Where Old meets New

New town, Warsaw, last night found us in the busyness of a late afternoon; many cars, many people and an architectural mix of old and new!

Objective of the afternoon visit was to find the small part of the Jewish Ghetto wall that remains, from the Jewish uprising and the only bit left from the Germans razing as much as they could to the ground.

Old buildings sit side by side with the new glass towers, this is certainly a metropolitan city with all the bells and whistles.

Centre stage is the people’s palace which was built, only in 1955, by Stalin for the Polish people after the war…in the baroque style of the old town.

We found a cafe (in a side street) and had a drink and a snack before heading home.

This morning, George and Sue left Russ in peace again (at his request) and marched out for a morning walk….again heading up!

Monument of Charles de Gaulle and WWII fighter planes and tanks….nothing open till late morning but gates open and worth a sneak inside.

George’s shoes have holes….and rather than buy a new pair…

He walked the streets home in socks…being careful not to stand on any sharp or squishy bits.

The walkers Returned mid morning and collected Russ for a coffee break and a wander to the rooftop garden on the university library, with a lift up!

Standing in the circle of light on top of the dome…

The roof in panorama planted in grids.

The boys in the rooftop vineyard arches and…

A roof with a Birdseye view over the river.

Moving right along and taking the low road we walked the waterfront heading towards the riverside gardens of the Royal palace in Oldtown.

A family moment before park bench rest time.

Further down there was a larger park with fountains.

And a couple of sculptures. We were by now reallywarm and hungry so We headed up into old town in search of a cafe for lunch.

Russ holding the lamppost up, as he took the hill in stages.

Still searching for that elusive cafe (there were actually 100s of them, but all full with lunch eating tourists) we found the WEII museum

Thunder clouds started rolling in and a very real threat of rain was eminent…..the kiwis were a little slow to action here.

We had just decided to order a Bolt taxi, and he was 2 minutes away, when the heavens opened! A then very scary (and damp) 10 minute ride home – the driver almost aqua planing his Ford Focus (yes any car can become a boy racer model with the right operator) and overtaking and undertaking everything in sight. May I just say here, visibility was about five meters!

We made it….took a quick trip to the bakery for lunch and home to eat and rest! Only one of us is snoring away!