Exploring Warsaw

We arrived yesterday in Warsaw, and set off for a sightseeing day today.

First was the huge Palace of Culture and Science, although it looked to us just like Batman's house. (The first one, not Wollaton Hall.)

It was built on the orders of Stalin after the Russian invasion, so although it is a beautiful building, many people do not like it because of the memories that it brings back.

Darren designed a walking tour of the city and we were very impressed that so much of the city is pedestrianised and very attractive.

The composer Frederick Chopin was born in Warsaw in 1810, and I was very keen to find his benches which were scattered around the city. 

The idea was that you sat on the bench, pressed a button and the bench would play 30 seconds of a Chopin concerto.

We found about 12 of them, one of which was next to a large church. Chopin died in Paris in 1849 and most of his body is buried there, but he wanted his heart to be in Warsaw, so his sister brought it back and it is in an urn in the church.

Quite an  unusual idea I think, and we went inside to try and find it. Unfortunately a service was in progress so we had to abandon that plan, so no photo.

On to the old town that was almost totally destroyed by the Nazis in 1944. It has been rebuilt with a very impressive city wall.

We wandered through the town and out the other side, just in time to hear a bugler playing from high up in a tower.

All we could see was the end of the silver instrument, but after it finished the lady bugler looked out and waved to everyone.

We found the gorgeous Royal Palace gardens and a sign told us to relax on the soft and beautiful green grass, so I did that for a couple of minutes before catching up with Daz.

Finally, we spent some time looking for a statue of Chopin, couldn't find it, but did find a complicated mural.

Lastly a drink at a bar to finish off a good day.

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