No pix yet...internet cafes...
Arrived in Warsaw, got a cab to my hotel...Then walked through a light rain this afternoon a short distance into what used to be the Jewish ghetto. It's all apartment buildings & commerce now...the Germans destroyed it completely, of course, along with most of Warsaw.
I found the Pawiak Prison site, home of the Warsaw gestapo, where 30,000 Polish were killed, often tortured first. Then the monument to the Jewish uprising, and the actual site of Mila 18, which Leon Uris made the title of his book about the Jewish uprising. It's a low hill, under which is the bunker in which more than a hundred of the last fighters died, including their commander in chief Mordecai Anielewicz.
Tomorrow I'll circle part of the city for other sites, including the new museum of the Warsaw Uprising. Hope the rain stops.
I'm at an internet cafe in a megamall near my hotel. Maybe not as big as the mall of America, but a close second.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
How is Warsaw? We didn't really see it, and I've wondered what it's like: more big, dirty city, or more cosmopolitan cultural center?
ReplyDeleteWikipedia had some interesting statistics on Warsaw: it wasn't until the 1970s that the population reached the same level as it was in 1939. And ~25% of the city is "greenspace." The panorama of the city taken from Pola Mokotowskie looks very modern.
Also, I'm currently listening to the music from Ada's tapes!
Soon to be told back in Wisconsin. Have a great trip back.
ReplyDeleteWarsaw is a new city...built on the ruins of the old. Old Town & "New Town" where the castle, museums, university are, were reconstructed to look like the old Warsaw. The rest has little "character," because the germans destroyed it so almost not even two bricks stood on one another. It is a busy, forward-looking commercial center. Friendly, a very active night-life (I'm told...) Not dirty; and yes, lots of parks...
ReplyDelete