secret places

It’s such a nice idea – to be able to escape for a few minutes to a secret corner. It has to be lush of course. And hidden. A misfit in a brutal environment of urban concrete.





I had such a place in Warsaw: behind the park, a shaded alley with small homes. So unlike the apartment blocks in the city center! I don’t think many people knew about it. And of course, I kept the place to myself. I went there “to escape,” because adolescent girls often think they need to “escape” whatever uncomfortable realty is nipping at them.


And when you're past the angst of growing up? It's still there: the desire for a spot of heaven. Close to home.

It's a challenge to find such a place. I’m surrounded by the essentials: grocery stores, bookstores, movie houses, pubs, sushi bars – great, but that’s a different kind of escape. What’s my secret destination when I want to exhale after a tortured day of reading heavy, heavy cases?

This.





Hidden. Yet, just a few minutes stroll from my front door.





Lush now, in midsummer.





A garden. All it needs is a stone wall and a secret gate.

Eh, let’s not be greedy.