January 6, 2008

Trip to Warsaw while it is -12C outside and while some of us are sleeping...

... and having no respect for family treasures...

Some others (means: ME) have to go outside! and more - some have to go to Warsaw.
After desperately looking for my old skiing gloves I finally found them! In this temperature if you have to stay longer outside, regular gloves are not enough.
Lovely red, old, leather skiing gloves (Kastle) - my first ones :) and still great to be used - do they still produce such durable stuff?

Come with me for a nature walk in Warsaw, to the other side of the river Vistula vel Wisla. It will not be tourist tour. Rather a walk with nature in the city snapshots.


On my way to the station, I see such beautifully looking winter shrub with glowing orange berries. If you think about what to plant in the garden for having great winter color - this is the one: Sea Buckthorn Hippophae rhamnoides. The English name is little misleading - it is doing well in salty air, true, but also great in any area especially with poor soil.

While most of the berries are already gone, mainly fallen to ground - these ones are still there and glowing! What a treat for eyes at this season.


I spot a trend of using eco-friendly shopping bags.
We were using zillions of tones of plastic bags. Luckily this is changing - more and more spotted eco-bags around. More people refusing plastic bags while shopping. Soon it will become a habit. In one of the cities in Poland (Lodz) it is already forbidden to use it by shops - they have 6 months to get prepared.

Elegant way of shopping presented below:

It is -12C. Nobody wants to fly - doves are sitting at the tram stop in the city center, just close to railway station.


I go to the other side of Wisla - river is almost frozen. Big chunks of ice floating down to Baltic Sea, having still more than 300km to reach it.
Taking pictures while waiting for bus is a great way to use time better.
While you look around - you understand that even in the city parts that are not beautiful - some elements may grab your attention like this beautiful bark...
I got stuck on it so much, that I almost missed a bus...
or interesting fence... in the district called Rembertow...

or that meadow between houses...

... bird house waiting for spring...

After turning back home, I see that some of us are still sleeping - just changing places :)

14 comments:

Barbara said...

Lovely post Ewa. Thank you for taking me to this tour in your City. I like the fence you showed! Maybe I could do something similar in my garden.... We have also very cold days and I think the night temperature is about the same as yours!
Have a warm Sunday inside!
Barbara

Victoria Cummings said...

Ewa - Beautiful photos! I love your tour. Please show us more. Happy New Year to you and your family, two and four legged - I wish you lots of happiness in 2008!

Bek said...

I like your city-tour! In the last few days I was thinking of taking pictures of our city plants in winter since they look so nice. I still have to go out and take my camera with me though.

Philosophical Karen said...

So nice to see parts of your city. I'm so impressed you still have those gloves and can still find them.

I don't mind the cold, crisp days if there's sunshine. If it's grey, however, the cold just makes it seem worse.

Ewa said...

Barbara,
That fence is easy to make and adds some charm - does't it?

Victoria,
Promise to show some more citynature snapshots.

Bek,
This is really interesting experience when you take your camera with you with an attempt to take pictures: you same things in different way.

Karen,
I am also impressed, that I still have them. I use them seldom (just while going to ski) and all my skiing clothes and accesoires are stored in the same place.
I am also surprised that they were so easy to find - most of everything else is always stuck somewhere :)

Thank you for visitting and greetings to You :)

Naturegirl said...

What a wonderful surprise to come by and see nature in Poland!! My father who passed away when I was a child is Polish! I am now able to see his country through the eyes of your camera lens!!
thank you so much for stopping by my winter wonderland here in Canada and I look forward to future visits!!
A true pleasure to meet YOU!!
hugs your new Polish Canadian friend aNNa ..NG xo

Ewa said...

Dear Naturegirl, welcome to my blog :) Isn't internet a wonderful tool?
Ow, your grandpa was Polish! what a surprise!
Thank you, thank you for your kind words :)
Greetings,

Clayton said...

Thanks Ewa for the very pleasant tour. Here in Saskatoon area of Saskatchewan it has been to +3 Celsius and today is just now about -3. Our cat sleeps in a box on our freezer. He is also a comfort seeker!
Clayton

Kylee Baumle said...

Ewa, this was fun! I love the natural fencing.

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

Hello Ewa!
How wonderful to meet you. I am so happy you visited my blog. I love all of these photos. It does look very cold, but still beautiful. I love that you can see the beauty in the cold. Please visit me again soon!
Penny

ilterocktive said...

Don't know why, but I am always amazed with the variety of sleeping positions of cats :)
They are the masters of sleeping... sleeping is an art for them :)

Unknown said...

What a wonderful way to look at the city--NOT in a touristy way. Thank you for this, Ewa. I especially love the colour of the sea buckthorn berries; not a plant I have around here, I've heard of it but never seen it to my knowledge. Looks tempting!

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I thoroughly enjoyed the walk about Ewa. Just seeing the river almost gave me a chill. Brrrrrr
That tree trunk was sculptural. Quite beautiful. I feel sorry for the pigeons. They looked very cold. They are tough birds and can survive there obviously.

Ahava Hopps Brooke said...

Great posts. Love your photography. I have to laugh at the picture of the upside-down cat on sofa (?Atomic?) Looks just like my upside-down cat on armchair here in San Diego that I posted in "its a [quilter's] cat's life". Cats are so funny.

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