Provinces, route, royal, royal park, sculpture, soviet, soviet buildings, stadium, statue, street, tea, travel, Travel and Tourism, traveling, war, Warsaw, world war, world war 2, ww2, wwii 2 Comments
Tea 41, Genmaicha, Same Fusy, Warsaw.
Today was my first proper day in Warsaw, well, I say proper, still didn’t leave the flat until late because I had stayed up until stupid o’clock in the morning last night chatting, my brain sleeping but my body still awake because all I had done all day long was sit on a bus. I’ve never been so glad to see +1’C in my life! And, for the first time since I started to travel, today it rained! After living in Glasgow for 6 years you would think I’d dread the sight of rain, but it actually makes you miss it to some extent. And it wasn’t too heavy so that probably helped. The puddles were dreadful though, as the rain was melting the big piles of snow making the streets flooded with an inch or two of water in most places.
My host Marta took me into town. We got the Metro, a small one line system that leads into the city centre. We got off one stop before Centrum and walked around for a bit, she showed me where she works and we walked into the city centre along streets lined with a mixture of huge blocky Soviet buildings, many still with Soviet sculptures carved into them off workmen and women with children, and some of the few that survived the bombing and destruction during and after World War 2 which destroyed around 80% of the city. We walked a little way down this huge wide street, whose name I don’t remember, but that has loads of the embassy buildings along it. The American Embassy being clearly obvious from it’s paranoid 12 inch concrete barriers and thick black metal fencing. We kept wandering in the snow and rain until the old town, past a view point of the new football stadium, built ready for the Euro 2012 competition, which will be held in Poland and the Ukraine. The Warsaw castle to one side of the view and another old building to the right. It looks quite good there somehow, but maybe it was the low lying cloud making it seem all mystical or something…
We then went deeper into the old town, the cobbled streets getting smaller and smaller until you reach the centre, which is very much like most old town squares, a big open space surrounded by attractive old buildings. We then went down a little street and found Same Fusy and Tea House and Coffee shop. This is a funny little place, decorated in dark terracotta colours and african masks dotted about all over the place, but which was playing some CSS when we walked in, and turned out to be the whole album, an unusual choice if you ask me. This place is pretty expensive. I paid 22Zloty for my tea, which is around 5 Euro, so definitely not cheap, basically similar to Helsinki. But then this is the old town, that is what tends to happen. We sat for quite a while, the tea was a basic Genmaicha (Green Tea with Roasted Brown Rice), but it was nice, it usually is. But nothing spectacular, and for the price, nothing special. After that we then decided we were a bit hungry so we popped into another place and shared a plate of mixed Pierogi. This is a traditional Polish dish of dumplings made from Wheat or spelt pastry with various fillings, many of them Veggie, which is good. These were boiled, though in the past I have had fried ones. They were tasty, but I find the fried ones much better, more flavoursome.
This filled us up so we decided to head home, via the city centre for Marta to buy a new map. The city has it’s own version of Stalin’s Birthday Cake, similar to the one in Riga, but built of grey stone, not the red stone of Riga. At night it is lit up with a rainbow of colours, making it look quite cool, and with the cloud still low, the mystical-ness came out once more. We got on the Metro again and went home, watched a movie, and then it was time to sleep.
As you may be able to tell, these last two posts have been late, due to the internet availability here, it is likely to become the norm for a while…
Day 6, Denmark, January 15th 2012
Posted: January 15, 2012 Filed under: Copenhagen | Tags: byers lys, cabaret, carlsberg, Christiania, Copenhagen, Denmark, elefant, elephant, gate, Glasgow, Inga, Masala chai, Nørrebro, old, old model denmark, Søndermarken, stockholm, te, tea, walk Leave a comment
Tea 6: Chai Tea, Props cafe, Blågårds Plads.
Sorry for the terrible photograph of the tea, it looked much better on the camera screen for some reason. Anyway, I guess a wee bit of last night before we go into today’s activities…
The Cuckoo’s Nest Cabaret at Byens Lys, Christiania. What an amazing night! We arrived a little late and missed a couple of acts, and just about managed to get in as the venue had been closed because it was so full, but gladly Inga’s skills got us in the door. The pictures are from my phone so aren’t great but the first shows the MC at work, like a russian burlesque circus master she was brilliantly funny and an excellent performer, introducing all the acts perfectly. There was everything from a fantastic brother and sister couple doing impossible things 15ft above the ground with only a pole for support to a fantastically risqué burlesque striptease and the amazing fire hooping tricks (second picture). It was a brilliant night and really felt like I had seen something and been in something properly ‘Christianian’ and it was great to meet some of Inga’s friends who were all warm and friendly and seemed like great people. As well as that I managed to meet ‘The Creature’, a performing arts piece that Inga has had past involvement in, its writhing and pulsing, screeching and moaning was mesmerizing and the experience was something I didn’t expect but very much enjoyed. The event was held in Christiania’s Byens Lys, an old cinema venue with sand all over the floor and smoke in the air. A brilliant space with a great atmosphere, after a short dance we headed home at around 2a.m. in the cold night air.
Today I headed to the Carlsberg Elephant Gate (Elefantporten), the main gate that sort of leads to the factory, though it seems to just split it in two really. The Elephants stand as supports for an old building overpass. They are basically life size and very impressive. After managing to find my way there, almost got lost once but figured it out in the end, I headed into Søndermarken, a park with lots of trees and an art gallery, the gallery is closed in January, but it was nice to have a wander through the park. I then desperately needed some food and to empty my bladder so I headed back into the city centre and grabbed a bite to eat, and after spending some time chilling out and warming myself back up I met up with an old friend from Glasgow, Ane, who took me for a short walk then for tea in a little cafe called Props, in the Nørrebro district of the city. I had a chai tea and she had a coffee, after a little bit of surprising misunderstanding when two Danes attempted to speak Danish to one another, then resorted back to English!!! The tea was warm and spicy, served in a glass and perfect for thawing my frozen fingers.
On the way home I stopped off for some Falafel in a pitta bread from Beyti, a good quality Kebab house just on Nørrebrogade.
Tomorrow I head for Stockholm!
A link to some really great photos from the Cabaret, not taken by me….
A Travel and Tea Diary 