Day 4 (July 9, 2018): Warsaw, a reconstructed gem

An 8AM alarm after 34 hours of no sleep and a five-hour time change is NOT a welcome sound.  Rolled out of bed, we did, however.  And equipped with a nice breakfast buffet, we set out to get the bus to Old Town just past 9:30AM.  Today's plan included a lot of territory, so we had to be organized.

Because I knew it had taken such a beating in WWII, I always assumed Warsaw was a bland city to visit.  Was I ever wrong!  As the day progressed, we learned more about Warsaw's gut-wrenching and bloody history.  From Nazi occupation, to the unbridled murder of Jews in the Warsaw Uprising and the razing of the Warsaw Ghetto, to the Communist regime that set up shop on the heals of Nazi defeat, it is nothing short of amazing to see this city's progress in 2018.

We focused on Old Town, then on to Lazienki Park - one of Poland's gems - then shifted to the Warsaw Uprising.   Such was the framework of our 11-hour day day of exploration, with a few other tangents thrown in.  Details are provided in the captions below.  If you get a chance to read just one thing, please make it the photo containing a plaque inscription on the Warsaw Ghetto.

We are so pleased with our decision to start our European visit here.  On to the north coast of Poland tomorrow.  The shift to a maritime Polish experience will be interesting.

This view from Pilsudski Square shows the Zacheta National (modern) Art Gallery, the Evangelical Augsburg Lutheran Church, and the Palace of Culture and Science:  art, religion and Communism all rolled into one photo!

The recently unveiled Smolenisk Air Disaster Monument, in memory of the 2010 plane crash in Russia which killed the Polish President and 95 others.

The Tomb of the Unknown Solider.

The Saxon Garden is a 15–hectare public garden in central Warsaw, facing Piłsudski Square. It's the oldest public park in the city.

If you're a classical music fan, you'll know Frederic Chopin was from Warsaw.  The city has several sights that celebrate its famous son, including park benches -- like this one -- that play his music.

The 15th-century Gothic St. John's Cathedral is the oldest church in Warsaw.  The city is filled with churches!  Kind of odd, given that most were destroyed in WWII and were reconstructed underthe atheistic   Communists.  (In comparison, when we visited Russia, we learned of the thousands of churches the Communists blew up or turned into warehouses.)

The magnificent Old Town Square has to be one of Europe's most impressive squares - at least the best of those we have seen.  Again, these buildings were completely rebuilt after WWII.  At the centre of the square is Warsaw's 'Littlest Mermaid', a fightin' version of the more placid mermaid in Copenhagen.

The Warsaw Barbican provided the city's outer defense system in medieval times.  It's one of a few remaining relics of the network of fortifications that once encircled Warsaw.

Planning to visit Europe?  Remember this:  MOST MUSEUMS ARE CLOSED ON MONDAYS.  Including the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Museum. This really put a monkey wrench into our plans. In any case, many people think of Madame Marie Curie as having been French.  In fact, the two-time Nobel laureate was born here in Warsaw and only moved to Paris after beginning her important work in Poland towards the discovery of the elements radium and polonium.

Sorry, but I can only give this church's name in Polish: Kościół Rzymskokatolicki Dominikanów pw. św. Jacka.  But please take a minute to read this AWFUL story of what is now a rebuilt, beautiful church.  As the Nazis squeezed Warsaw harder in the summer of 1944, dedicated medical teams turned the crypt of this church into a hospital.  The Germans bombed the church, killing 1000 people, who used it as a shelter.  But the medical teams continued to work in the crypt, which enraged the Nazis.  They rounded up the medical team and executed them all.  Then they bombed the crypt, burying 500 more people alive there.  

The Warsaw Uprising Monument, dedicated to those who fought in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.  Doomed to failure, the Uprising still stands in history as an act of raw courage against merciless agressors.

And now for something a little more relaxing:  the Lazienki Park. 

Waterlilies in the Botanical Garden of Lazienki Park.

Light at the end of the tunnel!  in Lazienki Park.

Amphitheatre in Lazienki Park.

Lazienki Palace is the showpiece of Lazienki Park.

Temple of the Sibyl (a mini parthenon) in Lazienki Park.

OK, Lazienki Park contains 76 hectares -- it's huge!  So when I say we walked up and down and all around looking for the famous Chopin monument, I MEAN IT!  After all the walking, the monument deserves a spot in the blog.  ;-)

The Warsaw Ghetto comprised 1/3 of Warsaw.  The Jews were confined to the Ghetto, literally being walled in.  When the Uprising ended in 1944, and the remaining Jews were either killed or sent to camps, the Nazis turned their fury to flattening the Ghetto.  Amazingly, this small section of wall remains.

This relief map shows how large the Ghetto was in relation to the city of Warsaw.

If you read nothing else in this blog, please read that inscription.  

This is the only remaining -- and crumbling -- building from the Ghetto.

The Palace of Culture and Science is an example of Stalinist architecture.  It was built in 1955 as one of the first two large Communist buildings to solidify the Communist presence in Warsaw.  All residents were forced to buy bricks towards its completion.

We ended the day at the Museum of the Warsaw Uprising.  It was truly gut-wrenching.  By the way, the gleaming glass tower in the background is an example of how modern Warsaw is booming.

The Church of the Holy Cross contains the heart of Frederic Chopin, buried in this pillar.

One of the most famous streets in Warsaw is Nowy Swiat -- brimming with shops and cafes.

Our Polish dinner on Nowy Swiat.

The city boasts an amazing transportation network -- typical of all Eastern European cities.  Few people owned cars under Communist rule, so excellent transporation networks were a hallmark of the regimes.  Today, Warsaw's network includes a very modern, two-line subway.