Farewell winter! I’m heading to the sun!

On Friday we finally moved to Cyprus. After almost twelve-hour travel getting out of the plane in Larnaca was really kind of ecstasy. The special smell of the air bringing the thought of the sea with its a bit rotten-like notes mixed with the sweet smell (odoeur??) of flowers fully blooming here already was absolutely great! In that moment the whole stress was gone (we had almost two-hour delay on first flight so we were already sure that we will have to spend the night at the Prag airport, but after half a kilometer run we managed to get the next plane in the absolutely last moment) even if we were both tired as hell.

We have here a really great house. In the heart of the old town of Famagusta which is still an untouched by the large touristic stream historical relict fully closed with the venetian walls and consisted of medieval ruins and small streets remembering crusades times now coloured by oriental Turkish culture. The Courtyard House as it’s called, is place in an old raw of small buildings quite close to the cathedral and organized around an inner court. From the street you enter the big, high kitchen with large wooden table. From there you can go to the comfortable organized living room or through a wide glass door to the court, which is very sunny, nice place with limestone floor and a similar big table with some flowerpots around. From the courtyard there’s an access to two bedrooms, both with the own baths. The flat is nicely designed, the furniture is mostly really fabulous and the only disadvantage of the place is that it’s a bit wet. But after six weeks of rain (as we read in the note of the last users in the guestbook) that is no wonder. Anyway it seems that we are lucky because the first three days here are sunny and warm for us. Especially that we left Germany when it was cold, wet and totally grey, not writing about Poland where is still 50 cm of snow on the ground.

What amazes me most is the beautiful lemon and orange trees already full of the fruits which you can buy on the market in the price of the apples in Poland in autumn which means actually almost for freeJ Also you can buy fresh herbs like mint or coriander which look, smell and taste heavenly! Obviously first thing I’ve done was putting on the pair of leggings, light summer dress and the flip-flops and have a walk around to enjoy the weather and the atmosphere of a new adventure which that travel actually is for me.

Famagusta, 15^th February 2010

Jet lag, Botticelli and Pizza

On Thursday I flew back to Frankfurt after two-week-stay in my home country. Believe me or not – next two days I was suffering of a jet lag after two-hour flight! Sounds ridiculous and generally it was, I was hanging around feeling completely sleepy and unconscious while the productive working time was slowly passing by. Finally today morning the real me is back, the energy is back and I can continue living my life knowingly.

While this after-flight long dream actually one think worth noticing has happened. I managed finally to see the Botticelli exhibition in Frankfurt. The exhibition itself was simply nice – well organized, contended maybe not really big highlights but a few really important paintings, frescoes and drawings of Italian master and his contemporaries, all collected around a coherent idea. And unfortunately a lot of visitors! The exhibition rooms were completely crowded. It was a Saturday afternoon which obviously is the worst time for peaceful admiring temporary exposition but who could have thought that if the exposition has been taking place since several weeks. And here we’re approaching the point which appeared to me as the most interesting of the whole event. The advertising. The posters announcing the exhibition are delightful. The genius of the designer was placing the creation of renaissance artist in today’s sophisticated world. So we have one with the detail from the fresco showing the room of St. Mary while Annunciation with ‘Botticelli: Interiors’, even if it’s the only or almost only interior detail of the exposited works. The other poster I remember (and the main for the event) is showing one of the numerous woman’s presentations (Minerva of Minerva and Centaur, Uffici, Florence) in artist’s oeuvre with richly decorated dress and fabulous hair. The title is ‘Botticelli: Autumn/Winter 2009/2010’, sounds like fashion show, doesn’t it? And that’s why I admire the organizers of the exhibition – because they manage to convince broad publicity that this art exhibition of old master is absolutely must see of the season! Respect!

The evening finished in the so-said only Frankfurt pizzeria with wood oven and obviously the quarto formaggi. The diet always can wait. Salut!

The disputable glory of the winter

I’m actually spending the next days in a part of Europe where snow lies since a couple of weeks and where if the temperature is closer to zero people are talking about warming. There’s also a lot of guys horribly complaining for such a type of weather but I have a better idea. Instead of sitting at home and complaining that you can’t go out in your favorite flats because you will immediately sink in snow till knees, dress yourself warmly and discover the charm of real winter! There’s a lot of advantages the snowy and sunny weather can have. First – white world is simply beautiful, snow covers all the ugly stuff in the cities and paints fabulously trees in countryside. Take your cam, mate, and shoot the perfect views!

The disadvantage of winter is the fact that our bodies still think it’s a very hard time for us (like thousands years ago) and somehow prepare us for winter sleep. Even if we need to be as active as in summer, the amount of daylight and the temperature don’t encourage to hard work. They rather are tempting for simply staying under the blanket and having big, warm and delicious dinner. That is unfortunately a trap, as we use in fact less energy than during warmer seasons. All we need for improving our moods is light, and it doesn’t have to be an expensive light-therapy. It might be simply a long walk, beside catching the sunshine, which makes us more energetic, we have some exercises making the body producing the endorphins. If you don’t have a possibility to try skiing (I absolutely adore cross-country skiing and I always do it when I’m at my mom’s), simply take friends out for having a snow fun – build a snowman, sledge or organize a battle with snowballs. It’s a fun which will awake a child in everybody, burning calories and make your mood great for the next few hours. So let’s love winter!

Bytów-Rzepnica, Poland

One should speak only when having something to say, really. That's the point why I won't post too often, I guess. I'm working on my dissertation in history of art (XIXth architecture of Prussia) so I have to share my time between a few projects. In mid of February I'm going to work with my boyfirend in Famagusta, Northern Cyprus. He has his graduation project to do there and I will help him, as well as doing my stuff - mostly writing, researching and maybe designing. Also I'm simply going to have a great time there, immersing in local culture, not easy political and social circumstances, enjoying nature and architecture (photography, local fashion!). Just travelling, hiking and riding a bike, observing, seeding all that in my mind. We will spend there 2 months and i feel it will be a great inspiration for me. It will be my brand new exiting cormer of the world!

One more important general remark:
As you can recognize I am not native English writer. I chose English for this blog of two reasons - I have friends all around the world and I'd like them to understand what I'm posting, also would be nice to find the way to the hearts of the other people I don't know yet. The second reason is quite simple and selfish - I'm going to use it as an exercise of improving my English language knowledge:)
That's why I'm asking you for helping me - if you see something is written wrongly, tell me. That will help me to avoid such a mistakes in the next posts. Thx.

why i did that

My name is Kate and today i decided that Facebook isn't the right place to share really important, beautiful or delicious facts of our lives (and FB applications steal time as hell) so i decided to start a blog. It may seem to be a very trivial decision but I deeply considered the stuff i'd like to write about. Let's say that i'm in very interesting life-situation.

Well, welcome in my little corners of the world.