Poland-Warsaw

While our daughter-in-law and granddaughter were visiting, we took a trip to Poland.  The trip started in Warsaw, the capital and largest city.  The population of Warsaw is about 1.7 million.  It has been the capital since about 1596 when it was moved from Krakow.

Poland, located between Germany and Russia has been caught in numerous wars during its history.  Russia, Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Germany have all invaded Poland.  Most recently, Poland, and Warsaw specifically were devastated by Nazi Germany.  Around 80% of Warsaw's buildings were destroyed by the Germans during WWII. 

After WWII, much of the city was rebuilt and today it is a mix of both old and new.  Most of the "old buildings" that you will see in the pictures have been built since the war ended in 1945.  Today, Warsaw is a modern, thriving city.  It has prospered greatly since the fall of Communism.

Some famous people from Poland and Warsaw are Copernicus, Frederick Chopin, and Madam Marie Curie.

 Looking out the window during the plane ride to Warsaw

 Ready to start our Polish Adventure

 Mama tried to put a wrist band on the little one--but it didn't last long

 Downtown Warsaw

 Streets of Warsaw

 

 Traffic in Warsaw

 Taking to the streets

 Telling the little one stories about Poland

 The story made the little one sad but....there is no crying on vacation!!!

 Street cafes

 Bumpa and the little one

  Statue of Copernicus

Copernicus was a Polish astronomer and mathematician who developed the idea that the sun was the center of the universe and the planets revolved around it.

 A walk in the park

 Playing in the park

 We also learned that they have sticks in Poland.  Who would have guessed?

 

 Entrance to the University of Warsaw

 Residence of the President of Poland

 Statue of Chopin

 Mama and the little one in the park with Chopin's statue

 Royal Park

 Royal Park

 Peacock

 Palace on the Water

 Looking at the Palace on the Water

 National Stadium in Warsaw (Eurocup 2012)

 Memorial to the Jewish Ghetto in the Jewish section of Warsaw

Memorial to Poles killed in WWII

 Royal Castle

 

 Old Town Market Place

 

 Warsaw--Old Town Market Place after WWII (photo borrowed from Wikipedia)

 Old Town Market Place

 Traditional dress

 Mama in the Old Town Market Place

 Home of Madame Marie Curie

Marie Skłodowska-Curie (7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish physicist and chemist, famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes—in physics and chemistry. She was born Maria Salomea Skłodowska in Warsaw.  She shared her 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with her husband. She was the sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the only woman to date to win in two fields, and the only person to win in multiple sciences.
Her achievements included a theory of radioactivity, techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and the discovery of two elements, polonium (named after Poland) and radium.  Curie died in 1934 of aplastic anemia brought on by her years of exposure to radiation.[

 Monument to the Freedom Fighters of the Polish underground in WWII.  This statue depicts one man going down into the sewer, another man wearing captured German equipment (helmet with a cloth tied around it to signify that he was Polish), and a mother with her child.  The Polish underground was very active during the war and was severely punished during the Warsaw uprising.

 At the platform in the Warsaw Train Station waiting to board our train for Krakow

 Mel and the little one coming down to the platform at the train station

 All aboard--settled into our cabin on the train

 Polish countryside viewed from the train between Warsaw and Krakow

 Watching the countryside roll by

 Cemetery by the railroad tracks