We’re settling into a routine here, of yummy Sunday lunches (pumpkin soup! poppy seed torte!) followed by a museum visit. Survival skills for northern climes, what can I say.

The National Museum in Warsaw doesn’t look like much from the outside. Completed in 1938, the building is your basic between-the-wars-box. But such cool stuff on the inside! Even after methodical looting by the Nazis. The current collection includes recovered items as well as items declared as “abandoned” by the Soviets. I’m not going there. I’m a tourist, it’s my job to enjoy!

How weird is it that I love both medieval Christian and Socialist Realist art? Not that weird, really. Both genres are basically graphic novels, meant to tell a story. We were going to start at the top of the museum and work down, but my husband knew, as soon as I got a glimpse of the medieval gallery, that’s all she wrote. I can’t get enough of the stuff.

Medieval Christian art is totally over the top. It runs the gamut from gorgeous to gruesome, often simultaneously. It’s not at all subtle, but it is complicated. I had a couple of art history classes back when dinosaurs roamed the earth that give me some understanding of the symbolism involved. I’d like to know more. Winter project?