Warsaw - A City Rebuilt

This morning we head off on a city tour - wide streets, modernist buildings, statues and squares and gardens. The main square is busy, there’s a dapper man grinding an old organ and there is red and yellow everywhere - the colours of Warsaw. This is an excellent people-watching city - women yakking in the street, old men peering out of windows, couples lunching at outdoor cafes, families feeding pigeons ... some streets are deserted, others have horses and carriages clip-clopping by. The court is impressive - it’s a modern glass building that straddles the street.
We are taken to the Wedel Cafe - a chocolate cafe. A large glass of warm thick liquid chocolate is put in front of each of us, and then a piece of chocolate cake. It’s rich and decadent and yummy. I’m a chocoholic but I couldn’t finish the chocolate drink! 
There is free time for a spot of lunch (if any room after all the chocolate!) and shopping or relaxing or walking the city.
For Sheila and I, it’s time to take a taxi to her medical appointment - her leg is still giving her grief so we want to try to get a scan to see what’s going on. We hope it’s nothing too serious, but best to check. It will mean missing the Chopin recital but this takes priority.
The medical clinic is across town but it doesn’t take too long to get there. We are early and she is seen quickly - before her appointment time actually. The doctor thinks a scan is needed but alas there is nothing available this afternoon. That’s a bummer, we leave tomorrow. He prescribes some meds, and we are out of there way earlier than we anticipated - looks like we’ll make that Chopin concert after all. 
We order a cab and reach the concert hall - a small palace in a park. The group had been late arriving due to demonstrations in the street by white supremacists (more on this below). This is a private concert just for us and hasn’t long started. 
We listen to the first half from the entrance hall, enjoy a glass of wine at half time (the group is surprised to see us) and settle in for the second half. The pianist is Jerzy Romaniuk, a world-renowned Musician. His fingers flew across the keyboard and to see that up close was amazing. An Exceptional, unique and very special outing. Afterwards he signs our programmes and poses for photos with us. What a very nice and talented man!
We waltz out into the night towards our restaurant to enjoy more good food and wine. The streets are light and bright and lively. We are ready for bed!
Fil (pictured) has been fabulous, yet again, in taking care of us.

OBSERVATIONS OF THE DAY: 
Poland’s population is 38 million. It’s the sixth biggest city in the EU. It’s the second largest apple  producer in the world - and boy are their apples HUGE! It’s the biggest coal user in the EU, with coal being main source of energy, this in turn creates pollution problems. Poland is nuclear free.

I rather like Warsaw. It is known for its four Cs - Chopin, Copernicus, Marie Curie and the writer Joseph Conrad. 
Today was about the C of commemoration ... 1st August 2019 marks the 75th anniversary of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising against Nazi occupation, when the city was razed to the ground. At 5pm a minute’s silence is observed. Today is a day of recognising the day when this city of almost 1 million people was almost obliterated. About 150,000 people died. 
There was drama in the streets near our hotel as activists took the opportunity to demonstrate. Police kept things in hand.

We seem to be coinciding with big events at places ... to date we’ve had Fighting (Moscow Boxing event), Forgiveness (at the Hill of Crosses and Freedom (remembering this city’s past).

Our guide Fil is fantastic!



Fabulous Fil, our guide for Poland







Comments

Popular posts from this blog

From Krakow to Eger, via Slovakia

Next Stop - Krakow

Into Poland - Magical Moments on Polish Lakes