tenkris sirknet

-Hapless Fauxmantik

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This old ‘hood’ was in stark contrast to the shiny new downtown I had just passed through. Next I would enter an upscale shopping mall. 

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Just behind the downtown I found a very rundown neighbourhood, with new buildings and construction all around. Nobody seemed to mind the tall guy with the camera taking pictures of their houses and yards. In fact, I saw very people, even though all of the houses appeared to be occupied. 

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I encountered a fascinating mixture of new and old on a walkabout during my first day in Vilnius, Lithuania. 

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A lovely restaurant patio just around the corner from my apartment in Warsaw. And the Easter display in the window of a nearby fashionista store, which I saw every day, but took on another life at night.  

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What to do in Warsaw on a rainy day? I searched ‘bar mleczny’ (milk bar) on Google maps and walked to another, my fourth such restaurant on this stop. This one called ‘Prasowy’ (Press), had a unique ‘lettered’ interior, and has been serving authentic Polish cuisine since 1954. You often see older and poorer patrons at these establishments, but this crowd was younger given its proximity to the university district. The food however, was the usual cheap and delicious. 

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I ended this day at this popular pub near the centre. With 57 varieties of beer on tap, and over 200 kinds in bottles, I tried ‘a few’ different kinds. This place is one of the first stops on the Warsaw Pub Crawl.  

I also made a friend in Warsaw, which makes a grand total of one. I came across Filip while lost in a residential neighbourhood, and he was nice enough to escort me to where I was going. We made plans to later meet up for a beer, and this was the place he suggested. 

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Having some blue sky I took advantage of the spring sunlight to capture yet some more photos from every angle, and ultimately from a nearby coffee shop. Stalin, meet Starbucks. 

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The Communism Walking tour concluded at the Palace of Science and Culture, which was built as a ‘gift’ from Stalin to the people of Poland.  

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I made some new friends via the tour guide as a few others were interested in her suggestion of eating at a traditional Polish Milk Bar (Bar Mleczny), for some cheap and delicious local cuisine. I really enjoyed meeting and spending some time sightseeing with Glenn from Australia, Mar from Spain, and Aldo from Mexico who is now living in Copenhagen. We had a nice meal at Bar Mleczny Pod Barbakanem, near the old town medieval fortification.

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Inside the bar awaited a Polish treat; a tray of openfaced sandwiches (kanapki), and the bartender poured us each a large shot of vodka. Our guide Małgorzata then said that since this was my sixth time to Poland, that I should be able to tell the group about the traditional Polish cheers word and its meaning. And so I told the group that its 'na zdrowie', which means 'to your good health'.

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Our last stop of the tour was along 'ulica Piwna', which translates to 'Beer Street', to an authentic Polish restaurant and bar called Karmnik, or 'Bird house'. From their website: "Karmnik reminds the history of the woman who after the second world war moved in to the ruins of the tenement. The building was in pieces but even though she brought back the life to the area by feeding the pigeons. The birds found the new home and their mistress was called the 'Pigeon Lady' or 'Robinson Crusoe' of the destroyed Warsaw. That’s why above the entrance to the restaurant you may find the sculpture of pigeons. The tenement was rebuilt in the fifties but it dates back the XVIIth century."

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Now at the Warsaw Uprising Monument in Krasinski Square. One of Warsaw's most visited landmarks for foreign tourists, it commemorates the two month long uprising in 1944. Up to 90% of Warsaw's buildings were destroyed during this time as well as the systematic destruction carried out by the Germans after the uprising.

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After passing by the Warsaw Ghetto wall marker, we observed these lovely ladies on the way to the Warsaw Uprising Monument.

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Once a parish graveyard, this little square named Kanonia features a cracked bronze cathedral bell, that has never hung in any church, and that promises good luck if you touch the top and circle it. Kanonia also has the narrowest house in Warsaw. Back in the day the amount of land taxes to be paid would depend on the width of the external facade.

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The Royal Castle, which was obliterated during the Warsaw Uprising, along with much of Warsaw. The Communist government hesitated to restore it from 1945 to 1970, but the castle was rebuilt by the will of Varsovians beginning in 1971, and using community funds it reopened in 1980.