Młochów

It was a one-day car trip from Warsaw. Winters aren't too cold in Poland lately, so -4 degrees mixed with light wind meant we'll have to walk fast not to freeze :)

We started with the Młochów XIXth Century palace&park complex - both originally designed by Jakub Kubicki. He's most famous work were the designs of Castle Square (Warsaw Old Town), Radziejowice Castle (reconstruction), Płock town hall and so on...

The palace is only possible the watch from the outside (as far as I know it's empty inside even though there were some plans for using it as a hotel/conference place), but it's worth seeing anyway.

The place is calm and beautiful, but I'll advice you to check it during spring or summer. I wonder how it looks, with the flowers and green trees - they are big and old, so I guess they look awesome with leaves and warm sun shining on them :D


Now to the forest!
There are two Nature Reserves "Młochowski grąd" and "Młochowski łęg"
It's located nearby, so if you like long walks, it's also a good idea to leave your car and go there no matter what season it is. The wind won't blow through the trees, so it's not that cold there, and the bright, winter sun was perfect for photos! It's located nearby, so if you like long walks, it's also a good idea to leave your car and go there no matter what season it is. The wind won't blow through the trees, so it's not that cold there, and the bright, winter sun was perfect for photos!

The first one is a second one is a 100% natural piece of the forest, where you can see oaks and pines mostly.

You can find this stone on the road's side. What is it?

According to mr. M. Zdurski (and the article citation he gives) some time ago a one-handed war veteran (lieutenant Andrzej Sławik) worked here as a forest ranger. He took part in Wał Pomorski headquarters defence (lost his hand there) and in the battle of Riazań (wounded on the head), which is why he's tomb is located on the Powązki Military Cemetery. While working as a forest ranger, A.S. had his 3rd heart attack, which killed him in the place where Franciszek Antonik - a teacher - with some friend's help left the stone to commemorate the soldier.

And here are some more photos from the road:

Now to the second part - the riparian forest on the pond's side. Another awesome spot fot photos.

Feeling relaxed? :D

Prague

I went there mostly for a tournament I was participating in, but since my first and last visit in Prague was like 15 (?) years ago, I needed to spend at least 2-3 days sightseeing too :)

First of all I went there by a night train (adventure!!! XD).
The couchette had 3 "beds" inside. I travelled with 2 people and it's quite hard to imagine how would it be if they were strangers. I chose the lowest bed, cause sometimes I'm moving a bit too much when I sleep. The highest bed was right under the ceiling, so falling down from there could be a bit painfull (the rail had a low chance to stop me). Anyway the whole room was as big as a normal compartment were 6 people sit in a train. Now you can imagine putting 3 beds, a sink and a closet there.
While going to Prague we were trying to do something to distract ourselves from over 10-hour long ride. The road back home was way easier - we were so tired, we just laid down and slept the whole time.

 Now to the main part - Prague:
 If I wanted to tag the city with three words, it would be #architecture #Mucha and #lager
I think it would be enough to tell what city I'm talking about. Of course Prague has a whole lot more for you to see :)

Architecture:
The city wasn't too much ruined during the world war (comparing to Warsaw where I live). That means, there are a lot of architecture monuments for you to visit. The streets are also quite narrow and sinuous, so it's easy to get lost while walking around. The buildings are well-managed though. The restaurants serve tasty food, the shops are modern and well equipped. If you're there for sightseeing reasons, you'll need a few days to see at least the most important places.
We had just a little time in Prague, so we set a high-speed mode, walking almost everywhere to see as much as we could and catch some sense of direction. Luckily most of the important places are quite close to each other. I signed some of those I visited just so you could see what's possible during 2,5 days. The 2 full days were like 10 a.m.-10 p.m. with a little time for coffee and lunch. (note, that these are just a part of all the places we've visited!)

It's not my point to show you everything like a tourist information. :)
I'd like to tell you about my impressions mostly, but a few photos will help here. Prague looks like the buildings were frozen in time long ago, but unlike many other cities, it's really clean and the people here are behaving very well. Even though it's rather crowdy, I didn't feel as uncomfortable as usual in this kind of situation. I bet that's because the city is pretty calm. Not sleepy, but just calm. The cars let you easily cross the streets, the people don't push you on the sidewalks. Life goes on with no rush - the only exception are street lights, but the passers-by seem not to care for the light's color too much and just go :)

Mucha:
He's just an example, but the city is full of art - museums, sculptures, galleries and more. Unfortunately it's forbidden to take photos in many museums and galleries and you'll spend a lot on entry fees. The museums are very traditional. It surprised me a bit. In Poland it's common to make museums as interesting for everyone as possible, which means using modern technologies, adding improvements for the handicapped people and organising many different events. Prague museums were rather old-fashioned, but I guess it might be easier to focus on the art/historical treasures this way.
 Many churches are worth checking as historical/ art museums too (again, lots of them require paying an entry fee...)
The lights here are not artificial. It's just sun shining through stained glass window. Wow! :D  

What I really missed were tourist books. I mean - all those, that let you discover the places that you're visiting more. In the City of Prague Museum there were no english language books. It was the same in the Museum of Alchemy (by the way the place & the tour were awesome, but I'd love to have some souvenir other from a "magical" potion. An alchemy book would be soooo perfect! :( ). Most of the books I could find were jewish legends (I got one), but most of them have the same author, so there's not much to choose from. I also got one book about Kafka's connections with Prague and something about astronomy in the city, but in french. I'm not learning the language, but as far as I checked, the book seems rather easy to translate. There was also chech, russian and some other version. No english.


 Lager:
 There are many restaurants using some artist's name or a tourist-summoning themes. Ok. It's just marketing, but still it's a pleasure to sit in this kind of place, chilling out. There are a few popular beer brands and they are really cheap, so I recommend you to try it. I liked the one called Ferdinand and some grapefruit-tasted one (in Katr restaurant. 100% worth checking and eating there!). It tastes good with meat, which you'll probably be eating in Prague.
If you don't like lager beer... Well, try to get used to it or just order a coffee. It's tasty too.
Also you must try the sweets! They look & taste awesome, no matter if ordered in a cafe or just bought on the street shop.
If you watched "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack" cartoon, here's a little hint where to go: 

Soooo... The Prague adventure is finished now! 
I loved the people there, the clean streets, the art and architecture. Check it and tell me if your impressions were simmilar. Don't forget to try the cuisine! :)

Płock - Mazovian Museum & lunch

It was a one day trip, and it was freezing cold outside, so I chose the museum out of many interesting places in the city.
I walked there through the old town. It looked like the time stopped here long ago. The bars on the way were old-fashioned, and nicely designed. I didn't see much people because of the weather, so I could imagine, that the city was really stuck in the past :)

The museum entrance is easy to find. There's a sculpture in the front.

It's Mira Zimińska-Sygietyńska (1901-1997). If you're a fan of folk music or old movies, this person may be interesting for you. She was born in Płock. She founded and lead one of the most famous polish folk groups "Mazowsze". Google for more informations.
The statue was built here to let the fand be with their idol more personally. As you can see, she still receives flowers from them :)

Now the museum!
It had two main parts. The first one was about Art Nouveau. Since it wasn't the typical sightseeing time and the weather was really bad, there were only 4 tourists in the whole big building. The staff was waiting for me to come to each of the 4 floors to open the rooms for me, and close them when I was leaving. I felt like I was stalked a bit XD
The exhibition was awesome! It wasn't modern (no screens, no exhibition-themed games, etc.), just cabinets and room reconstructions. But it was 100% enough.
There were old prints on the first floor.

I like this kid of art, but there were quite much of them and I was afraid, that the whole exhibition would look like that so I will get bored after a few minutes, but I was wrong. It was just a kind of introduction :)

Next - the more interesting part:

I don't want to show you too much, because I hope you'll see it with your own eyes one day, but there are some more cool things:

There's also jewellery on the 4th floor, but it's so shiny, it's hard to take a good photo through the glass :(

Now we're moving to the 2nd exhibition - history of Płock!
There are 3 floors (oldest to newest times). The entrance looks like the first "museums", which were just private collections of old things - pottery, human skulls, fossils, etc.

Then the actual exhibition comes. It's more modern than the Art Nouveau one.
Scrrens, short movies and a mock-up (a huge one!) Płock with a recorded lecturer's voice talking about every part of the city - highlighted while the lecturer talks about it.

There are lots of local archaeological treasures, typical for the local cultures. If you have something to do with the discipline, you'll surely recognize the names.

The geneaogical trees and old maps will make it easier for you to remember the history if you're curious about it.

There are also some toys presented if you get bored by staring at the typical museum stuff :)

The exhibition was awesome, but I got a bit tired and hungry.
I asked the staff were to go for a lunch, and they told me about 2 popular restaurants in the old town. One of them looked more like a tavern - it had a banner with beer production method. Both of the restaurants looked fine, but they were full of people (and really loud), and I would be waiting like 40 minutes or more for the food. Nope.
I chose a different place. There was only 1 customer inside, so I was wondering if I chose right, but I decided to give it a try. I'm glad, that I did :)

The owner gave me some of his products to try (as an appetizer), and a shot-glass of home-made lemon tincture. He said he uses old receipes, from a grandmother's notebook and he really likes his job, but he's go for the retirement soon because he's getting more and more tired. It's sad because I really liked the restaurant and the food I ordered. See, how it looked :)

I hope I'll go there at least one more time. There are so much more things to see in Płock...
I'll just wait for a warmer day :)

Czerwińsk nad Wisłą

 

 The main tourist attraction in Czerwińsk is the XII century monastery. 

The church looks rather typical inside. If you want to see something special, you should just take a walk around he buiding.
It was a really cold and windy day, when I decided to check this place, but I'm really glad I didn't let myself get scared of the low temperature :)

See the Way of the Cross - I love the style!

 The whole area around is located on a hill. For those who would like to become a part of some monastery community, this would be a perfect place. It's calm, and full of nature. The trees, and stone decorations make it look somehow magical...
I haven't seen much people around even though the place is rather well-known.

Czerwińsk's history is not only connected to the religion. The whole town (which is now a village, because it was officially changed in the XIX century) is even more awesome - if you like the distinctive style of old, rotten places... Sounds interesting?
If you'll walk outside the church's area, you'll see something, tha may become a ghost-town soon. Some of the houses were built in the XIX century (you'll find the information boards there), but a huge part of the buildings is unoccupied. Just like this one:

There are  also well-preserved houses of course.

There aren't many people on the streets. They even look a bit surprised sometimes, when they see a tourist.
I had a feeling, that the village is ruled by domestic animals. I've seen lots of them. Some were behavng like people :)
A dog and a cat were sitting together on their house's stairs until I walked by. That must have reminded the dog whom he was, because he jumped off the stairs, and started following me and barking loudly. Then another dog joined him.
There was also this black guy, watching the street through the window calmly, like some people do.

To sum up - this place is unique. It's hard to find a village/town this calm normally. It's also full of history. It feels like you're walking through a crowd of old spirits, that are still watching over this place, and living in the locals minds somehow.

Stift Melk - Melk Abbey

 Have you ever heard of the Stift Melk?
I got there quite accidentally, just wanting to see some tourist stuff while being in Austria. I was living in a little city winery-house somewhere in the country. I loved the place, and the hosts, but that's a different thing :)
The Benedictine abbey lays on a hill. The road leads through an old town, so you can buy lots of souvenins, and interesting stuff (like poppy liquor, or music boxes!) on the way, or take a break from walking in one of the crowdy, but lovely cafes.

And here we are! The abbey's yard. Even though it's hard to hide from the sun, you should come here during the sunny, and hot day to see the beauty of the place. It feels like being in some exotic country - the bright colors, tha palm trees near the entrance, and the blue sky are a perfect combination here.

If you'll get tired of the sun (yes, you will soon), just walk into the chapel, and the real magic starts (looks uncomparably better when you are there, but just try to imagine that):

 I'm not an architecture fan. Usually I just watch it for a few minutes and go.
It was totally different here...
First of all, the baroque/rococo (especially the rococo time) style is my favorite. The more decorations, the better, but it must be perfectly planned to look good.
So I came into the church, and... My jaw hanged open.

 Does it need any comment?

I was just standing there, making no sound. It was perfect.
I've seen many beautiful places before. Some of them were the "Omg!!!" type, but this one was just to stand there in silence and watch with no blinking.
I had to force myself to go, because my parents were loosing their patience. It was really hard for me, but since Austria is not that faraway from my country, I'm hoping to get back there soon.

And back to the story - I went to the most awesome stairs I've ever seen :)

 There was also a huge library with old munuscripts, and paintings on the ceiling, but I wasn't allowed to take photos there. It wouldn't be a huge crime, but I felt in love with the place, and decided to stick to its rules :)

Then there was a park. A perfectly kept one. It was a bit too bright there, but I hid between the brushes, and watched the little sculptures standing everywhere.

Would it be an ovestatement if I said, that it's just the Heaven on Earth? :)