Krakow – Art Galleries

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As I mentioned yesterday, I was looking to visit some Art Galleries while in Krakow.  However, there are many ‘Museums’ in the city and it wasn’t clear which would have what I was looking for.  So I popped into the Tourist Information Centre, where a young lady swiftly put 5 crosses on one of her free maps. (The map was upside down so I was very impressed with her knowledge of the city – especially when I subsequently discovered that each one was precisely marked!)

My plan was to visit 2, maybe 3, so I set off for the furthest away, which was the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow (or MOCAK for short).  There I discovered a particular exhibition of sculptures by Krzysztof M. Bednarski entitled Karl Marx vs Moby Dick.  (Now there’s a match you don’t see every day).  I’ve shown only a few of his items below, but what that man cannot do with heads of Marx and metal shapes representing a whale is not worth knowing about.

Note that I’ve split this post into the different galleries that I visited, so don’t forget to page further down…  🙂

Next up was the National Museum.  Here there were a number of different themes, including some Henry Moore sculptures, various arts and crafts and an extensive collection of works by the prolific Stanislaw Wyspianski.

I still had some time to spare so I wandered along to the Jozef Czapski Pavilion.  Here I was a little disappointed.  There are one or two paintings on display, but the building is a sort of annexe to the Emeryk Hutten-Czapski Museum.  It houses an important collection of Polish coins and medals, which is OK if you like that sort of thing…

Just around the corner was, perhaps my favourite of them all, the EUROPEUM or Centre for European Culture.  This was to be the last I visited.  (The 5th is above the Cloth Market or Sukiennice in the Main Square in case you ever decide to visit).  And, I think it’s perhaps fitting, given the reason I went to Krakow, that the last image is of the inside of a Tavern!  🍻 Cheers!

 

 

Krakow, Poland – Old Town

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Most people who visit Krakow pay a visit to Auschwitz or the Salt Mines, or both.  However, I was looking to do something a little less moving and I’m sure the Salt Mines are impressive, but…  As many readers may recall, I like a good Art Gallery, but they were all closed on Mondays, so I had to content myself with a wander around the Old Town.

There are several impressive buildings in the centre of Krakow, not least of which is Wawel Castle and there are many, many churches.  With plenty of time to spare, I popped inside a few and you cannot fail to be amazed at the awe inspiring décor.

 

Krakow – Stag weekend

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I’ve just returned from a fabulous extended weekend in Krakow, Poland.  I was invited by my future son-in-law, Karl, to participate in his Stag weekend together with his dad, his 3 younger brothers and 3 of his best friends.  We arrived on Friday night and after a few beers, (of course), found a nice restaurant and a few more beers in a local bar.

The following morning, it was down to a nearby Park for the 5k (3 mile) Parkrun which started at 9am. I wasn’t going to run (due to my dodgy calf), but decided to give it a go.  It lasted about 4.5k before I had to nurse it along to the finish to be 125th out of the 201 runners and 3rd of the 6 of our group who ran.  🙂  I mention this ‘result’ because the next event was Go-Karting, where I was soundly beaten into last place!  It seems Karl and his brothers played the Super-Mario Karting game a lot when they were younger and Karl always chose to be Yoshi.  So Karl was suitably dressed up for the occasion – as he was for the trip to the Games pub in the Old Town for the après-Kart celebrations.

After a nice breakfast and a quiet walk around the Old Town on the Sunday morning, it was down to the Bull Pub to watch the Liverpool v Burnley Premier League match.  The guys had to leave by 6pm to catch their flight back to the UK, but I stayed on for two more days and I’ll post some more pics of that tomorrow…

 

Mont d’Orge, Sion, Switzerland

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Sion, (pronounced Cee-on, as in Sea-on, by the way), is the capital of the Swiss canton of the Valais, which is in the south west, french speaking, part of the country.  It has around 30,000 inhabitants and a football team in the Swiss Super League.  Due to its position in the fertile Rhone valley, it has a rich and wonderful history going back to Prehistoric times.  It’s perhaps best known now for its two 13th century hilltop fortifications – the Basilique de Valère and Chateau de Tourbillon.

However there is a 3rd hill close by, called Mont d’Orge, which also has a ruined castle or chateau on top.  It can easily be reached from the railway/bus station and, for added interest, there is a small lake to the north, which teems with wildlife in the summer.  (See information sheet, pic 21, for a list, in French, of some of the creatures found thereabouts).

I’d read about this walk some years ago in a Rother walking guide, but had never done it, until yesterday.  Sadly the skies were a little dull for good photography, but I’ve done my best.

Those clever Swiss people have made best use of the geography by setting out a fitness trail up and around it’s sides.  (See pics 4, 15, 16 & 17 below).  I also stumbled across a yellow flower which my research suggests, (please let me know if I’m wrong), is either a Yellow Star-of-Bethlehem or an Early Star-of-Bethlehem.  If it’s the latter, then this is a very rare flower in the UK (where it’s also known as the Radnor Lily) as it only grows at Stanner Rocks in Radnorshire, Central Wales.  They believe that there are only 1,000 plants, of which only 1% flower each year.  However, it is quite widespread across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

Last, but not least, I spotted a signpost with a plaque (pic 29) which shows that I was on one of the Swiss links to the famous Way of St James or Camino de Santiago de Compostela.   That makes it a little over 1,900 km to my good friend Arthur’s house. 😊

 

Great Haywood Junction, nr Stafford, England

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Last week Judith and I were back in the UK visiting our respective families.  While in the Midlands, we had a few hours to spare, so we decided to take a walk along the canal near Great Haywood Junction.   Though I should really say canals, as that’s where the Trent and Mersey canal meets the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal.  It’s like a T junction – see first pic showing a map of the area.

As you will see, it was a pretty grey day, but there’s always something interesting to photograph – not least, in this instance, Shugborough Hall and the fascinating design of Essex Bridge.  Twice I had to step to one side into one of the V shapes ‘laybys’ – once for a jogger and the second time for 3 ladies on horseback.  It was clearly a popular route. 🙂

Kunsthaus Art Museum, Zurich

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Regular readers and some people who I follow will know that I like a good painting.  So when Judith spotted that our hotel was just around the corner from the Kunsthaus and that entry was free every Wednesday, we just had to pop in for a browse around.  As you can see from my not so random sample of photos below, they have a wonderful selection of paintings and exhibits on display.

 

Zurich

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With a certain festive period approaching, Jude and I took ourselves off to Zurich for a few days to find some ‘different’ presents.   I’d been there before to run the marathon, but I hadn’t really had time to explore the city and I have to say that we were both very impressed with how organised and quiet it was.  It was more like a large village than a big city.  It was also nice to see the wooden Christmas market stalls and the streets decorated with more lights than you could ever count.

 

Lingmoor Fell Walk, English Lake District

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Our good friends, Ian, Martin and Jan came over to see us at the end of the week, also staying in Hawkshead for a few days.  Jude and I had done this particular walk up Lingmoor three and a half years ago and enjoyed it very much, so it seemed a good route for me to take the three of them.  It’s only a small hill at 470m or 1,542ft above sea level, but again it affords excellent views of the surrounded fells – on a clear day of course!

We hadn’t expected great weather and indeed it was very grey for the first hour or so.  But, as we neared the summit, all the clouds above us seemed to part and disappear and we had fabulous views all around.  Our walk was about 6 miles or 10km long, with an overall ascent of approximately 400m or 1,300ft.

Perhaps a little known fact (again for you quizzers or simply the curious out there) is that only one of the 16 ‘lakes’ in the Lake District is called a lake – i.e. Bassenthwaite Lake.  All the others are either Waters or Meres, as in Ullswater or Windermere.
For more information on these ‘bodies of water’ check out this Visit Cumbria website.

Place Fell Walk, English Lake District

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For our second walk we chose to drive over the Kirkstone Pass to Patterdale in the north east of the Lake District.  Often smaller peaks give you a much better all round view of the distant hills and Place Fell at 657m or 2,156ft did not disappoint.

Our route started from the car park in the village and ascended to Boredale Hause, before turning left (north) to the summit.  From there we turned north-east and descended around High Dodd to the east side of Ullswater.  An undulating path then returned us alongside the lake to Patterdale.  In total the walk was 7 miles long with an overall ascent of 550m or 1,800ft.

Imagine our surprise when we (well, Jude) spotted 2 Alpine Club plaques on the side of a building next to the school – one of which was Swiss!  It seems the former school canteen, which subsequently became Parish Rooms, have been turned into a bunkhouse.  It was officially opened on 4th October 1975 and named the George Starkey Hut, after a former member who had recently passed away.  It has 20 beds and can be hired by recognised clubs and organisations.  For more information read here.