Warsaw: Polish Fighters

Day 3, 4: Warsaw, Poland

Oh Warsaw, or as the Poles call their capital city: Vahr-shava...

You are a field of broken dreams and indefatigable spirit.

85% of Warsaw was razed to the ground by Nazi Germany after the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The citizens of Warsaw planned their own series of attack (by themselves!) against the Germans after being suppressed throughout WWII... without the help of the Soviets who stopped short across the Vistula River. The Poles were crushed, of course, and the Red Army conveniently rolled in afterwards and easily captured the flag. Before retreating though, the Germans systematically blew up buildings in Warsaw using a list based on most important cultural relevance (churches, castles, schools), so that they could effectively wipe out Polish identity. As if this really needs to be said, but the Nazis were truly evil people.

Stare Mestro, Warsaw

A UNESCO World Heritage Site

The mermaid holding a sword and shield is Warsaw's symbol and can be found all over the city. She ain't no Ariel!!

After WWII, Poland became a part of the Communist Eastern Bloc. Somber heavyset Soviet-style buildings were erected from the ruins, as well as a complete rebuilding of Warsaw's completely flattened Old Town (Stare Mestro). Or, should I say New Old Town since the buildings there are only ~50 years old? I couldn't believe that this city that I was visiting was only around 5 decades old, and we had all this infrastructure and people around us. The Poles came back to broken families and a broken city, and decided that rather than leaving it all for dead, they would rather start anew. Simply amazing!

A small street-side memorial

"John Paul Two (We love you!)"

Poland being one of the most devoutly Roman Catholic regions in the world, Poles consider Pope John Paul II, whose original name was Karol Józef Wojtyła, to be one of their country's heroes. JPII was the first non-Italian pope since the 1500s, and the only Polish one as of date.

A memorial for Lech Kaczynski outside the Presidential Palace.

If you read/watch the news then you know that in Spring of 2010 Poland's President, Lech Kaczynski, as well as almost 100 people on board, died in a plane crash en route to Russia to commemorate the Katyn massacre. For some reason they crammed a large number of ministers and officials all on this one plane... and so in just one day the country lost many of its government administration. Even though Kaczynski was not politically popular before his death due to his ultra-conservative policies, the loss of the head of state as well as the nation's public servants was yet another trauma to the Polish people. Kaczynski and his wife, despite having only served as president for 5 years, was buried in the Wawel Catherdral in Krakow (my next destination!), which is normally reserved for kings and royalty. Because of Kaczynski's untimely death, another election for president was arranged -- acting President Bronisław Komorowski vs. Jaroslaw Kaczynski -- Lech's identical TWIN. Results came out just 2 days ago: Kaczynski lost.

We had a nice traditional home cooked meal at a Polish couple's home. The best part was the vodka infused with herbs. I had a couple shots of that, to my mother's extreme dismay... which was the cherry on top. :)

Why HELLO, my Leonardo DiCaprio doppelganger cab driver! Oh, you're learning English on a Post-It? Heh heh... I can help you with that, although I don't know why "shoot up like mushrooms", "flabby", and "baboon" are on the top of your list... *confused*

A meat stand @ the daily open-air fresh food market. So much delicious consumables, but how do I prepare any of this with just a hot water kettle in the hotel? :( Another sad day for Miffy's stomach.