0358 Treblinka to Warsaw, and exploring Warsaw

15^th/16^th Sept 2015

To Warsaw, and the old city.

Woke up in the car park at Treblinka to a suitably misty and overcast morning amongst the pine trees. Still feeling pretty somber, so we packed up, said our thanks to the museum staff, and headed out down the road towards Warsaw. 

It wasn’t far to Warsaw, and about 3 hours later we were crossing the Vistula River into the

city.  Trams, buses, and lots of traffic – Officially a city of 2 million, our friend Tomasz says the unofficial number is more like 3 million or more – People are supposed to register when they move between areas, but many do not.  We had met Tomasz in Peru last year, and had stayed in contact.  We were due to meet him later, so we decided to find a camp site first.

The first camp site was very nice, but it was a bit far out of town so buses etc would be a problem. So we went on to another one much closer in to the city and we surprised that it

wasn’t too bad, had buses and trams only 100 yards away – and was cheaper than the first one anyway !  So here we stayed !  We had some lunch but didn’t set up camp because we expected to drive somewhere to meet Tomasz.  We got a much needed load of laundry underway, and sorted out a few things, and then Tomasz came over to us, so we ended up going out for an early dinner in his car instead !

Had a great dinner in a local restaurant called The Red Hog – Is a play on the Russians who were called the Red Hogs, and all

round the restaurant are pictures and caricatures of Soviet and other communist leaders past and present.  And all the items on the menu had Soviet names like “Breznev’s Borscht”, or “Putin’s Potatoes” etc !  Very pleasant evening.

Tomasz then took us into the old city and we wandered around there for a while before he brought us back to our camp site.

We set up camp and turned in, and during the night it POURED.  Lots of water everywhere – But of course inside Troopie we were just dry and snug and sleeping tight !  Bit noisy on the roof though !

Next morning we continued with laundry on a slow washing machine, and as it was now a clear sunny day, were able to hang everything out before eventually setting off into the city on a local bus.  Quite simple really, especially when you are given the bus number to catch and you get off when you get to the end destination where the bus stops and everyone has to get off anyway !!  Right below the main square.

Warsaw was off course mostly destroyed during the war, so most of it is reasonably new and not especially interesting.  The Old City, right in the heart, was also largely

destroyed, but it has been rebuilt in character – In one case an entire square – The old city market square – was rebuilt from paintings because there were no architectural drawings of the old buildings.  And it is the smaller old city that really is the centre of attraction for the tourists.  We met Tomasz briefly as he had managed to get some of my pills that I was running low on, and then he had to get back to work, so having arrived in the old city, in the square with the old Royal Castle and statues of King Sigismund III who moved the capital from Krakow to Warsaw in 1596, we found

an Information Centre, worked out what we wanted to see, and then went and sat in a restaurant in the main square and had a beer and a pizza !   We actually went into a Polish dumpling (pierogarnie) restaurant first, as we had had some last night and they were good, but it was a very small restaurant, and so hot in there (it was in the high 20’s outside), that we just had to get out in the open.  And as we hadn’t had a pizza for months, we decided to have one !

Afterwards we went for a wander, had an ice cream (for which this area is supposedly famous), went into some of the very ornate churches in the area, and then caught a little train thingy that took us around the old city so we would then have a better idea of what we wanted to see.  There is so much history to Poland – They have been divided up and partitioned and invaded so many times – The problems of WW II are merely the most recent chapter – But obviously the one that most people know more about.  I am not going to get into the history of it all here as people can read about it on the internet if they are interested, but there are many statues around the town, many fine buildings and churches and palaces, and many lovely squares.  And at the moment they are having beautiful weather so the locals are really making the most of it, with the parks full, and restaurants having tables outside in the street everywhere. 

After the little train ride, we wandered around the old city exploring the streets and the squares, and then decided to go to the Polish Jewish History Museum which is famous, and of course with the Warsaw Ghetto from the war, relatively recent.

It was quite a walk, and on the way we found the metal markers in the pavement marking the outline of the Warsaw Ghetto which was of course totally destroyed in the

way. One statue that is very evocative is that if a little child in a soldier’s helmet and carrying a gun.  Children soldiers played a very important role in the defence of Warsaw, carrying messages, fighting fires, and some even became line soldiers.  This statue in the old wall commemorates them.

The Museum of Poland’s Jews in amazing.  It covers the history of Poland’s Jews over the last 1000 years or more, culminating not only with WW II, but also with the resettlement to Israel after the war.  If you were to read everything, it would take you a week to get through it all – We skimmed through it and still took 3 hours or so – And one cannot absorb so much information and facts in such a short time.  Suffice it to say that it only reinforced our feelings after visiting Treblinka, and once again left us in a very sombre

mood.  One does not “enjoy” things like this, one merely learns more about humanity, and becomes determined to try to prevent it happening again. Unfortunately humanity continues……….

We didn’t get back to the camp site until about 8 pm – Our bus brought us back with no problems. And after a quick meal we were in bed, exhausted, and slept solidly all night !!

Pics are here :-   https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0358TreblinkaToWarsaw?authkey=Gv1sRgCNzl4sjIt7CFggE