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182 Radzyminska Street, Warsaw, 03-671, Poland
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Kaczinski Cross
Wilanow Palace
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We are flying from Cyprus to Norway and by far the cheapest way to go is by LOT airlines to Warsaw and then on to Oslo. This route does mean that we have a 10 hours stopover in Warsaw and I'd like to do something during that time. I will be travelling with two children aged 6 and 9 so not too much walking! Any suggestions would be great, i.e. best way to get into town from the airport, any child-friendly things to do, etc.
You can take bus 175 from the airport but beware of pickpockets. Or a taxi. There are lots of things that you could do. Walk in the colourful Old Town, which the children should enjoy, esp. if you eat there. You could have some pierogi, e.g, with blueberry or strawberry filling. You could get teddy bears for them, which are made on the spot in a children's department store in Aleje Jerozolimskie (for details see my Warsaw shopping tip). Remember to change some money - Poland has zloties not euros. Another thing that you could do if the weather was nice would be to go to the Lazienki Park and Palace on the Water to feed the swans on the lake and see the peacocks. There are also quite a few red squirrels there that the children will love, esp. if they can feed them some nuts for instance. Remember the park closes after dark - don't stay too long!
Or you could go to the zoo but it is on the right bank of the Vistula, a little too far from the airport. There are often terrible traffic jams in Warsaw. Allow plenty of time for your return to the airport or you may miss your plane.
Browse through the Warsaw pages on VT - they can give you more ideas. Hope you and your children enjoy it here.
Take taxi to Warsaw center. It should be less than 15 Euro for all of you (one way).
What to do? It really depends on the weather.
I would just go to the Old Town, have some meal and rest before next flight.
As for money exchange, you can just use ATM on the airport to take some cash.
theres a really nice shopping mall in the center of town....zlote terasy.....or you could tour the royal castle or the old town....this next one is a long shot but the kids might enjoy the fantastic new interactive museum of the warsaw uprising....this place is not to be believed....with all the war sounds,pictures,films of many types and military hardware
Even if you're aware of the rebuilding that went on here after the devastation of WWII, you might not be prepared to see it for yourself. Considering that 85% of the city was levelled, it is truly remarkable to see the spirit of the Poles to rebuild their city. The Old Town in particular is amazing. It's hard to believe that the buildings you are looking at are not at least 2-300 years old, but in reality, most were built in the '40s and '50s.
There are many monuments and statues throughout the city, but I rather like the Tomb of the Unknown soldier. The tomb rests under several pillars which are the remnants of an old king's palace which was bombed during the war. These remnants are all that is left. Rather than trying to rebuild yet another building, it was decided to place the unknown soldier here. There is a park behind it...the old palace gardens. There is a large open space in front of it which separates it from the surrounding area. Excellent for special occasions, parading, or the crowds that gathered on August 1 for the commemoration of the Warsaw Uprising.
I hope you will visit my Travelogue telling the story of the August 1 holiday and the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
I thoroughly enjoyed meandering through the varied and many streets of Warsaw. I'm sure the Plac Trzech Krzyzy is not usually as quiet as it was for us on a sunny late Saturday afternoon. The next street in picture 2 is a modern street, Aleja Jana Pawla ll named in honour of Pope John Paul ll. The 3rd. picture shows a leafy tree lined street near the Botanic Gardens = very pretty indeed. Next comes the little Alley ways of the Old Town and the last one = one of my favourites the immensly scenic Miodowa Street. So put on some walking shoes, forget the buses & trams and walk some of these streets = but do choose a weekend so you can enjoy them in relative peace.
In our Le Meridien Bristol hotel we met Toyin whom we had already met and liked a lot during the meeting in Italy in 2005. We all, got taxis to Kompania Piwna restaurant and we were welcomed by the restaurant manager and seated in seperate room prepared for us. We started to order our meals which were surprisingly huge. Surely menu in English was available. Our Polish waitress could speak English as I remember well. I asked about English speaking waiter for us.
One by one next, Polish VT-ers came to meet. All were invited by the others, as usual among VT-ers with great welcome, hugs and hospitality. Finally there were 24 people, so there was some empty space left by one table. 13 Polish VT-ers who had signed up to attend the meeting didn't come maybe because of the extremely cold weather that night (below -20C) or for some other reasons. Never mind, those who came had a great time, I guess and can't regret that they came to the meeting, I hope. And I do hope to meet those who didn't come the next time, OK? :-)
Let me only say, what I experienced during the 3 days in Warsaw (my top 10):
1. tons of good laugh
2. great and very friendly atmosphere
3. good Polish food, beer and some stronger drinks as well :-)
4. a lot of great, both serious and amusing talks
5. not enough time to talk to some VT-ers I met
6. some great sightseeing (Warsaw Uprising Museum, Royal Castle, Unknown Boznanska exhibition)
7. ubelievable cold weather (below -20C) haha
8. meeting journalist and private photographer of pope John Paul II + painter from Siberia
9. sadness at the end...
10. 770 pictures to see, tenths e-mails to reply and read now :-)
A controversial gift from Stalin is called the Palace of Culture and Science (Palac Kultury i Nauki, PKiN). For most (but not all) Poles, including me, this building is a symbol of communism and Soviet domination over Poland. I remember very well these sad and grey times of no freedom, of poverty, persecutions, humilations and first of all of no hope for better future except immigration or... quiet psychiatric ward in the nearest hospital. It's not so old past. Although, I can understand foreign visitors amazed with that, indeed, unusual structure in Warsaw and even telling me that it was the best what they had seen in Warsaw.
There are hundreds jokes on the Palace. Well, good laugh was the best way for active/creative people to survive communism without any mental disorders. The abbrevation PKiN is similar to Polish name of Chinese capital - Pekin (Beijing), which is a symbol of neither freedom nor democracy. So, the building is sometimes called Pekin. It's sometimes called "Pajac" (Puppet) as well (Polish "pajac" is similar to "palac" = palace).
Many people want to hide that "shame" for Warsaw and support building a lot of (90 as for now) skyscrapers around: look here. Once Polish FBI investigated the case of some Polish stupid young jokers searching for terrorists who would agree to blow the palace up.
The best idea is to set up large and modern Museum of Communism (Socland). The idea is supported, among many others, by Andrzej Wajda, the famous Polish film director. As for now lack of political decision, not money delays the idea of Socland. Some left-wing Polish politicians still wrongly confuse Russia and the former Soviet Union and are afraid of irritating "the White Bear" = Russian rulers. Their idea of neither disclosing nor publicizing true about communism gives some support from some Western European political figures. Is it European freedom?
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