Warsaw

We left Don & Pam in Helsinki and via Riga in Latvia, took a plane to Warsaw. Poland has a history going back to 1025 when a kingdom was founded. It has an area of about 313,000 sq km and a population of around 40 million. W e all know that Germany invaded Poland in 1939, and Russia shortly after when it formed a pact with Germany. After the war the Russians established a satellite state. Lech Walesa, a welder from Gdansk lead a revolution called Solidarity in 1989 and Poland became a democratic republic. The unit of Money is the Zloty, and 1 Australian dollar will buy about 2.6 Zloty.

I had a chance to practice my Polish, but generally the poles English was far better than my butchered Polish, but we got by.

This is the Poloina Palace Hotel where we spent our time in Warsaw. Close to the centre of town it was very convenient. This picture was taken from just across the road in the 1956 building that Stalin presented to the residents of Warsaw. Its about 230 metres without the antenna, and the viewing platform is 120 m above the ground. Both the Rolling stones and Leonard Cohen have performed in the 3000 seat auditorium.

This is a photo of Kay taking a photo on the viewing platform of the Tower.

This is one of the many public squares in the old town in Warsaw, which most are surrounded by old buildings. When I say the \”old town\”, I have to remind you that during the second world war the poles rose up against the German occupation and held out for a while. After the uprising was put down the Germans levelled the area. Most of Warsaw was rebuilt after the war to the former specifications. A lot of Warsaw\’s old town is about 70 years old.

This is a photo of one of the roads in the old town looking towards the former palace, now a museum.

This is the square in front of the former Royal palace, which is now a Museum.

This is one of the many public city squares, most of which are surrounded by lovely 4-5 level buildings. Many of the buildings in the old town are shops selling Amber, which is found mainly around the shores of the Baltic ocean.

The river Vistula flows through the city of Warsaw, and is Poland\’s longest river at about 1027 km in length and effectively cuts Poland in half. The building in the background is the National Stadium.

Below is a photo of Kay half way through a plate of one of the Polish national dishes, in this case pierogi, a dumpling with  an assortment of fillings, both savoury and sweet.

And finally a pictire of yours faithfully enjoying a cold one, in this case a Zywiec after a hard 6 km walk down the old town and onto the river. It was a nice day.

We left Warsaw at its central rail station and travelled first class to the central station in Berlin.

It was pleasing to hear on the TV news that the police finally going to charge the alleged paedophile George Pell, and nice to hear that Tony Abbott is still making life difficult for Malcolm.