3 July Warsaw Ghetto and Old Town

We left the Cemetery and got on the bus. Then we rode down what was Lesno street, renamed Solidarity Street in 1989. This street was close and parallel to Chlodna which divided the ghetto and where the wooden bridge crossed. We were on the bus so I didn't get many photos. 

But we passed the so called  Blue Tower, now a car dealership on the ground floor, that was the site of the Great Synagogue. It was blown up by the Nazis 16 May 1944, a sign of victory that the Warsaw Ghetto Rebellion had been crushed.

Next door is The Jewish Historical Institute which houses a rich collection, including a detailed history of the Warsaw Ghetto thanks to Emanuel Ringelblum, an historian living in the Ghetto. He collected everything Nazis put into Ghetto as evidence.

Four boxes of this criminal evidence against the Nazis were buried and three were found; the fourth has never been found.

We passed the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Virgin -- a place inside the Ghetto for those Jews who had converted to Christianity to worship. This church was not destroyed by the Nazis.

We passed this wall and marker which says that 40 Poles were executed here by the Nazis in 1941.

Kevin and I once walked through this Jewish area searching for Krochmalma Street and other Isaac Bashevis Singer landmarks but could find nothing.

We began to see familiar landmarks from our year in Poland. Here is Theatr Wielki where we walked over from the Victoria Hotel to see Wagner's Seigfried in 1989.

And we passed the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of Saxon Gardens, a beautiful park.

We spent some happy evenings with Fulbright friends in the Congressova, nightclub in Stalin's gift to Poland, Palac Kultury.

This Tree on the corner of Nowy Swiat and Jerozolimskie Alleje is plastic, an installation by artist Anna Joanna Rajkowska--looks like Charleston!

The last time we walked by the University of Warsaw, it was covered with banners and signs in sympathy with the Chinese protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Walking into the old city, we can see how it looked to Cannoletto when he visited Warsaw in 1780 and painted his city scenes here. There are also Chopin benches which play his music.

We saw the King Sigismund statue-- he is the king who turned Poland from a country of wooden buildings to a country with stone buildings.

A wedding portrait!

Artist working in his open shop,

We used a public toilet--wevhad to pay to use it. I was amused by this table in front where we could  pick up a towel to dry our hands. In 1988-89, we would have paid for toilet paper which was hard to find. The bathroom was clean and nice. We could hear church music.

Amber Galore

This powerful Mermaid is the symbol of Warsaw. One legend says that Sava was the name of this Mermaid who lived in the Wisla River. She fell in love with Wars and together they founded Warsaw.

Lovely flowers all over. This one sports a peacock feather, another symbol of Poland.

This display of fur on a side of a building was reminiscent of Poland in 1988 when vendors would come from the country and hawk their goods on the streets.

We enjoyed the delicious Lody!

The weather was perfect for strolling this beautiful city.

Poland is a Catholic country and the people who serve still wear the traditional clothing.

Throughout the Old City were markers remembering the 

Warsaw Resistance.

This statue honors the hundreds of children who took part in the Uprising--mostly as messengers.

During the Resistance, the Russians were camped out on the other side of the Wisla in Praga,

waiting until the Nazis had destroyed most of the city. Then the Red Army marched in, took control, tortured and exiled the Polish Home Army, villifying and censoring those who took part in the resistance.

This Monument to the Heroes of the Warsaw Uprising in Krasinski Square, right at the edge of the reconstructed Old Town, was the first to be built in post communist Poland.

It is huge and shows the soldiers pushing up against the rubble of the city.

The Kotwica, or symbol for the Polish Resistance,the W with the P on the brick wall, was designed by Anna Smolenska who died at Auschwitz in 1943. She was 23.

Next,  Lazinski Park. We noticing the striking opera posters on the surrounding fence. Herb took photos of them all. I wish I had.

The park features rose gardens surrounding the Chopin Monument. There is also a palace in this park.

There are weekend concerts here.

Chopin is under a weeping willow tree.

Later, we went to a Mozart concert in the Royal Palace.

Leah and I taking photos of each other.

The ceiling

A lovely magical night for us all!