First stop: Warsaw

I'm writing from a busy, cozy hostel common room where Poles are drinking tea and vodka (out of similar sized cups) and discussing who-knows-what in boisterous Polish. Everyone we've met since we arrived last night at the Frederic Chopin Airport has been incredibly helpful and quietly friendly.

Today: Under the sightly sinister Palace of Culture and Science, we explored the reconstructed city of Warsaw. Even after getting lost in a maze of name-changing streets and trams, we found the Warsaw Rising Museum, a proud and impressive record of the insurgency against Nazi occupiers in WWII. Sadly, many of the Polish Home Front Army were persecuted by Stalinists after the war's end.

We had a tasty lunch of fried meat dumplings and hunter's stew at Zgoda's Grill Bar; they make cabbage perfectly edible! Incredible!


Next we ventured further into the city's center and walked up Royal Way, past reconstructed monuments, churches, and the University of Warsaw. At the end of the boulevard, we toured the sumptuous interior of the Royal Castle (again, meticulously reconstructed after it was razed by the Germans during the Warsaw Rising).

After wandering around the sights and styles of Old Town, we grabbed a table at a local cafe and took a coffee break. With daylight fading, we stopped in at the National Museum and wandered around the diverse art collection (with middle-aged women sitting in the corners of every single room, watching us like hawks). Their section on Polish surrealism was pretty interesting; the piercing irony of Christmas 1944 in Auschwitz caught our attention.


It was dark by the time we were herded out of the museum by the staff that outnumbered visitors by a 100 to 1. Wandered back along the busy streets to the hostel and then did found our way to a nearby ex-pat hangout with live (and very decent) music for supper.

Tomorrow we take the train to Krakow, and our adventures continue.

A walking path in Old Town, Warsaw