Warsaw

On that weekend in late March, I wasn't done with my trip through Poland after just Poznan - I had all of Sunday to see Warsaw. But first, I had to get there.

After spending Saturday in Poznan, I went to the very outskirts of town to catch a late-night bus from there to the Polish capital. But I found that the bus station was completely boarded up and closed, so I had to brave the below-freezing weather for an hour at 11 pm before the bus finally showed up and I folded myself into my tiny seat. Then we were off, and we arrived in Warsaw early... which, in this case, was not good news for me, since it meant we were there at 4:15 am and I had managed to get about 4.5 hours of sleep. Traveling by bus is certainly not glamorous! But for 7 euros, it did the job. I shook off my tiredness and set out into the city at about 7 am. 

Warsaw, population 1.7 million, has been the capital of Poland since 1596. During World War II, the entire city was nearly completely (over 85%) destroyed by the Nazis, particularly during a bout of retaliatory bombing after a major uprising in the city 1944. But Warsaw and its residents have risen from the ashes and rebuilt the metropolis on the banks of the Vistula River. 

Warsaw's most striking building is not its most beloved by a long shot. The Palace of Culture and Science was commissioned by Stalin as a gift from the Soviet people and was inspired by the Empire State Building. It was built in the early 1950s, and 16 Soviet workers died in the process. It is still the tallest building in all of Poland

Locals detest the building and what it stands for. It is said the best view of Warsaw is from atop the Palace's terrace, since that would mean the building is not visible

The enormous but ugly Parade Square in front of the palace is the largest square in the European Union. This is just about one quarter of it. Once used for Communist propaganda parades, the hulking department stores in the back right make it clear that capitalism is now the name of the game

I was out so early that I had Warsaw's most prestigious thoroughfare, Krakowskie Przedmieście, all to myself

The Church of the Holy Cross, built in the late 1600s but rebuilt after the war (Nazis had detonated two large mines inside and then bombed it once again a year after that)

This monument to Nicolaus Copernicus, the famed Polish astronomer who proposed that the sun and not the Earth is really the center of the universe, was unveiled in 1830. During Nazi rule, the Germans added a plaque that suggested he was actually German. A brave boy scout eventually removed the plaque, which caused the Nazis to take down this monument and bomb others. The statue was eventually recovered and restored after the war

The only remnant of the Saxon Palace, which was destroyed in WWII, is Poland's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Here, the changing of the guard is underway

The rest of the Saxon Palace used to stand near these 18th century gardens

Poles are extraordinarily proud of the late Polish Pope John Paul II. When he first visited Warsaw as Pope, he stopped by this giant granite cross to say mass

The Presidential Palace, first built in the 1600s and continuously remodeled. In 1955, the Warsaw Pact was ratified within its walls

A monument to Adam Mickiewicz, Poland's best-loved bard

Approaching Old Town

St. Anne's is the city's most ornate church

Plac Zamkowy, or Castle Square, lies in front of Warsaw's Old Town. The column on the left was built in 1644 is dedicated to King Sigismund, who made Warsaw the capital of Poland. Everything in this photo was reduced to rubble in WWII. But the rebuilds were so truthful to the original structures that the entire Old Town was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1980

The column monument, as well as the Sigismund statue on top of it, took a direct hit in WWII. Sigismund's statue survived, and the original column with its many pockmarks is on display near the new monument

The Royal Castle was reconstructed at incredible cost from 1971 to 1984 and dates back to the 14th century, when it was the residence of Polish kings before later becoming the seat of parliament. Today it serves as a museum

Another part of the Royal Castle 

Houses on the Old Town Square

The Old Town Square, the highlight of Warsaw's oldest district

Beer Street (ul. Piwna) and St. Martin's Church (which was also flattened during the war)

The Kanonia Square was once a graveyard, but now its claim to fame is the extremely narrow house you can see in the corner

Supposedly it's one of the narrowest in the world. Just like in Poznan, homeowners once had to pay a property tax based on the width of the street-facing façade, so this clever guy kept his little house as skinny as possible

The Old Town Square again

The Old Town Square plays host to Syrenka, a monument of a mermaid that has since become the city's symbol. Several legends vie to explain her significance. One states that she was resting in the river by the city when the gods suddenly gave her weapons to defend the city for eternity. I guess she was on vacation during WWII

The Barbakan is one of the few parts of the defensive walls still standing and dates from 1548

This is one of several remaining "milk bar" canteens, which are relics of the city's communist past. These cheap cafeterias provided Warsaw's working class with no-frills traditional dining. Many dishes were dairy-based since meat was scarce

The New Town and St. Hyacinth's Church, built in 1639

Two-time Nobel laureate Maria Skłodowska-Curie, also known as Madame Curie, is actually Polish! Here's her birthplace

These stones mark the former path of a wall that surrounded the Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw during Nazi rule. Over 380,000 Jews lived in the quarter, and many died from starvation or sicknesses related to the cramped and unsanitary conditions. In 1942, most residents were shipped off to a death camp and killed within months. The remaining Jews revolted in 1943, but the movement that came to be known as the Ghetto Uprising was crushed within a month

Poland's Supreme Court building has glass windows to represent transparency

Just as the year 1956 has a special significance for Poles living in Poznan, the year 1944 is extremely important in Warsaw's history. That year saw the outbreak of the tragic Warsaw Uprising, honored in this monument. Spurred on by Soviets and the western Allies, over 30,000 Poles (including children) attacked the Germans stationed in Warsaw to try to liberate the capital from Hitler's occupation. They were doomed from the start. Just on the first day, over 2,000 Poles died. The poorly armed resistance fighters (notice how the guy just left of center has no gun - click here to zoom in) were quickly overwhelmed by German reinforcements, and neither the Soviets nor the Western powers ever intervened to support the Poles. Despite the heavy losses, the insurgents kept battling until the very last minute...

...at which point the only route for the surviving fighters to escape the hopeless battle was through the sewers, as depicted here. In the end, the failed 63-day revolt cost 168,000 Polish lives. Hitler then set about intentionally leveling what was left of Warsaw and its historic buildings. The remaining 500,000 Warsaw residents were taken to transition and POW camps

The Supreme Court and Monument to the Warsaw Uprising 

No one really knows why a giant hand is on this theater school or what it means

The Church of the Holy Cross is the final resting place of Fryderyk Chopin’s heart, which was sealed in an urn that is now in the church's walls

A lake in Łazienkia Park is the home of the Palace on the Island, which was built on an artificial island in 1683 

The Chopin Monument honors Fryderyk Chopin, Poland's greatest composer, who is shown sitting under a willow tree whose branches stretch over his head like the fingers of a pianist over piano keys

Another church named for St. Anne

Having read over and over about how a place called Wilanów Palace is a veritable "Polish Versailles," I took a long bus trip far outside of the city center to see it. I was a little underwhelmed by what I found. I haven't been to Versailles, but I think it is a little grander and MUCH larger than Wilanów. Not that Wilanów is ugly, I just think it needs to be described more modestly. Anyway, the palace was built in the late 1600s as a country retreat for the Polish king and, having survived the war intact, is now a Polish national treasure

This is the entire main building... again, I was expecting something larger

Back to the Old Town

Old Town Square

The Monument to the Ghetto Heroes commemorates the Ghetto Uprising of 1943 mentioned above. The stones used in the monument were brought to Warsaw by the Nazis and were originally meant to be used for Nazi architectural projects designed by Hitler's architect, Albert Speer (see some of Speer's surviving buildings in my Nuremberg post)

Sunset - my time in Warsaw was coming to a close

The view from St. Anne's Church, the best viewing point in all of Warsaw. I was up there for my favorite time of day for photography - dusk!

The Praga neighborhood and National Stadium are visible across the river

Plac Zamkowy at dusk

A woman enters Warsaw's 14th century St. John's Cathedral. Most Poles are devout Catholics. While tourists outnumber worshipers in the churches in many other European cities, quite the opposite holds true in Poland. Usually I felt like I was disturbing the peace by being inside a church (and in other cases mass was being held) so I only have a picture of one church interior in Warsaw

I headed into the Old Town one last time

Warsaw's Grand Theatre, built in 1833, destroyed (of course) in WWII, and rebuilt in 1965

The Presidential Palace by night

Warsaw's finest hotel, the Hotel Bristol, has hosted Nixon, Picasso, and other stars

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

This is the home of Warsaw University, founded in 1830 and widely recognized as the best college in Poland

The 19th-century Staszic Palace and Copernicus statue

I passed by the Palace of Culture and Science one last time on my way to the bus home

The building seriously looks so surreal to me. I like it's crazy, imposing design. It's too bad about the history behind it...

My time exploring Warsaw was up. Although Krakow is Poland's real tourist draw (and I visited there several weeks later), I enjoyed Warsaw very much and would highly recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in or near Poland in the future. 

Next on the agenda was some more exploring in Berlin and a trip to Amsterdam!