Warsaw

Warsaw is not a city I particularly wanted to visit, unlike the others on this tour, but I’m glad I did.  It was basically razed to the ground by Nazis in WWII. Apparently 85% of the city was destroyed, just for the hell of it. Almost everything you can see was built after the war. As much of the original building’s bricks and foundation was used as possible - sometimes you can tell what part is original and what isn’t.

We had a guided tour with Anna in the morning, which took us past the Palace of Culture and Science (a.k.a. Stalin’s Tower – hated by all Poles). It’s very hard to miss , being in the middle of the city and nothing higher allowed in the past (though they’re building like mad to hide it now!):

Our first stop was the the Belweder in Lazienki Park. We didn’t actually go in, just looked from the outside:

We stayed at Lazienki Park for a little while – it’s very nice and worth seeing – firstly at the Chopin Monument, where we had a group photo taken by a photographer. He wanted 10 Euro for a printed photo to take home, and I wasn’t that fussed only to have something to lie at the bottom of a drawer until it’s thrown out. Anyway, they have free Chopin concerts here in the rose garden on Sundays during the summer – we missed out though. They had these benches throughout the city, that give you information and if you press a button, it will pay a Chopin piano piece for you for free:

We walked through the park, along lovely avenues, past little follies and small palace buildings:

There was even a fake ruin of an amphitheatre with a stage separated by a canal, which is also used as a stage during the summer months:

It has a nice view of the little palace above, too:

More buildings in Lazienki Park:

We got back on the bus and then drove past the Summer Palace:

and this Church of St Alexander that looks like the Pantheon in Rome:

Tamas wanted us to see the football Stadium that was built for the European Soccer Championship that was on just before I left on the tour. This little detour took us past these little castle buildings on the bridge and then past the Stadium:

We then drove past this monument – the partial facade of a building that you see at the other end of the square is a monument to the palace that used to stand there:

and then the library:

and the Palace of Justice right next door:

Then we drove past this monument to the Uprising:

and stopped here at the Jewish Monument. They’re building a new Jewish Museum here, too. It should be finished next year.

The bus then dropped us off at the edge of the Old Town from where it was a walking tour of the Old Town. But first a toilet stop, where we saw these panels, obviously left over from when Poland was ruled by Russia:

The Old Town may be UNESCO World Heritage listed, but you have to remember it’s all built since WWII. Only the facades look old – everything behind them is modern:

When the tour finished, it was the end of the tour for me, too. The rest of the time was free time, so I would not see the group together again. It was sad to say goodbye, but I didn’t have to quite yet – Frank and Bridget and I had lunch with Tamas at this place he recommended. It has baked Pierogi, which is something of a specialty, apparently. I had the version stuffed with Hunter Sausage and some Horseradish Sauce to go with it. I also had some nice honey and spelt beer to go with it. Very yummy!

Frank, Bridget and I stayed together to explore for the afternoon. We first headed off, through the Barbican:

to the New Town (only a couple of hundred years younger than the Old Town, but still old!

We stopped by churches including St. Hyacinth's Church:

and Holy Spirit Church:

and continued toward the end of the New Town:

We ran into CT and Sau Wan:

But they’d been where we were intending to go, so we didn’t team up. We continued just a to the end after we came past this beautiful Church of St Casimir. This was closed to the public, but I got a photo anyway:

And on:

At the end, we walked down towards the Vistula River to see the big park with fountains etc. This is also very new:

So we turned around and headed back through the New Town

to the Old Town

past the famous Warsaw Mermaid statue (unfortunately in front of scaffolding):

There were dudes selling balloons everywhere:

on our way out of the Old Town:

past the Primate’s Palace:

We stopped for a coffee because it was way past coffee o’clock, and we were getting tired from the heat. I tried to introduce Frank to Iced Coffee but he wouldn’t have it. He only drinks lattes, thank you. We drank our coffees not too far from this beautiful Carmelite Church, where a wedding was ongoing:

Frank and Bridget weren’t as curious as I was, and waited for me across the road:

We continued onwards, past the Presidential Palace, the Bristol Hotel and the Church of the Visitandines:

to continue our way down the Royal Mile some more:

past Chopin’s house and the church he attended:

and the Copernicus statue outside the Scientific Society Building, where kids were playing in the water curtain put up for just that purpose:

We turned onto Jerusalem Street shortly after, past this monstrosity:

and then towards the Palace of Culture and Science, behind which our hotel was. There were a few statues still left over from the European Soccer Championships. Naturally, I had to get a photo of Frank and Bridget with their flag:

*

We went inside the ‘Palace’ and decided to pay the fee to go to the top, for views across Warsaw. It cost about AUD 6.00 or so, a sight less than what we’d be paying in Sydney! The Poles say that the best view of the ‘Palace’ is from the viewing platform, since you can’t actually see the building from there. The view is great, though the buildings you’re looking at aren’t so beautiful, mostly. I will be putting together some panoramas later.:

The interior was big, but not especially beautiful, except for the nice marble floor:

It was the golden hour by the time we came down from the top of the tower, so I grabbed a few nice shots of the building.

We went to the shopping centre near the hotel for some dinner. I thought we’d go to the food court, but we ended up in a restaurant on the outside of the shopping centre for my farewell dinner. It was very nice, too. The beer I had with mine didn’t have any honey in it though. Must be just for tourists.

Frank and I decided to take some night/dusk shots, since the time was right. I couldn’t be bothered going up to my room for the tripod, though, so the shots aren’t great:

And that was the end of the tour for me. I had to be ready for pickup at 7:50am the next morning, so went up to bed and didn’t even caption my photos!