145/365: Red bicycle going to Rogów

145/365: Red bicycle, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

May 25th

I like cycling.

The problem is finding people who want to cycle with me. I'm in that awkward bracket: not hardcore enough for most enthusiasts, too hardcore for my casually biking friends. So, when I plan a trip somewhere, I usually end up going alone.

But this time, the trip wasn't my idea. "Let's go to Rogów," my friend Kasia (in the picture) said. "Let's go to the Life Sciences Arboretum." Only, of course, the minute I said yes, the planning fell to me. And planning is odd when you can't gauge the endurance of your group. Already, there were complaints. "Eight in the morning? Why do we have to leave that early?"

"Because it will be boiling hot by 11 am, and because it's thirty miles, and I can't see you going faster than eight on average."

And because I only know half of the way there. But, I didn't tell them that.

I plotted a route, strapped my new Android phone to the handlebars for GPS assistance, and hoped for the best.

We got lost, of course. Pro tip: when the opening of a trail is guarded by a headless Jesus statue, don't follow it. It's a very, very bad trail.

The next trip I'm planning will be lonesome. Apparently no one wants to bike sixty miles to see the ruins of a gothic castle.

Things we saw along the way were a WWI cemetery hidden in the forest in Wiączyń: 

...a village called Moscow:



Apparently the local lord took part in Napoleon's failed Moscow Campaign, and when he returned, he named the village Moskwa.

We crossed a terrible slippery log bridge over a swamp:



...then cycled through the Windows XP background...



...until finally, Rogów!



...with beautiful Azaleas:



...a pond full of lilypads, frogs, and fishies:







The woodcut typography used in the arboretum signposts is worth a mention. Look at the 'transparency'!



It was a good day. Here's the map. Orange trail is what I had planned, blue is our actual route.


View Wycieczka do Rogowa in a larger map

285/365:Hiding from the wraith

285/365:Hiding from the wraith, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

October 12th

A walk around the old stocking factory leads to an overgrown path, and the Bałutka river...the day is sunshine but there are things hiding in the shadows.

(it was a lot sunnier back in the field)

284/365: First frost

284/365: First frost, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

October 11th

They said we were going to get snow that week, but it never came. And good. October is really too early for such things.

163/365: The last bike trip

163/365: The last bike trip, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

June 12th

The twins had mentioned something about leaving, but no one took them seriously until they started packing. This was their last weekend at my place, and so we decided to take One Last Bike Trip. Basia was missing as she is in the USA studying and doing research for her new film, but everyone else was there: the twins, Asia (whom I have no pictures of), ManiaKovalsky, Maciek, and me.

We got horribly lost along the way and never made it to the forest or the pond we'd expected to find, but it was wonderful at 55 km total.

136/365: Guinness

136/365: Guinness, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

May 16th

Walking with Guinness is especially fun in the spring when we don't freeze to death. I like snow a lot but I like tall grass even better.

Other things I saw on the walk:

130/365: On the way home

130/365: On the way home, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

May 10th

One of the best things about my new job is that the easiest way to get there and back is to ride through the biggest park in Lodz, formerly a forest- and in most places, still as wild and natural as it once was. I see such pretty things on my way to work.

125/365: Dandelions in the garden of Isengard

125/365: Dandelions in the garden of Isengard, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

May 5th

Okay, not really- it's a monument from the seventies. This part of Poland used to lie under tzarist Russia and this field was where they buried the revolutionaries executed between 1905 and 1907 .

The monument has an interesting history. It was erected in the early 1970s to replace a different monument to the Revolutionaries dating back to 1923- that one had been destroyed by the invading Germans in 1939. Since then the pillar has been modified to replace the Soviet soldiers sculpted at its base with proletarian workers. Guns were turned into hammers, helmets into haircuts. This was meant to restore the sculpture's original meaning.

The author of the changes was the same artist who designed the monument in the first place. His original design was an arc, a rainbow- but soon after construction began the site was visited by a delegate from the Central Committee of the Communist Party. The official reviewed the plans and declared that the design must be changed.

Why?

Because "the socialist ideal ever rises, but never falls".

102/365: Life goes on

102/365: Life goes on, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

April 12th

I biked out into the countryside today. 30 km round trip. It was a good ride.

83/365: A walk with Guinness

83/365: A walk with Guinness, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

March 24th

Under some acer trees today. Walking with Guinness is most fun at this time of year, in early spring when the sun is out but not yet scorching, and the air is fresh without being chill. I always take my camera.

More photos from today: