Anyway we arrive fairly early and are roughly the size of our own tour group. At that point 15 (Monika had yet to join us) people were haphazardly trailing Arthur (the only polish speaker among us). Poor Arthur,little did he know....
We all got hour 3 day transit tickets sorted out and hopped on a bus that actually took us directly accross the street from our hostel. It took us a little while to get check in and everything since we had apparently all put different approximate arrival times but were all taking the same flight. ha, oops.
SO on our first evening we decide to go to Łazienki Park but unfortunately it closed at 5. So then there was a little segregation...Girls went shopping and boys went to the bar. We were going to meet back for dinner though...
Here is the group outside a dark and firbidding Łazienki Park....
The girly crew, navigating the winding Warsaw ways... I didn't have a map and was little to no help, but documentation is important too right?
At dinner at a little polish place near the hostel. Most of the boys made it on time......... The food was excellent. We split in to slightly more manageable groups and shared various specialities. I got to try potato and cheese, spinach feta, cabbage and beef, and poppyseed and raisin perogies! They are pretty much their own food group....
AFter dinner a bunch of us headed out to some teeny tiny pubs. REally neat, cool vibes and great music. no room either so you have to meat someone!
Day one! So because there were so many of us, the little tour groups that split off were mostly designated by what time you managed to drag yourself out of bed that morning. We headed up the street toward old town. It was really cold and visibility was zero but everything was still beautiful. Most of old town was actually reconstructed after the war so it's not quite as old as it might look.......
Rachel Sondie, Arthur, Luke and Dave.
RAchel W!
Dave the Lion.
The guy on the pillar in the center here was King Sigismund III Vasa who moved the capital of Poland from Krakow to Warsaw in 1596. Apparently Krakow is absolutely stunning as well, since it would have some of the older legislative buildings....but another time perhaps.
Arthur, fortifying himself with caffeine as we stroll.
This building housed a museum and I think may have been an old palace type thing. I couldn't find any details though..... Anyway we went to a portrait showing here spanning old court life all the way till present. It was actually really neat seeing the styles evolve and the use of color and new materials and techniques develop.
WArsaw was cold and wet. Very wet. And the use of eaves troughs is far from liberal. I couldn't find any statistics on death by icicle or falling ice shrapnel but i'm sure it has happened. I mean we saw some close calls and we were only there for 48 hours....
RAchel W, carrying her munich bag and taking a picture of me taking a picture......
Luke's alien eyes. He only brings them out for special occasions.....like this one, old town market square!
RAchel .
If you are interested in seeing exactly how extensive the reconstruction efforts needed to be to return this square to it's former (quaint) glory check out :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Town_Market_Place,_Warsaw
Some of the crew...
My feets again. i was particularly taken with the cobblestones here, perhaps they were so glistening.
Some warsaw souvenirs which appeared to be hand caraved by the man sitting below, not pictured here....
Old castle wall, complete with pigeons..... you have to look close though.
A small cafe that was on our tourist map. A local favorite apparently and has been visited by the Dalai Lama? Ok thats what i heard, don't quote me on it....
We tried some delicious borscht with white beans. It was very sweet and good. Beets are a phenomenal root vegetable, i just want to throw that out there.
When we finally made it back to Łazienki Park in daylight we found this guy, just relaxing. I always pictured them to be warm weather loving fowl but apparently i'm wrong again!
Here is a lovely Mandarin duck specimen, inauspiciously trying to mingle with the regular ducks. The only one the trumped him really though was the peacock and that is pretty much just in shear bird volume.
another picture of a picture. Terrible really.
RAchel knnows the way....
MAny benches, in case you find yourself overwhelmed by the presence of the Chopin memorial.
A terribly akward group, and the chopin memorial.
better....
Luke and Ryan, always paparazzi ready.
Cyclops Sondie. This doesn't happen very often.
Chris and Bruce, misplaced themselves temporarily but were found in time to avoid any serious confusion.
After the park we headed back to the hostel went out for Pho and then met up with the rest of our crew. We were going to go out that night. One of the places recommended to us was apparently one of the best club/bars in warsaw and it was seriously 30 paces behind our hostel. Lucky us! so we got all dressed up and headed out. It was a successful evening i would say. I don't think the hostel would invite all 17 of us back again but considering the circumstance we did fairly well!
Tulips everywhere! and for cheap! I seriously considered bring some back but realized that that was probably a poorly thought out idea.
Luke looking especially tall on the way to the WArsaw Uprising Museum.
DANCING. nice! but i think it was closed....
The Palace of Culture and Science! Was one of Stalin's monstrosities, interesting effect on the city scape don't you think? WE didn't really go visit it since apparently the space is mostly leased out to businesses now but and interesting landmark all the same.
The Warsaw Rising Museum.
It was really good, informative and personal. I learned a lot and at the same time have so many questions. One thing that i had a hard time following as i drifted from exhibit to exhibit was the time line. I still need to look it up....
We continued our day by heading over to a giant outdoor market. being sunday i guess, and february, most of the stalls were closed making it the perfect setting for a zombie movie or an abduction. I got this picture before one of the security guards came by and told us the sellers perferred not to be in pictures. black market maybe. lol.
Mannequin, Mannequin, Ryan.
After picking up some pertinent souvenirs, we made our way back to the hostel, grabbed our bags and headed back to the airport. We had work the next day after all........
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