An evening in Warsaw

Last night I learned there are two Warsaws! It is the paradoxical Dickensian city. Also notice how my internal clock is really messed up. I just woke up at 4 am! Anyways, Last night was great. We met my mothers friends brother, Gregory. By now I had noticed that the area we where surrounded by kind of stagnation and gray people who were not what I would call very friendly. It was much like living at a Tops. Then Gregory shows up in a beautiful brad new Mitsubishi, wielding flowers! He quickly proceeded to demolish my hastily formed perspective. Gregory took us on a tour to Old Town, and Praga, which is right outside the city lines. The whole of old Town is filled with awesomely restored public buildings, giant government palaces, Mideval castles, and tons of shops. We past hundreds of places like Sophria, Ralph Lauren, Gregory took us on a walking tour of some of the landmarks, including the Presidential palace. It is a sad place because people are still mourning the death of the old President and his cabinet in that terrible plane crash in Smolensk last April. Warsaw was absolutely stunning. Old town was impressive because all these historic buildings, houses, and churches were completely leveled during WW2. Whats really great from an architectural perspective is how the city is filled with remnants of its Soviet past. The one of the most impressive building I have ever seen, The Center for Polish Culture, was a gift to Poland from Josef Stalin. It looks like a cross between a rocket ship and the Kodak building.

Poles 101. A very complex, interesting, and if not stubborn people. I can see why Kless likes them so. They don't speak English, kind of like Americans, pretty much hate Germans, absolutely despise Russians, and work for the British! There are a ton of German tourists here too, Which knowing the cultural animosity, is pretty funny. I like Poles much more so than Germans. The receptionist at our hotel called them brutes who burp in her face when they speak to her. Back to last night. Old town was impressive because all these historic buildings, houses, and churches were completely leveled during WW2. The Germans invaded in 1939. The Jewish Ghetto revolted in 1943 against the Germans. Then the Poles revolted. The Russians bombed in 1944. Then the Polish armies fought among themselves for the city. Horrific destruction. Whats really great is that the city is filled with remnants of its Soviet past. The gaudiest building i have ever seen, was a gift to Poland from Josef Stalin. It looks like a cross between a rocket ship and the Kodak building.

Last night we also got to fully enjoy Polish cuisine. Gregory took us to nice Polish cafe. Basically most authentic Polish dinners focus on either meat or potatoes, but the combination of the two in so many ways is really impressive. BEER IS CHEAP AND VERY GOOD HERE. I am in love with Zwyiec. We then concluded our evening with some ice cream. It was called American style Ice Cream. Gregory and I got chocolate twist, which I thought actually tasted better than Abbots.

Today is our final structured day in Warsaw. We are going for tours of the Jewish quarter and the Ghetto. It should be really interesting. We come back to Warsaw on Tuesday and I am eager to go shopping!