Warsaw: Some Faces from the Soviet Soldiers' Cemetery

Given Poland's historical relationship with Russia, it's not surprising that the Soviet soldiers' cemetery in Warsaw isn't mentioned that much.  However, my good friend, Dave Dealy, really wanted to visit the place when he visited me in Warsaw last month.

I'd visited the cemetery several times before but had never noticed that a few of the old graves actually contained pictures of the fallen soldiers:

It took Dave Dealy's keener eye for detail to notice this, and, suddenly, the whole place seemed a lot more humanised:

Slovenia: Divja Loka

Entered the medieval small town of Divja Loka over the river.

The town centre was full of interesting buildings:

Some of them containing very old-looking frescoes:

Then, we went up to the Castle on the hill overlooking the town:

And here I got some shots of the town below:

Ljubljana, Slovenia: The Cathedral and the Franciscan Church

After first mistakenly taking the Franciscan church above to be Ljubljana Cathedral, we headed towards the latter (below) over the river:

And at the Cathedral itself, I first saw the wonderful door below:

And the mural on the wall of the Cathedral:

Through coming from a politically-'correct' restrictive state (Britain), where open Christian symbolism is  actively discouraged in society, I always find it refreshing to breathe in the open Christian imagery freely found in the Catholic (and Eastern Orthodox) countries of continental Europe.

Just read that Saint Hermagoras was an early bishop in northern Italy, possibly from the Apostolic age:

And then I saw another cathedral door which I'd seen in some magazines  or newspapers (or on the Internet) before:

Had to get a close up of this cathedral door, as it may be the most stunning church/cathedral door I've ever seen.

Ljubljana, Slovenia: The Dragon Motif

Like Klagenfurt in Austria, which we'd visited a few days earlier, Ljubljana seemed to have a dragon motif, starting with the sculpture above which was perched on one of the city centre bridges.

Then, up on the Castle overlooking the city centre, I saw the mural below of St. George slaying the dragon on the Castle chapel wall:

In general, the Castle chapel was quite nicely decorated:

Warsaw: The Wooden Houses at Wielowiejska

When my good old friend Dave Dealy came over for the Kansas concert last month, we went down to the village of Wielowiejska, near Radosc  (on the road to Otwock) to look at the beautiful wooden houses down there. 

I would say that the wooden house below is probably my favourite:

But how do I know about these wooden houses on the outskirts of Warsaw?  Well, during the early days (2003-2005) of my stay in Warsaw, I used to go to the Old Latin Mass down here provided by the Society of St. Pius X (the priestly order founded by Archbishop Lefebvre):

 

Currently go to the Old Latin Mass at the Redemptorist church of St. Klemens Hofbauera at lower Wolska, Warsaw which saves me from having to make the massive journey down to Wielowiejska. 

Slovenia: Otoćec Castle

The day after visiting Ljubljana, I literally stumbled upon the incredible Otoćec Castle (above) while going to get a bottle of mineral water from a petrol station after eating breakfast at a local hotel:

After following the sign above, the first thing I saw was the misty riverside scene below:

And, of course, the magical-looking Castle on the other side of the river:

Below is the wooden bridge leading across to the Castle, but, unfortunately, it's privately owned and said to be not open to visitors:

Still, it was well worth a few shots from this side of the river.

Klagenfurt, Austria: A Few More Shots from the City Centre

Here's a few more shots from my recent visit to Klagenfurt city centre, starting with the statue of St. Sebastian:

Don't exactly know what the piece below represents but it's beauty-in-itself immediately caught my attention:

And below, there is the dragon symbol of Klagenfurt again:

Would also guess that the impressive building below may be the City Hall:

And, finally, I couldn't help but notice this Darwinian-type imagery from some kind of shop window: