Au revoir Paris, czesc Warszawa, Polen!
2.4 Saturday
So I arrived at the train station around noon and met my friend Magda, whom I met in Hamburg during my exchange period. She had everything planned for this weekend and I was so much looking forward to it! Spending my birthday in Warszawa, it is going to be awesome!
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| At the train station, the first building you see is this high building, actually the highest one in Poland, the palace of culture and science, Palac kultury i nauki. This in my opinion pretty ugly building was a gift from Joseph Stalin to the Polish nation in the mid 20th century. |
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| As a start for this day Magda took me to a traditional polish restaurant Zapiecek, where you can eat the best pierogi in Warsaw. The place was really nice, waitresses dressed in national clothing, the food was delicious and pretty cheap. In the polish kitchen you can find both Russian and German influence. These pierogis comes mostly from the east. Also in Finland one of our famous dishes at Karelian pierogis, also being influenced by Russian food culture. |
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| (down): castle square, Plac Zamkowy, is a historic place ahead of the Royal Castle (on the picture to the right), where the former Polish monarchs had their official residence. Note the triangular shape of the square. We could enjoy this lovely view from a tall tower close to the square. (u.l): Nicolaus Copernicus Monument in front of the Staszic palace (science academy), is one important landmark in Warsaw. He is holding an armillary sphere and a compass in his hand, symbolizing the great discovery he made, changing the worldview that it is not the sun rotating the earth, but the other way. (u.r): having an ice cream break. |
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| Castle square. On this picture you can see part of the wall and old town, as well as the Zygmunt's column (in the middle). This square is also used as a meeting point for both locals and tourists. As is to be seen, weekend as warm and sunny as this one invites people to go out. |
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| Main square in the old town. One other symbol for Warsaw is the mermaid of Warsaw, or Warsaw sirene. One of the sculptures of this mermaid can be found in the old town market place. |
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| The memorial for the second world war (u.r) and the memorial grave for the solders who died during the wars. Every hour they change the guards and we were lucky to witness it! |
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(down): Warsaw university library, established in 1816, is not only a library but also includes a botanical garden that is in fact located on the roof, giving a lovely view over the river. Because of my birthday Magda planned a party for me. Together with some of her friends we had an awesome night and had so much fun! Thanks!! :)
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3.4 Sunday
Today was a day for recovery ;) and visiting parks. The weather was so perfect again!
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| Lazienki park with its old amphitheatre (d.r) nd the castle on the island. This park is so lovely! In Warsaw there is lots of parks where you can come and read, study, eat, relax, gor jogging, walking or just enjoying life. (d.l): the Fryderyk Chopin monument is today also one of Warsaw's most famous symbols. By pressing a button you can listen to Chopin playing. |
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| Later in the evening we went to another nice park, Wilanow with its nice castle and tranquil parkarea and lake. Here you had to pay a small entrance fee in order to get in, but it was worth it! |
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| At the lake in the park Wilanow. Just loved it here!! |
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| Close to the Wilanow castle was this love bridge with hearts and next to it a man-made beach. |
Because it was my birthday I got one more wish to come true, we went to the fitness studio! And on top of it I got to the sauna!! <3 strangely there was no place where to throw water in the sauna, apart from what I am used to, but anyway I enjoyed it! Later before going to bed we had a girl's night :) so happy and placed with this weekend!
4.4 Monday
Today last day in the capital of Poland, in the evening I will go to the former capital of Poland, Krakow.
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| In the afternoon I walked around in Warsaw and enjoyed the last hours before heading to the next destination. I visited parks, once more to the Lazienki park and had a delicious waffle with ice cream, enjoying it by the lake. |
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I also walked to the center and walked in the shopping centre close to the train station and the palace of culture (u.r). The roof of one part of the shopping centre is made of glass (d/u.l). It must be pretty hot here during the summer! Before leaving we went eating, had a salad, soup and potato-pancakes for only 3.5€! At 18.50 my train left from Warsaw towards Krakow (d.r). Here in Poland, even though I needed to book a seat reservation, I did not have to pay for it, as it has been for all the other seat reservations I made during my trip. But I am more than okay with it ;)
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Thank you Magda for this weekend!
My favourites in Warsaw: all the parks: Wilanow and Lazienki, cheap & good food and drinks, old town, botanical garden on the roof of the library.
Also the subway tickets was for me super cheap, 50 cents for 20 minutes! But it is really rarely that someone controls the tickets here, but I did not want to take any risks and just paid for the subway.
These old Soviet cities are much more beautiful as what I expected!
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