Last weekend I joined my husband on a business trip to Warsaw. I wanted to be with him on the weekend the list came out, either to support him or to celebrate with him. Anyway, we’re bidding on the place, so I guessed I’d better have a look while I could stay in a nice hotel for free!

I liked it a lot! Except for the freezing weather, but it’s practically in Russia, after all.

Of course, Warsaw is a big mess of Communist concrete and restored Renaissance and Baroque, but that’s OK. It reflects the history of the place, which is in your face at every turn. I think it’s fascinating.

The city was methodically demolished by the Nazis in World War II–they even shot movies of buildings being dynamited. All of this is documented in fairly appalling detail at the Warsaw Uprising Museum, which is well worth a visit. The stubborn Poles put the entire Old Town area back together again. They did a darn good job, too.  It does not look like a reproduction at all.

For some reason, there were weddings and bridal photo shoots going on everywhere. I am not Catholic, so I don’t know what saint’s day it might have been, but I think there was probably some religious or traditional reason to get married on that particular weekend. Because I just don’t know how they could keep up that pace all year!

Other things I liked: pierogies (of course!), rye soup with sausages, paying a lot less for everything than I do in Vienna, and being around reasonably friendly people who like to practice their English.

Just a few pics to share!

Reconstructed Old Town square. It’s really pretty amazing.

Pretty corner near the square.

Building detail with a “Moor.”

Random bike.

Gate to the city. A good bit of the old city wall has been either preserved or reconstructed.

Wedding photo near the gate.

Pretty park below the wall.

Fat little birds in a bush by the wall.

Giant teacup outside a store.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This is the last piece remaining of what was once a big palace. The Nazis blew it up. The Saxon Gardens are the former palace gardens.

Fountain at the Saxon Gardens.

Statue in the Saxon Gardens.

A “Pierogarnia.” O joy!

Bar Dudu??

Building on a bombed-out block.

Spiffy soldiers in front of the Presidential palace.

The Jewish Ghetto was here,

From a photo exhibit in a park documenting the destruction of Warsaw–with aerial photos the Nazis took themselves.

Map from the same exhibit–the whitish part at upper right is the completely leveled ghetto.

Nazi parade in Warsaw from the same exhibit.

Monument to the child soldiers of the Warsaw Uprising.

Church and an old Soviet Lada car.

Warsaw: where white people still break dance.

Street in the reconstructed ghetto.

Another view of the main square.

A real Polish Wedding.

Balloon seller.

More wedding photos on the city wall.

Hops growing by the wall.

Yet another wedding photo session.

Wilanov Palace on the outskirts of the city.

At the Wilanov Palace.

At Wilanov.

And another wedding shoot!

Finishing up with pierogies at a hospoda (pub). YUM.