I had a really good weekend. Went out for dinner after work with a friend. We just sat there on a sidewalk patio, ate delicious food, had some wine, chatted for hours.... really nice way to spend the evening.

Had a great PT appointment the next morning. The therapist gave me some final exercises to strengthen my lower back and told me I'd lost weight in the hips- very flattering of her. I picked up strawberries from a market on the way home, then did some cleaning and laundry before taking a little nap. Around 7, I headed out to Łazienki Królewskie for a concert. It was raining pretty hard earlier, so I thought about not going, but decided to risk it. Fortunately, the rain let up just as I got there.

Saturday night was really cool. Once a year, Warsaw hosts what it calls "Noc Museów" or "Night of Museums". From 7pm until 1am (and in some cases, 3am), 141 museums and cultural institutions in the city open their doors to the public for free. Thousands of people turn out for this event, and it's a lot of fun. A friend and I went to a concert sponsored by the Chopin Loves Rock! project in the park by his monument at Łazienki Królewskie and it was great. We got there just in time to snag some folding chairs and a good spot on the grass not too far from the stage.

The concert opened with an excellent pianist performing some of Chopin's pieces- a waltz in A maj., the Fantasie Impromptu, Ballade no. 2, and a couple others. A jazzy vocalist sang on one of the pieces, very cool. The second part of the concert featured VERY avant-garde interpretations of more pieces on solo piano by a guy who looked a lot like Bono. I recognized a few of the pieces, but for the most part, they were really interesting versions of Chopin's music. The concert ended with a rock group (and occasionally the female jazz singer and a tenor from the National Opera) interpreting about 8 or 9 of his works. Really spiffy show, with a smoke machine, lights, a great rock group... and dancers.

Now, *they* were really funny- made me feel like I was back in 1986. They really reminded me of that part in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure where Bill and Ted land in the future and there's all the spacey music and the dancers in grey and silver. The costumes (all red and white), choreography, flags and visual presentation were, like, totally from the 80s, you know? ;) But it was a lot of fun to watch and a really fun way to spend an evening. I'll have to return to the park some other time and see the rest of it. Looks gorgeous in the guidebooks.

After the concert, my friend headed back home to her warm quilt and I decided to explore this whole Museum Night thing. I walked up Aleje Ujazdowskie and caught a bus to the bottom of Nowy Świat. Walked up toward the university, considered going in the Academy of Science, but kept going. Decided that something near the Hotel Bristol looked interesting- turned out to be a museum of central agriculture. They were displaying exhibits on traditional Polish folk magic and how peasants would use paper and wood cutouts, signs, symbols, and small animal figures made of beeswax to ward off evil and protect their homes. I found it interesting that many of the photographs and displays showed altars that contained artifacts from both these folk traditions and Christianity. It was a neat museum- I just wish there had been translations of the signs. Must learn more Polish!

Walked around the area for a while and found myself at the Royal Castle on Plac Zamkowy. I hadn't been in there yet, so I figured, "why not?" Gorgeous building- the interior was mostly 18th century, with a few pieces from the surrounding centuries. Not quite my era of preference, but a very ornate palace. What really interested me, though, were the furniture (lovely grandfather clocks, ornate chests of drawers with beautiful paintings on them, unusual chairs, good upholstery) and the floors. The floors were just fantastic- one room had a repeating pattern of small squares inside a bigger one. If the square had sides ABCD, adjacent to each other in a clockwise direction, the pattern would be a stripe of light pine wood on A & B. Then inside that, a thicker, grained stripe of darker oak on A & B, lending it depth. Inside that, a small square of solid black ebony. This gives one the illusion of looking down into a very narrow cone. Really fantastic! The other rooms had equally beautiful wooden patterns- I must return some time and look at them in more detail. The guards looked both confused and amused- I can imagine they're used to people looking at the paintings on the walls, and here's this odd person looking down at the ground! ^__^

After the Royal Castle, I wandered around through Old Town, out to Plac Bankowy, figured I'd head home. But a building *right* near the bus stop looked kind of interesting, with flames projected on it, good house music going, clearly the place to be... and the bus ran until 3. So I went in. Turned out to be some sort of cool museum on visual art and moving images. I peeked into several of the rooms and found myself fascinated by a video of sounds. There were four panels in a row on the screen and every second, they'd change. They showed very brief, one-second clips from real life, films, commercials, everything. And as they changed, the sound they emphasized changed too, moving from drums to screeching noises to violins to the blues to jazzy tunes, etc. Really neat. Turns out it was commissioned by the SF MOMA- not surprised.

After that, I *did* head home- I'd had enough for one night. But I picked up a booklet that listed all the open galleries, museums, etc.- so many cool things to see! I'll have to do it again next year, for sure.

I came home, got ready for bed, and randomly decided to see if the TV was working again (every time I put it on "English" or "Originalny", the sound disappears altogether- annoying!). And it was- I caught something in Japanese, then English, in SF's Chinatown. So I figured I'd watch it- wasn't *too* tired yet. Turned out to be a Jet Li movie called War. Pretty good. I think I understood a good bit of the Japanese, too (no subtitles here).

Happily fell asleep around 3.... and woke up to the telephone ringing at 6:30am. Uggghh.... I would have been more upset at this had the caller not been a good friend from home. He was calling with excellent news- a letter I sent him had successfully arrived!!! I took it to the post office at 8pm here the previous Monday, and when he called, it was Saturday night there. So it got there, via priority mail, in about 5-6 days. I have now figured out how to mail things! I was very glad to hear this. We chatted about a number of things for quite a while, then I went back to sleep. Yay for *finally* figuring out the post office! I just hope those other things I mailed arrive someday.

Joined a group of friends Sunday afternoon for a tour of Warsaw's Old and New Towns. One of them is taking exams to be a tour guide in the city and she needed some practice. So we had a MOST delightful afternoon walking around, listening to historical and anecdotal accounts of Warsaw history, people, buildings, legends.... one of the best afternoons I've ever had. She has a great tour style- mixes fact with fun stories, really captivates her listeners. I think she'll do great. I learned so much about the city, including two stories about the mermaid (symbol of Warsaw) and how the city got its name. We concluded the afternoon with coffee at a quirky art gallery-turned-coffee bar. Very nice day, indeed.

Had a delicious dinner of Indian food at Namaste with one of my friends, then took the leftovers home and just vegged for the rest of the night.

This really was a great weekend. I hope everyone else had one as well!