Well, it was an adventure getting to Warsaw. Around 9-10 hours in total; not helped by road works, horrendous traffic when we hit Warsaw itself and getting lost at the Belarus border. A bit of an OMG moment. As we were in the middle of Warsaw, whilst stuck in a traffic jam we heard air raid sirens and people on the other side of the multi landed road, in the middle of Warsaw, stopped their cars and got out. We were a little concerned...and then I read a bit later that it was the annual Remembrance of the Warsaw Uprising. Anyway we finally arrived. It was good that we could park the car and leave it for a few days as we did not want to drive in the traffic....crazy. All the sites were within walking distance, though we did cheat at one point and used the tramways. We have found the trams throughout the trip very clean and very easy to use. BR has been using Maps.Me and we navigate to sites, toilets, tram stops etc. It's been great.
We began our Warsaw adventure by heading to the 'old town'. Which we discovered isn't that old at all. The Germans levelled most of Warsaw during and at the end of the war. It was all but destroyed. At the Warsaw Uprising Museum...(on our second day)....absolutely a brilliant museum...one of the best, creatively designed museums I have ever been in...we sat in a 6 minute 3D film that "flew" us over Warsaw at the end of the war. Totalled. Nothing there but rubble. It was very sad. We began by heading to the Palace of Science and Culture...a majestic building that is around 42 stories tall. From there we walked straight down the main street into the Old Quarter. Churches, beautiful buildings, statues, memorials were in abundance. Everywhere you looked it was really lovely. We got to St Anne's Church just before 12.00. We were just in time to hear the church organ pipes be used in a 30 minute concert by a well known organist ( he has won lots of competitions and is a judge on a Polish talent show). Paid our $4.00 each and sat down in one of the pews. Surprisingly there were only about 20 other people who decided to do this as well. We listened to Bach and Wagner as the organ pipes rang out the music through the church. Sitting in such magnificent surroundings enjoying the beauty of the music was really special. Coffee and a wrap for lunch and we were ready to continue on.
A slight detour of the Main Street and we were at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which was situated off a very large concrete square on one side and a lovely park with fountains and sculptures on the other. The memorial was full of flowers and a flame burned eternal as it was guarded by two very hot looking soldiers....it was a very, very hot day. Back towards the main drag and on we went again, passing more churches, statues, museums etc until we finally arrived at Old Town Market Place and Castle Square, after getting a photo of a very large Copernicus statue. It was great here. Walked around little streets, gaped at Sigimund's Column and looked at Barbican (old castle ruins). In the middle of the square we found the Mermaid Sculpture. Having been out and about in the heat for hours and hours, we headed back to the apartment of a short rest. It was really good to sit in front of the fan.. In fact somewhat glorious. Rehydrated and a little cooler (well until we got outside) we set out for what was to be a shortish walk...but ended up being about 4-5 kms. We made our way to a few spots that had fragments of the Ghetto wall still intact. At one of the larger sections you could see the wall, peppered with bullet holes and the remains of one of the apartments. Very moving. As we were making our way back...getting close to 7pm by now, we saw a sign for the thinnest house in the world. Intrigued we found it...just. It is very thin. Looks like a tin slanted roof between two large buildings. Apparently someone lives there...why I have no idea.
The following day we decided to visit things a little further out and used trams to help. Really wanted to see the Filtry (water filtration system) to tour their underground vaults. Spent an hour or so walking, trammimg and walking...in the heat (which was a little too much), only to be told by security that you could only visit on the weekend. I had read it was only open in July and August every year...but missed the memo about weekends. Caught a train to the Warsaw Uprising Museum. Spoke about this earlier. Really a must see in Warsaw. You have to admire the courage and bravery of people as well as despair over the horror people can do to each other. This museum to me was sad in many, many ways...but it did showcase the bravery and spirit of many. Our final destination of the day was the Copernicus Science Centre. Again a tram and another long walk...only to be told when we got there that all the tickets for the day had been sold and we could not go in. Extreme disappointment. Really wanted to throw a tanti and cry, beg, plead, bribe anyone.... But maintained my dignity and we headed home. 2 out of 3 fails for the day... But did see a great museum and go on a few tram rides.
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