14 June - Warsaw Old City - a story of determination

15 June

We woke up early, rushed to finish breakfast in 30 minutes and hurried to the train station.  Our first class Inter-City train coach from Krakow to Warsaw appeared surprisingly did not have wi-fi.  The lady at the ticket office also had gotten it wrong and gave us an aisle seat when we had specifically requested for window.  Although the train was quite full, we were lucky enough to be able to change seat.  There was no charging points at the seats too, only complementary coffee and pay as you eat food service.  There was also no conductor to help with the bags.  Still the seats and the relatively quick journey was comfortable.

Arriving at Warsaw station was easy.  It was when we got to the surface to find our accommodation that we found that we could not cross the road for kilometers at the road level.  Back underground we went .. via stairs dragging all our luggage.   Then we had to get back to the surface via stairs too.  This proved to be challenging until a kindly elderly gentleman helped us.  It was most kind of him.  They are so much stronger than us in the developed nations who are used to the conveniences of elevators and seldom had to climb so many flights of stairs.

Our accommodation was not ready so we decided to wait a little until cleaning was complete.  We had not been so impress with Warsaw thus far.  Another big city lacking distinguishing features of interest.  It looks very much a typical legacy of the Soviet era with huge endless blocks, not warm nor welcoming unlike Krakow.  

Our accommodation appeared to be located in a residential building a street away from a major retail mall.  The supermarket nearest to it was barely stocked and had no washing powder.  The washing machine in the unit looked like that at Dubrovnik, narrow with metal drum on its side.  We had no idea how to use it, so we made do with handwashing soap and the kitchen sink to do our laundry.

The apartment block looked like an Soviet era big block with graffiti in the security entrance.  The stairs looked dark although there was an elevator.  We were on the fifth floor and it was a tiny bedsitter – 24 to 36 m2, with a bed facing the door, a sofa next to it, a kitchenette, and a bathroom.  3 windows graced the wall opposite the door.  The apartment felt warm and there was no air conditioning.  We were feeling a little uncomfortable about the place.  May be we will feel better after the first night.  

Interior of St Anne's Church

We decided to walk to the Old Town Tour for the afternoon free walking tour.  On the way, we passed the Saxon Gardens.  We did not have time to stay and look today but we made a plan to do so in the coming days as it looked interesting.  Adjacent to it is the eternal flame dedicated to the memory of the Unknown solders guarded by two soldiers.  In front of the memorial is huge square with a flag in the middle and a cross on the further end.  We walked past the President’s Palace, the Parliament.   As we had some time before our tour start, we popped into nearby historical St Anne's Church to have a peek.  We later learnt that it was one of the oldest churches in old town Warsaw as it was only damaged but not destroyed unlike the rest of the old city.  

Sigismund Column with Warsaw
Castle on the right and the old town
to the left

At 3.30pm, we went to Sigismund’s Column and found the tour group with our tour guide. First thing we learnt was that Warsaw old town is the newest old town; barely 60 years old. It was reconstructed after WWII.  During that reconstruction, they took great pain to revive it to the great extent possible, using salvaged parts and adding in the rest.  In the case of the Arch Cathedral, they even went to the length of only using the construction techniques and mechanisms that were available at the original time of construction.  Everything in the old town - Barbican and the city walls, etc … all of which looked like they were not much newer than Krakow - all that had been reconstructed.  The great care to restore it as much as possible to the original state earned it the UNESCO Heritage certification.

Our guide said that there is a superstition that the sword of Sigismund must never touch the ground or the city would fall.  And the only time in history it had done so was when the city of Warsaw was leveled by the Nazis.

Our first stop, the Warsaw Castle was also reconstructed.  Resembling the original which was constructed over time, with each of the 5 sides with architecture of 5 different genres.  Sigismund II who moved his capital from Krakow to Warsaw was Swede.  He was the same king that exploded half of Wawel Castle in Krakow after an alchemy experiment.  Krakow was mostly Catholic while Sigismund was Protestant.  Part of why he moved the capital to Warsaw was so that he can go back to being Protestant and king of both Poland (Catholic) and Sweden.  His castle in Warsaw was nothing as grand as Wawel.  It was restricted by existing buildings and the city wall.  It was a requirement that the castle be within the city walls for protection.

We learnt that 95% of Warsaw was flatted following the 2^nd WW.  As the old city looks authentic and yet feel Disneyland-ish, one cannot get the vibes as one could in Krakow. Yet, the history is here is important and preserved.  One has to give credit to the will of the people of Warsaw at the time of the reconstruction as it was during the Soviet era when monies for such matters were scarce.  Soviet also had little appetite either for all matters that were non-utilitarian.

The narrowest facade - in the middle

We passed the Arch Cathedral where that special technique of reconstruction was used. Salvaged Gothic bricks from the original cathedral were also reused.   We then visited the bell that would not ring but could grant wishes.  Tradition had it that wishes would be granted at the rate of one a day provided that one hopped around it when holding on to its stem. Next to it is this very narrow gate where we were told the story of the pauper in the street who was offered a free house.  Since taxes were paid based on facade width, he built a super narrow one facing the street although the building is actually a triangle with a wide face where taxes are not calculated.

We past a museum dedicated to Marie Curie, the discoverer of radium.  We also learn of Chopin.  Both of them were Poles from Warsaw.  Her maiden name was Sklodowskiej.  They lived during a time when the nation of Poland did not exist; it was divided administratively between Prussia, Russia and Austria.  Curie’s family won the most Nobel Prizes in history.  Her husband had one as had her daughter and son in law.  Chopin used to drink with his friends on this path near where a bench dedicated to his memory is currently sited.  There are 15 such benches in Warsaw; they each play a tune of Chopin.

We were then introduced to the market square where a whole side is being renovated as it will become the future Museum of History.  In the middle of the square is the statue of a mermaid.  The legend was that the twin sister to the mermaid from Denmark swam up the Vitula River.  She was captured and freed but wanted to stay in Warsaw.  In return, she promised to protect the city, hence she holds a sword and a shield.  The market square has the copy of the original statue which is in the museum due to a few defacement.

Building in the square with mermaid statue

Wall and Barbican, Warsaw

Buildings in the square were reconstructed to resemble how they would have looked had they not been flattened.  The levels in individual buildings differ from those of its neighbours. In spite of the outer facade, the rooms behind it complied to Soviet's austerity standard. From the square, we went to examine the Barbican and the city wall which looked terribly authentic, except there were no rubble or ruins nearby.

Warsaw Rebellion monument

Our next stop was the monument to the Warsaw Rebellion where the people of Warsaw rebelled against the Nazis.  It was supposed to last 2 days but lasted 63 during which many were sacrificed.  The Red Army was already across the river but did not enter the city to help until everything had been flattened by the Nazis.  One can only guess their reason for the delay as Poland was immediately occupied by the Soviets thereafter.  The surviviors attempted to escape through the sewers.

Monkey on the roof of the villa

We then came upon this building where there is a statue of a monkey with bananas sitting with other statues of the Renaissance era.  Bellotto's paintings were used when the city was being reconstructed.  Bellotto had not like the lady of the villa so he had hidden the non existent monkey among the statues because he thought of her as a monkey.  That monkey was subsequently incorporated for real during the reconstruction.

At the end of our tour, we went to the milk bar recommended by our guide for a dinner of zupy and pierogis.  Originally we would like to stay to see the night lights but as we were still feeling the after effect of our cold, we decided to walk home. As we zig zagged through the blocks, we notice people were going through doors in long buildings and then exiting on the other side.  It dawned on us that there are easements through the centers of those huge Soviet blocks.  The locals were using short cuts so we took their leads.  We looked for such easements we were passing a huge blocks and got back to our apartment in shorter time that it took us to walk to the old town.

We slept well but fitfully that night.  We had placed furniture in front of the door and used the sofa for our bed.  It was safe even though we originally did not think so.  As the evening progressed, families started to appear in the apartments opposite us.  As we had learnt, these buildings constructed in Soviet era complied with austerity standard as the one we were staying it.  Apartments were extremely small with few bathrooms.  Soviet dictated that singles need only 24 m2, married ones 36 m2 and family with one kid 40 m2, and second kid to 42 m2 etc.  All the apartments were tiny.  Aha, that explain the look and feel of our apartment … it is an old Soviet block!!