The famous palm tree in Warsaw

More observant visitors are at some stage going to come across a great big palm tree planted in the middle of a traffic island. So, what’s it all about eh? Standing on the intersection between Nowy Świat and Al. Jerozolimskie it’ll come as little surprise that it’s part of a modern art project, awarded the title of Greetings from Jerusalem. First off, the tree is not actually a tree, rather a steel column (specially designed so it can bend in the wind), covered with natural bark and leaves made from polyethylene. It’s the work of artist Joanna Rajkowska who, during a trip to Israel, was struck by the brainwave of sticking a palm tree up in Warsaw to add some sunny cheer. Manufactured in California the tree sent City Hall into a spin, its baffled bureaucrats not knowing what the devil to do with it. Eventually it was unveiled here to a curious Warsaw public on December 12, 2002. The populace liked this surprise Christmas present so much it became a permanent fixture, as well as the occasional sleeping habitat of returning clubbers too trollied to figure they haven’t stumbled on a desert oasis.