City doping

One weekend was all it took to fall back in love with Warsaw, which seems to have gone through a metamorphosis overnight. Only two weeks ago it was snowy, greyish and not particularly active. And then all of a sudden it blossomed. After all these months spent here, I can now see I was not crazy when I decided this was a wonderful city to live in. I'm beginning to recognize my Warsaw and to regain my enthusiasm. Sure, it helps if a good old friend is around. Giving her a tour of the city has helped open my eyes and reestablish a connection I feared was lost for good.

In just four days, we explored Warsaw and fully enjoyed its cultural delights, from exhibition openings to conferences on literature and immigration to late night parties and early morning afterparties.

This is not a review of the hottest, newest or smartest places and events in Warsaw, but a few highlights are worth mentioning.

The Centre for Contemporary Art is currently hosting an exhibition about prepositions, which I found so fabulous I actually wanted to move in one of the rooms. I know I'm a fool for grammar and languages, yet seeing them play the leading part in an exhibition made me utterly happy for the rest of the day. This is the kind of art I'd love to own:

As always, Praga district is the best place for very pleasant surprises, although some might claim it's neither safe nor pretty. They are so wrong it almost makes me feel sorry for them.

Since we tend to live our lives on fast-forward and up to date with everything and anything from unpublished books to exhibitions that are still work in progress to crappy celebrity gossip which we do enjoy in small amounts, it was only natural to hang out in a coffee-shop-open-house-hipster meeting point that's not even officially open yet. While checking out the art galleries in Praga, we discovered this place run by Kasha & William, two of the nicest people I've met in Warsaw, so full of positive energy and radiant, they almost seemed to be from another reality. Their open house is, by far, my new favorite place in Warsaw - it looks like a very eclectic living room where no two pieces of furniture match, yet the overall sensation is of perfect harmony and coziness. They have a rat and a raven, make the best Turkish coffee ever and are talkative, open and smiling all the time. After an hour spent there, it felt rather like visiting some old friends than having a cup of coffee in a place that is one month away from its official inauguration.

Even the Brave New World, the socialist-intellectual-ideological pub seems to have given in to the idea that work and play go hand in hand. Sure, they still have a very busy schedule, lots of conferences, debates and meetings, yet on a Friday night socialism can wait. And we can dance. I'm not a big fan of DJs and electronic music is not my favorite thing on the menu, but I'll order it from time to time and with the right company, it might turn out to be loads of fun.

This morning we went to say goodbye to one of the few gay clubs in Warsaw. We decided we could skip the party on Saturday and just show up at the afterparty, fresh and rested and wearing perfect make-up. Which is exactly what we did, I can't remember the last time I woke up at 5 and it was definitely the first time I was up at that hour because I was going clubbing.

On our way back, Warsaw was sunny and buzzing, old ladies were on their way to church, everybody else is either running or watching the marathon.

Except for us. We don't do church and we just decided biking is about ten times cooler than running. Which is why next week I'm planning to buy the most adorable bike on the planet (found it in Praga, obviously). I'll need to move fast as to keep pace with the city. And I have a feeling I'm going to love every minute of it.