Day 16 - Warsaw

We had a full day in Warsaw.  Dariusz, who we met at our cousin in Karchowice, met us in the morning to take us to some museums we wanted to see. He has a car, which helped cut down on the walking.  

We first went to the Warsaw University Library. It's well known because of its interesting architecture. It's made of copper, with large walls representing books of languages of the world, including mathematics and music. We also went to the garden on top of the museum which provides awesome views of Warsaw.  

Just across the street is the new Copernicus Science Center.  While aimed at children, and full of kids on trips from school, it is a wonderland of hands on science demonstrations.   Your ticket is a plastic card that is used to activate various displays. There's also a planetarium accessed through the museum but requires an additional fee.  Check before you go for the schedule of shows to time your visit to one of interest to you.  We spent about an hour wandering the museum, but if you're taking kids, it would be easy to spend the day here.  Or if you're a big kid yourself!

We then drove to the newly renovated Chopin Museum.  Once again, an interactive badge is used to view videos and listen to music.  The exhibits are spread out over several floors based on the periods of his life, from childhood to his death.  If you love Chopin, you could spend hours listening and watching every exhibit. 

The grey skies turned to a slight drizzle, and Dariusz had work to do, so he dropped us back at the hotel.  After a short rest in the room, we repaired to the Cafe Bristol for a cappuccino to plan the rest of the day and tomorrow.  

We didn't want to go far as it was late afternoon and uncertain of the weather.  So we walked to the Old Town (Stare Miasto) and St. John's cathedral only to find that like much of Poland, it was being renovated.  We were able to visit the tomb of the late Cardinal Wisynski.  We wandered to the square with the statue of Syrenka, the symbol of Warsaw, and the memorial to the children who fought in the underground during the war. We stopped at a couple of the many amber stores, as I was looking for earrings to match a necklace our Mom bought in Poland some 30 years ago. We also scoped out some ice cream shops in anticipation of dessert.  Warsaw's ice cream is every bit as good as Italy's gelato.  Finally, we decided on Pod Samsonem, just past the Barbakan, for dinner.  On the way there, we saw a lady making nalasniki (crepes) in the window of a nearby ice cream shop. So that's where we had dessert - ice cream for Robert and a sweet nalasniki for me.  On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at one last amber shop and I found just the style of earrings I was looking for.  

For a grey, damp day, it turned out to be a wonderful day in Warsaw. 

Do zobaczenia!