Warsaw

On our way back to Berlin we decided to spend a day in Warsaw. We had heard that the city wasn't spectacular, but really enjoyed our time there. The city has an interesting history. Towards the end of WWII, shortly before the Soviets came into the city, the resistance in Warsaw staged and uprising against the Nazis. Though they initially made some impressive gains, the Nazis quickly regrouped and the resistance ultimately failed. Hitler, however, was so furious at their attempt that he ordered that the city be demolished, which it was-systematically block by block-until nothing remained. In fact, when Dwight D. Eisenhower saw the place he said the destruction was the worst that he had ever seen.  Since then it has been rebuilt, as you can see. The old town was beautiful and we even had a born-again from Texas approach us to talk about Jesus. In fact, that may be the first time I have experienced such a thing in Europe. 

 

Jaxon was especially excited to find this soccer stadium. Poland and Ukraine recently hosted the European cup, and when I told Jaxon we were going to Poland the first thing he said was, "Are we going to go see a match?" Unfortunately the competition was over by the time we got there, but at least he got to see the brand new stadium. 

 

I finally got my picture of a nun. I loved this, there were nuns running around all over the place in Poland. This one was really nice to the boys, but then she got a little grouchy with Jonas when she saw him hit Jaxon.  Scolded by a nun.

We stopped by this famous Warsaw bakery, A. Blikle,  and bought some paczki, a sort of Polish doughnut filled with rose-flavored jelly. Everyone loved them, except for Jonas who apparently doesn't have the taste for roses.

The Palace of Culture and Science. This was Stalin's personal mark on the city.

We got into our hotel in Berlin late in the evening. I was excited for the hotel because everything is from the former East Germany, down to the television shows on the old fashioned television in the reception.