Day 91 - Friday 2 August - Warsaw museum

Friday 2 August

Since we had a patriotic day yesterday, we decided that today would have a different theme.   I had thought about going to the town of Torun, which is the birthplace of Mikołaj Kopernik (1473 – 1543), well-known for his theory that the sun is at the centre of the universe. It has museums etc, and I thought it might be a nice trip to the country.  But it is a 3hrs train ride, so we changed our minds, and instead of Torun, we headed to the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw.

The mermaid statue near the river near Copernicus.

There were hordes of school kids, but we fronted the ticket desk, only to be told that there were no tickets until 15:00 tomorrow, and that they had to be bought on-line. (I had looked this morning, but saw nothing about no other option)  So we sat down and tried for 30mins to negotiate the webpage on the phone, with no success, and having expressed dissatisfaction at this and our great journey to get here, were directed to another window, where a reservation was made. (When we got home, we found that one of our attempts was actually successful, so we have 4 places now. . 

So we had to go back to patriotism, and went to the Museum of the Warsaw Uprising, to find out more about the events of 75yrs ago. No audio-guides were left, but most of the information was in English. Still we found it a very disjointed presentation, and with lots of details about place and people names that we didn't know, we got lost rather quickly. 

 Personal stories make it all the more real.

This old guy was signing programs, but we thought he was not really old enough to have been involved.

 

 A full sized replica of a US Liberator bomber (minus one  wing).

 If you stood in front of this machine, it scanned your facial features, then matched you up with a resistance fighter and told you about them.

 These messages after the war from  resistance survivors were interesting.

 Walking through a fake sewer, which were the underground highways of the resistance.

We did like the 3D plane flight over Warsaw that was taken in Sept 1945, showing the ruined city.  We were able to locate some places we know, which made it more interesting.


 So we stuck with it, and skimmed around bits and read others, and finished up after 2.5hrs.  




On the way home we visited the Synagogue, the only one still standing of about 600 in 1945. It has been rebuilt, and now has a congregation of about 400.

 

While I was getting dinner, there were speeches, music, singing, happening in the plaza down below.  Tomorrow I will find out that it was to commemorate an African jazz musician who served in the Resistance, having made his home in Poland.

 

While writing the FB page, and googling bits I needed, I came across
http://www.warsawrising.eu/
and spent the rest of the evening looking at it, step by step.  We probably should have looked at it at home, rather than after the museum.

Day 90 - Thursday 1 August - Warsaw POLIN

Thursday 1 August   75th Anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising

Today we went to visit the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, which traces their gradual coming to Eastern Europe after C10, their acceptance in Poland and the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth of C16-17, the war with Ukraine and the subsequent partitioning of the commonwealth between Germany, Austria and Russia in C19 and up until the present.

 It was well presented, with an audio guide which highlighted about 60 items of special interest.  The trouble is, though, you want to look at everything, so by the time you are getting towards the end, which is the bit you wanted to see in the first place,  you are wrung out, and can't read any more.

 The bima (like a pulpit) in the 'synagogue' in the Jewish Life section.

A group of cubs/joeys learning Jewish dance steps .





After leaving, we walked past the Uprising Memorial, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

We got lunch at 16:00, traditional dumplings and fruit tea/beer. It was not a public holiday, but many folk were out attending commemorations or just being involved.   Groups of scouts and guides had come in from rural areas, people coming past were wearing ribbons and badges and carrying flags. 

 

 A group of boys in uniform (not scouts) came past marching behind 2 very big wreaths, on their way to lay them somewhere.

We got to the Old Town Market Square (all rebuilt in the old style) just in time for 17:00.  

 

  
 Some guides were in charge of sounding the siren (the signal being carried right through the city), and a company of adults dressed from 1940s lined up and marched through, as if being rounded up. The local organ-busker played and sang what was probably the national anthem and another song, and then we all went our ways. 

 

 

Our way led us into the big 'new' market square. Just at the entrance were a group of folk singers, and a large crowd had gathered round them, almost blocking the road. Many were singing along.

 We looked around a bit, talked to some scouts, 

 

These 'venturer' girls have to invent then embroider their interest badges.

then wandered along, checking on google what the buildings and statues were, until we got home. 

 The Presidential Palace, with Prince Józef Poniatowski

Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński joins the commemoration.  He helped save Jews during WW2, and was a people's priest.
 

Day 89 - Wednesday 31 July - Warsaw local

Wednesday 31 July

On our way into the apartment building yesterday, the handle of D's suitcase broke. We have nothing pre-booked here, so used the morning to do this job. We found a small hardware shop in the basement of a building in a locked courtyard where the lady spoke no English, and poked around here and there, spending 51zloty on screws and a driver, pilers, metal brackets, poly string, even a dog collar.

 

While we were out, we called by a couple of local places I had found. There is a 1905 camera obscura, an original machine that shows 3D photos to viewers who watch through lenses while the pictures rotate inside the machine. It shows views of Warsaw from 1935 to 1945, with information above each picture. It takes about 15mins to see all the pictures. They have a separate slide show in another room, and some wall posters.
 

The photographer was a scout leader, and during the war they used the boys, and girls, as BP did, as non-combatants for deliveries of newspapers, and mail services.


In the same courtyard is the Gingerbread Man, but you'll have to wait until Christmas. We got our next train tickets at the station, then found another shop I didn't know about, and bought there too.

It was lunchtime, so we did mundane supermarket shopping, came home, and stayed in all afternoon while D fixed the bag with very little of what he'd bought, then we sat and/or lay about.

After dinner we went to find another musical fountain show. We caught the Metro,  (having found out that old people can use all public transport with a free ticket)  then went walking, when we came across police and crowds, and reporters. We didn't know until now that tomorrow is the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising against the nazis. It lasted 63 days, and so was the biggest European resistance effort of WW2. Between 150-200,000 were killed in those 2mths.
 

 There had just been a commemoration mass in The Field Cathedral of the Polish Army, which is opposite the Uprising Memorial.
 

The Krasinski Palace
 

We found out from these scouts, who were dressed in WW2 costumes, what was going on, and then googled when we got home.  So there were lots of people around, and it still wasn't quite dark.
 

We did find the fountains, and they were well into their program.

 The mermaid is the symbol of the city,from a folk tale from centuries ago.

 They projected images onto the mist of the spray.

 

When it was over, we made our way to the tramway, and got a tram home.