Kyoto and Nara - analog pictures

KYOTO

Fushimi Inari Shrine - tunnels of red torii, beautiful nature of the Inari mountain and one of the few houses on the pathway.

NARA
...and its deers

Bosphorus ferry cruise

From Europe to Asia for lunch and back.

Afternoon in Nişantaşı's Theater

On the 9th of May, together with almost 30 out of 200 conference participants, I had a chance to watch a performance in one of the theaters of Istanbul. As it was one of European Universities Theatre Festival's event, the actors were from Marmara University Ada Dance Theatre Troupe. When we got on the bus, which was supposed to take us to the theatre, I was sure that we were going to the Asian side of Istanbul, where the Marmara University campus is located. I discovered very soon that we were not going to cross the bridge... but before I became really disappointed, it turned out that the theater that we were heading to was in Nişantaşı!

Nişantaşı is the quater of Istanbul, about which I've read before in Orhan Pamuk's books. This place is well known for art nouveau buildings, famous people living there and the most expensive shopping area in Turkey. It really doesn't feel like Istanbul there, rather like Madrid.

When our bus stopped near the theatre, we still had a lot of free time before the performance started. We walked for a while along the streets, one of them was full of ladies selling flowers. Meanwhile, I've stepped into Nişantaşı's shopping mall called City's and by chance, checked my mailbox on the computer in the main hall. How is it that people living in rich districts get internet for free even though they probably don't need it and people in average and poor districts have to pay for internet cafes?

Few minutes before 17:30 the performance entitled "Sections", was about to start in the theater called RÜŞTÜ UZEL STAGE. I was waiting in the main hall, chatting with some friends and eating pistachio chocolate, which is an important fact coz we don't have such invention in Poland! The other people waiting just like we did, were Turkish families - mostly women with children.
As soon as we entered the theater room, it was visible that more than 2/3 of seats was empty. Due to this fact, I was lucky enough to have a seat in the 2nd row.

The performance begun as it is shown in the picture above. Actually, there were many more hands moving under the curtain... I have few more pictures (none of them was taken by me) but it really doesn't make sense to publish them here. Instead of that I will write about my favourite part.
The performance was divided into sections, as the title suggests and there was no need to know Turkish language. There were parts about media, books, music, education, love, rape and few other... The most unforgettable scene for me was about Music. So, in that moment there were many actors on the stage and I can't really remember what was happening with one exception:
There was a tall, thin and long haired girl sitting on the chair. The guy standing behind her started acting as if he was a musician playing on a cello that the girl was pretending to be. The guy was holding the girl's hair straight up as if it was a fingerboard. He was also pretending to be holding a bow and playing, while she was moving her legs and hands in the air, in the rhythm of the music. This episode took a couple of minutes and was so expressive and energetic that I still can't believe it was real!!

Parts of the Cello :)

While writing this post I've found an official website of the Theater Troupe that performed:
http://www.danstiyatrosu.com
And what is even more, I've found a video, which is a kind of trailer and luckily the cello part also appears for a second:
http://www.danstiyatrosu.com/1videoeng.html
Also, the entire soundtrack was AMAZING but the only song I was able to recognize was:
Working Class Hero by Ozzy Osbourne

And here is the group picture that we took with the actors.
Can you see my happy face? :)

One... two... three days in Poznan!

One February weekend, when the snow was about to start melting on the streets, I went to visit my cousins - Ela and Ula - in Poznan.

Not many things have changed since we've seen each other during Christmas but entirely new were 2 board games that Ela bought few days before I got there. The 1st one - Power Grid - was the game which I already knew from the board games night in Porto and which I liked and kept on talking about so much that Ela didn't hesitate while ordering it. As Ela's set contained 4 different boards/maps, we've tried them all - Benelux, USA, Germany and Central Europe. I'm still looking forward to play on different maps that were published, such as Iberian Peninsula, Brazil, Nordic Countries or Italy.

Meanwhile, we also had to eat something so we did shopping in a nearby shop where we found something that totally surprised me - pasteis de nata - my favourite portuguese pastry!

The process of baking them is extremely simple (actually the Polish translation on the box says that the proper temperature is 275*C, while in English, German and Portuguese it says 250*C haha), the price is similar to those in Portuguese bakeries and what is the most important, they are as tasty as they should be!

If you were following my blog carefully during the last year, you should already know where the best Pasteis de Nata are being served - in Belem, close to Lisbon.

The 2nd board game was The Fury of Dracula - 2 players were vampire hunters trying to catch the 3rd player - Dracula, who was hiding and running away from them around Europe. At first the rules were very confusing for me. After Ela and Ula were Draculas in each game, it was my turn and we started kidding that probably I will ask them where should I hide my Dracula from them. It turned out that I was much better as the Dracula than I expected and I'm looking forward to play it again, even though I didn't like the game at the beginning.

Brussels - very sweet

Just when I got to the city center of Brussels on Sunday afternoon, I went straight ahead to take the following picture. I couldn't take it 2 nights before and so I've planned to come back there. I know, I know, not very spontaneous! On the way back, I unexpectedly came across one AEGEE girl, which was quite a nice suprise.

XXIst century - such an old building and such a new advertisement

Before departing back to Poland, I was suppoused to see my Belgian friend Sabrina. Before getting to the meeting point I got myself some frites to eat, while waiting at the Grote Markt . It turned out to be a typical habit of having a quick lunch in Brussels.

Eating frites at the Grote Markt

Sabrina is a very talkative person, what results with socialising with strangers easily or even bringing some of them with her. This time it was an Itallian girl who needed help with booking a hostel. After solving the problem and giving Sabrina's sister phone number to the girl, we hanged around the streets for a while. We came across the most famous Brussels' sculpture - Manneken Pis (A Peeing Boy), Royal Galleries of Saint Hubert - XIXth century shopping arcades, the Bouchers street with fancy restaurants, tried Belgian truffles and chocolates in a Chocolaterie. I brought some of those Belgian specialties to Poland but I think, they tasted better in Brussels.

Colorful copies of Manneken Pis in the chocolate shop window

Manneken Pis shaped flavoured chocolates - apple, mint, orange

When you don't see a friend for a long time, many things may change and sometimes even too many... This time Sabrina shared with me her experiences about studying in Istanbul and stories about the family that hosts her there.

Sweets, biscuits, chocolates, strangers and Sabrina

When Sabrina left, not to miss her train, Klaudia took me over and leaded to a romantic place. At least that's what she promised it to be like. The place turned out to be a few storey garage that has amazing views in all directions of Brussels. It reminded us of a movie Reality Bites, that we used to be crazy about as teenagers. The first scenes of it, take place on such roof and people are also taking pictures of themselves there.

Brussels just after sunset

As I still had some time to caught the bus, we stopped at Häagen-Dazs and Klaudia ordered those posh ice-cream for us in French. Obviously, as it usually happens, they didn't have the flavour she picked, so it took a while to decide about the other one.

Do you know that feeling, when just before the goodbye it doesn't feel as if it was a goodbye and you don't feel like going home? That was it.

Mazury - winter tale

Results of taking winter pictures with Olympus Trip 35.
My 2nd roll of film with it - expired Fuji Superia 400, 1/200.

Auschwitz

It took me some time of hesitation (exactly 2 months) whether I should make this post or not...
I suppose everybody knows what used to be hidden under the name Auschwitz.
I've been to that place for the first time as a 13 year old girl. I remember that it was a very hot and sunny day. The area of the former concentration camp was filled with people, not much older than me at that time, wearing blue and white hoodies. All of them were Jewish teenagers from different countries, who made all the way to Poland to participate in the March of the Living, which takes place in Auschwitz every year. Despite of the young age, most of them seemed to be aware of the tragic history of the place. They were moving from one building to another and discovering over and over again what happened there not such a long time ago, putting candles in some places in memory of the victims, crying...
In the afternoon, people who gathered in Auchwitz marched all together to Birkenau, another former concentration camp, located few kilometers away. When everybody got there, it was finally possible to notice with one sight how many people were really there. A lot. Before the sunset, many speeches took place... The aim of all of them was to make all those young people remember what happened there during the World War II.

Last year, I met a girl, living in the opposite side of Europe, who visited Auschwitz during her trip to Poland few years ago. She told me that she doesn't understand making this whole big fuss over visiting the Museum of Auschwitz (yes, nowadays it is called a museum) and that she didn't feel anything at all there. For her, it wasn't shocking, terrifying or even sad visiting those buildings, rooms or showers/gas chambers where people were dying.

Lately, it happened to me to visit Auschwitz once again after 10 years. This time, it wasn't sunny. It was cloudy, cold and everything was covered with snow. It was also crowded, I believe it's always crowded there, but with many different kinds of tourists: Polish, Chinese, German, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Dutch, French, British, American, Jewish, Catholic, Buddhist and so on... Each huge, medium or even tiny group had their own guide who seemed to be doing their best while telling all of the unbelievable stories.

I don't want to point at any specific group that I've mentioned (although I could), however, I started asking myself a question: Does everybody have to visit Auschwitz during their trip to Cracow/Poland/Middle-Eastern Europe? And does it really make people remember about the World War II crimes?
I have a sad feeling that for many people it's just a tick on their list of places to visit, not a place where they learn something. Nobody should consider going to Auschwitz as a trip to the museum. It is not a touristic sight. It is a very important lesson.

I've found this worth reading article after writing my post:
"The lesson I learnt at Auschwitz"
British Prime Minister - Gordon Brown

Olympus Trip 35

Let me introduce you a new member of my family - Olympus Trip 35 - made in Japan. As its name suggests, it loves travelling. A trip from Japan to Poland in Daniel's hand luggage wasn't a big deal for it and arrived at my home 2 days before Christmas.

Trying to be more serious, Olympus Trip 35 is a camera introduced for the first time in the late 60's and includes all that is necessary for street photography. The camera that I own was produced in 1978 and below are the prooves, pictures taken by Daniel and me, of the fact that it works reaaaallllyyy good!

Olympus Trip 35 - street photography camera
Vintage Camera Museum