Another view of Old Town. Its always so lovely wondering around these cobbled streets, and yet a little strange to remember that it was all destroyed in World War 2, and everything you see was rebuilt.
Tag: <span>warsaw</span>
Some strange animals are grazing on the lawn of the Krasinski Palace in Warsaw. It has lovely gardens behind it which are perfect for a stroll, and in the front these strange animals.
This lively ceiling is in the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, one of the most interest and modern museum’s that I have ever visited. The ceiling is a replica of a synagogue ceiling. By a strange coincident we visited on 1 September, which was the anniversary of the invasion of Poland; 1 Sep 1939 – the beginning of the second world war.
Just around the corner is Mila 18 which played a significant role in the Warsaw Ghetto.
I call this room the chess room. Partly because I don’t know its real name, but also because the floor reminds me of a chess board. But what astonishes me is the attention to detail. The room is full of wonderful artworks, goldleaf on the walls, wood panelling…whereever you look there is something new to see.
The room is in Warsaw Castle, and is one of the few that doesn’t have a parquet floor.`
A view of the lovely Royal Warsaw Castle. The original building was build in the 14th century, it was completely destroyed towards the end of World War 2 (as was most of Warsaw), and was only rebuilt in the 1970’s. It’s a wonderful set of buildings to wonder around, admiring both the exterior and beautiful parquet floors on the inside.
The Swietokrzyski Bridge (don’t ask me to pronounce that – it means Holy Cross) is a suspension bridge across the Vistula river in Warsaw. I took these two pics when I went for an afternoon run to explore the city. I love the converging lines that the support cable create as they climb to meet in the sky.
The Warsaw Barbican was created as the city gate in the 1500’s as part of a general repair of the city walls. It was designed by Jan Baptist, a Venetian. You can clearly see the Venetian style in the design. The irony is that the city walls became useless almost as soon as they were repaired. This was due to modern cannon which could blow straight through the walls.
There’s a great Wikipedia article if you want to find out more.
The mermaid of Warsaw stands on the banks of the Vistula river, providing protection for the city. She has been on the city cost of arms at least since the 1300’s, but nobody really knows the full history, but the main story has it that she was swimming in the river, paused on the riverbank to rest and decided to stay..
Here she is on Old Town Square; if you look carefully you can find her image all over the city.
Legend has it that the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen is the Warsaw mermaid’s sister.
Another view of the beautiful Warsaw Castle at night; this time with the city walls in the foreground.
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