Quo vadis?
Just how, pray tell, did we get to an old Hollywood movie poster as the lead in for this blog post? It really is an accident, of sorts, but stay with me.
The day dawned sunny and cool. Kościuszko and I headed out for what was to be an exploratory urban ride north and west of Wilanów that was not meant to be the subject of a blog post. Of course, you never know what will happen on such a venture, but that's what makes this so fun. As fate would have it, the day would have other plans for us.
I had one planned stop today, and that was at an upscale bicycle shop not far from Sadyba Mall called Veloart. Looking at their website I was pleased to see that they did custom fittings and built custom bikes, much like my much-revered Cascade Bicycle Studio in Seattle. They have everything I need to make my cycling life easy here in Poland. The employees were friendly and eager to help when I dropped in unexpectedly to have a bit of maintenance done on Kościuszko. The cobbles, dirt and mud and many kilometers of generally rough roads that we had traveled had caused some components to go out of alignment and become loose. The mechanic at Veloart took wonderful care of Kościuszko and I was impressed by not only his thoroughness, but also the store and its array of services. Before and after the tuneup, I spoke with Dominik, who was most helpful with some general cycling tips and destinations around Warsaw. Most certainly I will be going back for a "spa day" for Kościuszko to be thoroughly cleaned off and regreased. If you are in the Warsaw area and have a bike--particularly if you are a serious "roadie" or are in need of a good bike fit, I recommend Veloart!
Upon leaving Veloart we crossed the heavily-trafficked Highway 724, and made our way in a somewhat southwardly direction. We passed the ever-popular (and huge) Sadyba Mall. I have no intention of writing about a mall. We then cruised past the Muzeum Polskiej Techniki Wojskowej (Museum of Polish Military Technology). I stopped briefly and took a picture of the tanks (Soviet era T-34c and T-34/85 by my best guess), but the guard there wanted me to park my bike with him while I walked the grounds (in my cleats?!?). Never once having felt comfortable leaving Kościuszko unattended or with a stranger, I politely refused and we left, continuing South.
At some point I whizzed past a cafe that we had visited on our second day here: Green Caffè Nero. I hadn't given it much thought before. Just another coffee house and I, unlike most Swedes and Swedish Americans do not drink nor even like coffee! Today, however it hit me as rather odd. Nero? Nero? Really? Not realizing the obvious, that Caffè Nero meant "black coffee" in Italian, my mind immediately focused on Emperor Nero of Rome and all of his crazy cruelties and excesses. From there it was a short leap to the movie I had seen as a young boy, Quo Vadis, in which the wonderful Peter Ustinov, playing the insane Nero, requires the help of a slave girl to end his own life. (This is based only loosely on history, the "helper" was actually his secretary, a freedman, who ironically was later put to death for not preventing Nero's suicide. So much for doing good deeds.)
The producer of Quo Vadis was Sam Zimbalist (1901-1958). Zimbalist was a Ukrainian Jew who immigrated to the United States at an early age and had a meteoric rise at Metro Studios (which ended up through merges as MGM). He is best known (to me), for the movies: 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, King Solomon's Mines, Quo Vadis and I Accuse! Zimbalist was working in Italy when he suffered a massive heart attack and died while producing Ben Hur, probably his best known film.
What may not be known to most readers is that Quo Vadis is a film adaptation of a famous historical novel, entitled (quite unremarkably), Quo Vadis (1896). The novel was written by Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916), perhaps the most well-known Polish author of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Sienkiewicz was well-traveled and spent several years studying and writing about California in places I love, like Yosemite, the Mojave Desert, San Francisco, and others. His list of works is long and impressive, although he is not known well outside of Poland.
Sienkiewicz was awarded a Nobel Prize. He engaged in meticulous historical research as background for his novels. Although we may know of Quo Vadis through Hollywood, Sienkiewicz's work is no mere love story set against the oppression of Christians during Roman times. In fact, there are close parallels to the oppression of the Poles by other powers; I can’t help but think that the heroine Ligia’s devotion to Christianity can be thought of as the love of Poland by its people and Marcus Vinicius’ love of Ligia is, perhaps, the charm we all come to feel for Poland after being here for a time. Perhaps I read in too much to these things.
Sienkiewicz's best known work inside Poland is probably the set of historical novels, The Trilogy (Trylogia Sienkiewicza), set in the backdrop of the turbulent 17th century. The second volume of the series is Deluge (Potop, 1886), which, if you read my previous post, should tell you something about the content of that particular volume.
So there you have it. A single word, Nero, sent my mind a-wandering. This long diversion on a coffee house name would not have been possible had I only actively studied Italian!
Kościuszko and I continued south, eventually turning West into a large compound of relatively new high-rise apartment buildings--a neighborhood called Błonia Wilanowskie. Aside from these relatively dense housing complexes, Błonia Wilanowskie is the home of Poland's Temple of Divine Providence (Świątynia Opatrzności Bożej).
Interestingly, the intent to construct this church dates all the way back to 1791, but something always prevented the plans from being implemented (foreign invaders and the dismemberment of the Polish state, to be precise). It was only in the 1990s that Poland and the Catholic Church were able to finalize plans and move the project through to completion. Groundbreaking occurred in 2002 and the building officially opened in 2016. Public opinion varies on the architectural merit of the structure, but the most common nickname seems to be the "lemon squeezer". This negative appellation notwithstanding, I’ve read that interior is quite beautiful. Perhaps another day I will test that claim.
Kościuszko and I intended to head further west, but we ran out of road. We turned around and headed out of Błonia Wilanowskie and continued south on Highway 724, searching for an alternate navigable route westward. Ultimately, this seemed futile and so we turned east at Powsin and caught our normal route home. Not at all the ride we expected, but it was still wonderful to get out and see a bit more of Warsaw.
The day dawned sunny and cool. Kościuszko and I headed out for what was to be an exploratory urban ride north and west of Wilanów that was not meant to be the subject of a blog post. Of course, you never know what will happen on such a venture, but that's what makes this so fun. As fate would have it, the day would have other plans for us.
I had one planned stop today, and that was at an upscale bicycle shop not far from Sadyba Mall called Veloart. Looking at their website I was pleased to see that they did custom fittings and built custom bikes, much like my much-revered Cascade Bicycle Studio in Seattle. They have everything I need to make my cycling life easy here in Poland. The employees were friendly and eager to help when I dropped in unexpectedly to have a bit of maintenance done on Kościuszko. The cobbles, dirt and mud and many kilometers of generally rough roads that we had traveled had caused some components to go out of alignment and become loose. The mechanic at Veloart took wonderful care of Kościuszko and I was impressed by not only his thoroughness, but also the store and its array of services. Before and after the tuneup, I spoke with Dominik, who was most helpful with some general cycling tips and destinations around Warsaw. Most certainly I will be going back for a "spa day" for Kościuszko to be thoroughly cleaned off and regreased. If you are in the Warsaw area and have a bike--particularly if you are a serious "roadie" or are in need of a good bike fit, I recommend Veloart!
At some point I whizzed past a cafe that we had visited on our second day here: Green Caffè Nero. I hadn't given it much thought before. Just another coffee house and I, unlike most Swedes and Swedish Americans do not drink nor even like coffee! Today, however it hit me as rather odd. Nero? Nero? Really? Not realizing the obvious, that Caffè Nero meant "black coffee" in Italian, my mind immediately focused on Emperor Nero of Rome and all of his crazy cruelties and excesses. From there it was a short leap to the movie I had seen as a young boy, Quo Vadis, in which the wonderful Peter Ustinov, playing the insane Nero, requires the help of a slave girl to end his own life. (This is based only loosely on history, the "helper" was actually his secretary, a freedman, who ironically was later put to death for not preventing Nero's suicide. So much for doing good deeds.)
The producer of Quo Vadis was Sam Zimbalist (1901-1958). Zimbalist was a Ukrainian Jew who immigrated to the United States at an early age and had a meteoric rise at Metro Studios (which ended up through merges as MGM). He is best known (to me), for the movies: 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, King Solomon's Mines, Quo Vadis and I Accuse! Zimbalist was working in Italy when he suffered a massive heart attack and died while producing Ben Hur, probably his best known film.
What may not be known to most readers is that Quo Vadis is a film adaptation of a famous historical novel, entitled (quite unremarkably), Quo Vadis (1896). The novel was written by Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916), perhaps the most well-known Polish author of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Sienkiewicz was well-traveled and spent several years studying and writing about California in places I love, like Yosemite, the Mojave Desert, San Francisco, and others. His list of works is long and impressive, although he is not known well outside of Poland.
Sienkiewicz was awarded a Nobel Prize. He engaged in meticulous historical research as background for his novels. Although we may know of Quo Vadis through Hollywood, Sienkiewicz's work is no mere love story set against the oppression of Christians during Roman times. In fact, there are close parallels to the oppression of the Poles by other powers; I can’t help but think that the heroine Ligia’s devotion to Christianity can be thought of as the love of Poland by its people and Marcus Vinicius’ love of Ligia is, perhaps, the charm we all come to feel for Poland after being here for a time. Perhaps I read in too much to these things.
Sienkiewicz's best known work inside Poland is probably the set of historical novels, The Trilogy (Trylogia Sienkiewicza), set in the backdrop of the turbulent 17th century. The second volume of the series is Deluge (Potop, 1886), which, if you read my previous post, should tell you something about the content of that particular volume.
So there you have it. A single word, Nero, sent my mind a-wandering. This long diversion on a coffee house name would not have been possible had I only actively studied Italian!
Interestingly, the intent to construct this church dates all the way back to 1791, but something always prevented the plans from being implemented (foreign invaders and the dismemberment of the Polish state, to be precise). It was only in the 1990s that Poland and the Catholic Church were able to finalize plans and move the project through to completion. Groundbreaking occurred in 2002 and the building officially opened in 2016. Public opinion varies on the architectural merit of the structure, but the most common nickname seems to be the "lemon squeezer". This negative appellation notwithstanding, I’ve read that interior is quite beautiful. Perhaps another day I will test that claim.
Kościuszko and I intended to head further west, but we ran out of road. We turned around and headed out of Błonia Wilanowskie and continued south on Highway 724, searching for an alternate navigable route westward. Ultimately, this seemed futile and so we turned east at Powsin and caught our normal route home. Not at all the ride we expected, but it was still wonderful to get out and see a bit more of Warsaw.
Comments
Post a Comment