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Published: April 14th 2008
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Warsaw city scene
A bit of Warsaw city center. We took the tram and a bus to Old Town Warsaw. Leading up to Old Town is the the street Nowy Swiat. This hip and modern area boasts many shops and cafes. Intersecting Nowy Swiat is a street called aleja Jerozolimskie (Jerusalem Avenue) which once led to a Jewish settlement called New Jerusalem. Here, we were surprised to find a single, massive fake palm tree in the middle of a cold, cloudy and windy day. Apparently, a Polish artist had gone to the real Jerusalem and was so impressed with the waving palms that she decided to build one in Warsaw. It was meant to be a temporary installment but enough people liked it that it stayed on. Nearby is the Central Train Station which boasts only 4 platforms but serves all of Europe. A block away is the towering Palace of Culture and Science which is the tallest building in Poland. The locals have a derrogatory name for the building as it was placed there by the Soviets, courtesy of Josef Stalin.
Old Town really isn't that old. By 1945, war had leveled every building in Old Town so what exists now was built since. Castle Square is a
Warsaw Palace
The Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw. lively spot full of visitors and street vendors. Dominating the square is the Royal Castle. Sunday means free admission into a few parts of the castle interior. This large pink structure was once the center of Warsaw's political power. It served as both the king's residence and as a meeting place for Parliament but was also rebuilt after the war. The inside gleams of white marble from every direction. Huge painted portraits of Polish kings look down from the walls. Crystal chandeliers, gilt trimmed ceilings and fancy furniture ornament every room. The royal bedroom is decked out in bright green velvet, a strange color choice, we thought. Across the square from the Castle is a partly rebuilt defensive wall. The rampart once encircled all of Old Town. Warsaw, along with the rest of Poland has been invaded multiple times from every direction.
Adjacent to Old Town is New Town. New Town is only slightly newer than Old Town. Here, we passed by the birthplace of the famous lady scientist Marie Curie, who along with her husband Pierre, discovered radium and polonium.
While out and about, we went looking for an Indian restaurant that a girl at out hotel
Royal Castle
Royal Castle interior shot of ceiling and chandelier. had told us about. (The girl we met yesterday who was learning Sanskrit and Hindi). Anyhow, we went looking for the Maharaja restaurant. We finally found it but was disappointed to discover that it was actually a Thai place which smelled densely of seafood. I guess around here, no real distinction is made between Indian, Thai, Indonesian or other Asian cultures. They rather all get lumped together. Kinda odd that the girl didn't know the difference either.
In the afternoon we checked out of our hotel and headed to the train station. We caught the intercity train (free with RailPass) to Katowice, about 3 hours south. The Polish countryside is studded with numerous small family farms with oddly-shaped fields and elegant stands of birch trees. As we went further south, the landscape turned more industrial in nature, with Soviet architecture (i.e. stark concrete) more in evidence. We got to the Katowice station and then walked to our hotel, one of the tallest buildings in the city. We hadn't had dinner and were pretty hungry. On the train we had some snacks including some paprika flavored Lay's potato chips. Next to our hotel is a Pizza Hut packed full of
Old Town Square
Square in Old Town Warsaw with interesting architecture. young people. We didn't really want pizza again but also didn't want to take more time to find another restaurant, so there we went. Our first waitress gave us menus and then never came back. After almost 20 minutes, we flagged down another waitress and she told us the first girl had gone home. We suspect she did not want to deal with us as her English was not good. As we were waiting, an amazing coincidence happened. An Indian couple came to sit at the table across from ours. Turns out the fellow's name is also Anant! Anant and his wife had lived in various places in the world but were now living in Katowice. So at least we had someone to talk to while waiting on waitresses. As luck would have it, we got directions to a supposedly very good Indian restaurant in the next town over. I suspect we will make a visit soon as we rarely go more than 3 days without Indian food. Tomorrow, exploring Katowice town......
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