Amsterdam and Poland 2017 
Day 5, Warsaw
Thursday , June 8
We got up at 5:30 this morning and finished our packing. We had made
arrangements with the cabdriver who took us to the Concertgebouw
yesterday to pick us up at 7 o'clock to take us to the airport. He was
on time and we got to the airport in about half an hour. We walked and
walked to find our gate which was in a new part of the airport. We
checked our suitcases and then went through security, which was very
thorough. I have a card that I carry which says that I have a pacemaker
so to avoid the x-ray. I got a very detailed pat-down. They were doing a
very thorough check through everyone's carry on. My carry-on consists
mainly of my computer, reader, camera and electrical connections plus
all my meds.
Another long walk to the gate with a stop for a muffin as we had not
had breakfast before we left. I think that the Amsterdam airport is one
of the largest that I have ever been in. When we return, we fly back to
Amsterdam and spend the night and fly out the next day on our way home.
We had paid a little extra for upgraded seats with extra leg
room. Kathleen and I had seats on the aisle on either side but no one in
the two seats beside us. The flight from Amsterdam to Warsaw was an
hour and a half. The Warsaw airport was large but small
in
comparison to Amsterdam. It didn't take long to get our luggage and the
taxi was waiting.
It was about a half hour ride to our hotel which is the Grand
Hotel Mercure. We checked in and we have a nice size colorful
room-rather modern. The whole hotel complex was vert attractive. 
It was approaching 1:00 and the only thing that we had had all
day was the 9:00 muffin. We found the hotel café and had a nice lunch.
I ordered a hamburger which was the largest I have ever had and couldn't
eat all of it. Kathleen had a cheese plate.
Amsterdam uses Euros for money. Poland uses PLN (Zioty), for
example my hamburger cost 35 PLN which was $9.16 in American dollars.
We went to an ATM machine and got 600 PLN which cost us $150.00. We
walked about four blocks and came back to the room to rest.
Warsaw
is a very different looking city. Most of Warsaw was destroyed during
the war and has been rebuilt by the Soviets in a Soviet style, whereas
in Amsterdam most of the old buildings are still used and are in
excellent condition. We have seen very few bicycles, no bicycle lanes
here.
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland located on the
Vistula River around 160 miles from the Baltic Sea and 190 miles from
the Carpathian Mountains. The population is estimated at 1.750 million
residents within a greater metropolitan area of over 3 million residents
Once described as Paris of the East, War
saw
was believed to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world until
World War II. The German Invasion in 1939, the massacre of the Jewish
population and deportations to concentration camps led to the uprising
in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943 and to the devastating Warsaw Uprising
between August and October 1944. Warsaw gained the new title of a
Phoenix City because of its extensive history and complete
reconstruction after the severe damage it suffered in World War II which
left over 85% of its buildings in ruins.
I
n
some neighborhoods, there were modern buildings next to ones that looks
as it was damaged by the war. It is also sad to see all the
graffiti that is written on these newer buildings. In 1980, the
historic city-center of Warsaw, with its picturesque Old Town was listed
as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Buildings represent examples of nearly
every European architectural style and historical period. Around a
quarter of the city is filled with royal parks and lush gardens.
We will see much of Warsaw in the next several days.
We had made dinner reservations we the dining room of a historic
hotel in the Old Town area. It was too far to walk and were both tired
so we decided to find something locally. We walked around the area and
saw several outdoor cafés. We realized that the dinner servings would be
too large, and we didn’t want a big dinner, so we came back to the café
in our hotel and ordered wine and prawns – quite unlike the prawns that
I had yesterday in Amsterdam. They were in a wonderful sauce which was
also good for dipping bread.
For dessert, we had lime cheesecake with pear sorbet and
caramel sauce. All during dinner a young couple played the guitar and
sang many of the familiar songs. It was fun.
Day 12 - Poznan and
Torun
Day 15 coming soon
