Hi all!
So last night we went out for dinner to a traditional polish restaurant called Zapiecek. Dad had soup and polish sausages, mum and I shared spinach and feta dumplings with cheese sauce and then mum had goulash as a main while I had a potato pancake with mushrooms and cheese sauce. We all had a large sangria - yum!! And the best part? The whole meal including dad's dessert of sweet dumplings cost us $63. Thanks Poland!!
Whilst having dinner there was a church service on over the street and the church was so packed that people spilled out into the street. They had polish flags and were singing and chanting. Unsure what it was all about!
First of all for today another achievement today! My Instagram photo was featured on the Topdeck Facebook page today. Yay! Instagram is a photo sharing app which I've been uploading some travel photos to, and if you tag Topdeck (the travel company) they go through, pick the best ones and add them to their page. My one of castle square was on their page!
Today the weather looked fairly grey and my phone said thunder storm at 1pm, so we packed our umbrellas and hoped for the best! We caught the 116 bus down Nowy Swiat, one of the main roads here to Łazienki Park (pronounced wah-zhen-kee). The park is huge and full of beautiful flowers, wildlife and various buildings that used to belong to royalty. We started at the Chopin fountain. Frederick Chopin spent half his life in Warsaw so there are quite a few monuments around about him! There were some ducklings in the pond - so cute!
We walked past a few buildings amongst the greenery and arrived at the Palace on the Water. There was heaps of scaffolding as heaps of work is going on in and around the building, as well as in the gardens. But it was still pretty picturesque ! There were lots of peacocks around as well.
We bought a ticket that allowed us into multiple buildings in the park complex and included an audio guide and started in the palace. Originally this was a bathhouse, but in 1764 it was acquired by the last polish king; Stanisław August. During WWII many of its works of art were taken by the Germans but luckily most of the are now back in their rightful places. The rooms were beautiful and full of light!
We walked around the gardens and enjoyed the amphitheatre and a view of the palace from a bridge. Then we walked past Myslewicki Palace and the Cadet Building, all the while enjoying the pretty flowers (took some great shots of them for you again Nan!!).
Our last two stops with our audio guide were the White House which was built so a temporary residence for the king whilst the palace on the water was being completed, and the orangery which was filled with creepy sculptures but also had a beautiful theatre inside.
On our way out of the park we came across a very cheeky squirrel. Dad pretended he had food so it kept following us!
Got the bus back to old town and on the way saw lots of people walking down the street with polish flags, signs and armbands. A few war veterans were amongst them, so I think maybe it was the 70th anniversary of something that happened in WWII perhaps.
We ate a panini and sat at a table in the street and people watched while checking the football scores. Then we walked over to the royal castle.
The castle was built in the 14th century. When Russia ruled Poland under Tsar Alexander I, a lot of artwork and furniture was taken to Russia, but most was returned in 1918. In 1939 during the war, the castle caught on fire. It was badly damaged but still stood. A lot of museum workers, volunteers and civilians risked their lives to save furniture and artwork and hide it in the national museum to protect it. However, in September 1944, in response to the Warsaw Uprising Hitler ordered that the castle be blown up. He wanted Warsaw for himself to eventually be an all German town full of 100,000 pure Germans, and he wanted to turn the site of the castle into a Volkeshalle (peoples' hall).
When the war was over and Warsaw was under the control of the soviets, they were reluctant to do anything about rebuilding the castle. But in 1970 the idea was out forward and the rebuilding of the castle occurred between 1971 and 1984. The public all donated money to make it possible, including selling family heirlooms and small children even donating their pocket money! Using old documents and photos the castle was built as close to its former glory as possible, and what a fantastic job they did! In 1974 a huge crowd gathered to see the clock tower be installed and the tower chime for the first time in 35 years.
We saw all the rooms of the beautiful palace. You would never guess it was only rebuilt such a short time ago. The paintings and furniture that were kept safe have been returned to their rightful places as well. Then we saw the cellars and a few short videos about the history of the castle.
Tonight I'm grabbing some quick takeaway dinner and then meeting the Topdeckers. It hasn't rained or thundered....yet! Hopefully it doesn't at all!!
See you tmro in Krakow after not much sleep at all!!! Haha.
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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