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!!!