The Walk
I just got back from what was probably the best walk in my life. I decided, after seven or eight hours or so of lingering restlessly at home not doing anything apart from playing chess with my computer and pointless re-watching old L word episodes, that I would go out, with just my cell phone and my keys, and a raincoat, because it had been raining and thundering in the afternoon.
Here is the route I ended up taking, athough my original intention had been simply to get to Narbutta and see what the local public library looked like:
Akacjowa→Rakowiecka→Fałata→Narbutta→Kwiatowa→Madalińskiego→Puławska→ParkMorskie Oko→Belwederska→Chełmska→Górska→Gagarina→Park Łazienkowski→Agricola→Plac na Rozdrożu→Al. Szucha→Pl. Unii Lubelskiej→Puławska→Rakowiecka→Akacjowa.
I can’t say exactly how much time it takes to walk that route, since nobody in their right mind should expect to foresee how much time they are going to spend walking around the Łazienki park, which I have now decided is by far the most exciting, the most magical place on the Earth as I have grown to know it.
I didn’t expect to see Łazienki today. It is the kind of place you think of as a „destination”, almost a trip one plans in advance, predicting costs and pleasures, putting away a chunk of time and inviting just the right company. If I had known I would end up there, I might not have had the courage to even leave the house. However, from the very first steps my feet took sweeping on the sidewalk so swiftly I almost felt like I was floating, I could tell that it was going to be a longer walk than I intended. Once I got to Morskie Oko, the park on the other side of Puławska where I used to take piano lessons, I was surprised at how short this familiar distance really was. Because I had almost always taken the bus from home to Morskie Oko in the days when I used to go there every week, doing it on foot derailed one of the preconceived notions I had of distance itself.
I was on the phone with Adam, walking towards the bottom end of the small park he said he didn’t like, because the view was spoiled by some huge building closeby which I could not spot even though I tried. On the angle of Belwederska and Dolna there was a brave, good-looking german shepherd tied to a sign post, waiting in front of some obscurely lit grocery store, not minding the rain at all. I wondered with some horror what would happen if his master wasn’t in the store, but had just left him there, never to return. I decided not to heed to my mind’s anxieties and walked down Chełmska to Górska, where I felt less at home than in Mokotów and decided it was time to „loop the loop”. However, when I turned into Gagarina (which is parallel to Chełmska), I noticed a rather large park on the other side of the street and could not help but cross to see what it was. Some people were still inside and the gate was open, even though eight PM was approaching.
You can imagine my amazement when I found out it was actually Łazienki, which in my mind’s clumsily disproportioned and distorted map of Warsaw was definitely not in this neck of the woods. But then again, I didn’t know what neck of the woods I had wandered into either. So in a way I wasn’t surprised. Just amazed. I strode in uninvited, not believing my luck and walked quietly along lush green alleyways and rows of wet wooden benches deserted by the rainstorm that had sent people to their homes. Inevitably I stumbled upon a breathtaking view of the Pałac na Wodzie, which is the park’s center of gravity, and saw there was something going on in the amphitheater I love so much, because the stage is separated from the audience by an actual canal, and because I once got an autograph there, from an actress whose stage name was Sroka. There was a modern dance show by a group of five dancers who called themselves „Zawirowania” and danced to Chopin pieces. It was enjoyable, professional, but most of all I just loved the fact that the whole performance was open to anyone, that the peacocks butted in whenever they felt like the music related to their experience in some way, and the evening air was cool and soft against my skin. The concert ended around ten PM and I followed the quiet string of people toward the only gate that had been left open, and then made my way, unsure of my own steps at first, towards home.
Needless to say, I saw street cats tip-toeing in front of me both at the beginning (Narbutta) and at the very end (Akacjowa).
