Nic nowego - as they say in Poland

(translates as 'nothing new')....still no baby!

Still waiting.....

Sorry if you’re logging in expecting to hear news of our baby….nothing’s happened….

We’ve tried all the ‘recommended’ things – eating curry, riding a bike on bumpy pavements (!!) and chewing on pineapple, but it looks like she’s holding firm and is going to go the duration ;)

Despite this we enjoyed (probably) our last child free weekend in Warsaw. The National Museum in Warsaw had an exhibition of works by Stanisław Wyspiański, a famous Polish artist who in his 38 years of life managed to be Director of Arts at Krakow University, paint a number of masterpieces as well as staging 17 plays. Not bad really. We liked his work.

On Saturday night we caught up with Amy’s friend Drew, who had just arrived back in Warsaw from Melbourne. He brought with him a whole stash of Violet Crumble choc bars, so Amy was very happy to see him. We went for a curry and then on for a few drinks (Amy wants you all to know that she had lemonade).

We’ve just returned from the Botanical Gardens, a 20 minute bus ride outside of Warsaw. We’d not been before and as it was such a sunny day here we had a really nice time. During the summer they put on international piano concerts in the park (translated to ‘music in the flowers’) so it was nice to sit in the sun and listen to a bit of Chopin, Liszt etc before wandering/waddling around the beautiful grounds.

Dahlias in the Botanical Gardens

The 'musical florals' concert - the pianist is under the blue gazebo

Amy and Trevor by some sunflowers

Praga

We're still waiting....

Maria the midwife rang today to see if everything was ok. It was good to hear from her, and everything appears to be going fine. She told us that if the baby hasn't arrived by the 22nd or 23rd she'll book Amy to have another scan. Everything is fine though. The baby is really active and Amy regularly gets prodded by arms or legs - it must be getting tight in there!

Today was a public holiday so we went to the Praga district. It's an eastern suburb, which was off-limits to Western visitors as it had a reputation for crime and strange sights and sounds!! It is still not somewhere to visit at the dead of night, but today was lovely and sunny so we travelled over by tram for a quick look around. There is a huge Othordox Church and also a large Russian War memorial - Varsarvians' least favourite monument! A lot of scenes from the Pianist (a great film) were shot in Praga as it was not as damaged during WWII as other parts of Warsaw.

We came back via the old town as we were both in need of ice cream!

Quiet Weekend

We enjoyed a quiet weekend this weekend (probably one of our last for a while!). On Saturday night we went to a dinner party at Sarah's house (from the British Embassy). She laid on some lovely food and we had a great time. Another guest, Emma (also from the British Embassy) is also pregnant, so her and Amy sat on the sofa like bookends :)

On Sunday we went to a really nice park near our apartment which has just re-opened after closing for renovations. The afternoon was really sunny, but around 4pm there was a huge storm which seems to have blown down a few trees throughout Warsaw.

Concrete Legacy and Wedding!

Today we went to see an exhibition that had recently opened at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Warsaw called 'Concrete Legacy'.

The exhibition looked at the huge expansion of concrete estates that sprung up throughout Poland both after the second World War and throughout Communist Times. It was incredible to see videos of 'fabryczny domow' (housing factories) which literally built ready made walls - complete with windows and doors!

The exhibition was really extensive and we really enjoyed it. Unfortunately not all of it was translated into English (there were interviews with architects asking them how they felt about their 'work' now for example) but we got the idea.

In the afternoon we went to the wedding of Kinga and Tomek (a couple from the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs) who Amy knows. The wedding was at 5pm and the church was packed to the rafters. We managed to miss the start of the wedding in traditional manner (the taxi didn't show up!) but fortunately being a long Catholic wedding we didn't miss too much!

Polonia Warszawa v LKS Lomza

Going to a Polish football game when 9 months pregnant would probably not come high on the list of recommendations from any doctor. Especially when the game is in the Polish 2nd division and the match tickets cost 15 zloty (about 3 quid or 6 bucks).

Last night though we went to watch Polonia play Lomza. Fortunately it was quite a nice atmosphere, and we sat two seats away from a similarly pregnant lady (no doubt dragged there by an equally persistent husband!)

The game started with VERY polite applause amongst the 1,500 crowd and I was a bit worried that the atmosphere was going to be a bit serene, but on kick-off people were standing, singing, shouting, waving scarves etc and things livened up a fair bit.

Polonia went behind to a shock early goal, but then dominated throughout much of the match. They were still 1-0 down at half time, but got an equaliser early in the second half and then (despite a very fussy referee) scored the winner in the 77th minute. We were rapt!

Polonia are now 2nd in the league (after 3 games played). It was a nice way to spend a warm summer's evening. Not sure whether we'll be so keen (or able!) on a rainy November night!

To see a few more pics of the evening. Click here.

Wilanow Poster Museum

We took a trip this afternoon (after the doctors) to the poster museum in Wilanow every couple of years they have a big exhibition of all of the latests works by Polish designers. Some of the posters were fantastic (some were just a bit odd) but we really enjoyed the wide variety and clever designs.

Wilanow (where the museum is situated) is a beautiful part of Warsaw. It was previously the Royal country residence. It has long since joined up with the rest of the Warsaw conurbation, but it's still a really nice relaxing spot.