Synchronicities at The Museum

It has happened to us quite a few times - while watching a movie or when in a museum - the time on the clock in a certain place was the same as on our watches/ or our clock.

 

These pictures were taken at Fort McKavett in May, this year. In one of the barracks - an officer's family house - the clocks in the rooms showed the same time as our watches - when we were visiting each of the rooms.

The same was at the Pioneers' Museum not long ago, when we entered the rooms of a pioneer immigrant's house.

 My watch usually shows "more or less" time as I do not care much about setting it very precisely.

 

Some call it energy alignment, some may say it is an example of synchronicity. Others would say "weird or what?".

 

"V" for Vereins-Kirche

 

The building of Vereins-Kirche (Society Church) is the unofficial symbol of the town. It was the very first local church, built in 1847 by the settlers who came from Europe to the Fredericksburg area. The church was shared for worship services by all the local religious groups and was the school building as well.

Originally, the top of the roof was decorated with a rooster-shaped weather vane,  which was replaced with a cross when the lightning (in 1862) destroyed the prior installation.

The time seriously damaged the earliest wooden structure of the building. In 1934, the newly organized Gillespie County Historical Society decided to reconstruct the building. Among others, the construction was given new stone walls (instead of the wooden ones) - the restoration works took 2 years.

Since then, the old church building was used by the City Council for various purposes. Nowadays, it is part of the Pioneer Museum and a well-known and liked town landmark.

 Recently, the cloudy sky has brought a bit lower temperatures and relief from the summer heat.

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"My Texas Alphabet" is quite a personal summary of our hitherto life in Texas. More series entries here.

One of my latest creations - Vereins-Kirche inspired hand painted T shirt.

 

P for Poznań Old Market Square

 

Have you ever been to Poznań?

Another letter in "My Polish Alphabet" is "P" and it stands for Poznań Old Market Square.

 

Poznań is one of the oldest cities in Poland. I have visited it many times, but never cared much for the rest, meaning the more modern part of the city. 

The beginnings of Poznań date back to the 9th century, however, even much earlier settlements were discovered in that area (from 8,000 BC).

The old town was built in 1253, when Poznań was granted city rights. I love the atmosphere of the place. Every day at 12 noon, you can watch the two billy goats on the clock tower butting their heads. 

12 o'clock noon - the show starts

 

The place is totally different from the rest of Poznań (which is just like any other big city - loud and busy). The old market square has a totally different atmosphere. 

 

Apollo fountain

 

There are four fountains on the Market Square. The Apollo fountain (the basin part) is made of sandstone. The statue of Apollo is a bronze figure.

 

Sometimes, while visiting the place, you may have an unexpected encounter. See the reenactment group below, the old pranger column in the background.

 

In medieval ages, the pranger was a place of torture and humiliation - a person was stuck to it and "treated" by an executioner. The original pranger column has been stored in a local museum, the current one, topped with a statue of a torturer, is its modern replacement.

Besides the old city council building and the clock tower, the old town section also has a residential area, with its old houses and a network of streets.

The building at the end of the street, above, is the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Saints Mary Magdalene and Stanislaus of Szczepanów, commonly known as the Poznań Fara. It was built in the 17th century - very pretty and elaborate decorations inside.

If you are a fan of archeology, you can also visit a nearby museum.

If you get tired walking around, you can rest in one of the market square cafes, remember to try the original pastry of Poznań - St. Martin's croissants (rogale marcińskie). The croissants are big and sweet, I could not manage to eat one. 

St Martin's croissants

The tradition of making them dates back to the end of 19th century. About the 11th November, the parish priest of St. Martin's church asked the parish people to do something for the poor. One of the local pastry makers made three baking sheets of the sweet croissants and brought them to the church area. Every year, more and more bakers joined him and the tradition developed. 

 

These days you can buy St. Martin's pastry in Poznań all year round. The most is sold and eaten on 11 November, St Martin's day.

Credits: Photo of croissants: By Rzuwig - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64033312

My Polish Alphabet - "N"

 

"N" is for the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Wenecja, which we visited some years ago. 

 

Wenecja means Venice in Polish

 

The railway track (600 mm wide = 1 ft 11 5/8 inch.) was built to connect three local towns, nowadays it is just a tourist attraction. 

 

Unfortunately, on the day of our visit, the railway line was under maintenance, so we could not enjoy the ride on a small train, but I had had a chance to experience it in the past.

 

There is not much space to seat on the narrow gauge trains and the seats are rather narrow.  Carts and the engines are smaller too.

The museum collection consists of several steam locomotives. The oldest one was made in 1899, and others in the early 1900s.

Post office cart

The locomotive in the above photo was made in Hannover in 1923.

There is also the old station-waiting room and ticket office.

From the museum area, you can also see the ruins of the castle in Wenecja (the structure was built in the 14th century). 

 A good place to visit with the family as well.

I for Insurgent and U for Uprising

 

As for the Insurgent - I mean the monument to the Little Insurgent dedicated to the children who fought in the Warsaw Uprising that took place in 1944.

To make the story short - the young and younger citizens of Warsaw, then occupied by Nazis, organized an armed action against the occupants. 

The monument to the Warsaw Uprising/Warsaw Insurgents

Since at that time, the Russian Army was stationed on the other bank of the Vistula River, the young Insurgents believed the Russians would support their fight and help them liberate the city. 

 

The uprising started on 1 August and lasted for 63 days, the Russian Army did not take any action and did not support the Insurgents. Sadly, the Warsaw WWII revolt brought tragic results. 

 

During the fights, about 200,000 citizens of Warsaw lost their lives. In the aftermath, Nazi planes destroyed/flattened the city, and its 700,000 inhabitants were expelled from Warsaw.

 

More info about the Warsaw Uprising

• The Warsaw Uprising - Holocaust Encyclopedia
• Wikipedia 

Available on YouTube:

• Documentary about the Warsaw Uprising 
•  Polish drama made in 1957 (with English subtitles): "Sewer" - about the Uprising and Insurgents
  

Available on Tubi:

• Documentary
• Movie: Battle for Warsaw

On a cool July day (the temperatures in the 60s), we thought about it all while visiting Warsaw and watching the monuments.

The letter P with an anchor at its bottom was the symbol of the WWII Polish Underground State and the Home Army. The anchor = letter W. Both P make W (in Polish) are the acronym meaning "fighting Poland". It was also the symbol of the Warsaw Uprising.

Glory to the fallen Heroes!