Warsaw (Day 1)

Day 1 in Warsaw we spend at the beautiful "Kazienki Park"- the summer residence of the last king of Poland. Known for his many love affairs, his "mistress house" is very conveniently located only several hundred meters from the main palace! The park is beautiful and we end up spending a lot of time trying to entice the friendly red squirrels to eat out of our hand.. they weren't too interested when they found out we were offering banana and leftover sandwich though!

Off for a wander through Old Town next.. although Old Town is not actually that old.. approximately 85% of it (and the rest of Warsaw) had to be rebuilt following the "Warsaw Uprising" in 1944 (more on this later). It is very well done and very beautiful though.. having restored all the original architecture. When we look closely we think we can see some bulletholes in walls the original buildings.. could just be drill holes though! The sunset lights up the old town in a spectacular fashion, and we are even treated with a rainbow appearing above the square!

Getting hungry now we head to the Polish restaurant "Zapiecek" to sample some local fair. Its a chain restaurant, but very traditional and highly recommended. We were not disappointed! We tried the local dish "Bigos"- a stew type thing with meat, sauerkraut and mushrooms.. it comes with a shot of Vodka as an aperitif! And of course we had to sample a variety of "Pierogi"- Polish dumplings. The mushroom ones were our favorite. And all of this washed down with a giant glass of Sangria and 4 shots of vodka- blue Curacao-lemon cocktails. All this for less than $40aud for the whole meal... Loving Poland so far!Read more