Three Apps That Will Improve Your Experience at the Castle & at Home

By: Jamie Patterson Chojnacki

As much as we are fans of the slow living culture, we cannot deny the benefits of modern technology, especially when it comes to the innovative apps available at our fingertips today. There are several that we would like to recommend specifically for guests interested in gaining a fuller appreciation of their surroundings while here in The Palace at Osowa Sien, or back at home.

1.SkyView Lite

SkyView Lite provides a unique and engaging augmented reality experience for amateur stargazers - which is great for friends, families, and romantics alike to explore the skies while learning about astronomy. Not only is the concept nifty, it is very intuitive (read: point and click, user friendly).

It utilises your smartphone's camera in order to reveal the variety of constellations and other celestial goodies in the night sky up above. It connects-the-dots within the camera’s field of view and virtually imposes corresponding images, for example of Leo the Lion, Cancer the Crab, or Aries the Ram. It also reveals the name of each so you know exactly what you’re looking at.

In Osowa Sien, as with other countryside destinations, we enjoy a plethora of clear and starring nights. During your next visit, be sure to download this app if you want to heighten your Osowa Sien experience. It’s fun to use while going for a walk during the bewitching hour or from the comfort of your own balcony should you be staying in one of the premium suites, such as Blumen für Magritte, or Venezianischer Verführung. In the summer, we recommend watching the heavens from your favourite spot in the castle park: perhaps over a shared bottle of wine, blanket in tow.

Of course, you can relay on it just about anywhere there is a clear sky, so no need to wait until you are here, you can try it now from your window or backyard.

The Palace at Osowa Sien enjoys starry night skies throughout all seasons, so this app is a must while here.

Plantsnap

A very good friend of ours is in the business of trees and knows a heck a lot more about them than we do. Since she’s in Canada though, we cannot call her up every time we want to know if a flower is edible or if a tree is native to Europe (or from some exotic far off place). Luckily for us, we found Plantsnap, which we rely on every time we are in the castle park (because there is almost always something new in bloom).

For those of you who have already been to the castle, you probably know what we mean. You are familiar with the many different varieties of trees - young and old - that characterise the 4 Ha estate. There is linden, oak, and aspen; fir, chestnut, and cedar - and that’s just the start of it. There are many fruit trees in the two different orchard areas, exotic flowers cover the grass, and they are sprouting up seasonally - sometimes a new variety each week. Then there are the many shrubs, and bushes which you may have not even noticed. That is where this app comes in handy. After downloading it, you just need to take a photo with your smartphone of the greenery that you want to identify and viola!

We particularly enjoy this app for its ease of use and detailed plant descriptions which help us learn about the park, gain insight into the philosophy that may have guided its original planning, and discover the exotic origins of its many centuries’ old vegetation. Of course it is not just helpful here, but across the countryside and back at home too - especially if you plan on taking up foraging anytime soon (this can help let you know what may be poisonous or not).

Radiooooo

We’ve always had a soft spot for the tunes of yesteryear, the slow living culture, and the frivolity of a good dinner party or characters like Gatsby.  If you’re a music, culture, or history buff - you’ll embrace the novelty of this app as much as we do because it helps bring all of those elements together.

Essentially, Radiooooo provides a platform for listeners to tune into radio sets previously enjoyed during specific time periods and in particular destinations around the globe. Fancy a drive through Paris in the 1920s? How about a stroll through the streets of 1960s Warsaw? With Radiooooo these sorts of audio trips through time are possible. The best bit is that you do not even need to have an smartphone for this to enjoy it (dad - I am talking to you). You have the choice of accessing it via Radiooooo.com or in the app.

Back at the castle, we’ve downloaded this to our smart phone though so that we can connect it via bluetooth to our wireless speakers and enjoy it whether we’re inside the castle, or outdoors. Our favourite playlists seem to span from the 1910s - 1950s, and just the other day we discovered that Radiooooo broadcasts the original music which would have been played on the Titanic. This playlist offers such a unique experience, which we utilised to set the mood for our Easter dinner-for-two outdoors this year).

If you tune in to it, please let us know what you think in the comment section below this post.

Our Easter table-for-two set outdoors in the privacy of the castle park.

Might you have other apps to suggest we add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.