Balalaika Orchestra
by tpal
Another Old Town, another bunch of street musicians...but who can resist. These guys drag their instruments out and play for the generosity of passersby but I always feel like there's more to it than that. Take a look at the expressions on their faces. They are really into the music and they seem totally oblivious to the audience. I had seen balalaikas before but never ones configured as a bass or as a guitar as the one on the left. These young men were playing in front of a restaurant just inside Old Town.
On Nazi and Soviet terror
by matcrazy1
WOW! Warsaw Uprising 1944 Museum is the best set up museum I have ever seen in Poland. It was open in 2004. I've already visited it twice and it's not enough for me :-). Fascinating and very interesting exposition for me for many reasons:
- multimedial way of touching history (computer visual software, movies to watch on small and large screens, stories of witnesses to hear, sounds of uprising and songs of the era heard from loudspeakers, etc. etc.)
- pretty moving design (you have to see that)
- it shows both Nazi and Soviet terror
- the uprising itself which was the most tragic single event of WWII mostly unknown to the world for political reasons as for now but perfectly known (despite not so old ban on that knowledge) to Poles.
The museum reminds me a lot famous Holocast Museum in Washington, DC. Well, this one in Warsaw is smaller in size and not free (but cheap - 4 zl = below 1 euro). It refers to something I'd call "Polish holocaust." Studying various mistakes, their reasons and consequences, the mistakes made by the world leaders during WWII (Stalin, Churchill, Roosvelt) should teach a lot the next leaders and those who vote for them or support them. No doubts, Warsaw Uprising Museum belongs to my foundest memories from Warsaw. I will come back there for sure... And it's more than museum, it's an institution - educational and reasearch institute. The museum growths, in March/April 2006 it's closed due to enlargement works.
Squares
by HORSCHECK
Warsaw has a few big and busy squares. One of the most important ones is definitely the centrally located Rondo Dmowskiego where the busy Al. Jerozolimskie and Marszalkowska meet. Most trams and buses cross this square. Apart from that, the most important Metro station "Centrum" can be found here. Another busy and lively square is Pl. Zawiszy where 5 main streets meet and a small market is located.
When coming in summer, you...
by sphynxxs
When coming in summer, you must go to the open air piano concerts in Lazienki park. Every Sunday from May till End of September, besides the big monument of Chopin concerts are organised, free of charge at noon and and 4 p.m. People gather at the benches, sit between rosebushes or on the grass and enjoy the music. I like it best there in September, when the leaves are turning yellow and red, the air smells of autumn and you know exactly these will be the last nice, warm and sunny days before the many cold and grey months of Polish winter. Realizing this and listening to some melancholic Chopin nocturne, polonaise or waltz means to enjoy life at this very moment even more
What???
by elPierro
Polish looks unpronouncable to foreigners. Very true, it's hard to get, especially because they like to exclude vowels and pronounce letters in a different way.
The city of Wroclaw is pronounced as "Vrotsjwaf", quite different than what you read.
Main basics to get the hang of pronouncing Polish:
the W is pronounced as a V
the £ is pronounced as the W
The C is pronounced as a TCH (as the Cz in Czech Republic). Just try to pronounce a C like this, even if it has funny characters on it this intonations comes always close to what it's supposed to be.
The Z is pronounced quite soft.. it sounds like the J in June.
Otherwise, just try to make the best of it, you are likely to mispronounce it a bit, but they just friendly laugh at you and correct you by saying what you mean to.
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