I’ve been poking around in old photo archives again. This time it was the truly fabulous Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe (National Digital Archive). I found a lot of extraordinarily interesting things, which I will undoubtedly inflict on Polandian readers in the near future, but I also found the answer to a question that’s been nagging away [...]
Flooding is nothing new to Krakow. In the short time I’ve been living here the Vistula has threatened to burst its fortified banks three times, but this is the worst I’ve seen. The emergency barriers are in place and the churning coffee-coloured water is coming perilously close to testing them. The river has risen at least a meter since yesterday (Monday), and it was higher than I’ve seen it even then. Another couple of days of this rain and it’s going to get very messy indeed.
I find roadworks fascinating, especially when they involve digging up ancient streets. As part of Krakow’s ongoing programme of cosmetic surgery most of the streets in the centre have been repaved, now they’re moving on to the trickier ones further out—the ones used by cars and trams. Ul. Długa (Long Street) is one of several [...]
As was widely advertised, the first blog meet of 2010 was held this past weekend in the beautiful city of Krakow. Recent high-profile burials in the city meant that the Krakow security forces were already on alert for incoming celebrities and the whole thing went off without a hitch. I should warn you that this [...]
The only journey I make on Polish trains with any kind of frequency is the trip from Krakow to Warsaw. Despite their rarity I’ve come to dread these expeditions. Number one on my hate list is the compartment carriage. Some people seem to like those six-seat cubicles, chiefly because you get to say “Dzień dobry” to the other occupants when you sit down.
I never know how to react when English tourists ask me for directions. It’s usually done in a timorous tone and accompanied by gestures: “Old Town this way?” *nervous grin* *erroneous pointing.* I know what it’s like to be stuck in a country where you don’t have a clue about the language. My urge to relieve their stress is so strong that I immediately launch into an elaborate set of directions laced with colloquialisms, partly because I’m dying to use colloquialisms after six months of colloquialism starvation and partly because I want to convince them that I’m a bona-fide English speaker and, therefore, wholly reliable.
I knew there was never any chance I would get to the centre of the action, but I wanted to be on the streets sampling the mood and eavesdropping on conversations on what was surely the biggest day this city will see in a long while. It felt like we were at the centre of [...]
This will be the fourth annual Blog Meet in three years—we’re not strong on counting. Last year’s bash in Warsaw, organised by our very own Scatts, was a great success. The Krakow team is now limbering up for the return match. Some of the lads are new signings but we’ve put in the hours at [...]
Decoy sensibly spent Sunday in front of the box. With seemingly non-stop coverage of the crash on the Polish news channels for all of last week, and the mourning and initial investigations, I thought I would take a look at the international coverage of the funeral itself to get an ‘outside’ perspective. For most of [...]
MikeM returns for a close looks at the names of Krakow’s bars and pubs. I simply can’t imagine how he came to know so many. Arriving in Krakow last August the fist thing to grab me, other than a crazy street drunk on the Market Square, were the names of pubs, bars and clubs. Capote, [...]