On the go, once again...

Currently in Vilnius, Lithuania. Previously Bialystok, Poland. Next stop Riga, Latvia. Last one Berlin, Germany. Photos and "history" soon. Keep in touch. Take care.

25 de Abril

"O povo é quem mais orden(h)a ..."

25 of April... In Poland! Who would of say that I would also celebrate the Portuguese day of "freedom" in Poland. It was on a Portuguese/Brazilian party, in a pub called "No Name". A lots of "samba", a lot of "lambada", but what about good old Portuguese music? Concerned with this fact, because this was ALSO a Portuguese party, some of the Portuguese and some "Portuguese speaking Polish" were arguing about this, and someone had the greatest idea of all: we should ask the DJ to play "Grandola Vila Morena", the famous Portuguese "interventionist" song, typically sang in this date. But that was a long shot... Who the hell could have that music, at that time, in an underground bar, in the opposite side of Europe from Portugal... And this is what makes the Portuguese, Portuguese: someone had a CD with the song, with him, at that time!!!... So some minutes later, the above mentioned group was begging the DJ to play that one music! It was quite convenient, warning him that in a mood of samba and lambada, this kind of music would be a little bit awkward, and that he might would had some people leaving the dance floor. So, the Portuguese (and the Portuguese speaking Poles), gathered up, and sang, on the top of a stage, Grandola Vila Morena... I never saw something like this... Some people indeed did abandon the dance floor, but some, "strangely" enjoyed the music and danced, and there were even some couples dancing really tight to each other, like if it was "one more sexy/sensual Latin song"! Crazy night, but what could I expect? Some Portuguese gather, they have some beers, and the next thing you know, they are yelling interventionist songs at the top of their lungs. It happened before... it will happen again! Take care!

Dwarfs of Wroclaw

Try find them all..

I've been planning to post some photos of these guys a long time ago.

"They appeared on the streets of the city in August 2005. Their history is connected with the Orange Alternative movement and the year 1982. It is then that some dwarfs with funny hats and smiling faces were painted as a graffiti covering anti-Communist slogans. The present day dwarfs are statues sculpted by Tomasz Moczek, graduate of the local Fine Arts Academy. There are as many as five dwarfs in the city. Each of the dwarfs has a name, e.g. Dwarf the Sleepyhead in sw. Mikolaja Street or Dwarf the Butcher in Jatki Street. There is also a museum dedicated to the dwarfs in one of the ''Hansel and Gretzel'' houses near the St. Elizabeth's Church in the town centre. Be watchful not to miss its door as it is halfway up your knee."

Classic

Well... do you?

Friends

A new place for Luise.

(we had a great time!)

A tough spirit

Polski Fiat - washing is for pussies...

(notice the blocking device on the steering wheel, great detail...)

Frank Sinatra II

"Day and night, night and day..."

This is the real thing. He sings has if there was no tomorrow... Singing for keeps, in the Rynek, here in Wroclaw. Good voice, only only one problem: in his repertoire (and his portable cassette player) he only has Sinatra. So I hereby launch a initiative in Wroclaw: let's give the man a new tape. A different artist maybe, just for a change, or for the sake of musical variety. It's a waste of a good talent, to only perform Sinatra. I bet that the income, at the end of the day, would be much bigger. Frankie, you make the Rynek a better place!

Polski Euro!

Why was I taking this pictures? Perfect waste of good, cheap beer time...

Who would of know? It was the second time I was celebrating the attribution of the Euro championship to a country. First Portugal, and now Poland! Since there was already a stage set up in Rynek, for the Wroclaw Jazz Fest (Jazz na Odra), they just took the chance, and decided to have a party to celebrate the pick of their country (along with Ukraine), for the Euro 2012. Some live music, latin sounds, fireworks, a LOT of beer, and Polish singing (yelling): Eurooo, Eurooo, Euro, Euro, Eurooo... They screened the clip of the announcement in a huge screen, like 5 times in a row, and each time the Polish heard the name of their country, they went nuts!It was a blast! As someone from a country that already hosted the Euro, although I'm not a big fan of football, I can only tell you that it's one of best moments ever! I had never seen the Portuguese more united than that! 70% or more of all houses had flags of Portugal hanging on the windows! It was a cool thing to see and live. Hope the Polish do the same around here, and all celebrate this huge party that will be here in 2012. It's a nice excuse for me to return to Poland... To see how Portugal & Poland are doing in the Euro, and to check out the other Euro, once that by that time, there shouldn't be any more zloty!!!

Visit to Kłodzko

Going "mole" in Kłodzko!

Finally another excursion with the other Erasmus students. It has been a while since the last time. In this trip we headed for Kłodzko to spent a Saturday there. We all gathered in Ołówek, in departed to the journey we had ahead. Kłodzko turned out to be an interesting small city, with very beautiful architecture, and the amazing fortress on the top. But one of the most attractive things of the fortress itself is the underground tunnels, that go through out all of the area of the structure. built for defensive purposes, they go around the whole area, making a complex web of passages and, sometimes, narrow ways, beneath the fortress. At a point some of us went through quite narrow tunnel, that wasn't more than 1 meter tall... Quite claustrophobic, but so Goddamn' cool! A part of the group, in which i was included decided to stay a little bit more and instead of the designated bus, take a later train back "home". All in all, it was a great day: we got to meet some new Erasmus and keep in touch with some of the previous ones.

Easter

Tanta coisa, e estes gajos não têm amendoas...

During the first days of the Easter season, we testified some events regarding these special time, here in Wroclaw. There was the mess on the street, with a lot of students, following the cross of Christ on his way to "Golgotha" and the mess in Katedra also.After deciding not to go to Portugal for Easter vacations, we realized that we would only come back there during the Summer, about the end of July. The flights were to expensive, only to be in Portugal for a week. But to cheer things up, our good friend Annia, invited us to spent the Easter Sunday along with her family in her hometown , Brzeg. And let me tell you, it couldn't be any better! Since breakfast is the main meal, or the most important, of that special day, we started eating at 10am e ended dinner at around 10pm! During the day we had some breaks to go to mess, and take a quick spin through the city, and its lovely park. We had a blast, and we couldn't feel around family much more than we did. So for that, and much more, we wish to thank Annia and her family- great parents, lovely grandmother and cool brother and sister!

Witness Of Time

Just wonder what he has seen...

(photo taken in Brzeg)

Remains

... they still linger on ...

Hey Tony...

"Come to Wroclaw! I'll make you an offer you can't refuse..."

And you thought they were all from Sicilia...