Sobieski Hotel Warsaw

... That’s an old kick in the head figuratively.

A lot of the bricks and furnishings and such came from Wroclaw apparently to the detriment of Wroclaw even causing them to tear down some of their old buildings that were fine after the war.

Today we went into the Royal Palace. The apartments have been restored quite well. Some of the ceilings are painted but I imagine that most of the ...

... alisveris merkezinde gunu tamamladim. Burada da Jazz gelenegi yaygin. Aksam burada olmadigimdan artik baska sefere.

Geleneksel yemek dedigim Pierogi adli (Dampling Ingilizcesi) bizdeki mantinin kalin hamurlusu bir yemek. Uzerine kiyma turu yagli bir sos konuyor. Kucuk bir porsiyonda 9 adet var. Ben 4 kiymali, 5 peynirli karisik istedim. Yarisini yiyemedim.

Varsova modernlesme konusunda cok caba gosteren bir sehir goruntusu verdi. Bildiginiz tum ...

... stuck me was how small the populations of the capitals are. Even Warsaw has only 1.7 million, but Vilnius, capital of Lithuania has only about 600 thousand, Riga in Latvia has about 700 thou, and Tallinn in Estonia about 400 thou. They all get a glowing report about having old world charm with lovely unspoilt cobblestone streets winding through labyrinth market streets all topped by Gothic and Classical Church spires. Something for the discerning traveler, and ...

... outside, trying to take photos through the window into the now dark cathedral.) Just as well that priest remembered we were in the crypt! We followed the route described in our guidebook, through the Old Town (originally 13th century, largely destroyed in WW2 & then rebuilt according to plans & pictures), past the bastion & remainder of the Old Town Wall - and into the "New Town" (14th century - and thus now much older than the restored Old Town). In the Old ...

... It was very busy there with pilgrimers. We arrived at about 7pm to Warsaw. After tea we went to the Marriot Hotel's Sky Bar for a drink and lovely views over Warsaw. The next day we left the Hotel at 9am for a city drive and walk with a local guide. First stop was the Warsaw Ghetto, where the jews were placed before deportation to the death camps. There we saw the Monument and displays of the Ghetto and the major uprisings. Next we ...

... in 1960's era workers' cafeterias. In this setting was a man speaking convoluted Australian English to a lady who was in no mood to hear it and walked off rather than serve him. I helped him out with a couple of translations (about 5 essential food words I had quickly learned so as to avoid starving) and then found I had a new best friend. Sitting amidst the (rebuilt, but you can hardly tell) 14th century Old Town he expressed his amazement that Hitler ...

... Poland had been in the original plan for this trip, but after reading about the country, I realized I didn't have time to do it justice and so, had left it for another trip. The most accessible Polish city from Brest is the capital, Warsaw, so that's where I decided to focus my time. Arriving in Warsaw from the wilds of Belarus is quite a culture shock. For starters, everything's in the Roman alphabet again. It takes me a good couple hours to stop trying to translate everything I ...

... in the US. It was a three level store, but I only explored the first level which was where all the magazines were and the second with all the books. It was cool to see all the different books and what people were buying. It was late in the evening (close to 6 P.M. I believe) and there were a lot of people around in that book store. I ended up buying a few books to help me study and learn some more Polish, even once I returned back to the US and I left. I remember ...

... bus and were brought to a beautiful palace. We sat down and got to listen to Chopin being performed just for us! It was very relaxing... although considering I was pretty tired I don't think I really needed to be relaxed! At intermission we had some champagne and then listened to the last half of the recital. After the recital we went outside and were able to look at the grounds and the peacocks before wandering back to the bus. We were bussed back to the ...

... most unsettling feeling as I walked through the gas chambers. So many references have been made to these death sites but it was such an unreal feeling to have actually stood there. After being at the main camp, we went to Birkenau. A very famous sight where people were transported. The was the sight were it was decided whether or not you would suffer an immediate death or have a undetermined amount of time.