Last minute

This was really "last minute" opportunity. My business appointment, planned for Wednesday in UK, was cancelled on Tuesday. Wizz air tickets can't be returned, so they were going to be wasted. I didn't think to long; I asked my boss for two days off, packed my bag, and was ready to go.

My first stop was Victoria Station. When I was a schoolboy, Mr Brown from my English book, commuted from Bishopton to London every day by Victoria Station. Victoria Station was not only the place, where he changed his mean of transport, but also place, where I learned new words and grammar rules. I wanted to check, if Victoria Station I remember from pictures in this book really looks as I remember.

Unfortunately not.  Not only adverts and modern booths screen respectable walls, but also a policewoman asked me kindly, to not photograph security cams, but suggested me rather to go away. I saw only a few stone works, which may remember steam locomotives bringing Mr Brown to his office.

The next attraction was Westminster Cathedral. Build in roman like style, it is main catholic church in London. It is huge and impresive, but lighting of the church by candles for centuries makes naked walls above marble cladding contrasting dark, almost black. It creates impression, that since Henry the VIII, there was no significant improvements here.

Westminster Abbey is quite opposite. It is anglican, there is no free admission, build in gothic style and making photography there is prohibited. Abbey's magnificence clearly says, that cooperation with the authorities is beneficial. Wealth, lordiness and historical and cultural importance of this place is clear. I am really sorry, that taking photos there is prohibited.

Saint Paul's Cathedral is the third the most important church in London. It has monumental dimentions and even nowadays it still dominates above surrounding buildings. Unfortunately, funeral ceremony of Lady Margaret Tacher was organized on Wednesday, so I was able see Saint Paul's Cathedral only from distance.

It is difficult to predict how long St. Paul will be so dominant. London is growing up very quickly, and after another decade, today the dominant structures become quite modest.

Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi

• I used to work for CSBI, but they sold the business, so I kept working under Largotim logo.
• I used to work for Largotim, but they sold the business, so I kept working under TRW ISCS logo. 
• I used to work for TRW ISCS, but they sold the business, so I kept working under QAD logo. 
• I used to work for QAD, but they sold the business, so I keep working under DSR logo.

How should I explain to employer, that I'm not a jumper?

Two posts ago I wrote that it was my last QAD trip to Norway. Now I can write, that it is my first DSR trip to Norway. Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi.

There are the first announcements of spring in Stavanger. Open-air cafes become filled with guests,

... sailors start preparing their yachts in marinas,

... and clear sky allows to watch sunrise and sunset. Next month such views will require too much scarifice,

... and gulls prepare themselves for nesting.

But can I say, that nothing has changed?

Epilogue in Istanbul

Theoretically, I'm just a partner already. I am performing here my last job that I have received as an QAD employee. This is not very optimistic, but the place is exciting and it compensates my mood a little.

This is a business trip, but fortunately I had an opportunity to be in the right place at the right time. Tim invited me to a bar located at the roof of a hotel, exactly when day and nigh were changing their shifts.

Nobody can tell to have seen Bosphorus, when he didn't saw its bridges. Both of them are engineering masterpieces.

When I was excited by general Istanbul views, Tim was focused at mundane things. Taxim district offers a lot of restaurants, and Tim seems to be the perfect guide to all of them.

On the next day the weather was even more dull and unfriendly to a photographer. The only solution was to go indoors and find something interesting lighted by an artifical, more vivid light.

After three days my task was completed and one day remained before my flight back home. Nice opportunity, but how to see a 12-million city with 2500 years of history at one day? This is just impossible. We tried to do it however. First step was cruising the Bosphorus.

The straight was crowded with ferries and cruise ships.

Old and new.

Four Seasons Hotel seems to be rather expencive, ... but watching it was for free.

 

Narrow, really narrow.

This was my first visit in mosque. Fortunately I had an opportunity to hear the guide, who was telling to his group; that empty space in the center allows to be closer to Absolute. The circles of light are symbols of enlightment by God.

Hagia Sophia is another story. I didn't know anything about Istambul except that there is Hagia Sophia there. The biggest, the oldest, the most important. In other words, Hagia Sophia is just a "must see"!

A little bit ruined but under slow reconstruction. Hagia Sophia has been the mosque for a thousand years, but Christian mosaics were neither removed nor intentionally destroyed.

I saw Hagia Sophia, it means I was in Istambul.

Sunday in Tau

Another Sunday in Norway. All hotels in Stavanger were sold out, so I had to get last room in Tau.

First dinner on fuel station, and then walk along a frozen lake.  

Fortunately afternoon was sunny, so sightseeing and taking photos were possible. 

This countryside is not very populated, this is rather wilderness. How will I survive this week?

This week, Stavanger Skagen looks for me almost like Rotterdam.

Tau from the bay looks like a picturesque, holiday village.

On the way we pass the rocky islets. Driving to work ferry pass them when the sun was already illuminating them, leaving the surrounding water, even in the dark.

I never expected, that I would be commuted to work by such means of transport.

This is my last trip made ​​as an employee of QAD. In terms of sightseeing, this is a powerful piece!

Norwegian wintertime

   When this project was starting, I was afraid of long northern nights and depressing lack of light. And how things are really going? Gloomy cloudy weather persists for several weeks in Poland. It's needless to say, just look out of the window. Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria suffer extraordinary snowfalls. 
   Meanwhile in Norway ...

   This photo was taken on February 22, just after the middle of the winter. Flowers outdoor are tired but still alive! 

   The only difference between summer and winter in harbor is that summer cruise ships have been replaced by tugboats and instead of crowds of tourists one can see only a few residents.  

   Winter in Stavanger seems to be quite nice. There are no "polar nights", for sure.  Only a salty residue of ice on the Sola Beach suggests that this is wintertime.

Wieczorny spacer do portu

  Trochę mi tym razem z tym światłem nie wyszło. W Norwegii w lutym o 17:30 jest już za późno na to żeby złapać jeszcze światło zachodzącego słońca i równocześnie jest za zimno, żeby spokojnie poczekać na nocne światła miasta. Ani tak ani siak.
   Ale w porcie zawsze się coś dzieje ciekawego, przynajmniej ciekawego z punktu widzenia turysty. A to prom odpływa do Tau, a to światło zmierzchu odbijało się we wodzie.

   Zdecydowanie należało by być tu godzinę temu. Wtedy słońce jeszcze złociło, a później różowiło wierzchołki gór po drugiej stronie zatoki. Ale cóż, głupio by tak było powiedzieć klientowi, że muszę już iść, bo słońce zachodzi, a mnie nie może oświetlić światło księżyca.

   Że też nie można doczekać się na to, żeby wszystkie promy chciały ustawić się w optymalnych wizualnie miejscach. Jest coraz ciemniej, coraz zimniej i coraz mniej mi się chce tu sterczeć! W tył zwrot i do hotelu.

Słoneczna niedziela

W domu mroźno, śnieżnie i od kilku tygodni stale pochmurno. W zasadzie już przyzwyczaiłem się do tego, że zimy są u nas pochmurne. Dlatego też wyjeżdżając kolejny raz do Norwegii nie spodziewałem się odmiany pogody. W Stavanger ponoć jest 250 dni z opadami w roku, więc na cóż tu można liczyć. Myślałem, że czeka mnie kolejny tydzień przesiedziany w hotelu. 

A tu niespodzianka! Słońce, niebieskie niebo, lekki mrozik -4 stopnie, a miasto bardziej przyprószone szronem niż śniegiem. Jednym słowem piękna niedziela na rodzinny spacer. 

Niestety, nie na rodzinny, ale wybrałem się przespacerować. Z jednej strony morze, z drugiej góry i fiord. Nie mam jak się w te góry dostać, ale kuszą mnie one strasznie. W niedzielę nic tu nie działa a po pracy jest już ciemno i późno, a na ulicach raczej pusto.

Muszę jednak coś wymyślić przed końcem tego projektu.