Lazienki Park (pronounced Wah-zhayng-kee, hence the witty title for this post) is one of the larger parks in Warsaw and it contains the palace pictured above along with a lot of other monuments and historic structures. We caught it on a nice fall day before the snow. We dedicate this post to James Nuttall, who loved Lazienki (he's still alive, by the way.)

Look at Jane's cuteness.

Thought this proto-greek amphitheatre was very cool. It would be fun to see a production here in the summer months.

Colin loved running all over the seating in the amphitheatre, and tried to make slides out of cement ramps- not so successful. The world is his playground, until he falls down and hits his head hard enough that you can feel the reverberation in the concrete from several yards away. Then 2 minutes later, he's running and jumping again. Maybe he needs a little helmet. (We better not let him hear us say that, or we'll never get out of buying one for him. He is very attuned to shopping opportunities these days.)

Colin was very being very cute running around with his Polish flag in the old city. Japanese tourists were photographing him also. He is very in touch with his inner consumer. It is getting hard to take him anywhere because he wants EVERYTHING! Last night I sang him the hush little baby lullaby (you know, mama's gonna buy you a mocking bird) and he loved it, I think mainly because of all the promises of things I would buy him. After he got his flag, I was looking for a hat for Brian and stopped by a vendor where Colin fell in love with a little wooden flute. I had almost no money left from the flag, and it was shaping up into a mighty tantrum. The very kind vendor lady came over and told Colin the store was closed and we would have to come back later. She has won my affection and I do need to go back and buy from her.

Since it is getting cold (just in the 30's today) I am in full bundle mode. Our apartment is very warm so we frequently are over-heated by the time we get outside. Colin chooses the time when we are trying to leave as his biggest time to mis-behave. It is not uncommon for him to have 2-3 time outs when we are trying to get out the door. Anyway, I got these leg warmers for Jane that I think are very cute.

Jane loves leaves and pigeons.

Snowing today, only October 14th. We maybe in for a long winter. We will still get out as we HAVE to.

Most of our sight seeing involves long walks with kids loaded in various configurations in the stroller or on Brian's back. Colin jumps in and out and loves just walking around. It is starting to get dark quite early, and possibly will snow this week.
Stroller action shot.

We walked down to the Chopin monument in Lazienki Park. On this night we were there when the park was closing soon so we did not make it very far into the park. We went back yeterday and will post more photos later. We loved it.


More great night photos from Brian. The naked rear ends bring me back to our Mexico days. . .

Slightly off subject but having to do with not much clothing, we went to a restaurant last night that was recommended by our guidebook as family friendly (and they did have a baby chair, room for us to not fold up the stroller and a kids menu). However the waitresses did not have much to wear. I think we went to Polish Hooters. At the end of the meal when our waitress came by, Colin told me she did not have pants on, only underwear. Pretty good food though, we were hungry.


The Stazic Palace, something to do with science.

On a rainy, unexpected day off for Brian, he looked around on-line for good things to do indoors with kids. He stumbled upon Blue City, which I guess is Europe's largest mall. (There are tons of malls here. At home we rarely go to malls but it is an entertainment when traveling. On our second day here when I was feeling jet-lagged, lame, and American, going to the super huge Carrefour at a big mall made me feel like I was home a little. Very American of me to feel at home in a mega mart. Yes, very lame.) Clever Brian further looked all around on-line for an interactive bus map and he had us brave a bus to get to Blue City. It was a little tricky with our large stroller on the crowded bus, but the prospect of an indoor play place was too great. And blue is Colin's favorite color so he was intrigued to go to a Blue City!

The kids had a great time.

There were even some carnival-type rides that Colin loved. The little girl next to him did not love it. Thanks Blue City, we will probably be back as the temps go down.

We were on a lovely walk a couple of mornings ago, and we passed some beautiful flower vendors. Sweet little Colin really wanted to get flowers for me, so we got some of my favorite (statis). Our apartment has a very large vase and the flowers look lovely, bringing some needed color to our bare little apartment.

When we got home and I was putting the flowers in the vase, Colin climbed up on a chair and said something to the effect that since he was as tall as me and we had flowers that we could get married. Marriage must be a hard concept for a 3 year old. We talk about how we love each other because we are a family, but my answer to him about why people get married is because they love each other. So confusing.

We are still working on some fine details of loving each other because we are family. Colin bit Jane this morning, causing us to take away his chocolate milk, which caused an amazing crying time. We are still talking about it and hope a lesson was learned.

Photos from a walk the other day. Jane did not want to stay still for a photo. Once she gets a little taste of freedom, she does not want to be contained.

There was a great bubble guy, making huge bubbles.

The first night we were here, Colin saw some light sabers from a street vendor, and wanted one ever since. We finally got him one (although very over-priced) and it was his prized possession until it broke two days later. We have a real light saber on his list for Santa.

I love Brian as the tourist in the lower corner. They do love Pope John Paul. He was a wonderful man. We learned the hard way that there are multiple streets named for John Paul. We tried to find our local church and walked for 3 and a half miles, never finding the church. We did not have the stroller with us and little Colin walked the entire way. He slept well that night.

We bought a mei tei on ebay to have a backpack option, which has been nice. Both Colin and Jane like to ride on Daddy's back. I know Jane is very blonde, but holy blown out hair.

The photo above is one of my favorite sights.

Colin can't help but touch the fun cars.

We love the cross walk for children carrying very large candy. I really don't want my kids to have lollipops larger than their heads, but they would love it.

Colin took the photo below when he was holding the camera for us while I was helping get Jane situated on Brian's back. It is one of my new favorite photos.

Brian had the night off yesterday, so we took the kids for a long walk/dinner in the Old City. We ended up in a lovely restaurant that wasn't super ideal for kids- lace tablecloth for Jane to pull on, no child seat, candlesticks, etc. Colin had just acquired a beautiful multi-colored light saber from a street vendor which strobes in a seizure causing manner (I couldn't believe how bright it was in the dimly lit dining room) and he was very reluctant to let it rest during dinner. But the food was great. On the way home, we saw the full moon rising, so Brian came back out after the kids were in bed to get some night shots.

Above is the Great Theatre (Teatr Wielki) where the opera will take place, and where we are living. It is a HUGE structure with a dramatic history. During WWII, it was bombed to a shell and became a site of insurgency fighting during the Warsaw Uprising. We're pretty sure it's haunted. Brian swears he did hear some very eery singing in the hall one night at around 2 am when one of the kids had woken up. It's pretty crazy to contemplate the things that happened here not that long ago.

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I like how Zygmunt is about to lance the moon flare.

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Two Starbucks on one block is pretty common these days, but these two churches are a bit more impressive.

The square is very romantic, maybe we can return without kids sometime. Childcare is always a very complicated proposition on these foreign trips.