Poland: August 25 at Warsaw

I was so surprised to wake up at noon! I did not believe it, thought my phone had not updated for the time change. So I asked Google what time it was in Warsaw. It was noon! I walked down to the hotel lobby and found most of my group there.

Seated on the left are Barbara, Kris and Elaine. Standing behind them you can see me, Maureen, Rick (Barbara's husband), Steve and Liz. Seated on the right are Veronica and Dorena. Jeff and Anne are not in this photo.

Adam, from Polish Genealogical Tours, came to meet us, and the photo above left is Adam, Aleksandra (our language teacher) and Dorena, the leader of this tour. Krystian, shown in the photo above right, is our guide for the first part of this tour.

We set out with Krystian for a walking tour of the city. Below is a sculpture adjacent to the sewer through which Irena Sendler led many children out of the Warsaw ghetto to safety. The brick wall is a remaining section of the ghetto wall. Krystian was an excellent guide, telling us the history and political climate of every place we went.

We entered the Palace of Culture and Science, built by Stalin in 1955 to glorify communism and its leaders. It was the tallest building in Warsaw until the 1970s, and a thorn in the side of the Polish people. We took the elevator to the top floor to view the surrounding city. 

We ended the day with a traditional Polish dinner--the food here is very good!