Poland, Warsaw & Krakow
Trip Start
Mar 11, 2008
1
25
37
Trip End
Mar 10, 2009
Warsaw,
Central Poland,
Poland
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
I had a lazy evening in the hostel checking emails & doing my previous blogs & set out early the next day to explore Warsaw. I went to see the palace of culture & science which looks like a wedding cake...then i went to see a tower with a huge hole in the side of it. It is 190mts tall & split in two to allow daylight into neighbouring buildings,weird! I then spent the afternoon in the Rising Museum which opened in 2004, it tells the tragic stories of Warsaw & it`s citizens in world war 2, focusing on the 1944 uprising against the Germans. I then went to see the huge fake palm tree! Which is in the centre of a main road through Warsaw & i was told it is a work of art by Joanna Raykowska & meant to remind passers by of the void left by the adsence of the Jewish community in Warsaw.
The next day i went for a huge walk around the outskirts of the city & saw the remnants of the Jewish city where before 1939 30% of Polish were Jews. There is a Synagogue left which is 100yrs old & an old street with the derelict buildings still standing with huge black & white photo`s of those who lost there lives. I then went to see the ruins of the National bank where 80% of the building was destroyed. From there i walked to Praga & the Old town which has lovely cobbled streets & all the building now are new because it was totally destroyed dueing the war. There are photo`s of what the old town used to look like. I saw Kolumna Zygmuta statue, the unknown soldiers monument, the longest building in Warsaw which is 508mts long with 43 entrances which was built to conceal crumblings of old Praga from the sight of people arriving at the train station. I then walked through some beautiful parks & visited the Bear pit (like in Bern, Switzerland) but a lot larger & nice long canal for them to swim.
In the evening there was a huge protest which has been going on for more than 3 years & used to be just a few people every last friday of the month cycle through town. They want the government to build cycle lanes though Warsaw, now there are over 1000 people who block all the traffic & blow whistles & all wear the same t-shirts in hope that they will get cycle lanes through Warsaw!
The next day i took the train to Krakow. this city is just like Prague but on a smaller scale. I went exploring the old town which has lovely churches, cathedrals, museums, street markets, castles & canals. The next day i went to Auschwitz & Birkenau Nazi concentration & death camps where an estimated 1.5 million people mostly Jews were murdered & thousand more suffered unthinkable horrors. Only 7,000 people survived & of those 650 were children. On my last day i walked along the canal to a huge mound built inside a castle 333mts high, it was a great hike there & fantastic views from the top but i slipped & dropped my camera! Aagghhhh!!!!! It was totally broken, i was gutted. I took it to a camera shop but it was unfixable & not covered on the insurance so i had to buy a new one. I decided to get the same camera so at least i have 2 batteries, 2 chargers & leads...we must always look on the bright side!
I loved Poland & wish i could have stayed longer, the weather was fantastic, so were the people.
Well take care guys, bye for now, next stop Venice. Jo.x
