A January Day...

The IWG (International Women's Group) that I belong to toured The Royal Palace in Warsaw's Old Town. Though Mark and I toured this site on my birthday about 6 months ago, I thought I would still learn something and enjoy going again. 

I was not disappointed...

It was quite a snowy day...I took a new tram, and was so proud of myself for doing so....until I found out I had taken the tram going the wrong direction.  But eventually I made it to the Royal Palace.

When I came up the stairs and saw the old town square...I thought this site was spectacular! It was incredibly quiet, and white, white everywhere...hardly anyone in sight!

The Christmas tree caught my attention, as it was January 18th...
I have learned that many Christmas decorations stay up until the end of January here. 

In spite of taking the wrong tram, I made it into the palace just in time to join my group. 

In June, Mark and I took a self-guided tour of the palace.  This time we had a tour guide. 

The Royal Palace in Warsaw is a monument to Polish history and culture. What amazes me is that this building did not exist 30 years ago...It was destroyed, along with most of Warsaw, at the order of Hitler during the German occupation here in WWII.  It was very sad to hear about what happened.

But the people of Poland and others helped to rebuild it...to remember and honor a long period of Poland's history.

It was so interesting to observe things on this trip that I had not noticed in our trip in June.

 In so many rooms I noticed very interesting clocks.  Here is an interesting clock on one of the fireplace mantels. The clock is actually on the chariot wheel. 

 I hadn't really noticed the beautiful wood floors on our previous visit. But today they really caught my attention. The patterns changed from time to time but they were all so beautiful!

 What looks like a large black urn is really another clock...in the gold band near the top there are Roman numerals for the hours, and a snake that drapes around the urn and points to the current hour!

Another interesting clock on a mantle...the clock is in the center of this little statue...this time the hour numbers are in the white band near the top.

I love seeing familiar places in and around Warsaw..but now surrounded by the white snow...

it was cold, but so beautiful!

 As I left the Royal Palace, I noticed a few more people were out and about. 

 The other side of the large Christmas tree, in January.

Coming across the open area of Old Town was a group of children that looked like they were on a field trip.  I have seen many groups of children here in Poland and I smile each time...wondering where they are going.

I think children are the same everywhere...excited, laughing, and having fun outside of the classroom!

 Since coming to Poland and not working, I get the chance to have lunch or dinner with Mark in town. I try to meet him once a week...so today was a perfect time!

It can be an adventure traveling but I have learned to travel quite well on the buses, trams and metro rails.

This was the first time I had seen the area near Mark's office  blanketed in snow...it was grey, foggy, and white...but quite beautiful too!

 I had never seen the Cultural Palace without seeing the clock at the top...but today there was

so much fog that seeing the clock was impossible!

 One would really have to like white, black and grey to appreciate these scenes...but I think they are beautiful!

I like this view from Mark's office...it is one of the first sights I remember from coming to Warsaw last February...though there was no snow then.  A year ago this view seemed so foreign to me...but now it is very familiar! 

At the far end of this picture, where the trees in the middle come to an end is where I get off the Metro and walk towards Mark's office and the mall. I make this walk quite often...I didn't realize the distance but from this view it looks like I get quite the exercise!

On my way home now, here is the 2nd set of steps -54 of them- leading down to our home...all covered with a lot of snow! The sand/salt had not been scattered yet but I made it down safely! I am happy to say we have not had one slip or fall!

 Lots and lots of snow... for me it continues to be a new adventure.

I am always grateful to be in our nice, cozy home...especially after being outdoors in the cold.  

This week (Jan 29) our temps are going to be 0 F for lows and 6 F for highs...I can't imagine what that will feel like...but I will soon find out!

We have a "Date"...

For one of our 2012 goals...we will have a date night once a week...and we are determined to actively work on this goal! One week Mark plans the date and the next week I plan. Last week it was my turn for planning, so I investigated and found a place for us to go bowling!

The bowling location was quite close to our home, though we did need to drive to get there. It was in a mall nearby, the Galeria Mokotów...and it was clean and smelled clean too...sans tobacco smells like in some US bowling centers.

I think it has been a year since I went bowling and I had a very good first game and Mark had a great second game!

We brought our own bowling shoes with us from Houston... so we think it was quite an inexpensive "date" to bowl here.

Happy day for weekends and a little bit more time together. Bowling in Warsaw was fun....We're sure we will return again one weekend. 

So...

This weekend we went to the Warsaw Symphony, and would have posted pictures but no cameras were allowed. We had a wonderful time...and even survived walking to the Metro and to home in "feels like" -4 degrees! 

I just love "quality time" together!

Blue Sky and Sunshine!

 Last Tuesday, before noon, we had blue sky and sunshine! 

Why do I post this?

The last time we had blue sky and sunshine was over a week ago!

 Once I saw the blue sky, I stopped what I was doing and decided I needed to go for a walk before the blue sky disappeared (which happens often)! I walked over to the park across from our neighborhood. 

I was not alone because I soon heard and saw many others enjoying the outdoors like me!

 The park has a number of small ponds...and here they are frozen!

 These dry, colorless bushes actually look pretty with a dusting of snow...

 It was fun to see these few birds walking on top of the frozen pond!

 Ahhhh....some color amidst the brown and white!

Here is a hill that I walked by...

what caught my attention were children's voices yelling "ready, set, go"....

and then sliding down the hill.  When they got to the bottom of the hill they began speaking Polish. Interesting how they acquired that phrase in English for such a fun activity as sledding!

 There was actually one pond not frozen, and many people were walking by...feeding the ducks, strolling, and catching some sunshine like me!

 Throughout the city there are numerous boxes like the one above. Though they have been out for a number of weeks, they have only been used recently...

The boxes are filled with sand and maybe salt also. The sand/salt is scattered on steps, walkways, and sidewalks. I'm grateful for the sand...it makes walking a bit easier...but it also makes quite dirty snow and slush! 

Mark often says I am beginning to sound Polish when I talk of the blue sky and sunshine. I never realized it was such a treat until I go for days without blue sky and sunshine! 

How lucky I am to enjoy such a simple activity on a January day! 

It's Winter in Warsaw

For the past 10 days, we have had snow daily! 

Winter has finally arrived in Poland! 

 I have not experienced snow like this since living in Utah...
going to BYU and teaching....that was a very long time ago!

śnieg jest zimny, ale naprawdę piękny! 

The snow is cold, but really beautiful! 

I told my Polish instructor I have a blog and she said it would be a good place

to practice writing in Polish :)

 Last week, I had some walking errands and since I try to walk daily...I decided it would be fun to see what our neighborhood looked like...the above picture shows the bottom of the steps we climb...

....and here is the park at the top of the stairs...with the US Ambassador's home in the background.

Notice there are no clear walkways through the park! 

When we went to an outdoor market on the north side of Warsaw, Mark surprised me with

a bouquet of white tulips.
I absolutely love white tulips!   White tulips in January!

Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku! Happy New Year...2012

Szczęśliwego

Nowego Roku! 

(New Year's Eve, Eve)

On Friday, December 30th (New Year's Eve Eve?) the YSAs (Young Single Adults) in our church put on a New Year's dance and families were all invited.  Mark and I went for 2-3 hours. We ate, danced and mingled.  They did a great job decorating and putting on a party!

Here we are with our good friend and member of the church we belong to... Alex! Mark is her home teacher and she is my visiting teacher.  Prior to the dance she announced where she will be serving a church mission...leaving March 6th for the Romania-Moldova Mission. We are thrilled for her, though we will miss her greatly!

Here we are joined by Dominik who has been called to be a missionary in the Tacoma, Washington mission (leaving May 1).  These young adults are strong members of the church and have been so kind to us since our arrival in Poland!
We are lucky to know both of them.

I've been working on saying "Happy New Year" in Polish....by the time

the night was over for us, I had it down..."Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku!

On Saturday, the last day of the year, we had snow for the 2nd time.  It wasn't snowing when we left home, but when we came up from the Metro....what a surprise to see real snow falling again...

Our New Year's Eve celebration was going to see the "Sherlock Holmes" movie, eating out at a restaurant and having a "game night" at home...not a typical Polish style.  It's a big deal in Poland to be at a party, or out seeing the fireworks, and celebrating the arrival of the new year...but we opted for something more low key, different, and warmer than seeing fireworks in 24-degree weather at midnight.

Little did we know our challenge would be finding a place to eat after the movie! 

Here we are at a table in the bar of the Westin Hotel. This was the 5th place we tried before we actually could sit down and eat something. We did not get the word that most restaurants are closed on New Year's Eve afternoon! Boy were we surprised! 

After checking out 4 other locations, we had the idea that a hotel restaurant might just be open...the restaurant at The Westin was closed until the evening, but they let us order food from the bar.  

Someone asked us why we were surprised that the restaurants were closed. Why?...because on all of the other public holidays they are open, and this was not even a holiday!  It makes sense actually, so that restaurant workers can enjoy the day also.  We did not know about this Polish tradition....but now we will know for next year.

Here we are heading home just after we boarded a tram...it's was about 4:30 pm and you can see it is dark and cold...we were happy to be going to our warm home and bringing in the new year there.

Fireworks were going off constantly around our home, neighborhood and city...we saw on the news a lot of parties outside and throughout the city...here's a picture looking toward Warsaw's Centrum area...welcoming in the new year. 

  

January 1, 2012

Our new year began with attending church...there was hardly anyone there...we assume a lot of late-night celebrating the night before. 

After church we decided to go for a walk in the park across the street from our neighborhood. 

It's a beautiful park even in the winter...I can't believe I have never walked throughout this park before.

The park was filled with ducks in the ponds and a lot of people were walking about like us.  The temperature was 36F, and we thought, if it was 36F in Houston people would be home...where it is warm!
Here, on the other hand....there were many people walking, feeding ducks and strolling through the park...we think maybe since our winter has been so mild and we had some sun today, people  were just enjoying  the outdoors like us.

A few Polish people have given us "winter advice".... even if it is cold, get out each day and get some daylight since our daylight is only for about 7.5 hours.  So we  are trying to get outside sometime each day before the sun goes down...at 3:30 pm.

Above the park there is an old palace that is now an art museum. During the summer and fall  we could not really see it even thought it's on a hill.  But with the trees bare, it is quite easily seen...and at night it is lit up also. We decided we should come up to the museum some time and visit.

This little statue was on the top of the steps leading into the museum.

As we walked around the park, we noticed that the tops of the ponds were partially frozen...and here are ducks...quite smart resting on an old wooden pallet in the middle of the pond.

Most bushes and trees are brown and bare, but these bushes with small white balls caught our attention...they look almost like popcorn...and are really quite pretty!

The back of the museum, which is on a hill, overlooks our neighborhood...you cannot see our home, but it would be a little further to the right in the picture above.

After the park we went back to homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner.  Perfect for a winter day.

We enjoyed our 1st day of 2012.  So simple...yet so pleasant!

The year 2011 was quite eventful for us...never did we imagine all the changes that would take place.

We look forward to 2012....making goals, working to accomplish them, and enjoying life in the process.