Saturday, Sept 13 - Warsaw

Saturday, Sept 13 - Warsaw

Did a walking tour with Margaret through Warsaw.

Łazienki Park

• Belvedere Palace - One of two residences of Polish presidents. This one is in use now because the other one is undergoing renovation. Not particularly pretty so no pictures.

• Palace on the Island - Looks like a baroque palace, it is really a bath house. Built by a wealthy citizen in 1683, then bought by King Poniatowski (the last King of Poland) in the late 1700s who converted it to an art museum. Poniatowski was a patron of the arts.

The Palace is located on an island on a small lake. 

Baroque style palace.

• Chopin Monument - Supposed to be famous but I've never heard of it. I guess I don't run in sophisticated circles.

• General Sobieski III Monument - Sobieski was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania between 1674 and 1696. Considered one of the best kings in Polish history, he was also a military genius. 

Sobieski III was the Polish general who in 1683 led Polish, Austrian and German forces (~70,000 men) to victory against the Ottomans (~140,000 men) besieging Vienna.

Nicholas Copernicus Monument - Copernicus, a famous Polish scientist, is considered the father of modern astronomy. In 1543 he was one of the first to suggest the Earth went around the Sun, rather than the other way around (the telescope was invented in ~1608).

The patio around the monument has the central Sun surrounded by the six planets that were known at the time. Marty is standing over the Earth which is circled by the moon.

Holy Cross Church - Famous because Frederick Chopin's heart is buried in a crypt here. He died in Paris, but told his family he wanted to be buried in Poland. It was too hard to bring his whole body back, so his sister cut out his heart and brought it back to this church in Warsaw in a jar filled with cognac. Also famous because the church was significantly destroyed during WWII, and was rebuilt to its original design.

Yup, buried his heart right there. During the reconstruction they found a glass jar with a heart in it, but they didn't open it, and put it back into his crypt as part of the reconstruction.

The church is also really pretty (but they are all pretty) and supposedly has a splinter of the original cross. 

The Holy Cross Church, with a painting by Canaletto in the mid-1700s of the same church, and a photo of the church after the devastation of WWII.

You can't tell from the photo, but the interior of the church burned to the ground so the church is just a shell at this point. 

Marie Curie - born Maria Skłodowska in Poland in 1863. Began independent studies in Warsaw in her twenties. Because Poland was part of the Russian empire at that point and the Empire didn't allow women to enroll in universities, she moved to Paris to study. There she met and married her husband, Pierre Curie, and the two developed the theory of radioactivity (a term she coined) for which they were given the Nobel Prize. Then she discovered two elements, radium and polonium, and won a second Nobel Prize. Poland is very proud of Marie Curie.

Solidarity Rally - Passed a political rally. Poland is an active democracy. Lots of speeches and singing and we did not get involved. Not really sure what the main political issues are, and I didn't ask.

Probably 2-300 people at this rally.

Vodka Museum - Supposedly, "Russian" vodka was a premium product, but was discovered to mostly made in Poland - such a scandal! The Poles took advantage of this and now have an EEC designation of "Polish Vodka", similar to "French Champagne".

This was a vodka distillery, but that moved to newer facility, so this is now a museum that gives tours.

And the tour ended with a vodka tasting! I could tell the difference between the first two samples, but after that they all tasted the same.