Warsaw and Krakow

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Hello everybody,
There is one big difference about Warsaw. Every other city tour focuses on the age of the buildings. In Warsaw, they point to the buildings and say, "completely destroyed by Nazis and rebuilt." They have done an amazing job of recreating buildings from drawings, paintings and photographs. After the uprising, Hitler personally ordered Warsaw to be levelled. 85% was destroyed, mostly in the middle of Warsaw. The Russian Army watched from the other side of the river as they had through the uprising. The first order of business was clearing the rubble. They found 98,000 dangerous items--ammunition, landmines, etc. The reconstruction was done with volunteer labour and donations. They have put plaques on numerous corners and although I can't read them, they all show a high number and somewhere 1944. Sometimes you just get the idea.

Some 850,000 Warsaw citizens perished during the war years, including 170,000 during the warsaw uprising. More about Warsaw during WWII in another blog.

Enjoy the pictures.
Bye for now,

Donna

PS I just noticed the ad at the top of the blog. I guess this is how they supply this travelblog service to us at no charge.

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Photos

1
Old buildings? They were reconstructed in 1950's.

2
More reconstructed buildings.

3
Wilanow Castle, 10 km. south of Warsaw. Not touched during WWII.

4
Monument to Warsaw's own Chopin. Shows him under a willow tree. Although he is buried in Paris, his heart is in Warsaw--literally--you can visit it in one of the churches--Ewww!

5
St. Alexander's Church in Warsaw. It is round and has identical entrances on two sides.

6
Another part of Wilanow Castle. It is now used for piano concerts for who else? Chopin's music.

7
Beautiful grounds around Wilanow Castle.

8
The peacocks liked Wilanow Castle as well. These noisy things were everywhere!

9
St. Anne's Church. Thee are 150 Catholic churches in Warsaw. No shortage of nuns, monks or priests. I stepped inside this one and realized communion was going on. FOUR priests, no waiting. I expected to see a "take a number" machine.

10
Inside the Royal Palace. It was completely levelled in 1945 and rebuilt. Amazing craftsmanship. Some paintings and furniture had been removed in 1939 and stored outside of Warsaw.

11
Cooling off on a hot day. It was 35C.

12
It was really hot for these guys.

13
Salt mines outside Krakow. Only place in the world that was mined continuously for 700 years. Stopped ten years ago--they finally ran out of salt.

14
Salt mines outside Krakow. There are 40 chapels. It took 68 years to finish this one. It still has services every Sunday as well as a favourite for weddings.

15
This is Krakow's favourite son--John Paul II. Carved out of 15 tons of rock salt. Entire mine is 300 km with a depth of 327 metres. Miners don't greet each other with "hi" or "how's it going" but always "God bless." They didn't comment on lives lost, but said it was dangerous work.

Comments

[Selma]

Travelling Lady looks healthy
Hi Donna You do look great. That's a wonderful selection of photos. I may be mistaken but it seems to me the Wilanow Castle was used in several war pictures a number of years back. Just in case you hadn't heard, its been pretty hot and humid here too. I have put my Nomination Papers in to run in the upcoming November municipal election for another term. I imagine the list of candidates will be long this year. We will have to wait until the end of September to see how that shapes up. Stay healthy and keep enjoying your and sharing your travels. - Selma