We all decided to rejuvenate the Casual Car Club and the RREC Polish Section with a welcome Christmas Lunch at Rozalin Palace. . The neo-Renaissance classical palace/villa of Rozalin situated about 44 kms from Warsaw is an architecturally important, historic building. The palace was built for the beautiful, aristocratic Rozalia Rzewuska née Lubomirska and designed in the mid-19th century by Henryk Marconi, the famous Polish architect of Italian origin. He designed many important neo-Classical buildings in the country.
At present we are drowning in so many horrendous events under a threatening umbrella - the immeasurable suffering of a brutal European war, the horrors in the Middle East, terror on Bondi Beach ... worldwide financial instability. However, as a creative, cultural corrective to these dark shadows we decided to meet, united by our classic car passions.
In the greater days of the Casual Car Club (CCC) over many years, we met for dinner to have classic car discussions, conviviality over a glass of wine and an informative automotive lecture after dinner. This was featured in either the privacy of the Moniuszko Salon or Słowacki Salon at the Hotel Bristol in Warsaw. Grzegorz Grątkowski occasionally gave exceptional lectures there. It is such a sad reflection on our commercially focused times, insensitive to the establishment of traditions, that mounting such altruistic events has become financially unfriendly as the choice of accommodation diminishes.
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| Rozalin Palace |
Having had previous experience at the Hotel Bristol dinners with the encyclopedic knowledge that filled the after dinner professionally delivered Grzegorz Grątkowski talks, we decided he must return over Christmas lunch! We asked him to give a talk on one of his specialties, the car marque Alfa Romeo.
He entitled the talk Alfa Romeo : More than Meets the Eye.
After gathering in the restaurant, these old and new friends exchanged knowledge of the glories of present activities of classic car ownership and the attractions of deserted Polish driving roads. Conversation ranged from cars dreamed of, purchased or recently sold, maintenance or repair horrors even including arcane Leica photography with black and white film stock. We first assembled in the palace in a room prepared for lectures.
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| Pre-lecture gathering at Rozalin Palace |
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| Grzegorz Grątkowski (far left) delivering his wonderfully illustrated Alfa Romeo Talk Grzegorz very generously shared excerpts of this lecture with us at: |
The fascinating lecture highlighted areas of Alfa Romeo production entirely unknown to most of us. It was a mixture of fine detail and general observations and commentary - a perfect balance in summa. We then retired to the excellent restaurant attached to the palace for a festive lunch.
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| A suitably festive crew! A most ebullient and pleasant occasion enjoyed by all ! |
The food was also excellent. I am not keen on alcohol-free fizz but neither the fines, cost, loss of licence and possibly car that are incurred following apprehension by the Policja for careless driving 'under the influence' !
If you are a true 'nostalgisist' as I am now, do watch this clip from the 1967 film 'The Graduate' in which Dustin Hoffmann drives the superbly designed Alfa Romeo 'Duetto' 1600 Spider accompanied by Simon & Garfunkel singing 'Sounds of Silence'
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| Happily returning home ... |
