One or the things we truly love about Warsaw is the number of parks this lovely city has. Now you must know that there is a constant hate between people in Krakow and people in Warsaw - somewhat similar to the hate between people in Iasi and people in Bucharest. People in Krakow will say Krakow is cultural - which it is, truly! - or that it has the best Universities in Poland - which it is again true! - and they would say that Warsaw is dull and grey - well I cannot agree on that part, sorry! Warsaw grew on me and my husband slowly and pace by pace but right now it is one of the cities I love and I would not mind spending time in or even live in.
The Embassy of Romania is in Warsaw so for the marriage we had to come and go to Warsaw. As you very well know, this Monday we were there as well. The Embassy is located on the Ulica Fr. Chopina 10 and it is hard to miss due to its Comunistic style. You can reach them with questions via phone or via email. This is their email: embassy@roembassy.com.pl and I promise you they will answer really really really fast! I was very nicely surprised by all the lads/lasses working there. They were prompt and nice and they answer to all of my questions with great patience. The bureaucracy on the other hand was a pain in the arse!!! So many papers, so many translations... It makes you get angry...
While we were waiting for the approval of the marriage from the Ambassador of Romania we had about 4 hours to waste around so we had a short walk - as it was bloody cold, even though the sun was shining bright and actually in the sunlight it was autumnish warm - and we went for a short meal to KFC - bless them for the free internet, that we used most productively in planning our vacation and checking wedding invitations.
After the break we went for the papers but it turned out that the Ambassador had other plans and he was still in a meeting with The Polish Parliament. So the sir at the Consulate asked us to leave the number and he will call back as he was not sure how long it will take. Well... it took him to get there around one hour and 30 min. But that is irrelevant as we finally got him to sign the papers and accept them and we now have a Romanian Marriage Certificate with which I can go in March to do my new ID - yes... in March... not now, as apparently the papers must be sent by the Consulate and approved and processed further on and only at the end of February/beginning of March I could start applying for a new ID as they need to make mentions in the Birth Certificate... and so in March I am looking forward for more paperwork ;)
But during the time we were waiting for the Ambassador to come back we walked around the Embassy neighbourhood - the area is flooded by Embassies of different countries so it is easy to find any as they are all packed up on nearby streets and there are multiple signs to tell you which is which and where is what. Not to mention the guards and the gates and the flags that point out where to go ;)
Right across the Romanian Embassy there is a very small and cute park in which we had a small snack last time we were there. This time we explored further on and at the end of the stree, if you cross the street, you will get to a lovely park we passed multiple times but we did not enter until now. We immediately realised that we must come again when it is all green as it was lovely! Just imagine with all the flowers and the green grass and leaves on trees... oh! Glorious!
But even now, in the middle of winter - that kinda looked like autumn as there was no snow whatsoever... - we agreed that this park is simply magical. The light between the branches of the trees, the water with the trees reflection on it, the small statues, the swans/ducks/pidgeons flight over the lake... We really need to do that again! Soon! And without paperwork on our minds!
Is this little island sweet or what?! :)
So you would not grow blind I will tell you what the above picture states ;) Ujazdowski Park was laid out in 1893-1896 as a landscape park in place of the fields of Ujazdow village. It was designed by the Chief Municipal Gardener of Warsaw - Franciszek Szanior - the pond was the work of William Heerlein Lindley, the cascade and the canal system that of Alfons Grotkowski. The grand opening of the park was held on 10th August 1896. In July 1965 the park was added to the National Register of Monuments and granted State protection. In 1986 the statue of Ignacy Jan Paderewski was unveiled. It was designed by Michal Kamienski back in 1939. In 2000-2002 Ujazdowski Park was renovated and has been returned to its former glory. There are many special features: unusual species of bushes, a new pergola, the restored cascade, a modern playground and decorative street lamps. There are manyspecimens of rare tree species growing in the park: Gymnocladus canadensis, maidenhair and black walnut trees as well as Schwedler maples.
This small swan mosaic we found in front of the park, in front of the main entrance and both me and my awesome husband agreed it deserves a picture in this blog ;)
Yours truly, The LadyBug in love with the Warsaw parks :)
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