Monday, April 20, 2009

A Preview of the First Day

Palace 01

Phew... I spent the entire Sunday exploring the city - on foot.

I didn't bother with signing up for a tour, all I needed were my legs, my instincts, and the ever reliable hotel map. By the end of the day, I can't believe I took 2GB worth of pictures!

I spent the entire day walking, so I apologize if I am unable to share stories or visit your blogs due to extreme exhaustion. I will however, leave you with a preview of the day's events:

War 01


ghetto 02

Locals 04

Locals 02

Nazi 01

Ghetto 01

carriage 01

Locals 01

guards 01

Locals 03

Hope you liked the photos, stories to follow when I'm back in Manila!

Oh, and I was able to buy a cheap belt. Now I don't have to worry about my trousers falling off during the meetings this week. Can't afford to reveal my boxers.


Garando mode:
Time to recharge...

33 comments:

Unknown said...

After a little research I came to conclude that you're in Poland.
Am I right? :)

And glad to know you found a cheap belt. It's quite easy to find a belt but it may be harder on a weekend, unless you're in a touristic city. Unfortunately I was not able to find out in which city exactly you are but I may try to find out. Let's see what I can come up with!

kg said...

i take back my guess because after seeing your pics [great pics, as usual], i'm guessing you're in europe! super ganda! :)

it's great to explore a place on foot, don;t you think? that's what I did in Paris. Although unlike you, I had a map, sometimes, I also just walked around and just went wherever my legs would take me! ha! super fun!

enjoy your week wherever you are garando!

Rico said...

Excellent shot of those military men. They look intimidating! Beautiful houses (buildings) around the city too.

mordsith said...

what? you've escaped the scorching heat of the sun here in Manila!

good luck on you meeting and i hope you can post more pictures of the locals! :)

Dennis Villegas said...

Beautiful set of travel pictures! I admire your energy! Can't wait for you to come back to tell us more about the trip!

witsandnuts said...

I'm not surprised at all about the 2gb pix. No one will resist cam-clicking with such beautiful place. I liked all the photos. Looks like I was watching a classic film. Have fun!

sheng said...

I am guessing Germany! May mapapanalunan ba ang tamang guess? Hehehe, but wherever you are, the pics are just gorgeous. I love every click of your cam, and the pics you share. I hope you share the experience too.

Leamsi said...

very nice photos. i was thinking of doing my own research where you are. ang alam ko lang nasa europe ka. so poland it is. di ka ba natakot dun sa mga pulis/soldiers when you took them pictures? wehehe...

physiquemama said...

Wow! You’re such a good photographer! I’ve thought all nice photos in your blog were taken by Garandee-san! Hehe! Sorry! ;P This is a compliment dayo!

Missy said...

So you're making us "hula" huh LOL....probably in Europe and not in Asia because time zone is different. Maybe shadowmoon is right, you're probably in Poland, from the pictures you posted but where in Poland??? Warsaw? Coz I saw a lot of soldiers (came from war hahaha)...Hay hirap naman! Sirit na!

jeanny said...

wow your in europe.:)

You took great photos.Lovely! Thanks for sharing and I'll be waiting for your stories :)

Garando said...

Shadowmoon:
Wow, you are very resourceful! I'm impressed! Thanks for following my travel, I'm just caught up with meetings the entire week, but I should be able to post more photos soon that will verify the country and city I'm in. ;)

Kg:
Thanks! Yup, agree, and I loved your photos of Europe too! I had a great time walking around the city last Saturday... but it's also sad na I won't have another opportunity to do it again. It's all work from here on. :(

Rico:
Yeah, the military looked so cool! I think I got lucky to be able to take those photos. My local colleague told me it was quite rare to see them marching around the city.

Mordsith:
True! This is a nice break from the summer heat. I'm freezing my butt off at the moment. It's around 3-5C during mornings and evenings. brrrr....

Dennis Villegas:
Thank you! Yup, looking forward to posting more. :)

Witsandnuts:
Thank you! Yes, some of the places in the photo date back to the early 1040's, during World War II. It was bittersweet though, I felt a lot of sorrow after seeing those buildings. Will write about it soon. ;)

Sheng:
Haha. Hmmm.... starting a contest is a good idea! Let me see what I can use for a prize worthy enough to pull off a contest. :D Will definitely share more next week!

Yummybite:
Thank you! Yup, they were a bit intimidating, but I couldn't resist taking photos, they were so cool kase. :D

Rica-san:
Arigato Gozaimasu! (_ _)
Haha! Just between you and me, I was actually Garandee's photography sensei! But I doubt she will admit it... :D

Missy:
LOL! Basta, pagnaka-uwi nako I'll reveal everything! Medyo busy lang kase panay work nako the whole week eh... :( Minsan iniisip ko na yung mga magiging post ko during my meetings. LOL.

Jeanny:
Thank you! I'm also looking forward to sharing them! :)

Unknown said...

Well, I found a way to figure out where you were :)

But now I'm in doubt about the city.
I'm sure you're not in Warsaw. At least one of those pictures was not taken there. I'm supposing all the pictures you took were on the same city.
I'm also supposing that the pictures on the plane were taken by you on this trip.

With the information I got, a little research and a little of what I think is logic I numbered down to two possible cities. They are GdaƄsk or Gdynia though I'm really in doubt if you're really in one of these...I can't seem to find anything that enables me to say this with complete assurance. I find some evidences that you're NOT in any of those but if this is true than all the logic I built before falls down and I go back to zero :(

Anyway, I'll stick with those two cities as my first guess :)

Jules said...

Wow!
Uy! Lubusin mo na ang glamorous trip mo.Coz after that,back to work kna nman.whehehe..;D
Btw,ganda nman sa place na yan.;D
Kainggit nman..;D

Unknown said...

Wow! Poland pala..ahihhi
Ganda jan..;D
Enjoy..=)

Alice said...

Beautiful pics, Garando!

Hmmm... I wonder if you're wearing the funky boxers that Garandee got for you. Hahahaa!

Unknown said...

beautiful photography... thanks for the tour...:)

Chyng said...

wow Europe! Bongga!

More kwento! more photo!

Anonymous said...

Mark -- you're in Warsaw! Great to
see you up and about in eastern Europe. Post more photos!

-gal-

escape said...

another excellent set! you really know what to capture and it's so europe. galing!

twishinky said...

nice nice nice!!! Poland! can't wait to see more pics from you.

Midge said...

Warsaw's lovely this time of year, ne? :D

caryn said...

taym pers, warsaw right? inggit! how fun! will be waiting for more pics! ;-)

laagan said...

so this is Poland. Ang ganda pala. I love the picture with the kid's portrait. I was looking for something similar when I was in Paris to have my portrait drawn pero ala akong makita...sayang..next time na lang..

Garando said...

Shadowmoon:
Wow, I'm very impressed! Well you have to wait no longer, I will start working on my posts this week because I'm dying to share the photos with all of you. Thanks for sticking around! You know quite a lot about Poland don't you? ;)

Summer:
Yeah, I tried to make the most out of the 1 week. Medyo bitin, pero I've had enough fun to make me want to come back in the future... :)

Solo:
Thank you!

Alice Teh:
Thank you! Oh, I had to leave those behind because it was too thin. I'll end up freezing my bum. LOL. Besides I wouldn't want the hotel cleaning lady stumbling onto it. :D

Mikky:
Hello! Welcome to my blog. Thanks for leaving a comment!

Chyng:
Yes po! Medyo palipasin ko muna tong jetlag ko. :D

Gal:
Thanks! Do you remember Aga? I met her there!

The donG:
Thank you!

Twishinky:
Will definitely post more soon. ;)

Midge:
Hai! Absolutely beautiful! Very cold, but beautiful!

Caryn:
Yup, my first time! I was very excited.

Lagaan:
Hello! thank for dropping by Balut & Natto. Yeah, minsan chambahan ang pag take ng photos. I'm sure you'll get another opportunity soon. And when you do, please share it with us!

Unknown said...

I know a lot about Poland?
HAHAHA!
No, I know nothing about Poland! I have never been there! I couldn't even remember it's capital. :)
But I guess you want to know how I found out you were in Poland right?
Well, I'll reveal on my comment in your next posts. :D

glenda said...

wow, poland is beautiful! is this in warsaw? nice all your photos but my favorite is the 4th one - the old man playing an accordion(?).

Anonymous said...

I love your photos! Hay, ganda talaga ng Poland. I can feel the culture emanating from my screen. Very rustic and laid back ang atmosphere. I think kapag nakapunta ako ng Europe, I will take more than 2GB of photos for one day. LOL.

Glad to know you're already back in MNL safe and sound. :-)

Lantaw said...

Great photos! Nasa eastern Europe ka pala? 2Gb?!? wow thats a lot of photos to process. Will wait for more :)

Garando said...

Shadowmoon:
hmmm... WIKIPEDIA helped perhaps? :D

Glenda:
Thank you! Yes, that was in Warsaw. I'll share more photos soon.

Dyosa:
Thanks! LOL, better bring a lot of memory cards. Ang sarap magkukuha ng photos dun, but I recommend using a zoom lens para di obvious na kinukunan sila. :D

Lantaw:
Thank you! Yeah, I guess I got too carried away but there was just so much to capture! :D

ms firefly said...

ohhh, lovely pictures!
i felt like browsing through natgeo magazine with your photographs, you're so good!

Garando said...

Thank you, Ms. Firefly! :)

aurbie said...

The last photo is very moving.