Day 6--Sightseeing in Warszawa

Chinese walk in park

Surani and Dagmar with Chopin statue

Very nice buffet at the Polonia Palace for breakfast, and then off on a sightseeing tour by bus and foot.  First stop was a wonderful park name Park Lazienkowski with a palace in the middle of a lake.  Unfortunately closed for renovation.  Turns out Chopin is a big deal in Warsaw, being Polish.  Statue of him in park, museum, and also piano compition held here.  We walked in the park and I saw my first hazelnut hull.  Look it up, it's really interesting.

Vista from "Palace on the Water"

Beautiful, even with no tail

Old Town, all a reproduction

What Old Town looked like ca 1947

Inside Palace, Father Time

We then drove to the beginning of Old Town, Stare Miasto.  Visited the King's Palace which was completely leveled in World War 2.  The whole thing was rebuilt to its exact look before--think a historically accurate Disneyland.  It is the only reproduction that is a World Heritage site.  I took lots of pictures of inlaid floors for quilting ideas.  After this we walked through Old Town, also completely restored from the ground up and then ate at a restaurant there called Krokodyl.

Dijon Chicken

 Had a very nice lunch of soup (no organ meat), chicken breast with Dijon sauce, pureed potatoes, and finally a very tasty Cinnamon Apple pie.

Apple Cinnamon Pie with Meringue

Overlook Wisla River

Barbican and city wall

After lunch we walked some more, then ended up leaving the Old Town through the barbican and city walls of brick.  Walked through a leafy area in New Town to look at the October 1944 Warsaw Uprising memorial, and finally ended the day at the memorial to the Ghetto of Warsaw where so many Jews were taken to Triblinka and gassed.  At the start of the war there were approximately 400,000 Jews in Warsaw, and it is estimated that 300,000 were exterminated.  The numbers are appalling.  I will not go on a day trip to Auschwitz.  I saw the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles and that is enough for me.

Memorial October 1944 Uprising

We finally got back to the hotel, where I took a nap, then Patrick, Surani and I ate at a restaurant called Papaya which had "Pan-Asian" but was mostly Thai.  Very classy.  Long trek home and thus to bed.