London Paddington

I will take you today on a little walk in London. If you expect to see Big Ben or the London Eye, you might be a bit disappointed. Because we will walk around the Paddington area within the City of Westminster, in central London. We will start, not surprisingly, at the Paddington railway station, where you can arrive directly from Heathrow on the Heathrow Express (expensive but really fast).

The Paddington area does not have a central point of its own. Instead it is composed of residential buildings, hotels and small parks. One of the most noticeable public buildings is the St. Mary's hospital.

If you do not want to visit it from the inside, remember one critical instruction: the cars in England move on the left side of the road. So when you cross the street ....

The St. Mary's Hospital stands next to a little canal. It is the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal.

To keep the canal clear of algae and to aerate it, a special "bubbly barrier" was created.

At the very end of the canal comes the Merchant's square. It used to be a kid of market place in the past but today it is a residential and leisure area.

On sunny days, children most probably play by (or in...) the fountain.

Supervised by sir Simon Milton, a former leader of the Westminster City council.

Close to the St. Mary's hospital stand the St. Mary's church in the parish of Little Venice.

Behind it you will find a small park, called St. Mary's churchyard. Very pragmatic.

But before you start running and having fun here, maybe you should take a closer look at the fence. Or at the stones standing by the fence. And yes, this are tombstones.

The churchyard is a former graveyard. Still some bigger graves remain in the middle of the lawn.

To be honest, I find the idea quite spooky. But apparently other people not, since there are residential buildings surrounding the yard.

Not forgetting the City of Westminster College.

In the St. Mary's churchyard you will find graves of some famous people, like Sarah Siddons, the best Lady Macbeth of her times.

Luckily, the Paddington area has also other parks to offer, like the Norfolk square.

Inside, you will find cosy lanes and an abundance of plants.

Let's take a walk inside.

I would expect that flats in the buildings facing the Norfolk Square are more expensive that I can even imagine.

I propose that we take a break and order a pint in one of the pubs. This one looks really welcoming. Maybe they have some good Sherlock Holmes stories to share.

Konstancin-Jeziorna

Konstancin-Jeziorna is a small town just a few kilometers from Warsaw. You might be surprised that it is a renown health spa. We will start our visit in the health spa park. Two small rivers run through it so there is a need for many small bridges. The bigger river is called Jeziorka.

And the smaller one is called Mała so literally "the small one".

In the park you can find many smaller and bigger statues. This one is called Five Dreams and refers to the human beliefs around wolves being wild and free.

And those ones seem to be made of straw. Maybe these are the houses of the piglets who were trying to hide from the Big Bad Wolf?

The health spa parks are usually the center of the cultural life of the town. So you will not be surprised to find here a concert hall, just like in Busko-Zdrój.

You will find here also the Cultural Center of Konstancin (not a very impressive building to be honest).

Finally, we reach the biggest attraction of the town - the graduation tower. 

As you see, this is not really a tower. It is a construction made of brushwood.

 Why would people build something like that? Well, let's go inside.

The phenomenon of a graduation tower is the air. It is saturated with salty water by means of a special pumping device in the middle of the structure.

The droplets of salty water are falling on the brushwood which is acting as a giant inhalator, curing diseases of respiratory system.

This is why many people come to Konstancin-Jeziorna and sit on those nice benches and just breathe deeply. I warmly encourage you to do the same.

Celebrating science

Today we will take a break from discovering new cities or countries and we will focus on discovering science and nature. No better place for that than the Warsaw University of Technology and its Festival of Science.

The main building of the Warsaw University of Technology has been built in the classical style, with a glass rooftop.

It is guarded by famous scientists who should be the role models for all the students. Like Madame Marie Skłodowska-Curie, double winner of the Nobel prize (I truly hope you all knew she was Polish because Polish people are very sensitive when it come to that).

But the Festival of Science is not in the main building but in the yard next to the House by the Old Chimney.

It is called House by the Old Chimney because it stands next to an Old Chimney. Elementary my dear Watson.

On the other side of the yard stands now a large white tent. Inside, adults and children together can discover the real magic.

You say that science is not magic? But how come that they are able to print real things out of a simple plastic fiber. And in 3D!

Or how can they make things explode by using baking soda?

Not mentioning the piano that make the flames obey it and dance as it plays.

Of course, of course, physics are the new magic. But so can be mechanics that allow to bring something surprisingly close to a robotic horse. Or maybe more a dog?

Those of you who do not feel too comfortable in a laboratory (remember Terminator!) can follow me outside and discover the wonders created by nature itself. Like the bee hives.

I am sure that you all knew that bees can live in small artificial houses built by men but did you know that they can also live in trees? (Those of you who were with me in Białowieża surely know!). They build there amazing labyrinths entirely made out of wax.

Thanks God, real bees are not as big as this one!

Because otherwise, how could we steal them all this honey!

Speaking of trees. You all know that different trees have different leaves and shapes. But did you realise that they also look different inside? Here you can take a look at balls made of different types of wood.

Obviously, to make such balls one needs to cut many trees.

And even though humans need wood for various purposes, by cutting trees they deprive many species of their home. This applies not only to mammals, like foxes ...

...  or badgers.

But also to snakes, ants and other smaller animals who normally hide in the forests.

Hopefully, scientists will find ways to enable a sustainable growth for both humans, animals and the entire ecosystems. When I look at these students of the Warsaw School of Technology, I am positive they will make it. Unless they will blow off their faculty first.