So far on this trip, on every rainy day, the rain only fell when we were indoors or in a vehicle. Every time we had to walk, the rain stopped for us. I hadn’t unstrapped my umbrella in 10 days of travel. But today in Warsaw, our luck ran out. Nevertheless, we persisted.
After an exhausting day yesterday, we wanted to sleep in. Our internal alarm clocks did not allow this, unfortunately. The plan for the day is to take it easy and get rested before heading to Turkey tomorrow for the second half of the journey. Oh, but the plan also included seeing Warsaw.
The hotel wants to charge $11 per person for their breakfast buffet. But we found a nice little bake shop just steps from the hotel entrance where we bought two pastries apiece for only a few dollars. They were excellent! We’ll go back again tomorrow.
We bought a 3-hour bus/walking tour to expedite our Warsaw sightseeing. This is a bustling city, but with few exceptions, every building here has been constructed within the last 30 years. A few date from the Soviet era, and even fewer are pre-war survivors, but most are new even if they happen to look old.
The Nazis came through here in 1939, but the Red Army pushed them back about 2 weeks later. This was the front line for awhile, then the Nazis came back. When the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising took place in 1943, the Nazi retaliation was carried out on the entire city. Almost everything that hadn’t already been destroyed in the several battles was laid waste.
The Poles have done a remarkable job of rebuilding. Using pre-war photos and art work, they reconstructed much of the Old Town area almost immediately — though the Soviets did not make this easy. Most of the rest was built after 1989.
We did visit, at least on the outside, two former royal palaces. Because these were located in a royal game preserve (now a public park), and not in the city proper, they were spared destruction. Belvedere, formerly used as the presidential mansion and now as an official guest house, is only open to the public one day a year, on the national day. Today wasn’t it.
Another, The House on the Water,” was a summer home for the royal family. The Nazis had planted explosives to blow it up, but for some reason they weren’t detonated. The water is an artificial lake created especially for the house.
In the same park is the memorial to Chopin. The Nazis destroyed the statue, but a replica is here. Also there are park benches that play recordings of Chopin piano pieces if you push the button when you sit on them.
The museum of the Ghetto Uprising is a very new building which sits on a site inside the former Ghetto. The museum is closed on Tuesdays, but the memorial is outdoors.
The Old Town is a complete reconstruction since the War, but one would be forgiven for mistaking it for an actual 17th century market town. The exteriors are authentic reproductions, but the modern interiors give the secret away.
A few sections of the old city wall remained standing after the war, but most of that is reproduced, as well.
After the tour, we asked to be dropped off at Holy Cross Church, just across the street from the Copernicus statue and the Warsaw University science building.
The Baroque church contains a unique item: When Chopin died in Paris in 1839, he asked that his heart be returned to Poland (sending a whole body back for burial was impossible in that era). The heart was extracted from the body and preserved in a jar of cognac(!). Chopin’s sister saw to it that the jar was encased in a wall of this church, along with a fitting memorial.
After a nice lunch of traditional Polish food, we walked to the National Museum of Art, where Tuesdays are a free day. Some of the works by Polish artists were quite good. Others were also examples of Polish art.
There was a special exhibit on the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci, which consisted entirely of electronic reproductions of Leonardo’s paintings on high-resolution computer screens hung on the walls. So one could come to the museum (paying actual ticket money on days other than Tuesday) to see what one can see on the internet at home?
We returned to the hotel for a bit of afternoon rest, but ventured out again when the rain abated in the evening. After a bit of walking we discovered a wonderful Georgian restaurant right around the corner from our hotel, and had an excellent evening meal.
After an exhausting day yesterday, we wanted to sleep in. Our internal alarm clocks did not allow this, unfortunately. The plan for the day is to take it easy and get rested before heading to Turkey tomorrow for the second half of the journey. Oh, but the plan also included seeing Warsaw.
The hotel wants to charge $11 per person for their breakfast buffet. But we found a nice little bake shop just steps from the hotel entrance where we bought two pastries apiece for only a few dollars. They were excellent! We’ll go back again tomorrow.
We bought a 3-hour bus/walking tour to expedite our Warsaw sightseeing. This is a bustling city, but with few exceptions, every building here has been constructed within the last 30 years. A few date from the Soviet era, and even fewer are pre-war survivors, but most are new even if they happen to look old.
The Nazis came through here in 1939, but the Red Army pushed them back about 2 weeks later. This was the front line for awhile, then the Nazis came back. When the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising took place in 1943, the Nazi retaliation was carried out on the entire city. Almost everything that hadn’t already been destroyed in the several battles was laid waste.
The Poles have done a remarkable job of rebuilding. Using pre-war photos and art work, they reconstructed much of the Old Town area almost immediately — though the Soviets did not make this easy. Most of the rest was built after 1989.
We did visit, at least on the outside, two former royal palaces. Because these were located in a royal game preserve (now a public park), and not in the city proper, they were spared destruction. Belvedere, formerly used as the presidential mansion and now as an official guest house, is only open to the public one day a year, on the national day. Today wasn’t it.
 |
| Warsaw takes its name from a mythical river mermaid, depicted in this sculpture amid the newly constructed “old” buildings. |
There was a special exhibit on the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci, which consisted entirely of electronic reproductions of Leonardo’s paintings on high-resolution computer screens hung on the walls. So one could come to the museum (paying actual ticket money on days other than Tuesday) to see what one can see on the internet at home?
We returned to the hotel for a bit of afternoon rest, but ventured out again when the rain abated in the evening. After a bit of walking we discovered a wonderful Georgian restaurant right around the corner from our hotel, and had an excellent evening meal.
No comments:
Post a Comment