Children's Day in Wola

First June is Children's Day in Poland. Many events are held for children in various points of town. All the more, when 1st June is a free day, like Sunday this year.

This year's theme was "Piknik Królewska Wola" (Picnic: The King's Wola [Will]). As I wrote earlier, Wola in Polish means "will".

Below there is a video from the workshops of traditional (court) Polish dance called polonez.

And some photos of other attractions. There were also: painting faces, painting workshops, theatre, songs, reading, decoupage among other activities.

On second photo there is a merry-go-round (karuzela in Polish). People from Warsaw usually connect it with a song "Karuzela" which lyrics include "Karuzela, karuzela, na Bielanach co niedziela". Meaning: Carousel, carousel, in Bielany every Sunday. Bielany is one of the districts of Warsaw, like Wola. The video to this song is from a film.

There were also snacks, of course. As usual there were stands with: popcorn, cotton candy, candies, wafers, ice cream and pańska skórka (a kind of candy from Warsaw region). If you were hungry, you could get grilled sausage. Unfortunately, nothing unusual. Kinda sad there wasn't even one stand with healthy food for children, tho. Especially that the event was organised by the Wola's Hall.

It's spring time!

Do you remember my post about the street band in Wola? It was taken on 23rd March and just few days later the spring bloomed. As you can see in the photo below, made quite late, on 7th April.

Continue reading to see some spring photos made in Praga district, near Vistula river on Saturday, 5th April. Spring came really early this year, the weather was warm and sunny so a lot of people went outside to enjoy the fresh air. As usual I tried not to take the people's photos, and concentrate on the nature tho.

Street Bands in Warsaw

Warsaw Street Bands

There are some things I enjoy about the urban folklore in Warsaw. It's - obviously - the street musicians and bands.

Musicians playing and singing on the streets of Warsaw were especially popular before the Second World War. But even today there are bands that still play in places with lots of passer-bys (tourists including). What's more some bands playing their music going through the backyards, among the apartment buildings.

Today, on 23rd of March 2014, one of such bands was in my neighbourhood. I think it was first time in few months. Not surprising, considering that there is too little street bands in too big city to hear them often. Unfortunately.

Continue reading to see the videos of the street band performance. You will also learn more about street bands in Warsaw and its significance.

Winter photos of Wola

A couple of photos taken in Wola, a district of Warsaw, on 18th January. Winter came back to Warsaw few days before that. It's cold now, around -10, but even after the snow fell we had a warmer day, with temperature above 0 degrees.

Below are the photos from Park Moczydło, one of the parks in Wola. Taken with my mobile phone's camera a bit of time before the sunset.

At least children are having fun, right? ;) That was a nice walk! The most important thing is to dress warmly, then you can have fun. :)

Warsaw's December Photos

On 14th December I went with my friend for a walk. We visited one of the Christmas fairs I mentioned last time. It was a small fair in front of one of Wola's churches. Later, we went to the city centre, passing by Pałac Kultury i Nauki (Palace of Culture and Science), one of the city symbols.

Continue reading to see photos of Wola and Śródmieście, made by my friend.

Warsaw's Wola

Wola, Warszawa

Wola has many meanings in Polish. The most obvious now is "will" like in "free will" or "strong will". And, I tell you, the people in here has a lot of will! Hardly anybody remembers now that in the past "wola" meant the place wasn't paying taxes or had them discounted. Wouldn't it be great, if it was still like this? Sadly, I live in Wola and I have to pay taxes.

Wola is truly the the best district in Warsaw. I've lived in Wola for most of my life. I like the fact that Wola is close to the city center, but it’s not so noisy, or traffic-packed. The life quality is better, too. It doesn't matter if you're looking for a place to eat, rest, play, learn or work - everything is here.  I'll show you.

Continue to read more about Wola.