Danger, danger!

Dangerism is what all media love the most.
There's a killer bear in the mountains south of Krakow. It has attacked loggers in Slovakia, attacked and killed a horse on the Polish side of the mountains.
The theories are floated that it may be wounded or is simply one of the rare "killer bears".
No one is mentioning the fact that it is us in HIS environment, not the other way around.
Obviously the bear, just like the sharks in Australia, never read the Bible which clearly states that we own the place, full stop.
The plan is to kill the beast, so the Slovaks can log and we enjoy OUR mountains.

image: Niedźwiedź, fot. Darek Delmanowicz, via http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/

copyright by owner.

A bunch of photos...

Nothing exciting to write about, so again, just a bunch of photos...

A big move here to reduce the number of cars in the city. This poster promoting car  kicking is part of the campaign.

A view across the river at a monastery and the Kościuszko mound in the background.

The young, the old...

the nude and the dressed...

every woman and her dog come for a walk along the river.

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I came across a place where volunteers are building a "World development education park" is being built. The funds come from the EU and the place is huge. They are building a map of the world with walkways over what will be a lake surrounding the continents.

Here's Australia, no Tasmania... Each part of the world has a poster next to it describing current issues and problems. There are also touch screen kiosks with videos etc.

Australia and Oceania.

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Someone resurfaced the road a few times too many...

A painting, a model plane and a reflection.

On the subject of airplanes, the airspace is open again.

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Beeches, my favourite trees.

More beeches...

and more...

and more.

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Just so I am not accused of glorifying Krakow, here's some Krakufuglies for you.

OK, it's ugly, happy?

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Went to see a medieval castle in ruin just outside of the city.

At the main gate I found a graffiti of a Kangaroo, WTF?

Ducted heating... not such a new idea after all... (this is for real, all walls have the ducts)

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Plane spotting...

... can be fun!

Krakow's runway A ready for landing.

The international terminal, the one with electricity.

Good night.

Pano update.

It seems that Google in its wisdom scaled the panorama down to 1600px.

Here's a link to the full size (one would hope) image in Picasa.

Hope this one works...

LINK

City panorama

Just a very quick one.
The image below is a panorama of Krakow as seen from the "Kopiec Krakusa" - an earthen mound built by the Celts many a century ago.
The image is 7000px, so it's best downloaded and viewed at 100%.
Enjoy!

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On synchornicity and things Polish.

In a bizarre coincidence I took my first (and did not take my second, but more about that later) photograph of Poglish at its best. More or less at the same time Lisa sent me an email with a bit of Poglish too... spooky...
OK, here it is:

One could just snap, walk off and forget, but not me, oh no...
I had to spend another hour digesting the message and trying to make sense out of it.
Here's my theorem ("A general proposition not self-evident but proved by a chain of reasoning; a truth established by means of accepted truths." And not even a pretty face!):
The whole sign is a marketing ploy to confuse the potential shoppers. You may assume they are dropping their prices down to zero, nothing, zilch, which is a very attractive price for anything really and know no English; in reality however they are just stating that by offering to drop their prices by zero percent they can afford to have multiple instances of a sale at the same time. I am sure that being in a University city the shop has consulted philosophers, quantum physicians as well as professors of English literature. I challenge thy to prove me wrong.
There's also a chance that the whole thing is merely a figment of our imaginations, a mirage fashion outlet indeed.


I have been severely punished by mother nature (Baby Jesus?) as soon after taking this photo it got severely cold, windy and rainy. I hid for a couple of hours in Nowa Prowincja where both mother nature or Baby Jesus dare not venture (as seen in the Krakow Busy video).
With a belly full of yummy coffee I did another round of the city and decided to head home per pedes.
Feeling (again) cold and miserable I decided to acquire a few comfort items, namely a packet of paprika flavoured chips and a box of pierniczki. Anyone tried the Polish soft gingerbreads in dark chocolate? No? Well, you should. Head to Balaclava and seek'em.
At the shop, the shop lady was engrossed in a heated conversation with another 60-something lady, which I completely ignored assuming they were just exchanging views on hip replacement methods. By the time I got to the checkout the shop lady was talking to me across the establishment. "Did you hear that?!?! SHE doesn't like the president being at Wawel! Shame! SHE is from PO!" she said as if she just heard that the other lady eats babies for breakfast and her favourite pastimes are drowning kittens and strangling puppies.
PO (Platforma Obywatelska) is a political party consisting mainly of godless antichrists who can perform diabolical feats like reading without moving their lips, writing without sticking their tongues out and of course eat babies for breakfast as well as are capable of thinking without the Bible in their hand.
"So am I" I lied just to increase her hearth rate. She rolled her eyes in a way that I thought only the possessed could and served me in venomous silence.
I asked if I could have a bag, as the pierniczki, being just a box with no wheels or legs did not seem capable of following my manly gait on their own.
"We only have the eco-friendly ones for 10 groszy".
Being from Krakow (and we are the Scotts kicked out of Scotland for spending too much) I asked if I could have a non-eco-friendly one for free.
The look in the lady's eyes told me that unless I fancied an impromptu basement crucifixion I should pay and leave, and so I did.
Now, that's what I call a political life. I love the fact that people actually care about what happens in their country beyond groin injuries, but that's just boring old me.


In this last paragraph I shall indulge in a little bit of toilet humour.
A public toilet was my last stop for the day and let me tell you what a pleasure it was. Not only due to the ways the nature seems to rule our lives, but also, finding a spotless, pleasantly smelling public toilet is indeed a pleasure.
The public toilets are spread around the city and are clean, bright, with excellent facilities but there's a catch... They are staffed. By old ladies. And you have to pay too. It's 15 cents for a stand-up wee and 35 cents for a cabin in which I assume you are free to do as you wish.
The funny bit was that as I entered and took a position at a urinal, I noticed a sign cleverly positioned above the urinal which said: "Paid prior to usage" - and this was the second Poglish photo I did not take.
I have no idea if the public toilet guardian angel is hopping that upon taking the stance and getting all ready men will actually turn around and walk to her little office fumbling for a coin, making her very happy in the process or is the placement purely accidental.
So be warned "Paid prior to usage" is for real, and you will pee while being watched...

New video.

I have put together a video I shot the other day.
Looking at it I can see how not easy it is to make something smooth and slick.
I'll persevere and one day do something looking finished.
For now, have a look if you want to see a bit of Krakow in motion.
The link is on the side of the page.
Despite the fact that the author of the song I used as the soundtrack used to be friends a long time ago, I password protected the file to avoid a larger exposure and copyright issues.
The password is: nothing


enjoy

Shooting from a hip.

Yesterday I went for a bit of magic hour shoot and ended up doing some long exposure night shooting. As nothing exciting happened, I'll leave you with the pics.

Obviously all clickable, enlargable...

A very spooky graffiti.

Magic hour at the foot of the castle.

St. Anna's and the Law dept. of the Jagiellonian University.

Collegium Novum.

Rear of the Franciscan church.

Kanonicza Street.

Wawel in candle light.

A romanesque column in a gothic walkway with renaissance arches... 

St Andrew's, a romanesque number.

St Peter and Paul's.

Another magic hour at the foot of the castle.

Then i had a cup of tea with fluffy milk and went home.

I am planning to do more of the same tonight, so stay tuned.

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Done and dusted.

The burial at Wawel is over.

In a strange twist mother nature spread a veil of volcanic dust over a large part of Europe stopping most of the air traffic. As a result many of the official delegations did not make it to Krakow.

Some arrived on trains, some, like the Germans, in helicopters. The upside was that we avoided having the city locked up completely to protect Obama.

Funny how the leader of the best democracy money can buy needs the most protection...

To the "Real Polish" (TM) it is a sign from heaven, no one knows a sign of what, but a sign nevertheless.

~|~

On Saturday we all went to a performance of Mozart's Requiem in the main square, goosebump stuff indeed. Will post a video once ready. Again in a strange coincidence on Sunday there was a documentary on THE requiem on Australian ABC.

~|~

Yesterday I went for a long walk along the river to get to the castle during the burial to see and hear the 21 cannon salvo.

I've always known that Krakow runs on its own time, independent of atomic clocks or the rotation of earth along its axis and that people here think differently, but this one really surprised me. Last year they decided to add a bike and foot bridge between the two grungy but cool districts separated by the river and got on with it. However, Krakow, being Krakow, the decision was made to build the bridge along the river rather than across. "Oh, it's easier this way, no need for gumboots, hell! who cares anyway, let's have another coffee..." That's a quotation from the city Engineer General.

Here's the result.

I reached an existing bridge, which some years ago was actually build across the river (how boring and old school!) and was busy photographing some graffiti

 

like this Virgin Mary of the Bicycles,

when a gentleman approached me and inquired in an inebriated, husky voice:

"Are you from a newspaper sir?"

"No, are you?" I replied.

"No! I am Adam of Czestochowa" explained Adam. Czestochowa is a smallish town north of Krakow.

He obviously came to Krakow to take part in the history being made in front of his eyes. Somehow, probably due to magic powers he acquired growing up in Czestochowa, which is a very holly place with a basilica housing the Black Madonna, Adam, despite the prohibition, was, as we refer to it, pissed off his face.

"I came here to give Putin a slap in the face" he announced proudly while shaking my hand vigorously.

"That's nice of you Adam, but he's not here, you know?"

"I KNOW!!! THE SON OF A BITCH WAS TOO AFRAID TO COME!!!"

I thought that getting any deeper into the discourse on Adam vs Puting was a slippery slope, I attempted to free myself from the Adam's grip.

"Take a picture of me!" said Adam, to which I agreed and here's the result.

As you can see Adam was quite animated and was explaining to me the finer detail of Polish - Russian relations over the centuries. Somewhere in the background a president was being encased in alabaster.

Adam was kind enough to give me his phone number and said that all my friends and I are more than welcome to visit him in his home town.

We parted our ways but not before I was offered a sip from his hip flask, an offer which I graciously declined stating that he probably needed aqua vitae more than I did.

Godspeed Adam.

~|~

Following this encounter I stopped in front of the castle and waited for the cannons' salvo.

I just happened to be standing between the BBC and AlJazeera TV crews. Had a perv at their boxes with cables and blinking lights, cameras and satellite links and talking heads covered in make up. They all seem to put drops into their eyes just before the broadcast for that shiny or teary eye look. 

It's bizarre to see a one-way news. They nod, smile and say things like: "Yes, this is absolutely right, just like you said, we are in Krakow and in the castle behind us... as we speak... did you get it? fuck how much longer... beer o'clock... get that idiot from behind me... what the fuck...the mood is sombre indeed and we feel for the Polish people united in this historical moment...who the fuck let this guy on a bicycle get between me and the camera..." 

And the people just rolled past.

There were the anti terrorist water craft, filled with some scary looking guys.

Just imagine one of those approaching your kayak!

But also a few leisure craft filled with happy campers. Obviously going for a picnic somewhere up the river.

Then there was the salvo...

And all went back to normal. The visitors ran for the trains and buses, and the locals got involved in what they do best.

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