Yesterday was my first full day in Warsaw. To start with, I did a free walking tour of the old town of Warsaw. Like many European cities, Warsaw has a beautiful old town of cobblestone streets, charming buildings, shops, restaurants and bars. There is a big difference between Warsaw's old town and the others though. Warsaw's old town isn't very old. Just about the entire city was destroyed by the Nazi's towards the end of World War II, so the entire city was rebuilt after the war. And the city looks old. Before Disney's it's a small world-there was Warsaw's rebuilding.
The tour guide was ok but not great. I saw the town square, and learned about different leaders important to Warsaw, like a monument to King Sigismund, who moved the capital from Krakow to Warsaw in 1596.
After the tour, I went to H&M to buy some flipflops. I should have bought them a long time ago as I have been in many communal showers and my feet we're beginning to itch. But i bought them and my feet are getting better already it seems. I then went to a milk bar cafeteria for lunch. Milk bars are true holdouts from the communist days, and lunches we're often included in communist worker's salaries from what I read. The bars serve lunch cafeteria style,and have all the ambiance (and the food taste), like a middle-school lunch room. I had watery tomato-pasta soup and a plate of potatoes, which set me back a little under $2.00.
After lunch, I went on another walking tour of Jewish sights. which included the Jewish Museum, a monument to those who perished in World War 2, a monument to the uprising, and the lines of the Jewish Ghetto. Once again, since most of the city was destroyed so of actual historic sights there wasn't much left. We saw pictures of historic sights, and contrasted them against what was there now-in this case often a skyscraper, new apartment buildings etc. In this case, the tour guide was very good. He was very knowlegable and he made the tour quite interesting.
After the tour, I walked back to the old town, had pirogi for dinner, went to the top of tower, and went back to the hostel.
