Passed this small church, which is near the St. Faustina church complex in the Wolska district of Warsaw, a few weeks ago.
The church entrance seemed to be through a smallish wall rather than a big grand church:
Would've really liked to have seen what the small church looked like inside.
Kotek was keen to investigate a plant that had some degree of protection at its base. Not long after, he was seeking to breach the plant's defences:
And finally, Kotek was trying to pull the plant over:
Due to the Covid restrictions, with quite a few others, I ended up listening to the old Latin Mass outside the Redemptorist church in the Wolska district of Warsaw.
Still, through being in the side garden of the church, it was interesting to see memorabilia of the Redemptorists in Warsaw:
If only my Polish was better, I would've enjoyed reading all about this:
Shortly after leaving the Redemptorist church grounds, as usual, I stopped for a few moments at a war memorial:
Small monuments like this devoted to Poles who lost their lives during the 2nd World War can be seen all round Warsaw.
Kotek also takes an active interest in the pussy willow kind of thing which sticks out of the bowl of cress:
After a couple of months of not drinking them, I reacquainted myself with the two Perła beers recently:
Having drunk a host of other beers over the preceding weeks, both the Perła beers tasted a bit sweet, to be honest. But through them being up at about 6.2% and 5.7% in alcohol, I guess that this was a bit to be expected.
Must admit that I do enjoy this beer-tasting hobby.
What I really liked about this lager was the subtle hoppy taste, and at 5.2%, it was the perfect mid-range alcohol strength for me.
Have just read that the Źłoty Łan brewery is based in the village of Kokanin, near the small city of Kalisz in central Poland.
I passed this crucifix near the Shrine of St. Faustina in the Wolska district of Warsaw a couple of Sundays ago:
Upon closer inspection, I saw that there was a picture of John Paul II on the base of the crucifix:
This is my Polish Intermediate coursebook. My wife bought me it as a birthday present about 15 years ago when I was nowhere near ready for this level. About 2-3 years ago, I started teaching myself Polish in earnest after largely ignoring it for years, and now the coursebook is more or less perfect for my level.
What I like about this coursebook is that it takes a lexical approach focusing on vocabulary rather than grammar:
Of course, I like the parts that contain pictures the best, as they appeal to the visual imagination.
Really like this owl mural on the side of a block of flats in Warsaw, as it almost blends in with the bushes in front of it.
Also really like the colourful mural on the side of an office block in the Wolska district of Warsaw below:
This mural adds some colour to an average cityscape.
A few months ago, I passed the Baptist church in Warsaw which is located in the Jewish Ghetto area of the city. This again showed me that alongside the mainstream Catholic Church, many smaller Protestant denominations do exist in Poland.
No rocket science here, just a decent salad sandwich:
The sandwich could've done with having lettuce and tomato on too, but it was still good without them containing cheese; egg; cucumber; beetroot; and red pepper.
Homemade lemonade from the kitchen during summer in eastern Poland :
This helped to wash down a very nice lunch of vegetarian sausage, potatoes, and salad:
I went to the Adoration of the Cross at a local Catholic Church on Friday evening:
For about an hour, periods of meditation were juxtaposed with beautiful religious music. The latter was done in Polish with a medieval-type flavour which produced a positive, hypnotic effect something like Gregorian chant. Moreover, I felt massively uplifted after the Adoration of the Cross.
It seemed like ages since I'd last visited Warsaw Citadel, down by the water channel that runs through the centre of it:
It was the first time I'd seen the basket-type swan sculptures down there:
The tree below seems to have been fashioned into some kind of New Age shrine:
Occasionally, I've seen groups of teenagers putting candles inside this tree, possibly doing some kind of pagan rituals.
I've been told recently that the tunnel below runs for quite some distance:
Quite like the cat graffiti below, which I saw just before exiting the Citadel:
I had to pop in the Jewish cemetery to use the toilet while out walking one Sunday afternoon in Warsaw.
When looking at the water pump closely, what really caught my eye was the water cup on top of it:
I'm not 100% sure, but it looks like the visitors at the cemetery may be able to still get a drink of water here:
Passing a wonderful Marian statue on the way down to Warsaw Old Town recently:
Really like the way that the Polish national flag is positioned alongside the statue.
After about a year or so without delving into it, I reopened G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown Stories last week.
Still being in the first section, The Innocence of Father Brown, I read The Wrong Shape which is about 15 pages long. Like The Secret Garden, the villain of The Wrong Shape is a secularist who is sceptical about the supernatural realm of life. However, after Dr. Harris kills Quinton, a satirical Romantic figure fascinated by all things Indian and Oriental, because he loves Quinton's wife, he discovers that there's something beyond and high above naturalism, as he suffers the pangs of guilt and remorse. This reminded me of Dostoyevsky's celebrated exploration of the psychology of guilt and remorse in Crime and Punishment which I read more than 30 years ago.
The context of The Wrong Shape which revolves around Quinton's obsessive interest in Indian and Oriental mysticism reminds me of Chesterton's Orthodoxy, which I read about 25 years ago, as it points towards Buddhism and other forms of Eastern mysticism lacking the physical reality/substance of orthodox Christianity (i.e. the Incarnation, Trinity, Transubstantiation etc., the belief in God becoming man to remain with us in the tabernacle).
Just recently, I've had two different beers from the Amber brewery which is based in the village of Bielkówko, not far from Gdańsk, in northern Poland.
My favourite one was the hoppy lager below which was 5% in alcohol:
What was wonderful about this lager was that the hoppy taste was very subtle and in no way overpowering.
The Amber Johannes lager below was 6.5% in alcohol:
Despite a distinct sweet taste, this beer was quite smooth to drink, although it did take me over an hour to neck it down.
The first two pictures below show the main symbol of an abortionist group in Poland being covered over by Christian crosses on the streets of Warsaw:
A Polish friend explained that the 'three red downward arrows' insignia below may represent the extreme left Antifa organisation which many people consider to be a terrorist group:
Whatever it represents, the political symbol seems to have been given a no entry sign by some Legia Warsaw fans.
My staple meal is carrots; potatoes; sweet potato; aubergine; courgette; broccoli etc. with cheese melted and a spicy vegetable burger mixed in:
To spruce things up, I always pour olive oil over the cooked vegetables, and sometimes sprinkle the meal with beetroot in dill and mix capers or olives in with it.
Found this Pilsener a bit unusual, because it had a darkish colour:
Moreover, the flavour of the beer seemed to change dramatically while drinking it. Despite Jagiełło Pilsener only being 5% in alcohol, my first sips of it reminded me of a barley wine (a much stronger drink). However, by the time I'd got through about a third of the drink, it had a nice, subtle, Pilsener kind of taste and I really enjoyed it.
Have just read that the Jagiełło brewery is located in the village of Pokrówka in the Chełm area of the Lublin voivodship in eastern Poland. Hats off to this brewery for making a truly memorable beer.
Got this Serbian beer because I liked the stag logo on the beer bottle:
The beer was about 5% alcohol but was very light to drink and refreshing in taste.
Have just read that the Apatin Brewery, where Jelen is made, dates back to the 18th century. I think that I may've drunk Jelen on draught a good few years ago while on holiday in Montenegro.
Passed this monument to Jewish victims of the 2nd World War, near the Jewish Museum in Warsaw, some time ago:
As can be seen below, Jewish visitors, often from Israel, leave stones (or on this occasion, bricks) on top of such monuments:
The triangle shape of another monument nearby made it impossible for any bricks/stones to be left on top of it:
So, it looks like a brick has been left at the side of it.
