Warsaw to Lodz

I did the Old Town free walking tour in Warsaw this morning. Anne very sensibly stayed in the hotel and worked. Sensibly because it was, quite frankly, F R E E Z I N G!

However, despite the cold it was interesting. 

Warsaw old town was completely ravaged/flattened in WWII, and it is has been completely rebuilt to exactly how it was before the war. Although apparently they coudn't decide how to rebuild the palace so that has been done in a number of styles. 

Despite the cold - the streets were pretty.

This is the lucky bell. Not so lucky that when it was first used it fell to pieces, however people came to believe that it granted ones wishes and made them come true. Who's to argue with that. We were told how to do it, and the whole walking tour had a go. Now to see if my wish comes true :) If it does - then I'll know the bell works!

Houses were taxed back in the 16th century according to size of the width of the house where the front door was. This little house in between the two buildings paid very little tax. But don't be deceived - it's one of the biggest houses on the street as it goes back on a diagonal.

 I though the houses were pretty - and loved the colours.

The other square. Not sure if this is the main square, or where the palace was is the main square. But square it is!

In the middle of the square is Warsaw's mermaid who protects the city from war. It didn't work in the second world war though!

Just along from the square is the old town wall.

The famous streets around the old town.

Looking back to the entrance of the walled part..

I noticed the bricks here were painted like the buildings in Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republik and wondered if there was a link.

Madam Curie's museum - she was one of the founders of science and physics and became famous in Paris.

The monument of the ghetto of warsaw, where half a million Jews were crammed in, starved, then shipped off to Concentration camps under the Nazi rule. A reminder that hatred should be stamped out, that no one is ever better than anyone else.

Past a beautiful modern building with lovely scuptures. Our walking tour guide didn't actually explain this, but I did think it was beautiful.

The world war II memorial representing the bravery of the polish soldiers who didn't have any chance at all to win.

One of the 15 (or 50 - didn't hear which) benches where you can push a button and hear Chopin play.

Back in the main square where we started from.

I then caught a taxi from old town back to the hotel where I got ripped off by the taxi. I knew I was ripped off and asked for a receipt, but he gave me nothing on it, so it all came to nothing. I'm much wiser now though. Uber all the way in Poland from now on.

Anne and I then caught a train to Lodz where we are staying in the Grand Hotel. We've just been out for dinner for more traditional Polish and Jewish food, and I'm so full I can't move.

Tomorrow we're heading to a spa for a massage and a pedicure, because we can.

The Grand hotel was pretty good, but even better when we got a free upgrade to an apartment where some polish film star stays in our room. Not tonight though!

Warsaw Walking tour and Uprising Museum

There were several walking tour options today, and we thought we would do two - the alternative and the old town. The alternative took us to Praga, the most dangerous part of Warsaw but also the most historic in terms of the uprising and the buildings that weren't flatted and rebuilt during the war. It was the place where the crime rates are the highest - murder, robbery and a part of town that most people from Warsaw avoid! 

First up, we learnt that the church in the following image is about 100 years old, in gothic style, and was the first polish church built in the area, as a thumbs up to the russian church around the corner. The spires tower over the city and is taller than the Russian spires.

Before the war, there were 350,000 Jews living in Praga. One of the biggest community of Jews in the world, second only to New York. The building in the image below used to be the Jewish Orphanage before the war. Most of this Jewish population were murdered or died during the second world war, so after the war, the building lay empty. It is now used as a theatre.

There are still 400 or so original buildings left that weren't ravaged, You can see them next to the new ones, untouched in their original condition. The new versus the old brick bulidings...

We learnt that because of the curfews, shrines where people could pray in each neighbourhood sprang up so they could pray together at 9pm at night without going to the Church (which was too dangerous). These are still around today and still lovingly looked after, even in the direlect areas. There's no money to do up their building, but they take pride in keeping their shrines beautiful.

Some of the old buildings still standing as they were prewar...

We then walked through the market that has been around for 400 years. I would have had like more time to explore this, as the goods on display were interesting (shoes!)

And beautiful winter coats - and even... Wedding dresses!

At the end of the tour we ended up waiting for a taxi outside the Russian church...

We taxi'd to Holly's work at the Warsaw Spire. Very modern with shining polished floors. 44 stories.

Holly couldn't meet us straight away so we had lunch there, then headed to the Uprising museum. I had to pay full price, but Anne got in free because she had to accompany her deaf mother! And I was truly deaf - it ended up being a very quiet afternoon for me, as my cochlear implant battery ran out, and the spare was in the handbag I had used the night before. I had forgotten to transfer it to my camera bag! First time ever!

Apparently throughout the museum was the sound of hearts beating, and some artillery fire, and some bombs. I heard nothing, but did feel it on one of the monuments. 

Nothing in the museum was new to me really, as I have read many books of this period, and seen many films as well. The people living in the sewers, the ghetto, the fighting, people heroically trying to save as many people as they could (Schlinders List, Irena Sendler). But seeing it all in the museum was still very sad.

There was a cafe in the museum set to the 1940s period. We weren't hungry though so didn't stop.

Images of war!

We headed back to hotel afterwards and celebrated my birthday with a bottle of champagne with Holly before going to Stary Dom for some traditional polish food. We had te dumplings again, a salad and some stuffed bell peppers, followed by dessert..... Lemon Meringue Pie, raspberry cake and a Coffee Meringue Torte. All good!

Had trouble getting to sleep after the coffee and the sugar rush!

Tomorrow we head to Lodz after a walking tour of the old town in Warsaw.

Leaving Sicily and into Poland - Chopin Museum

I was sad to leave the Sicilian warmth and blue skies. It was another beautiful morning and because of our late night, we were all tired. I had planned to get up early and go out and explore Taormina as I hadn't even taken a photo of the area. But instead we just packed up, got our things and headed to the airport. Our flight was at 10.50am and because of a misunderstanding on my part we didn't check in until 10.11. However they still accepted our luggage, and it turned out our flight had been delayed for several hours.

We arrived in Warsaw Poland at about 4pm. Grey skies, freezing cold (8C) and rain on and off. I can't complain though as this is my 37th day of travelling and my first cold rainy day.

Holly was there to meet us, and we taxi'd to her hotel (the Inter-Continental). We chatted a bit, then Anne and I went to the Chopin Musuem as that was free and open until 8pm.

I've always loved chopins music, but I haven't played much of it as it's extremely difficult. Although there was one piece I played at highschool but lost the music to. In the museum shop, I think I found it. In any case, the music book wasn't expensive so I bought it. Now to get it home and find if it's the piece I knew!

The museum was well thought out with lots of information about Chopins life, his music, his friends and 'lovers', his travels and concerts. Letters, books, music scores. There were listening posts where you could play his pieces as well and the books in front told you about the pieces and how they were composed. I could have spent a lot more than two hours there.

Here's an image of what his Etudes were about. No wonder I have trouble with them, as I'm no means an expert at the piano!

"The history of the Chopin collections is a complex and turbulent one, with many mementos having been lost beyond recall. Starting with the deliberate destruction perpetrated by women who were emotionally involved with Chopin, and moving on via the unprecedented sale, under the auctioneer's hammer, of the personal possessions left in the composer's final home, the act 

of irretrievable loss is rounded off by the ravages and plundering of war.

The best part of the Chopin heritage, preserved despite history's unpropitious conditions, is held in Polish collections, the most extensive and diverse being that of the Fryderyk Chopin Museum in Warsaw"

The actual building of the museum was beautiful as well.

I was interested in this part of the exhibition - a collection of piano's that were used by Chopin. This one was his final one - the Pleyer. It was bought by Jane Stirling, and then recovered by her after his death and given to his family.

His death mask. He died at 39 - quite young, and many people believed he had died of TB. However history now thinks he may have had mild cystic fibrosis.

After the museum we headed back to the hotel and Holly Anne and I went out for dinner at traditional Polish restaurant and filled up on an array dumplings and potato pancake with beef stew and smoked cheese. I can see by the end of my Polish stay, I will look like a dumpling!

We drank the following - and no it's not Vodka - it was natural mineral water!