Song of the Day: 'The Cherry Tree Carol' by Mark Lanegan

Just find this tune incredibly beautiful.  Have known about Mark Lanegan for years (mainly in passing) going back to his days in Screaming Trees, but this is the first time I've got round to giving his solo stuff a sustained listen, and what a treasure trove I'm opening.

Szczebrzeszyn (Eastern Poland): The Old Religious Column

The small column above is the oldest religious artefact in Szczebrzeszyn.  Despite the fact that it is a very old Catholic  piece of art, my wife tells me that the four faces at the top of the column are an echo back to a four-faced pre-Christian god:

Don't know if what my wife says is true or not, but the column is certainly a curiosity:

And at times, it's difficult to work out what the old engravings actually depict, as below:

Song of the Day: 'Gravedigger's Song' by Mark Lanegan

Can't stop playing this tune at the moment as it's a belter: the drumming is phenomenal and the vocals the trademark profoundly laid-back.  If I'm still in Warsaw in February, I'll hopefully be going seeing Mark Lanegan at the Klub Progresja. 

Olomouc: A Beautiful Church Door

On my way down to the marketplace, river and city walls in Olomouc, I ran into the beautiful church above.  What was remarkable about this church was the arched entrance with it's beautiful wooden door below:

A closer look at the wooden door/entrance manages to capture a bit more of its carved beauty:

And with a certain amount of difficulty, I managed to get a fuller shot of the church itself, another gem that I just ran into in Olomouc city centre:

A Snail Crossing the Road in Szczebrzeszyn, (Eastern) Poland

Love this shot of a snail slowly crossing the road in the sleepy little town of Szczebrzeszyn in eastern Poland.  Fortunately for the snail, it was given a helping hand to the other side of the road, so that it didn't get run over or stood on.

St. Wenceslas Cathedral Museum, Olomouc, Czech Republic

St. Wenceslus Cathedral museum (above) is well worth a one or two-hour visit, especially on Sunday when it's free to get in.  As usual with a cathedral, I was drawn towards the cloister courtyard:

Which had an incredibly deep well:

The cloister hallway and ceiling was full of frescos:

But it was the statue of Christ in Gethsemane that mainly caught my eye:

While on the way out, it was the statue of St. Peter with a tonsure that caught my attention:

St. Wenceslas Cathedral (Olomouc, Czech Republic)

Above, we're heading for St. Wenceslas Cathedral in Olomouc, and when it came into view (below), it really was quite spectacular:

Outside, it reminded me somewhat of Canterbury Cathedral in Kent (I lived in Canterbury between 1999 and 2003).  In particular, the medieval window(s) caught my eye:

And I couldn't get enough of the front of the Cathedral:

Yeah, for artistic beauty, St. Wenceslas Cathedral in Olomouc was right up there with Canterbury Cathedral.