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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

.

The madness continues...

Demo day 3 was even more fun. There was a coffin with pole bearers, flags and a fake priest, there were mourners, there were cops...
A true happening. Strangely I suddenly noticed that all the police force are completely unarmed. No batons, no cuffs, no guns, not even belts. They just stand around wearing their black outfits doing not much. Interesting. Obviously they are not expecting any trouble with the demo. All the cop cars are parked in the streets around and all are KIAs and a few Mitsubishi utes. The media vans seem more armoured and prepared for action.
This lead me to a realisation that the society has changed dramatically. I always assumed that the beauty of living in Australia was the fact that it was a safe, friendly place where one can rely on neighbours and other citizens to do no harm. Europe on the other hand was full of strong opinions, all sorts of political movements and crime.
The bizarre thing I am observing here is that people are very outspoken and what would be seen from Australian perspective as aggressive. Yes, people say what they think, quickly and to the point. Whether you are a cop or a bus driver you'll be told in no uncertain terms what people think of you if you block a pedestrian crossing or arrive a bit late. And yet I found last night that a few of my friends don't lock their cars for the night. There are automatic bike rentals all over the city, including the "badder" parts and all the bikes are in a perfect working conditions. The seats are not cut or stolen, the lights and dynamos are there, working... I am not trying to say that it's a wonderland as my friend had her bikes stolen from a 1st floor balcony, but just imagine how long would 10 bikes last let's say in Kings Way in the City, or in Broadmeadows...
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After all my bitching about the dead twin I would like, for a change, extend my thanks to the dead twin. Thanks to the hoopla that his death created a few potholes are being fixed. All roads leading from the airport and from a helicopter landing area are being fixed feverishly. Last night, around midnight the city looked like a NASA launch pad a day before flying to Mars. Hundreds of workers with all sorts of noisy implements were preparing the city for a smooth ride.
At Blonia they are building a massive structure to house the media and hold a screen for the burial telecast. Six guys with ropes and spanners working in the dark are building something the size of a small cinema - amazing.
Col, they need you here badly! No fences, no netting...

You can just wander around while bits and bobs are falling from the skies.


Another bunch are fixing the panels of the huge screen.

The adjacent road was being PAINTED black, after the potholes were fixed. Last time I saw that, was when comrade Brezhniev was visiting... and so the history repeats itself.

Just a small explanation for those who may wonder why fixing potholes in Krakow is such a big issue. Well, the roads in Krakow look like Moon surface, there's more pothole to a square metre than anywhere else in the Universe known to Man.

Another day.

Last night as a good citizen I attended the second day of the demonstration.
The calls of the night were: "Not in Krakow", "Stay in Warsaw", I want to buried at Wawel too" and "Keep politics out of Wawel". The first day there were about 800 people, last night 2500. Our demo was joined by a crowd supporting the burial at Wawel. They were wrapped in Polish flags and shaking crosses at us. It was east to distinguish their signs from ours, their's were misspelled.
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It stopped raining finally and I took that opportunity to go for a little walk and do some shooting. Here are, still warm, results.

Wild plums in bloom.

Local wildlife.

Buds.

...

Time to play.

Time to relax.

Getting the venues ready for UEFA 2012.

The grand stand.

Enjoy!

On things political

The political life of Poland is well, thank you for asking.

From the grass roots, street level all the way to the top it's just buzzing.

Here are just a couple of political graffiti pieces you see in the streets.

I really love the bashing of a neo-nazi with a bike graphic. It says so much more that just being against nazism in all forms.

Interestingly, when you see neo-nazis walking the streets, they are always in groups, being loud and yet strangely insecure. There's just something in their body language that shows that that despite their macho gait and appearance they seem scared. A bit like children singing loudly in a forest to pretend they are not afraid of the dark.

The skinny, spindly anarchists on the other side feel quite happy and safe to ride their rusty bikes on their own.

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Then there is the whole story about our dearly departed president.

All the soppy TV coverage of the villages (this includes Warsaw) filled with crying folk is moving, but here in Krakow the mood is a bit different.

Krakow has always been an intellectual centre of the country and a left leaning one too.

Mr. Presidents is remembered here as a right wing Christian, who in his infinite wisdom was against Poland joining the EU. After all we have SO MUCH TO OFFER that according to him EU should be begging to join us. This sat well with the uneducated, religious masses but just don't cut the shit here.

The guy didn't really do anything groundbreaking for the country and his only real claim to fame was dying in a plane crash. Just like Elvis and Kurt proved before, there's no better PR stunt than death.

We have a place here, called Wawel. An average size and quality royal castle (you can see parts of it in the photos in previous posts). The tradition is that people who actually meant something to the country are buried in the crypts under the castle. People like kings, queens, great poets, great warriors...

Being a president of the country, Kaczynski was offered a choice of two prestigious burial places in Warsaw, his brother however requested that he's buried at Wawel.

He was told that the government cannot make this decision, as Wawel is not under the control of the government, but belongs to the archdiocese of Krakow and only the archbishop of Krakow can make that decission. The living twin rang the archbishop and within half an hour they decided to bury the dead twin at Wawel and this is when the shit hit the fan.

The city was abuzz, phones rang, posters appeared on walls and a protest was organised for the evening. I ran and dully joined in. The gathering took place at the archbishop's palace. The archbishop is also a cardinal, so the most popular cry was: "Quit, you've made a cardinal mistake", cute!

The plan is to protest every evening until Saturday night, the day before the burial.

At the same time the presence of heads of state has been announced for the burial, including Mr. Obama's. The city is about to go into shutdown. No flights, restricted movement, no gatherings... the Saturday protest may get quite "interesting".

Here is an Australian connection for you, spy drones are being brought in to monitor the city for Obama's visit. According to my research into Boeing, they are built in Melbourne, just next to the Westgate Bridge. If not built, Boeing's site claims that's where the "research" goes on. So next time you hear of a wedding party being bombed by a drone, be proud of our contribution to the world peace.

Anyway, even the taxi driver who took me home last night spent half an hour talking to me about the burial, Wawel, the future of the country and who, how and why will need to cooperate with whom and why and how... He'd dully turned the meter off just to have a chat - brilliant.

And so the history rolls on. Everyone feels sorry for the loss of life, the tragedy of the accident and the turmoil it had caused but burial at Wawel is too much.

Normally, if one's not a king who resided at the castle, a Wawel burial is something special, which happens a few years after the death once the people and history decide one deserves Wawel. I heard a statement: "Why rush it? They could wait, after all he's well cooked, he'll keep" oh the subtlety of Polish humour.

After the demo we went to a cafe, which served free coffee to anyone who attended the demonstration. There I was with well over 100 people crammed into a couple of rooms discussing politics, smoking and drinking coffees and vodka until 1am. Today back to works, back to the demo at 8pm, then the cafe again. They know hoe to party!

HA! Just heard on the radio a spokesman for the church: "We understand why people protest, but they should stop for the respect for the dead" funny mother#^@&$*.

By the way, how's the weather?

Monday

Only today I managed to get myself to the city for a bit of a walk and look around.
At the foot of the Wawel Castle I came across a Katyn memorial, turned into a memorial for the late Polish president et al. They were flying to attend a Katyn memorial mass.
There was a sea of candles and a crowd of sombre people. I am going to go back at night to see the candles in the dark.

13.04.10 Update. I did go at night to take a few shots, here they are.

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On a lighter note, here's a couple of Slovakian PoCo (my word for Post Communist) bits and bobs.

Click tem for larger pics.

Also, a bit later today I'll upload a new video to Vimeo. Look for the link on the right of the site.

Look here ...................................................>>>

I have added a column for links to my videos.
I chose to host them at Vimeo, for reasons which shall remain a secret, considering that Blogger is Google and Google is YouTube.
Just kidding, it's just that Vimeo's quality is much better and there's no junk to wade through.
Enjoy!