10 miles around Warsaw, Learning Weird Facts

I hear that this will be a blasphemous statement, but I think I prefer Warsaw to Krakow. Don't get me wrong, Krakow was nice with all its history, but for me, Warsaw is more a city. With things to do and monuments and buildings to see that aren't centuries old. And for that reason, I think I preferred my time in Warsaw. I made this decision after a long, cold, misty/drizzly day walking all around the city.

Columns for Warsaw Ghetto's
pedestrian footbridge

My hotel happens to be a bit of a walk from the Old City, but there were still some really interesting things to see along the way. Rather than heading straight for those sites, I decided to take a short detour through the Mirów neighborhood, which was a part of the southern section of the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. Mirów happens to contain one of the most famous images of the Ghetto, the pedestrian footbridge that the Germans built to ease access between the two main parts, since a major street happened to run through the Ghetto's location. Located at the intersection Chłodna and Żelazna Streets, the footbridge no longer exists, but the steel pillars that held it still do. One thing I've learned about Warsaw in this trek is that most of the city--85 percent--was destroyed during World War II, so old things that remain are unique or reconstructions.

Palace of Culture and Science

I eventually wound my way back to a central intersection, where Marszakołwska meets Jerozolimskie. Every guidebook and "what to do in Warsaw" website I looked at said that this was a good place to start my journey. At one corner is the Palace of Culture and Science, which darts up from the city skyline. It is the tallest building in Poland and definitely has an important feel to it. I didn't go into the museum inside--I considered it, as the clouds were really starting tot mist with force--but I really wanted to press onward to the Old City.

Warsaw, like Krakow, has a royal route from which kings would often pass, especially on the way to their coronations or other important events, such as their baptisms. The route contains Castle Square which, as you can probably guess, is anchored by a castle. I happened to get there around the time that a trumpeter began to play a song that is still stuck in my head, several hours later:

Buildings in the Old City

I continued past Castle Square into the Old City. Old City was actually destroyed twice during World War II. The first time was during the German invasion of 1939, when he Germans bombed  the area. Polish citizens rebuilt it, only to have the Germans destroy it again following the Warsaw Uprising. Apparently Polish citizens used old drawings and sketches to rebuild it as closely as possible using as many original bricks and decorative designs as they could find. While it looks good, the scars of war and destruction are clearly evident in many of the buildings, including those beyond the Old City.

Madame Curie

A couple of monuments later, including one to what I surmise if Poland's favorite daughter, Marie Curie (she's right up there with John Paul II and Nicolas Copernicus in people that are honored a lot!), I finally started to make my way back to the roads that would bring me back to my hotel. But then I heard horns and drums and what sounded like marching. I was right, that's exactly what was going on. So of course I needed to go check it out. In front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, in a grand plaza, many distinct security units from the military and police were marching. A guy near me told his friend that it was practice for an upcoming Polish celebration in a few days (November 11 is Polish Independence Day), but I cannot confirm the veracity of that claim. In any case, it was pretty cool and I am glad I stumbled upon it.

The military exercise

With that, I meandered through Warsaw's version of Embassy row before heading back to the hotel after what became a 10-mile trek through the city. I also learned along the way that Herbert Hoover's middle name was Clark (he has a square named after him near the Polish Presidential Palace). And Warsaw honors Charles de Gaulle with a circle and put a palm tree in the middle, which is a very weird sight, especially when it is only in the 40s.

To end, here is a video of the military exercise on the plaza: