Charming Toruń

Torun is one of the oldest cities in Poland; it was given civic rights in December in 1233. Through the centuries Torun’s architecture has survived leaving a rich history, that’s why in 1997 the medieval part of the city was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but in 2007 the Old Town in Torun was added to the list of Seven Wonders of Poland. Even National Geographic Polska rated the old town market and the Gothic town hall as one of the “30 Most Beautiful Places in the World”. Besides the medieval old town of Torun is the birthplace of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, who stopped the sun scientifically proving that the Earth moves around the Sun and not vice-versa, oh, it was more than four hundred years ago…

This city is famous also because of the gingerbread (pierniki)! According to the legend it has been produced since 13th century in Torun. Yes, the legend, but not the most romantic one:

Even the oldest men in Torun doesn’t remember who first started to mix rye flour and honey with spices. What we know for sure, is that in town lived lots of masters of baking ginger bread. But there was one, that did it especial good. He was the one that baked best ginger bread with various shapes and additionally was very modest and good man. He had one, beautiful daughter – Catherine which he loved very much. She was helping him with work in bakery.
One day Catherine’s father felt ill. From that time, nobody was baking and poverty started to bother them. Then, the father asked his daughter to try to bake ginger bread on her own. Catherine agreed and started to prepare everything what is needed for baking. She only couldn’t find a pan, made by her father. Because she wasn’t able to make new ones, she take a tin cup and started to make circles from paste and put them into an oven. When they were ready, she put them out. But they weren’t the same as baked by her father, they sticked together. Catherine was sad, thinking that nobody would buy such strange ginger bread. Unnecessary. They tasted even better than once beaked by her father, and people liked their shape, so the next day she sold them all.
After this, people were wondering what was the secret of such good ginger bread. Old hucksters said that except all what is needed to bake ginger bread; Catherine added her heart and love for her ill father. People liked that and from now on, started to name six circles sticked together Cathrines (there is also another legend about this, where it’s said that this form reminds about two loving hearts and two rings baked in gingerbread form). And so is nowadays, walking around Old City you can taste ginger bread named Catherines (Katarzynki).

And here are more legends; it’s a very good literature before sleep (it helps to create amazing dreams!).

Enough about legends, stories and adventures! Go there! Experience by yourself! In case you need some background information, here are some links: wikipedia, city web page, and visit Toruń web page.

What a strange name for a town?!

The map…

of Toruń

..I like this one!

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..almost an art!

..lovely woman…

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Art! =)

..well, it’s not a church, but cinema! =)

What is it? =)

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Oh, is this a leaning Tower of Pisa?! =)

No, this one is older!

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Piernikarka Toruńska…

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Wow! They promote reading?! I love it!

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..creazy building!

..real art…

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The dog Filuś guarding his master’s (Professor Filutek) belongings…

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Poor violin player, who restrained frogs and saved the city!

..special cat?

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Spanish donkey… There is a story behind it!

In Japanese garden… Well, it’s very small…

And here comes famous Nicolaus Copernicus…

His house, where he was born…

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One look in his workroom… =)

Bookstore! =)

And then I needed to come back to…

See you around!

© Hobbit

 

Be prepared for Museum night!

Here is nothing more to add. On Saturday be ready to go and visit at least one museum (because many people will be there and it’s could be even quite hard to find a place where to take a breath!)… That’s why you need to be prepared:

• Check museum, galleries and culture institutions event offer, opening hours BEFORE… For those who lives in Wroclaw or plans to visit, the plan in PDF is here, the other – here.
• Check also public transport routes and timetable, because there is some special trams and buses… About Wroclaw – here.
• Find some company! Together it’s more fun! But I can’t deny that it’s also interesting to enjoy the arts alone… Choose as you want. =)
• Prepare some sandwiches (if you don’t know how to prepare them, check the shelf No.641 – it’s about cooking) and tea, or better coffee; because this event takes time and you will need some strength!
• Then you are ready! Oh, don’t check the weather forecast, because everything will happen no matter if it’s rain or not!

Good luck! =)

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Have some adventures too! ^^

© Hobbit

 

Little Prague > Kłodzko

It was just one-day-trip. But the great one! ^^ I brought few pictures to share my point of view and perspective. Here I need to add that I had two wonderful companions, who borrowed their camera, because I forgot mine… Trips bring people together allowing to discover something unusual in them, that’s why – let’s travel!

This is a short introduction about this town (hi-hi, noticed that this is not a city?) in Lower Silesia that is situated in the centre of the Kłodzko Valley on the Nysa Kłodzka river – Kłodzko, with 28,517 inhabitants (2012) is the main commercial centre as well as an important transport and tourist node for the area. For its historical monuments it is sometimes referred to as “Little Prague” (because of the bridge! It’s really similar!) – a Gothic bridge, often called a “Charles Bridge in miniature” due to its resemblance to one of the most notable historical monuments of Prague. The bridge survived flood in 1997. The legend is that the bridge is made from eggs components. In the centre of Kłodzko is an impressive medieval castle (it’s quite expensive to get in!), besides town’s architecture suffered little during World War II, and culturally and traditionally it’s more part of Bohemia, although administratively it has been a part of Silesia since 1763.

The first view on Kłodzko

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Something old!

Rynek

Oh! Colourful houses!

Looks like in Egypt…

And “pillory”

It’s an arrow?

City center

An arch, old…

View from the Bridge – a smaller copy of The Charles Bridge in Prague

The Bridge

And river again…

This is the Castle Hill…

..up, up, up!

And then you have a view to the city!

Oh!

In Kłodzko live artists!

Peaceful walk next to the river…

A small waterfall…

In Kłodzko they love animals!

And you can find cats…

..more & more…

The best – they are highbrow! ^^

More tourist attractions:

• Stronghold – a unique fortress on a high rock overlooking the city, first erected on this spot in the 9th century. During the reign of King Frederick the Great, it was one of the largest fortresses in Prussia.
• City tunnels – parts of the tunnels constructed under the city since 13th century are open for the public
• The Church of Assumption – one of the most notable examples of Gothic architecture in present Poland, constructed by the Johanites in 14th century;
• Marian Column – located in what was formerly called the Ring, or the town square. It depicts the Blessed Virgin Mary and was constructed after a plague in 1625. This is a common sight in many other cities and towns that once belonged to the Habsburg Monarchy.

© Hobbit

Information of course comes from Wikipedia!

 

The Pearl of Lower Silesia…

As you know that 1st of May is a holiday in Poland, it means – free day for me! =) I decided to change the usual conditions and the environment, so I took my legs over the shoulders and went towards the nearest castle outside of Wroclaw to imagine that I am a rich lady! ^^

The chosen target was… ZAMEK KSIĄŻ. Well, “zamek” means “castle”, but “książ” – have no clue! But according to Wikipedia, it’s a castle in Silesia, in a small town Wałbrzych (lovely!). The castle was built at the end of 13th century. It’s surrounded by protected area called Książ Landscape Park. Very beautiful!

There was some festival of flowers (more for flower breeders), that’s why it was very crowded and also full of floristic art pieces. Still I enjoyed time there and is highly recommend to visit this place! ^^

Here I offer my virtual tour, but if you have higher expectations and requirements, then here is the official webpage with a virtual tour: Zamek Książ. ^^

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© Hobbit

 

3rd of May – what’s so special in this day?

3rd of May is a National holiday in Poland, when Poles celebrate Święto Konstytucji 3 Maja, in English its May-3rd-Constitution Day. As many sources in the Internet depth inform, then it is a day, when people in Poland celebrate the declaration of the Constitution of May 3, 1791. In this day in the capital of Poland – Warsaw it’s celebrated more than in regions with parades and speeches.

Greetings to everyone in Święto Konstytucji 3 Maja! ^^

According to British historian Norman Davies, then The Constitution of Poland is the document as “the first constitution of its type in Europe”, while other historians call it the world’s second oldest codified constitution after the U.S. Constitution, which had come into effect in 1789. The Constitution of May 3 was adopted as a “Government Act” by the Great Sejm (parliament) of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch) in 1791 and this document remained in force for only 14 months and 3 weeks, still the Constitution of May 3, 1791, was seen over the next 123 years as an important step toward the eventual restoration of Poland’s sovereignty.

The Constitution of the Republic of Poland (April 2, 1997)

The current Constitution of the Republic of Poland was confirmed and adopted in April 2, 1997. Unfortunately there is no information about libraries, still it’s an interesting document to read and know! ^^

© Hobbit

Read more about it in Polish World and wikipedia (Constitution of Poland).

P.S. As I observe then in the reality people… well, they celebrate/spend this day as they want. Still there are some common features: they are buying a lot of alcohol (both the bear and something stronger like vodka and similar Polish drinks like “Krupnik” (it’s a sweet alcoholic drink similar to a liqueur, based on grain spirit and honey) and “Wiśniówka” (it’s kind of colored vodka with cherry flavor)), and also things for barbecue – usually outdoor barbecue season starts at the beginning of May. The most patriotic feeling everyone can receive from flags, which are hung on buildings.

 

Not only tulips and windmills… Poetry!

Synonym for “spring” is “season of love”… Don’t you agree? Flowers are blooming, birds are singing and looking for a partner, sun is playing with people (or it’s just the weather again?)… Everything is so… hmm… sweet! That’s why Mediateka cooperates with the Dutch Language Department of the University of Wroclaw, well, Mediateka is a partner, but!

The poetry evening will be held in Mediateka today! =) You are welcome!

More about this Festival of Dutch and Flemish culture (Festiwal Kultury Holenderskiej i Flamandzkiej) you can read here… Meanwhile in Mediateka you can reveal a small exhibition made by Ewa who is an intern here. Check it out! ^^

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© Hobbit

 

Libraries… ^^

Uppsala, Sweden

Kłodzko, Poland

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© Hobbit

 

Traveller in Mediateka

On Saturday Mediateka hosted meeting with a famous Polish traveller Wojciech Cejrowski. Why he is famous? I don’t know, but I can guess – he travelled a lot, was in many scary, strange and unknown places on the Earth, wrote about his travels and… became famous!? But there must be something else… some kind of charisma. On Saturday’s evening I came to Mediateka, find a place (using my best skills, because there were a lot of people!) from which I could hear and see the traveller Cejrowski and also observe audience… There were more than 100 people sitting and standing and Wojciech Cejrowski took his audience in the first few minutes. Maybe it was because he set his own rules about this meeting, for example, he allowed make pictures just first three (five) minutes of meeting, and later it was forbidden. The audience obeyed him and even if there were some, who didn’t in the first few minutes, he convinced them.

I know that everyone, who wasn’t there wants to know what he talked about. Well, everything was in Polish, that’s why it was quite challenging to follow and understand everything. I catched few ideas, here they are:

• Communication is very important, and main channel of communication, which is wider, more opened, its eyes. We have just four main tastes: sweet, salty, bitter, sour, so there is nothing more to talk about. Also gestures are limited and are not the same in all places in the world (example of “yes” and “no” in Poland and Bulgaria, where this gesture is opposite). So, it leads just to eyes as unique and universal communication channel, no matter in which language you speak.
• Verbal communication in the same language sometimes is impossible, for example between woman and man, because they have different ways of thinking, even nature of thinking is different; women are collectors; they collect and save everything what may be useful, while men have just one thought – aim, direction. The best example is to observe women and men shopping behaviour. He also stressed that women have emotional thinking.
• In Guatemala, countries in Africa, in China etc. people were more colours then here, in Europe. Maybe there is some connection between colours and positive thinking and attitude? Still, there are four main colours they use: red (fire, warmth, and sun), green (it’s not a colour, it is grass…), blue (sky, water, peace) and yellow (bees…). People perceive rhythm and harmony.
• He described his meeting with tribe of cannibals. It was interesting and a little bit disgusting. Some insights: cannibals don’t eat people; they eat others, those who are different, and not very often, just from time to time. And a man’s meat tastes similar like pork, just sweeter, that’s why they eat pork’s meat with honey.
• More philosophical thought: there are three main questions in man’s life: Who I am? Who I want to be? Who I suppose to be?

There was also time for questions from audience, like which is your favourite place? What is most important in your life? What was the most frightening moment? Do you consider involving in politics? Etc. After presentation was time to get an autograph and make a picture! Almost everyone wanted Cejrowski signature in his personal book. Also Mediateka get some! ^^

Now I think that Wojciech Cejrowski is an artist too, a self-confident personality, who do what he likes with passion, that’s why he is passionate traveller in the first place!

I don’t posit that everything here is direct quotation, just main ideas and topics. Now it’s time to start plan some trip… Is there any undiscovered and unexplored place in Poland?

© Hobbit

More information about him in Wojciech Cejrowski web page; about his books & videos in Mediateka – here.