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29/07/2010
Warszawa, Poland
I have been welcomed to Poland with what I am to understand to be the typical Polish summer climate:one minute it is raining and windy (July is the worse month for rainfall), the next it is warm and sunny! Oi Vey!!
My day began at 3am Lithuanian time +2:00 (seems like a lifetime ago now!) heading off to the airport. The architecture of Vilnius airport is beautiful, it is very small and very close to the city (about a 5 minute drive). I did not have to go through passport control (nor did I to get into the country)- EU borders on the continent are seriously hassle-free. I have never been on a small plane before 76 seater I believe? It was so small there were only 5 steps from the ground to get into the aircraft and only window or aisle to choose from. Lovely and comfortable- and chocolate croissant and coffee for breakfast in transit-except for the minor turbulence through rain clouds- the nicest flight I have ever been on. No one clapped on landing- good sign!!
The only downside: there seemed to be an issue with the mechanics of the baggage collection point. So it took about 30-40 minutes to come through- not a problem when you are looking to kill some time though.
After an hour or so chilling in the common room of my hostel (the "mong out" room I shall now call it as everyone was napping on the sofas- what does that say about the beds? I'll find out, no doubt!), I headed out to to face the battle against stormy Warsaw, umbrella was utterly violated by the wind within an hour (remember kids "buy cheap, buy twice!!") and is theoretically snapped in 1/2 on one side and then a bus zoomed past me and I was drenched in muddy water from waist down for two hours- brghhhh!! That brings me on to...
Polish traffic- crossing the road is fairly simplistic, similar to the Baltic- however sometimes there are those clicky buttons you have to find, sometimes there are zebra crossings to cross cycle paths on the pavement, on the big roads you have to look out for car-tram-tram-car- but the cars seem to go very,very fast and the rule seems to be that they can go over the crossing when you're on it as long as they think they won't hit you! Surprisingly it actually feels very orderly and safe!!
Anyway, I digest (as always!): today was jam-packed- the first stop was the Warsaw Ghetto rising memorial in the North of the city. Remarkable and Powerful memorial- fitting with the Polish image of "the strong resistance against Nazism"- however it was ruined somewhat by the fact some workmen were setting up for what looked like some kind of concert in front of it. Next I arrived at the Pawiak prison museum, just around the corner through a suburban neighbourhood, there is something particular about underground prisons (like the KGB one yesterday) that I really struggle with- they actually make me feel more uncomfortable than sites like Sachenhausen- perhaps because there is more of a sense of "how things were", the echoes and the stagnant smells make the displays all the more horrifying as does the thundering rain. Particularly awful were the sketches of torture methods: setting the dogs on a man, forcing acid down his throat- these were horrendous. The focus of the museum was on the persecution of the Poles, the Jews and Ghetto were mentioned briefly, mainly in an interactive screen at the end.
From here I made the long jaunt into the South West region of the city, to the Jewish institute, on the site of the former Great Synagogue. It is only here that a sense of the victimization and persecution to Jews is really explored. Ringelblum's diary entries support most of the exhibition and one of the milk tins his manuscripts were hidden in is on display also. A lady is cleaning the floor (I arrive spot on opening time)- she puts on a 15 minutes film in English for me- I have never seen such shocking images of the Ghetto. There is something uncanny about the emaciated human form: it makes one think, but is uncomprehendable. These images are as bad, if not worse than those seen of the camps, in films like Resnais' Nuit et Brouillard, 100,000 people died in the Warsaw Ghetto before the 1st deportation. However the exhibition ends with details of intellectual (Ringleblum and his associates) and militant resistances (the Ghetto fighters) and finally (as most displays in Eastern Europe seem to) a comment is made on those in the "righteous among nations" in Yad Vashem, this display illustrates that a large majority of those in Yad Vashem are Poles (the majority of the killings were here too, estimated at 2 million Jewish and hundreds of thousands of Poles.). [I believe some of the funding for the exhibition is centralised.
The last place I am to visit for the day (despite for a respite in the Old Town in the North East!- having developed a certain curiosity for what gems it might hold and whether it can beat Riga?) is the Warsaw Rising Museum. On the way (thinking I had found it) I find two sections of the Ghetto wall with plaques- very impressed by my exploring skills. The museum turns out not to be about the Ghetto rising, but about the strong Polish resistance against the Nazis: to sum it up "if Disneyland did WW2". Everything is commercialised and interactive, kids can draw their own Polish flag in support of their nation, this is a 5 floor make shift 1940s Warsaw with pull-drawers, binocular viewings, film clips, photographs, exhibits and information. Also there are calender dates dotted around the exhibition which you are invited to take away. In good taste? There is a replica 1940s cafe- though I'm not sure Mocha was around in the 1940s? This is Warsaw's busiest museum by far (well done lonely planet: description- correct, location: a little out.
I did the long, "skip-in-my-step" walk back to Old Town (Stare Miesto) and what a beauty it is- swat and chilled in the square for a bit then got the little tourist train-cart thing on a tour. The tour gave me a nice orientation and a lazy way of taking photos- however I have never known one of these train things to go on a main A road AT the speed limit: scary!! I meander about for a while after this, taking photos, looking at postcards and just generally being a bit "touristy".
I had dinner in Old Town: must get use to these creamy cheese and cured meats! Restaurant was lovely, waiter wants to go to London (his sister's husband works for TFL buses!)- he supports Chelsea. We got on well- he loves London, I love Warsaw- he offers to swap! - tempted?
Back at the Tampa Hostel now- very nice! Seem to be staying in a room with a group of Spaniards- they are doing their own thing as a group and speaking Spanish a lot as Spaniards tend to do, I am doing my own thing (only here for the night and am leaving early in the morning!). All in all I have walked about 11-12 miles today- not bad on 4 hours (-if I'm lucky) kip! My trousers feel like they are DL's pyjamas or something, I thought they were not done up this morning- but they were: I seem to have lost some weight!
On....musn't forget... the nuns! Yesterday, in Lithuania, in the KGB prison in fact I hit a very religious nun (though I'm not sure if there are any other kind of nuns? - fetish nuns? Sound of Music Maria "doubting nuns"?) in the stomach with my bag....fairly hard (though by accident)- if there is a Catholic God, I am going to hell!!
Seems to be an abundance of accordion players here and they are very good, much better than that bloody Saxophonist in Riga playing the same 3 tunes over and over again. People on the bridge were dancing to the tunes when I ate. It is all very romantic against the Baroque and Gothic architecture. The Newer side of Warsaw where the Rising museum is, is much more commercial: Pizza Huts, TFI Fridays, McD, Business Centres and high rise glass skyscrapers, behind the old ghetto walls there seems to be a lot of renovation work being done.
Off in the morning on my town to the North East of Poland to Treblinka and Tykocin with Anna from intopoland- early start, so better get some sleep!
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