Falling in Love With Warsaw

Today was our first full day in Warsaw, and I'm already in love with this city! Although Krakow was a beautiful city and I really enjoyed my stay there Warsaw has such a different feel and I love it! We did a 4 and a half hour walking tour through many parts of the city this morning and unfortunately it was very cold, but as brave Midwesterners we stuck it out. We started at a monument that is located just outside of our hotel. It is a memorial commemorating those that were taken to Serbia to work in the labor camps. We then continued to Poland's most famous park - Lazienki Park. It is a huge park that is filled with sculptures and monuments, two theaters, and The Palace on the Water. We took a beautiful walk through the snow covered park and although our tour guide told us it was beautiful in springtime I thought it looked beautiful the way we saw it today. 

We stopped at the Palace on the Water (which is more on the ice this time of the year) and we took a tour. The rooms were gorgeous, they were filled with paintings and sculptures and were ornately decorated. Although the inside was amazing to see I think we were all the most fascinated with the peacocks that were wandering around the front of the palace. There were about 8 peacocks that were just hanging out outside and we all couldn't figure out what they were doing there in the snow, but it was fun to see! We then took the bus back into Old Town and saw many of the sights there. 

Before we walked down the Main Street we stopped to look at pictures of the destruction of Warsaw. During WWII Warsaw suffered heavy damage and most of the city had to be rebuilt. As we walked down the street we first came upon the building where the President used to work. We then ventured into the main area that we walked through last night but we got a better look today in the daylight, although I'm very glad that we got to see all of the Christmas lights last night because they will be taken down tonight. The lights will be taken down after the Grand Finale of Wielka Orkiestra Swiatecznej Pomocy (The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity). I was surprised when we saw many Poles walking down the street wearing a red heart sticker with these words on it, but our tour guide explained what it meant. She explained that today marks the conclusion of the campaign and will end in a big concert. I was curious as to what the whole campaign was about so I looked into it when I returned to the hotel. I found out that this has been a reoccurring event for the last 21 years. The campaign begins in the middle of October and ends on the 2nd Sunday in January. The goal of the campaign is to raise money for children and the elderly and to raise awareness on the quality of health care. The organization in the past has focused their attention on children but they have realized that geriatrics is one of the most neglected branches of health care in the Polish system and it deserves the same amount of attention. There are very few geriatric hospitals in Poland and the elderly are not able to get all of the care that they need. For these reasons the organization decided that half of the proceeds will be donated for uses in children's health care and the other half will go to the elderly. Now that I have a better understanding of what this whole campaign means I think it is amazing how many people were involved. As we walked the streets we saw many different groups of people going around with boxes to collect money and heart stickers to give in return. Some of the volunteers dressed up in costumes to attract donors and to create a fun atmosphere of giving. We saw people of all ages going around with boxes and it was enlightening to see so many people working for a cause. We also saw tons of people wearing the heart stickers indicating that they had participated in the giving. It was neat to see such a cause bringing so many people and it was clear that there was a large amount of participation for the cause. I was one of the participants in the campaign and I received a heart sticker!

Went through Old Town and saw a few note worthy places such as, the house of Marie Curie, the Cathedral, and part of the old city wall. After the tour was over we were anxious to warm up our toes and fingers and ready for some food. I went with a small group to a Pizzeria where we got a few different types of pizza - not very Polish, I know. But the pizza was different than the pizza that I am used to in the US, so that was a fun experience. Tonight we will be meeting up with students from the University of Warsaw to go out to dinner and to get to know some Polish students. I am very excited to get a chance to talk to them and hear their perspectives.