Where have you been?

Here are the rest of the photos from the Maiden concert. It was pretty awesome.


You gotta love fire works at a concert.

On September 7th my wife and I and twenty nine thousand other people help Bruce Dickinson celebrate his 50th birthday. The concert was fantastic and a highlight was definitely when the audience sang "Sto Lat" for Mr Dickinson. For those of you who attended our reception you will remember "Sto Lat" as the stand-up-and-drink-vodka song.


I am a big fan of Maiden and as a youth listened to metal music in general. My wife, on the other hand, wasn't too thrilled about the idea of seeing Iron Maiden. In the end, however, the concert was enjoyable for both of us because it was such an electric show and the atmosphere was so great.


It was held in Warsaw's Stadion Gwardia which at one point must have been a football stadium but is now set up for concerts. The stadium is in the middle of the city so the concert started at like 8pm and ended about 10:30pm. Kind of wierd to end so early but when there are apartments right next door I can kind of understand.

In front of what's left of the Saxon Palace is Piłsudski Square. It's named after the famous Pole Józef Piłsudski but has gone by many names over the years including Adolf Hilter Platz. It has been used as the main government square for parades, celebrations, and receiving dignataries. The view shown here with the Victoria Hotel, the church, and the Palace of Culture in the background, is supposed to replicate another picture of Warsaw I have seen before. The picture I have in my head is of General Jaruzelski and several government officials gathered for the Official May Day parade on what was then called Victory Square.

If you follow the Wikipedia link for Plac Piłsudski you will find a wonderful picture of the square including the palce from 1919 (before it was destroyed).

Like all European cities Warsaw is filled with history, both good and bad. Above we can see a picture of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier which is on the site of the older Saxon Palace. The Palace was originally a private residence, then it was obtained by one of the Kings of Poland and remodeled, and then, in 1944, the Germans blew it up. All that remains is the archway you see here and some of the underground structues. There have been many many sets of plans to rebuild the palace but the Polish government seems pretty good with making plans but not so good with carrying them through.


In the background of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is Park Saski or the Saxon Garden. According to Wikipedia this is one of the first public parks in the world having opened in 1727. I walk through this park once a week to get to some of my classes and my favorite feature is the many sandstone statues. The statues all have represent some aspect of study or nature and have names like Arithmetic, Astrology, Flora, Geography, Painting, Poetry, Rationality, etc.

There were some questions about where we lived both during our trip to America and while we were in England for our wedding so I thought I would post some photos of our apartment and explain things. We live on the sixth floor (America counting) of a large apartment block in a village just outside of Warsaw proper called Piastów. It's a quiet place and the rent is cheap but it takes a bit of time to get into the city, especially when there is traffic. It's home though, and we like it.

Above you can see views of our front room. Notice the Polish flag and the dead cat laying on the couch - his favorite place when there is nothing better to do. The door on the left of the right hand picture leads out to our balcony which is also popular with the cats.


This room is the central hub of the apartment. Going from left to right the doors lead to the shower/sink/wash machine room, the bedroom (complete with American flag), the kitchen, and the outside. The front room is back around farther to the right. Teddy is still learning the lay of the land as you can see from this photo.


Speaking of the bedroom here is a picture of "where the magic happens". You can see a better view of my American flag as well as my wife's sombrero. My Union Jack is hiding behind the Stars and Stripes because the curtain holder is a bit defective.

And finally here we see our kitchen. Nothing special but it's ours and it works. You can see other pictures of our flat on the My Profile page as well as a past post about Christmas.

Due to popular demand I am going to focus on some photos of Poland for a while. I would like to recommend that everyone take a look at the pictures I have posted already using the Poland and Tatra labels.

Allow me to introduce the newest member of the Garnica family, Teddy.


We decided a while back that after we got married we would adopt another cat so Kobra would have someone to play with. They get along okay so far but Teddy is still a bit nervous and unsure about everything.

Us walking off into the sunset.

Actually we were walking to our rented Ford Focus to drive to the reception but same difference. That's it from the early batch of photographs, you will have to wait until we get pictures back from being developed to see more. More importantly you will have to wait until our friends email or mail us the photos they took throughout the day. It's nice that everyone has a digital camera these days, now if they will just share the love.

The bride and her niece.


The bride and her Mother.


The bride and her Father.

Here are some other photos from the big day. These are all taken just after the ceremony. Congratulations from her parents.


Us with the happy Mother and Auntie.


The wedding party and parents. Notice none of us can read the signs that say keep off the grass. Oh well...

Ruben and Agnieszka Garnica.

My final America post doesn't get a photo because for the last three days we were in America I was totally sick and we didn't do anything. It was not a great way to end our vacation but all in all we had a fantastic trip and have lots of wonderful memories. I want to thank everyone for making time for us while we were there - my wife really enjoyed meeting all of my family and friends and I really enjoyed seeing (almost) everyone again. We look forward to seeing you all again real soon when we are finally allowed to move back to America. We will be starting the application for her Visa soon so we will know approximately when that move will happen in the next few months.

Until then thank you all again for helping us have a fantastic trip and come back in a few days for the beginning of my next series of posts from my mom and nephew's Polish Vacation.

After Rodeo Drive we headed south to Muscle Beach, othewise know as Venice Beach. Venice Beach is famous for its muscular men and women who pump iron right on the beach as well as its freaks who perform for the adoring tourists. I went to Venice many years ago with my best friend and step-brother and we saw some guy who would jump onto broken glass barefoot for money. Turns out jumping onto broken glass barefoot is a pretty good gig and we saw him this time too!


Besides the freaks there are many artist selling their work as well as many tourists shops with t-shirts, hats, and well, pretty much anything else you could want.


There is also a section where it is legal to spray graffiti and a skateboard area. We also saw a small group of people disco dancing on roller skates - very retro.