Poland drew 1-1 with Austria, so still some hope for Poland I think. The day started cool and overcast but warmed up by lunchtime. We did a lot of walking today. We're not game to tackle Polish public transport without a guide so we walked. Terry is wishing we'd brought a pedometer to see how many kilometres we've clocked up in walking since we began our holiday.
This morning we walked down one of the main streets and looked at parks, buildings and monuments. Many of the beautiful “old” buildings have been reconstructed in the 1950s after being totally destroyed during the war. We visited the Pawiak prison, now a museum, which has a terrible history of occupation during the war. Many of the people contained there died in concentration camps. The small cells, built for three people sometimes had up to 15 prisoners and they all suffered terribly. It was a very moving museum. We saw memorials to the Jews transported to camps and a memorial statue commemorating the Warsaw Uprising which happened towards the end of the war.
We then walked back through the “old town” with its many beautiful buildings and churches – most of which have been rebuilt or restored to their pre-War glory. In the large square in that area, a travelling exhibition of “friendly” bears from all nations is being shown. The bears are about six feet high and painted by one of the nation's artists. For example, the Australian bear was painted by Ken Done. The exhibition covered a large area and we enjoyed the colourful variety. There is a lot of new construction work going on here too. There are a lot of “street vendors” selling everything – flowers, strawberries, clothes, jewellery. Also many people handing out leaflets on many things, for example, English lessons. And there are beggars, who look really “down and out”. There is often one at the entrance to churches.
Anyway, we had an interesting day and we'll see more tomorrow.
This morning we walked down one of the main streets and looked at parks, buildings and monuments. Many of the beautiful “old” buildings have been reconstructed in the 1950s after being totally destroyed during the war. We visited the Pawiak prison, now a museum, which has a terrible history of occupation during the war. Many of the people contained there died in concentration camps. The small cells, built for three people sometimes had up to 15 prisoners and they all suffered terribly. It was a very moving museum. We saw memorials to the Jews transported to camps and a memorial statue commemorating the Warsaw Uprising which happened towards the end of the war.
We then walked back through the “old town” with its many beautiful buildings and churches – most of which have been rebuilt or restored to their pre-War glory. In the large square in that area, a travelling exhibition of “friendly” bears from all nations is being shown. The bears are about six feet high and painted by one of the nation's artists. For example, the Australian bear was painted by Ken Done. The exhibition covered a large area and we enjoyed the colourful variety. There is a lot of new construction work going on here too. There are a lot of “street vendors” selling everything – flowers, strawberries, clothes, jewellery. Also many people handing out leaflets on many things, for example, English lessons. And there are beggars, who look really “down and out”. There is often one at the entrance to churches.
Anyway, we had an interesting day and we'll see more tomorrow.
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