110/365:Zdrowie park

110/365:Zdrowie park, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

April 20th

Spring has definitely come this week. This is a little canal running through the largest city park in Łódź, officially the Piłsudski Park, but commonly named after the area it lies in- Zdrowie. And 'zdrowie' means 'health', which is a very good name for this complex. The park area used to be a proper forest- it was trimmed in the early XXth century and has since acquired a sports centre, swimming pool, botanical garden, zoo, amusement park and several artificial ponds. A portion of the original forest remains fenced off as a natural preserve.

It's an odd place- it can be at once refreshing, if you wander down to the wilder forest and walk the flowered paths, or depressing if you stay close to the decrepit Zoo. The amusement park is a rusted and creepy structure, though many people visit it in the summer, while the botanical garden is full of colour.

And conveniently, the quickest path to my new job lies directly across the park. That's a lot more fun than riding my bike in the streets.