I love Warsaw! It is beautiful, and is definitely my favorite spot so far on this trip, though Krakow and Gdansk are still to come. We are staying with Heather from FXCM, who has been the best hostess! She works at the U.S. Embassy, so she took us into work today to meet with the Community Liaison person who gave us maps of the city and outlined where we should go.
We started at 8:30am, first touring the University of Warsaw Botanical Gardens and the Lazienki park - which has a statue of Chopin and endless shady walking paths. Within the park we also toured the Palac Lazienkowski (Palace on the Water), which was originally a bath house that was converted into a palace in the 1700s. The park is also known for its peakcock residents - we saw (and heard) several.
Next, we strolled around the Old Town, had lunch, and visited the Ghetto Heroes Monument and the Warsaw Uprising Monument. We finished off the afternoon with a visit to the Marie Curie museum, to satisfy my science geek side.
I was impressed with amount of wide open courtyards in the center of Warsaw, as well as all the parks. It truly is a beautiful city, and unlike Switzerland, is not crawling with gobs of tourists. It was also interesting to see the contrast between the beautifully restored Old Town (Warsaw was obliterated in WWII) with nearby communist era buildings, which had drastically less charm.
We ended the day with a trip to the mall in search of Polish soccer jerseys for Theresa's family members (no luck yet) and happened into the health food store, where I picked up a few gluten free snacks. We returned to Heather's apartment for daiquiris, dinner, and a movie, enjoying the rare night IN on this trip. Overall, it was a fantastic day, and thankfully we have another day to spend in Warsaw toward the end of the trip.
We started at 8:30am, first touring the University of Warsaw Botanical Gardens and the Lazienki park - which has a statue of Chopin and endless shady walking paths. Within the park we also toured the Palac Lazienkowski (Palace on the Water), which was originally a bath house that was converted into a palace in the 1700s. The park is also known for its peakcock residents - we saw (and heard) several.
Next, we strolled around the Old Town, had lunch, and visited the Ghetto Heroes Monument and the Warsaw Uprising Monument. We finished off the afternoon with a visit to the Marie Curie museum, to satisfy my science geek side.
I was impressed with amount of wide open courtyards in the center of Warsaw, as well as all the parks. It truly is a beautiful city, and unlike Switzerland, is not crawling with gobs of tourists. It was also interesting to see the contrast between the beautifully restored Old Town (Warsaw was obliterated in WWII) with nearby communist era buildings, which had drastically less charm.
We ended the day with a trip to the mall in search of Polish soccer jerseys for Theresa's family members (no luck yet) and happened into the health food store, where I picked up a few gluten free snacks. We returned to Heather's apartment for daiquiris, dinner, and a movie, enjoying the rare night IN on this trip. Overall, it was a fantastic day, and thankfully we have another day to spend in Warsaw toward the end of the trip.
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