poland: warsaw

When I was in the middle of planning my winter holidays, the original plan was to do New Years in Berlin...the cheapest way for me to get there was take a flight to Warsaw, then a train to Berlin...so I ended up with a day to wander around Warsaw...
I've visited the city twice previously, but this was the first time since 2009...it was fun to wander around and see what I remembered...
Warsaw is on the Far East of its time zone, which means the sun goes down EARLY in winter...it was dark at 1530, ARGH...

add that to a temperature of -7C that felt like -12C, I wasn't as happy as I could've been...everytime I've visited Warsaw it has been late fall or winter, I should come back in another season!
My flight arrived on time at Warsaw Chopin airport, I managed to be one of the first people through passport control...they put the entry stamp on an almost full page, yippee! (I'm trying to fill pages before stamping new pages...
You can take a train or bus to the central train station, I opted for the train...it took a bit to figure out the ticket machine, I think I was having an idiot day...once on the train i validated the ticket and the train took off soon after...

Once in the central train station I found a place to store my pack for the day, thank goodness...
And from there, I started walking...the first building I saw upon exiting the train station was a GIANT building called the palace of culture...it was a gift from the soviets, to their brothers...I still remember the first time I saw it, not long after I'd visited Moscow...it immediately reminded me of the so called 'seven sisters' in Moscow...and whaddya know, this was supposed to be just like those buildings...it catches your attention, whether you like the style or not...it is now surrounded by modern sky scrapers...(well, maybe not quite surrounded, but there are plenty of modern skyscrapers nearby)...i think dad and i went inside the 'palace' but i remember thinking the inside wasn't nearly as impressive as the outside...funny how those things dont always match up...(it's the same with churches)

I kept walking down the street, crossing a few intersections by going under the streets...not too far along, I got to an intersection with a palm tree in the middle...I'm sure someone out there knows, how long has this tree been there? Obviously, it isn't real, as I'm pretty sure you don't find Palm trees in places that have really cold temperatures and snow and ice...still, it doesn't look too terribly fake...
From there I turned left, and walked down a street that was still decked out in holiday stuff...lights and trees and such...

Poland has been a catholic country for a long time, the soviets were never able to stamp it out, despite repeated attempts...Christmas and Easter are big here...
This street has a name I don't know how to pronounce, there are way too many vowels...it was the street kings traveled to get to the old city...since I was in the street, does that make me royalty too? I would totally marry a prince :)
I passed the apartment building where dad lived for a semester, I passed the university of Warsaw, I passed A LOT of coffee shops, I passed stores galore...

Eventually I made it to the platz everyone recognizes as the start of the old city...somehow, the old city was not destroyed during all the bombing of WW2...(the rest of the city was flattened)...there is a wide open area, with pretty coloured buildings along 3 sides...
Then I noticed a tower, with a sign pointing 'this way' to the viewing tower...I had never been up the tower, I figured why not? My legs were burning by the time I climbed up, I need to get fit! The views over the city were lovely...I wish I could've stayed up there longer, but the wind was blowing, and I was COLD...i knew it would be cold in warsaw, but i figured i could deal with it since i was only going to be in the city for a day, but it wasn't as easy as i thought it would be...

There was a Christmas market set up along the old city walls, some of the stuff looked quite nice...I walked through the entire market, and entered the old city from a direction new to me...I made a few turns, enjoying the aesthetic appeal of the old buildings, eventually finding the platz in the middle of the old city...
In the middle of the platz was an ice rink, plenty of people practicing their skills...I'm all for outdoor skating, but not in biting wind!
I wandered into two different churches, one of which had awesome  front doors...it was nice to be inside again, even for a short time...some of the shaded areas of the streets in that area were COLD, my fingers and toes were not happy...

I made my way back to the entry platz, took a couple more photos, and started walking back up the street I'd come from earlier...I ducked into a cafe and warmed up for a couple hours (you know when you're cold and just can't seem to shake it? That was me)...by the time I left the cafe it was dark...
I got back to a building belonging to the university (I think) with a statue of Copernicus in front...lit up nicely at night :) ...also lit up were the holiday decorations on the street...did I mention the giant pressies (presents) lit up in various places along the street? Pretty...
Not too long before the palm tree intersection I found an indian restaurant...they didn't have the first dish I wanted, but my second choice ended up being pretty good...spicy too :)

At the Palm tree intersection I Jew to turn right...it seemed as if I was in front of the palace of culture again really quickly...its lit up at night, of course I took photos...colour and black and white :)
I spent the night in the train station...so not a whole lot of sleep...but it wasn't worth getting a room here and having to figure out a way to get to the train station in time for a 0555 departure...
Note to self: visit Warsaw in late spring or summer!!!

poland with an educator

i landed in warsaw, where my dad was teaching for the semester at the university of warsaw..he's teaching through the fulbright program..according to the institute for international education, "Established in 1946, the Fulbright Program aims to increase mutual understanding between the peoples of the United States and other countries, through the exchange of persons, knowledge, and skills."...basically, professors from the US go and teach at other universities around the world, while students from the US and other countries do exchanges...
dad picked me up at the airport, and we took the bus into town..(i'll always love any sort of public transportation into a town)..the bus stopped at the university of warsaw, which happens to be almost exactly across the street from the flat in which dad was living..he lived in a studio flat, it was definitely small..(but still bigger than the last flat i lived in in korea!)...
during the days that i was there, dad and i visited two museums...one was dedicated to the warsaw uprising, (1944, not the same uprising as the jewish ghetto uprising, which took place in 1943) which involved the whole city...they fought to free themselves from nazi/german rule, before the russians who were thought to be advancing quickly arrived..(the russians in reality were waiting just outside the city for a while, waiting for the uprising to end one way or another)..the museum seemed huge, but maybe that was just because they had so many exhibits...so much information, so many things to look at..the city itself (what was left of it anywho) was pretty much torn to pieces during the fighting, it's hard to believe anyone lived there..one estimate says that only 64 of 987 buildings were untouched..general estimates say that 180,000 civilians died during the uprising..there is so much packed into this museum, it's almost overwhelming..the other museum we visited used to be a prison..a prison in the former jewish ghetto..it's a much smaller museum, giving information about the people held in that particular prison...many were taken on "day trips" each day, to the headquarters of the secret police, for questioning..they've kept a few cells and there are little plaques that tell who was kept in each cell..out in front of the museum they've kept the original gate to the prison, though it's been ripped in half..there is also a memorial tree out front..it used to be a real tree, but years ago it died, so they built a fake one..there are memorial plaques all around the tree..we walked from that prison/museum through what used to be the jewish ghetto..there is nothing left of the ghetto..none of the walls, gates, etc..there are a couple memorials as to where specific things happened, but that's it..oh, and there is a giant memorial, next to where a museum is being built that will be all about the jews in poland..i was surprised that this museum isn't already in existence, given that prewar warsaw was about 1/3 jewish..the country as a whole was 10% jewish, though the percentage was much higher in metro areas..at this point no one is sure what the museum will be like..anywho...

warsaw managed to stay quite religious over the years, even through the years of communist rule..there are lots of churches, people have been worshipping at them consistently through the years..some are absolutely beautiful, some are just plain old..there are people in the churches pretty much all the time...
since dad was in warsaw to teach, i took the opportunity to do something i've never done previously..watch him teach..i sat in on both of his classes, both having to do with east european media..(one focused on communist media, one on current media)..the classes were taught in english of course, and it was easy to tell which students had better english skills...believe it or not, i took notes during each class:)..(some habits never go away, i suppose)...
one day we walked through the old town, which i believe is mostly authentic..it's a really colourful area of the city, and due to the fabulous weather that day, the photos were fantastic..it's also called the tourist quarter, there are tons of stores selling polish kitsch...
one evening we had dinner with a guy named andrew..andrew is the son of one of dad's east european colleagues who teaches at santa clara university in california..andrew speaks polish, and lives in berlin, working at a foreign correspondent on a freelance basis..he knows poland practically inside and out, which is nifty..(at least for me and dad, who love history and culture and how things change)..we had pierogi (dumplings,) a typical polish food..(though it seems to me that many cultures and countries claim dumplings as a typical food)..another night we had dinner with kasia, who was in warsaw trying to study human trafficking (women, mostly)..she has a huge amount of energy, and was also in the process of applying for graduate programs in the states..i tried to talk her out of ohio state, as i cannot in good conscience recommend that school..(i'm a michigan fan)..that dinner was at a restaurant that was supposed to serve traditional polish food..YUM..i had something that basically amounted to stew, i loved it..we noticed a group having a birthday dinner, it was probably going to be a looooooong night for them..we saw bottles upon bottles being delivered to the table and there were several times when the entire group stood up to take a shot in honour of the birthday boy..lol..
warsaw isn't the city most people think of when they think of poland, most people think of krakow, and auschwitz, the former death camp..but warsaw is rapidly changing, and becoming a fully modern city..i'd recommend it:)