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Europe » Poland » Masovia » Warsaw
August 9th 2013
Published: August 12th 2013
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Train to WarsawTrain to WarsawTrain to Warsaw

Changing trains conveniently stopped opposite each other
There is no direct train from Vilnius, Lithuania to Warsaw, Poland. We had to change train twice and the second time involved a short bus ride to our third train along narrow dirt roads where our only notice that we had entered Poland was a small sign between farmer’s fields, not because we were being smuggled into the country, we were told by two multi-lingual Lithuanian truck drivers who we shared our first class compartment with, but because a section of the train track was being repaired.

We arrived in Warsaw at dusk and, as we left the station, we were greeted by the illuminated Palace of Culture and Science, a building similar in design to the seven sisters in Moscow and known as Stalin’s gift to the people of Poland built in 1955. Our hotel was directly across the street from the Palace.

There was lots to see on our walking tour the next morning where we learned that Poland has had two brief periods (‘good times’ our guide called them) when the people have been able to govern themselves: one between the two world wars and the other beginning in the late eighties. After WWII, the retreating
Palace of Culture and SciencePalace of Culture and SciencePalace of Culture and Science

Stalin's gift to Warsaw after WWII illuminated after dusk. Hence out of focus.
Germans destroyed everything they couldn’t take home with them and the Polish have been rebuilding ever since with construction everywhere we looked.

The Warsaw Rising Museum is very well done and explains the possibly foolhardy, if not courageous attempt by the Poles who for 63 days in 1944 tried unsuccessfully to take control of Warsaw. As a result the Germans flattened Warsaw before they withdrew and the Soviets took control.

The Madam Curie museum was disappointing as it told only about her life with little about her work. The surprising thing about her death from leukemia was that she lived until the age of 67. Not bad considering the number of years she worked with radioactive materials.

The Chopin museum was a delight for classical music lovers and perhaps it is just as well the sizeable Chopin shop outside was closed by 8 p.m. when we emerged from the museum.



We had two hot days in Warsaw and it was a pleasure to be back amongst people who didn’t look as though they had a migraine when they served or assisted us.


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Modern Warsaw buildingsModern Warsaw buildings
Modern Warsaw buildings

The architecture in Warsaw has gone wild.


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