Warsaw – Episode two

The ugly mole on Warsaw (AKA Palace of Culture)

We decided to stay a bit longer in Warsaw to make sure we had enough time to relax a little bit, see the sights and see the family and friends we wanted to visit with. We stayed for a week and even then it wasn’t enough time to see and visit with everyone.

We spent a lot of time walking around the streets of Warsaw trying to breathe in the city. We stayed at the same hostel as we did the last time, which is a pretty central location right near the Copernicus monument on Nowy Swiat. Yes Copernicus was Polish! It was only a short 10 minute walk to the centre of Warsaw along some of the nicer(est) streets in Warsaw.

During our walks around the city, Ewa decided that it would be fun to take Chad to some of the places she liked to hang out in when she lived here. One among them is a little café called Miedzy Nami which translates to ‘between us.’ We had a really nice lunch and even saw a Polish celebrity! He was on the Polish version of dancing with the stars (the only way Ewa new this is because she saw him in a trashy celebrity magazine that she bought for the train ride to Warsaw).

We visited the palace of Culture and Science which is called a gift from Stalin to Poland. There are eight of these palaces all over Moscow and they have been nicknamed the eight daughters of Stalin. The one in Warsaw is similar to the ones built in Moscow. We took the elevator to the 32nd floor and there is a 360 degree view of Warsaw. There was also a little exhibit of the human body that was going on. There were a number of interactive exhibits. One of them was a stepping machine, well, rather a counter that timed how long you could step up and down a single stair. The trick is you have to keep time with the computer and it speeds up! After 4 months of no exercise it was quite the little workout!

The Family!! (most of them)

We also visited the huge Royal Lazieki Park a couple of times. The park is in the middle of the city and was the summer residence of the last King of Poland. During WWII it was used by the Nazis and therefore was not destroyed. There are vast underground tunnels that led out and into the Royal Palace which before the wars was used for the servants to bring goods into the palace grounds as well as so that they were not seen. On each Sunday in the summer there is a Chopin concert by the Chopin memorial for free, so of course we went with Teresa, Asia, Ela, Matilda and Igus on our last Sunday in Warsaw to chill for a bit listening to yet another famous polish intillectual…you guessed it – Chopin! We love Chopin.

Poster from the Warsaw uprising museum

We walked around the old town and also made a visit to the Warsaw uprising museum. This museum is dedicated to telling the story of how the Warsaw inhabitants stood up and started fighting against the Nazis at the end of WWII. They had no guns, very little provisions and basically made their own weapons and decided to fight. Many germans were taken prisoner and through the fight the Poles took their weapons and also made the prisoners work for them; engineers made guns, soldiers were forced to start cleaning up the rubble that their bombs had caused etc. It was a very modern museum with many installations that were very interesting. There was a huge steel wall right in the middle when you walked in which had bullet holes in it, you could put your ear up to each bullet hole and you would hear different sounds of the war, bullet sounds or Polish people singing war songs. On top of that from the wall came the sound of a beating heart, to never forget the lives that were lost during the uprising.

After visiting the Warsaw museum we headed back to the Berlitz center where Ewa worked when she lived in Poland in 2001-2002. Although we didn’t run into any of her old coworkers while we were there, it was a nice trip down memory lane for us both. Afterwards, we treated ourselves to sushi for the first time since starting the trip, it was soooo good!

Chad, Matilda and Igus

We spent a day with Ewa’s cousin Ela, and her children Matilda and Igus. In the morning she took us to Radzikow, the town where Ewa grew up. We saw the old appartment block, checked out Andrzejs and Marinas work at the insitute of IHAR. In the afternoon we went to the forest to pick mushrooms outside of Warsaw where Ela and her kids live. We were very lucky because Igus is a master at finding mushrooms, he even drew us a map before we left the house where we would find these mushrooms! He’s pretty smart for a 6 year old. Ela treated us to several meals including the freshly picked mushrooms! In the evening we went to Teresas and Wlodeks spent the evening relaxing catching up and sharing some delicious food and drinks!

Teresa, Wlodek, Asia

We also got a chance to meet up with Maggie and Adrian who just had their first adorable baby Alexander. Ewa used to teach English at Berlitz with Maggie and Adrian. We spent the afternoon catching up and walking around their neighborhood. Later in the week, Jusyna and Mike came down to Warsaw before heading back to Canada. We were able to meet up for dinner and a few drinks, to also be joined by Maggie, Adrian and Connall yet another former teacher at Berlitz. That night we partied together until 4am, our first night out in bar in months. It was so nice to catch up with everyone!

Warsaw old town square