Week 5 (8-14.12.14) Bang, Bang

Read/watch  the presentation  Bang, Bang  published at  http://konwersatorium1-ms-pjwstk.blogspot.com/2014/12/week-10-8-141214-bang-bang.html

and comment on/discuss  it here.

Week 5 (08.12-14.12.14): The Polish Mountains.

Good morning everyone, the title of my presentation is: The Polish Mountains.

First, I would like to talk about two places that are worth visiting.

These are :

- czerwone wierchy

- dolina pieciu stawow

Then I will move on to give you some advice how to get prepared for a trip to those places.

If you have any questions, I will answer them in the comments.

Let Me ask you a question:

What places come to your mind when you think about mountains?

Most of you,will probably say:

- kropowki, 

- morskie oko,

giewont, 

they are really atractive and popular, but also full of annoying tourists.

If you go a litte bit farther, you will find as beautiful places as the popular spots, but not that crowded.

These are:

- czerwone wierchy

- dolina pięciu stawów.

  

First of all, i will talk about czerwone wierchy.

Their name can be explained with the fact that in autumn the mountain meadows are full of red flowers as You can see in the picture.

If you take a walk there, everything around you is red.

However, this is not the only reason why we should go there.

In czerwone wierchy we can also climb four peaks, these are :

- Ciemniak 2096 m

 

- Krzesanica – 2122 m

 

- Małołączniak 2096 m

 

- Kopa kondracka 2005 m

As You can see it is really worth seeing.

That's all for Czerwone wierchy.

Lets move on to Dolina pieciu stawow.

As the name suggests it is a valley with five lakes, which you can see walking through the valley.

The place is definitely worth seeing mainly because of its landscapes.

The view of the lakes surrounded by the mountains is breathtaking.

Before going to those places it is really important to get well prepared.

There are some pieces of advice that you should take into consideration:

- first, you should buy good pair of shoes,

 - the next thing is a backpack with a jacket, a bottle of water, food and choclate.

Jacket in case of rain.

Bottle of water in case of thirst.

Food in case of being hungry.

Chocolate to increase the level of sugar in your body when it is too low.

As You can see preparation for the trip in the above-mentioned points is not very complicated issue. Specialized equipment is also not required in any case, well, maybe the shoes, but their cost scales within 150-300PLN. As regards the difficulty, these are very mild route, but still time consuming. Be prepared to walk for about 12 hours, take into account the weather, that it was not raining and it was the sun, and You can enjoy the beauty of the mountains move. I was there in person two years ago and to be honest I go back there again. There I developed any injury, the situation is not expected have not known, maybe except fatigue, which is a well remember the pride I beat Czerwone Wierchy of (route rather long). This can not be forgotten :) I really recommend it, but what do you think gold, maybe some of you have already seen these places?

Sources:
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czerwone_Wierchy
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolina_Pi%C4%99ciu_Staw%C3%B3w_Polskich

http://footsteps.cba.pl/wp-content/gallery/czerwone-wierchy/img_2856.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L6yJIaG3mTA/TfL3XoCt3OI/AAAAAAAAAYU/FwlUv5Syyyg/s1600/dolina_pieciu_stawow%255B1%255D.jpg

http://www.marekkacperek.pl/krupowki/images/k41.jpg

http://www.ezakopiec.net.pl/atrakcje/morskie-oko/7.jpg

https://fotopolska.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/mg_0099.jpg?w=529&h=352

http://www.globtroter.pl/zdjecia/polska/69480_polska_tatry_zachodnie_czerwone_wierchy.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Krzesanica_a1.jpg/1024px-Krzesanica_a1.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/Czerwone_Wierchy_a7.JPG/1024px-Czerwone_Wierchy_a7.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/HW_Kondracka_Kopa.jpg/1024px-HW_Kondracka_Kopa.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H43OXXfqlKc/TJ55CNC0HQI/AAAAAAAAHWc/A8-7xuOD9Q4/s640/654758.jpg

http://kolumber.pl/upload/photos/0007/8132/8b35f626f9ce225be97c3ffe5cc37c09_big.JPG

http://www.footwear2you.com/sites/footwear2you.com/files/Trekking%20and%20Hiking%20Shoes%20-%2011.jpg

http://www.blessthisstuff.com/imagens/stuff/img_finisterre_jacket_2.jpg

http://admin.kidspot.com.au/images/contentarticles/3611.jpg

http://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/sandwich.jpg?w=720&h=480&crop=1

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/Yorkie-Bar.jpg/1024px-Yorkie-Bar.jpg

and My experience :)

Week 5 (08.12-14.12.14): Manchester United Tour

I guess that talking only about my favorite football club could not be interesting enough for each of you. That’s the reason why I won’t tell you about Manchester United’s history, success and all that stuff which you can easily find on Wikipedia etc. Today I’m going to take you on Manchester United Tour. Let’s begin!

Image 1 Old Trafford - Copyright to me

Tickets

The most important thing in our journey are tickets. Tickets for the game and of course a flight ticket. Both of them you have to buy in advance. The cheapest flight tickets are offered by Ryanair and WizzAir:

http://www.ryanair.com/

Image 2 Boeing 737 - (Wikipedia)

http://wizzair.com/

Image 3 Airbus A320-200 - (Wikipedia)

There is a small trick. Flights to Liverpool are sometimes much cheaper than to Manchester. Here comes terravision – a well known shuttle! For only 8 pounds (which is max price) we can easily and for a low price get to Manchester from the Liverpool’s Airport. It’s a common way which I travel.

http://terravision.eu

Image 4 Terravision shuttle - (Terravision)

Tickets for the game are a more complex thing to organize. Firstly, we have to buy Official Membership on the Manchester United’s website:

http://www.manutd.com/en/Official-Membership.aspx

Image 5 Membership Card - Copyright to me

Now it’s time to pick the game. Remember to do it in advance. Almost during each game there is 100% attendance.

https://www.eticketing.co.uk/muticketsandmembership/default.aspx

Accommodation

When the game is over we need some place to sleep. There are plenty of ways to find something interesting. I recommend these two sites:

http://www.airbnb.pl

http://www.booking.com

If you don’t mind to stay in a youth hostel here is one which I use very often:

http://hattershostels.com/

Next to the Hilton Chambers (the location of the above hostel) is a very nice place serving breakfast - Koffee Pot. Every day before the opening time there is a huge queue! The quality of food is excellent. But the most important is the atmosphere of the place - so English!

Image 6 Full English Breakfast at Koffee Pot - Copyright to me

Game Day

Don’t go to Megastore (The Official Manchester United Store located at the stadium) on the game day! The number of people there is enormous! Do it the other day.

If you have time and some luck here is the chance of seeing players! The coach with them comes to stadium 2h before the game starts. The only thing you have to do is go to the West Stand and you will find the place - there will be a lot of people.

Unfortunately The Manchester United Red Café is not open on the game day. But (as with Megastore) you can visit it the other day. It is located on the third floor of the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand.

If you want to see the players’ warm-up you should be at your seat at least 30 minutes before the game starts.

Atmosphere during the game is absolutely amazing… it’s hard to describe… but I’ll try by sharing my own short movies:

Museum and Stadium Tour

Since we have the Membership we can go to the Museum and the Stadium Tour with a discount. There is a great opportunity to go behind the scenes at Old Trafford and see the stadium from the inside. You can visit a conference room,a  dressing room and of course the museum full of trophies.

During the tour you come across a small store - where prices are much lower than in Megastore (because Megastore is under the Nike’s brand), but not all items are available.

Summary

In a big shortcut this is it. I hope you enjoyed it and maybe for some of you it will be helpful. 

Questions:

• Have you ever been abroad on a football match?
• Do you have any experience with airbnb? (it’s quite a new way of finding accommodation for me)

Week 5 (08.12-14.12.14): Misterious Vivian Maier

Her works saw the light of the day by accident. Now, after 60 years we get to know the amazing, black and white street photographs by Vivian Maier. We don't know a lot about the artist herself though. She was private and very misterious. She couldn't afford to develop most of her photos, so a great majority of the plates waited for their moment till 2007, when they were discovered on a flea market.

Maier was born in 1926 in New York. She spent her childhood in France and came back to United States in 1951. There she stayed and worked a nanny till the end of her life. She never learned photography and didn't live off it. Probably none of at-the-time most famous photographers were inspiration for her. Among her stuff no photography album was found. Though she was an amateur, she took photography very seriously. She had a camera always with her. Most of her photos come from streets of New York and Chicago, but there are also some from Canada, India, Egypt and Yemen.

Vivian's photos create an unusual portrait of american society of the 50's, 60's and 70's, showing its ethnic, racial and class divisions. The artist does not discriminate: objects of her pictures are elegant women, workers, homeless people and children. Even though Maier was perceived as lukewarm, she photographed people from a short distance not breaching their privacy. She saved unique extracts of reality, gently penetrating intimate situations. Maier inspired trust and captured people in their natural poses, presenting unfattered gestures and emotions. We often hear about Maier's photographies as one of the best examples of american street photography.

Self-portaits play an important role in Maier's work. They're usually author's reflections in mirrors, store windows etc. The pictures are accompanied by some play with lights and outstanding frames adding mystery to the artist's figure. Her presence is often marked by the shadow visible in the picture. Experiments with her own presence by emphisizing the importance of it or simply extinghuishing it, changing identities, are an inherent part of both Vivian's work and her private life. She didn't publish her photos. This fact helps to understand Maier's creative attitude. She collected newspaper clippings, carefully observing the political situation in the country. On the other hand she manipulated facts concerning her past and her future, she gave fake names. I think the best description of this controversial person would be an invisible observer who tried to process and save the greatest possible amount of information.

Vivian's figure emerging from photographs, recordings and friends' descriptions is undoubtedly fascinating. This snippy and private person didn't let anyone get closer. For us she will stay very mysteorius person. Photos had never been described by a commentary or a note. Everything we know about the photographer is a compound of memoirs and conjectures.

Sources:

http://www.vivianmaier.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivian_Maier

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/vivian-maier-and-the-problem-of-difficult-women