Warsaw (or Warszawie)

Pronounced Va-shavia.

So, after having some time to settle into our nice room, we meet with Łukasz (pronounced W-ucash) in the lobby (he lives in an apartment close by) and set off on our private walking tour to the off-beat sights of the city.

He is affable and knowledgeable, also loves photography and takes us to places we would NEVER have visited. On top of this, we get lots of insights into life here as well as very pleasant company.

The Polish capital was once filled with markets and 19th century tenant houses, but 85 per cent of its historic centre was destroyed by the Nazis after the Warsaw Uprising was crushed in 1944. We walk past (and into) churches (St. Barbara Church, Church of the Holiest Savior), the marvellous architecture of the Polytechnic University, Konstytucji Square and its Socialist Realism architecture, old buildings in disrepair but some on the way to being gentrified, walls riddled with bullet holes from the Warsaw Uprising, parks (Ujazdów Park, Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły Park). 

The architecture is very interesting and Łukasz is a bit of a buff. 

And the sun comes out, completely transforming the city streets! Bonus!!

The Warsaw Uprising of 1944 was the biggest operation by the Polish Underground Resistance and the Home Army to liberate Poland from German Occupation. Over 63 days, in the biggest military effort undertaken by a European resistance movement in WW2, it is estimated that about 16,000 members of the Polish resistance were killed and about 6,000 badly wounded. In addition, between 150,000 and 200,000 Polish civilians died, mostly from mass executions. Jews being harboured by Poles were exposed by German house-to-house clearances and mass evictions of entire neighbourhoods. German casualties totalled over 2,000 soldiers killed and missing. 

This is what is known as one of the Tchorek plaques, used to commemorate places where battles or executions took place during the German occupation of the city during World War II; these plaques were installed at various locations in Warsaw from the 1950s until the end of the communist era. 

One of my must-dos was to try pierogi (basically, an East European dumpling) and at the Hala Koszyki (market), Łukasz is very happy to indulge me so we share a plate - with a local craft beer (of course!). Beer (along with vodka) is very popular here.



We walk, and we walk. 4 hours. 18400 steps My Friend tells me (apparently 14 kms). It felt like it. 

That certainly sorted out the jet-lag for today, and we just fell into bed, at 7 p.m.(!!).