Just a Walk in the Park

Saturday, July 18, 2015

We’re on our own for breakfast but there is coffee and hot water in our room.  Last night a new lady was on duty and she gave us cream packets and a jar of Nescafe to add to the stash in our room.  We also broke the news to her that we were shortening our stay to three nights.  Those stairs are just too much and we really only have a couple of days’ worth of things left to see.

I make oatmeal and Marilyn has one of her diet breakfast packets and we’re ready to conquer Warsaw.  We’ve decided to take the bus down to Lazienki Park to see the summer palace and Chopin’s monument.  We do a fine job, after asking several people for help, of finding the bus stop and we study the map avidly as the bus chugs along so we can locate our stop.  Yay!  We did it!  The park is beautiful and quite large and we wander beneath the cool trees and enjoy the red squirrels and the peacocks.  The summer palace is build out onto the lake and is adorned with many statues.  The locals call it the palace on the isle. There are also swan and dragon boats in which you can take a ride on the lake.

His chest feathers kind of look like the Polish eagle!

The central building of the palace

Red squirrel!

Just looks like a tree, right?

But look again, for this guy!

You can feed the catfish!  or perhaps
a demon from beneath the pond!

This one isn't quite so camera shy!

Such a long tail!

As we look for Chopin we find one of the many concert venues and people are starting to take their seats, so we pull up a chair, take out water and snacks, and settle in to wait.  Promptly at eleven, a young woman begins the introductions and an a cappella quartet begins .  Although this is Russian music weekend in the park, these appear to be Polish folk and children’s songs.  There are lots of little guys enjoying the music and their freedom and many of the parents are singing along.  One of my favorites was “Flight of the Bumblebee” and from the singers movements you could tell where the bee was!  The program lasted about half an hour, after which we resumed our search for Chopin.  It’s amazing what you can find when you ask!

The White Pavillion

Chopin's statue is surrounded by pink and white roses and there is a reflecting pool as well.  There are also benches, so there are probably concerts here, too.  And there is a marble bench with a button to push.  It plays one of the Polonaises. 

Chopin, at last, under his weeping willow.

Franz Liszt is here, too.

Our next stop is quite a ways north and we debate whether to take the bus.  We think we can make it and it shouldn’t be hard to find.  We’re looking for the hat store.  We’ve gotten to the corner he circled on the map and find the train station.  Maybe it’s in there.  No.  But there’s a McDonald’s and we just need something different.  You can order and pay at a touch screen;  but we order and then get our number.  When it shows up on the screen you can collect your food.  It pretty much looks and tastes like at home, which was a disappointment for me.  I thought there would be a Polish touch, like the wasabi in Japan.  Although it embarrasses me to admit it, I enjoyed my burger!

The US Consulate!  Never know when you might need this!

And  United Nations office!

Study in contrasts

Later we learned what this was!

This is the shot that got me in trouble!

When we’re outside, we look at the bus schedules, trying to find one that will take us home.  Our faithful number 116 doesn’t come this way and I finally suggest that we could waste another couple of hours doing this or just take a cab home.  She takes that under advisement.  While we’re looking, though, a lady tries to ask us a question in Polish.  That does her no good!  The funny thing is that a few minutes later two German ladies ask us for help finding their hotel.  Since we have a map we can all stare at, the road is quickly located and they are off.  Little do they know how lucky they were!

We’re still looking for the flipping store and after a block or two we ask, again, for help.  This time we figure out that we’ve been send to a large, modern mall with a roof line that we photographed earlier.  It looks like it is melting!

Once inside Marilyn goes to the info desk to ask about hats and I take a photo.  That gets me in trouble!  Who would guess you couldn’t take pictures inside a mall!  At least he didn’t make me delete it!

There’s only one store that might sell hats and they are nothing like what either of us is looking for.  It’s about ninety-five degrees outside and we’ve walked a good three miles in it.  We take a cab home.

Then there are those 73 stairs.  But at last we’re home.  Marilyn braves the shower with two stalls, no doors and no locks.  She’s back lickety split, feeling refreshed, and lies down.  I’m sprawled in a chair and there is no activity for quite a while.

Once we’re functional again Marilyn redraws our plan for tomorrow to include what we missed today.  There should still be plenty of time to see it all.  Most things are quite close to our hostel;  that’s why we chose it!

View from our fourth-floor walk-up!

We ate here, but not on these swinging platforms!

We are staying in New Town (Nowego Miasta) which is
only 600 years (lat) old!

City Hostel Warsaw

As evening sets in we walk just a bit down the block to the … where we can get salads.  I have blue cheese with avocado, apples and walnuts.  And a half liter of the beer on tap, Z…..  Marilyn has mint lemonade with her salad and when we’re satisfied we walk home again, climb the stairs and grab our computers.  By tomorrow morning we should be all caught up again.

Marilyn has a great idea!  We can hang our towels in the big window to keep out the early, early morning bright sunlight! Maybe we can sleep a bit longer.  It just so happens that I have five clothes pins in my ditty bag!  What a team!

Worked like a charm!