The Varso tower

The tallest and most prominent building in Warsaw is the Palace of Culture and Science. Around the 237 meters tall communist building have been popping up skyscrapers in record tempo. In a few years even more will be finalized, it just does not stop.

One of the building sites we regularly pass when driving to city center. There workers are busy completing a very ambitious project of a new skyscraper, Varso Tower. With a stunning 310 meters a new record will be set once completed.

Varso Tower
Nearly 10,000 cubic meters of concrete and 2.5 thousand tons of reinforcement will be used to solidify the Varso Tower, the highest office building in the European Union. Together with the mast, it will be 310 meters high. The foundation slab is being built on the site of the future complex next to the Central Railway Station in Warsaw.

The Varso complex (the name comes from the Latin name of the capital - Varsovia) is created at the intersection of Al. Jana Pawła II and ul. Chmielna, next to the Central Railway Station in Warsaw. There will be a total of three buildings with heights of 81, 90 and 230 meters. The latter, named Varso Tower, together with an 80-meter mast, will measure a total of 310 meters, making it the highest building in the European Union. It will even dethrone The Shard in London, which is 309,6 m high and it is currently the highest facility in the EU.

The construction of the Varso Tower and the rest of the complex started officially in 2016 and this is how it will look like once completed:

There will be one of the highest viewing terraces in Europe (twice higher than the one in Pkin, the Palace of Culture and Science). In addition, it is to be available to everyone, both during the day and at night. On the 46th and 47th floor of the building there will also be a restaurant with a beautiful view of the capital.

The Varso complex is not just a "tower" itself. In addition, it will be created by two smaller buildings, 81 and 90 meters high. They were designed by the Polish architectural studio Hermanowicz Rewski Architekci. On their lively lowest floors there will be more restaurants and cafes, as well as small shops and service outlets, such as a pharmacy, laundry, drugstore, florist, newsagent or post office. In addition, public passages under the roof will serve Varsovians throughout the year.

All-in-all a very exciting project, I cannot wait to pay a visit to the viewing terrace!


Photos: HB Reavis
Source: onet.pl

The 1st of November (All Saints)

Today is All Saints day ('Wszystkich Świętych), a bank holiday here.

What I remember from my first experience were tons of flowers and even more colorful lights on graves. I made some photos back then, which I will show you here.

 All Saints’ Day is a Polish Catholic tradition where Poles from all over the country travel to their home cities to visit the graves of their deceased relatives and loved ones.
I knew the day in the Netherlands as well, but it is not a bank holiday there and it comes nowhere near the things taking place in Poland.

It is also quite common to hear people refer to this day as 'Dzień Zmarłych' or 'Święto Zmarłych' (Day of the Dead) – names that had been adopted during the socialism period in Poland as they did not contain any reference to religion.

So, in general All Saints is celebrated by the Catholics, plus some Protestants and in Eastern Orthodox churches. It dates back to the early fourth century.

All Saints’ Day is taken very seriously in Poland. No matter the weather conditions are like, you will see many people go to the cemeteries even a few days before cleaning up the graves.

Today, after the visiting the cemetery, people will usually get together with their families to have a meal and spend time together.

This is how it looks from above:

One of our friends once flew to Warsaw on the 1st of November. It was evening and he explained how magical this looked while descending to land on Chopin Airport. The city was just lit by all the candles on the cemeteries.

A very special tradition!

Zebra crossings in Warsaw

Zebra crossings, in the Netherlands I learned to always stop for pedestrians who want to cross the road. The only exclusion to the rule I made was when people were visibly doubting and not clearly on the verge of crossing the road. Make up your mind and I will stop I always thought.

I was brought up close to the German border. My parents learned me to stop for anything even close to the zebra crossing. Germans are ultra polite when it comes to stopping for zebra crossings, I also found out as a pedestrian myself when walking on the German streets.

Now Poland, or in my case my experiences in Warsaw. I found out quickly after arriving in this city that a pedestrian should be highly alert when crossing the road. I can remember a couple of close calls, looking into a pair of headlights like Bambi.

I thought it were just a couple of jerks, but later found out that the average driver barely stops for pedestrians wanting to cross the road. It depends a bit of the area though, close to our home the chance is a bit higher that a car will stop at zebra crossings without traffic lights.

This was raising questions to me. Are the rules different here? Are people just less polite in traffic?

At a first glance, the answer to that is pretty simple I found out. Germany and the Netherlands have similar traffic laws concerning zebra crossings. Poland has different rules, way different.

In Poland pedestrians at zebra crossings do not have priority to vehicles driving the road!

The pedestrian only has this priority when already walking on the zebra crossing. And you can only start crossing the road when no cars are nearby. This in combination with a friendly driver who clearly shows behavior of letting the pedestrian cross.

This raised more questions to me because every single person interprets the term 'nearby' differently. The opposition parties in Poland are already fighting for a change of this law since three years, but one of the bigger opposition parties voted against it a few years ago and the proposal was declined with one vote difference.

The opposition party in question is now the leading party by the way (PiS). To make the matter even more confusing, they are working on dusting off the proposal and make this change in the near future...

Clearly a fine. And time for traffic lights there. 

So the verdict is: just be careful out there.

Rondo Tybetu

The Tibetan Gallery at the Tibet Roundabout in the Wola district of Warsaw is a fine example of what a little bit of colour can do to an otherwise dull urban area.

Started in 2009, following the Dalai Lama's visit to Warsaw, street art depicting the Tibetan struggle for autonomy from Beijing was painted here on the pillars of a flyover (the Chinese government didn't quite like the idea!).

The initiative coincided with Warsaw City Council's decision to award the Dalai Lama honorary citizenship of the city! Along with various pieces of art depicting the Tibetan struggle, there is a commemorative plaque dedicated to the heroes of the Tibetan national uprising of 1959.

I passed this place a couple of times when I took the bus, but never saw more than just a quick glimpse. It is not far from my work, so I went to have a proper look at it after work. 

A stunning place it is. More than a hundred works of street art in one place.

With many pillars still left to fill, it's likely this artistic oasis will continue to grow and inspire. Above all, the Tibetan Gallery is a reminder that we are responsible not only for what we do in our home country, but that we have the power to create a dialogue with the whole world.

Let that sink in. Good evening :)

Hammer time

That it is pretty normal in German speaking countries to hammer the f*ck out of their 'schnitzels" was known to me. They like their pork shaped like a friggin' doormat don't they?

It did not take very long for me to find out that Poles also smash theirs like their lives depend on it. Their version, "kotlet schabowy" is part of the classic Polish kitchen.

If you live in an apartment, you should not be surprised to wake up from a hammering sound on a Sunday morning. It is not an SOS signal using Morse code, but it will be one of neighbours in the block battering their "schab".

The huge ones they do call 'sznycel', which obviously derives from the 'schnitzel' being popular in German speaking countries and also in the Netherlands. Although I do believe that it is not the same meat, but who gives a toss 😋

Sznycel in Warsaw's Old Town

It seems to be the same principle as making a veal schnitzel, but then with a double slice of pork meat, delicately cut until the end is almost reached. And then...Hammer Time 😎

Let me show you... turn on volume. Recorded in Polish, inclusive of white socks in fake leather sliders. Integration is hard work, but a man"s got to do what a man's got to do.

Later folks! 

Fort Bema

We recently paid a visit to Fort Bema in the Bemowo district, a lovely place to walk.

Before I tell some more about this fort I will explain that this fort is part of a bigger whole. the Warsaw Fortress.

Warsaw Fortress (Twierdza Warszawa)

A system of fortifications built in Warsaw, Poland during the 19th century when the city was part of the Russian Empire. The fortress belonged to a chain of fortresses built in Congress Poland and the region adjacent to it during this period. It was built in stages, with the first part, known as Warsaw Citadel, built the years 1832-1834, in the immediate aftermath of the November Uprising of 1830. 

Late 19th century

This initial fortification was then continually improved by the addition of further forts in its vicinity, with the work finally completed in 1874. In 1879 the government of the Russian Empire decided to carry ouf a major expansion of the fortress, which would incorporate a system of large forts surrounding the whole city. 20 forts forming this new system were constructed between 1883 and 1890. 

The rapid progress in the power of siege artillery required the forts to be continually strengthened. In the final period of its existence the fortress consisted of 29 forts and major works, including the older forts of the original Citadel, which were reinforced by numerous smaller fieldworks.

Early 20th century

As a result of the defeat in the war with Japan in 1904-1905, the Russian Empire carried out a major rethinking of its military strategy. As part of this reevaluation and the resulting changes in strategic deployments, it was decided that maintaining the Warsaw Fortress was no longer cost-effective. In 1909 the decision was made to abolish the fortress. Work started out to demolish its works but it proceeded slowly. In 1913, with the worsening international situation immediately before the outbreak of the First World War, the decision was reversed, and hasty work started to return the fortress to combat readiness. These defenses were never put to the test, as Warsaw was evacuated by the Russian army without a fight in August, 1915, during its general retreat that summer.

Polish independence (niepodległość)

After Poland regained its independence in 1918 the dismantling of some fortifications resumed, others were taken over by the Polish Army and used as storage sites or barracks, though over the years these were gradually abandoned. Some forts were briefly prepared for defense during the Battle of Warsaw in 1920, others saw heavy fighting during the siege of the city in September, 1939 though their defensive strength was vastly reduced due to advances in military technology. 

Today

Today many of the forts are still in place, but some were built over and no trace of them remains. At present the city lacks a unified concept for their use, though their historical value is recognized. They are mostly not maintained and hence not open to the public for sightseeing. Only the Citadel and some of its adjacent forts are well maintained and open to tourists.

So, most are not open to tourists. That got me interested, so we went to Fort Bema (Fort P). Below you can see some photos I took. 

Basically these are run down places where youths and the free-spirited people hang out. Plus the odd anarchist :-)

In one of the sections there used to be an art gallery before, with urban artists painting the walls with street-art like work. Some of it should be still there but we bumped into a fenced up and locked entrance unfortunately.

A few months earlier we had a stroll around Fort Włochy, Fort V on the map. It is another fort very close to our home and smaller than Fort Bema. Let me rephrase, it also covers a big area but you see less remains of the fort.

Fort V - Fort Włochy

I would love to make a full circle and visit all remaining forts part of the Warsaw Fortress. Fantastic places. However, it was a shame to see so much litter on the ground everywhere.

Places like this should be cherished, 

not trashed. 

Life in a metropole: Maskotka

Born and raised in a village of 9500 in the Netherlands, Neede. With capital Amsterdam having a population of around 800k.

Warsaw, metropole, 2 million inhabitants. Officially. It would not surprise me if the actual figure is a million more.

Rat race

I never expected to settle so easily here. Metro-, tram- and train lines. Skyscrapers, hypermarkets, super cars, thousands and thousands of taxis; the wealthy, the homeless, tourists, alcoholics, beggars and believers on the streets.
People in a hurry while having a next bus coming in 5 minutes. The rat race...

But that is not my life, in fact it is not much different compared to Neede. The district where we live, Ursus, is located at the edge of the city. It is calm, it is green. With approximately 40,000 inhabitants it is not that much bigger than Neede. Just 4 to 5 times. It does have more and higher apartment blocks.

I made the below photo recently, I could see our block from the airplane (circled).

Local retail
Apart from that it is pretty similar to life in a village. Just small local retail close around us, like I like it. It is funny because it is most of the times the same people working. In the beginning I barely spoke Polish so it was difficult to communicate. From the time I started to talk a little Polish it really started to be funny. People recognize me and in most shops I do not even need to ask something anymore.

I will translate to English how these little conversations went:

Supermarket seller: "One time Rothmans blue, hard box?"

Me: "Yes please"

Bakery personnel: "We have your oat rolls today."
Me: "Super."
Bakery personnel: "How many today?"

Me: "4 please"

The pharmacist as well, one of the friendliest people I met in my life. Bless him. Genuine friendliness, which we all need to cherish. And return.

Mascot
My wife calls me their Mascot ("maskotka"), as I was always responding very happy (read: "relieved") when they assisted me in their own way. I guess it is also nicer for shop personel to also have non-standard customers in their shops. Or it was just funny for them as I talked Polish like a four-year-old child.

But nowadays I try to speak like a local, so not expecting too much of help of the shop personnel. However, humans like to stick to certain habits so also some of the workers in the shops where we regularly come.

My first months here were pretty hard when going to shops. I practiced sentences in my head when walking to a shop, which I instantly forgot when it was my turn. Also I really was under the impression that almost all personnel was grumpy and fed up with their job. In some cases I do believe that it might be the case, working in a small supermarket will get you a very low salary compared to the Netherlands and other jobs here. And you have to deal with a lot of weirdos daily.

After some time I came to the conclusion that for most of them it also had to do with the fact that many Poles are less open to "strangers" compared to the Dutch. Nothing wrong with that though. You just need to get to know most of them a bit better before they open up, most of them are just very nice people.

Just like in my Dutch village.