The very best of the best of Warsaw! #10

Ok! Sorry again. I have once again fallen far behind here.
However, I will do like Milli Vanilli and "Blame it on the rain".
Yes, the summer has officially ended and the rains have arrived. Booo!!! Absolutely, you are right. I now should, in theory, have more time to do this, well, yes and no. Liverpool have been playing in the EPL and the Europa League, so I have been busy crying a lot and yelling at the screen. Whilst maintaining the normal cycle of cooking, eating and trying to do some research into new camera additions.... all of that, and I have still been able to incorporate being lazy.

So I will start from number ten of the list of the Polish people's best things in Warsaw:

#10 Old Praga

Praga is "the other side" when it comes to Warsaw. It is the Right or East Bank. As some of you know, Warsaw is divded by the Wisła (Vistula) which runs from the South of Poland through to the North ending in the not so salty Baltic Sea. Praga is also the Polish name for Prague (capital of the Czech Republic), which can be confusing, but on the whole has been better preserved than the more central part of Warsaw, much as the Czech capital has. The reason being the Germans couldn't destroy it in WWII, as the Russians had already arrived when they (the Germans) decided to destroy the Western side as part of their retribution for the Warsaw Uprising.
Praga is where the new national stadium is, the zoo, and the next big point of the new metro system. So it is all go here.

Praga, now, is the closest link to what once Warsaw was. It has been the setting of movies such as Polanski's classic "The Pianist". This is because it has many old buildings and some really pretty areas.

This said it balances by being Warsaw's real working class suburbs, much more so than anything on the other side of the river. So, even though the houses and buildings are prettier and older, it isn't as expensive as you might think.

Ząbkowska street is the central to "old Praga" and one of the nicest places to stroll and look at the buildings and "the way Warsaw was". On this street you will see many of the buildings and their internal courtyards that typified Warsaw pre war. Of course there are larger things like Koneser, an old Vodka factory that is now more arts focused as you can see with the Amy Winehouse carving here above.

I like Praga and think it is well worth a look, just watch your wallet, as there are always stories of hoods and pickpockets. As in many inner city working class neighbourhoods.

The very best of the best of Warsaw! Right?

Sorry all readers, I have been rather slack!!

Anywho….. A while ago I was thinking, yes hard to believe I know, but I was wondering about travel and tourism in Warsaw. It stemmed from an article I read, I think it was in the Independent or Lonely Planet, and they both suggested that this summer was one of the top ten locations to visit was Warsaw. First I chuckled as it has no beaches, no fancy towers and no great festivals to speak of. There is a river, wild as it is, there is a Palace of Culture in the middle of town, and they did have a Europride march this year for the first time. However, there was one reason that stood out according to the article. There was Chopin. It is a celebration year of him this year.

Then I thought, what else is there here in Warsaw? I have been here nearly a year and a half and I know what I love. However, I certainly am an odd tourist, it took me at least 9 separate trips to mainland Europe to ever go to Berlin and Paris. So, with me being untypical, I pondered what could my students do to help me know more. Sounds strange doesn't it? A teacher asking his students for knowledge! I am sure that people would say

"Excuse me, are you meant to be giving, confirming and sharing knowledge?", to which I might respond;

"Well, indeed, that is what I believe I am doing. I am allowing you to convey your knowledge on a given topic and correcting you when wrong".

No doubt, they would roll their eyes and agree. Sounds a lot like when "experts" say, "tell me what you know, and I will tell you how wrong you are", maybe not in so many words but probably more delicately.

I continued this "experiment" in the social confines of my classrooms for a week or two, so as to enable as many of my students involved as possible. So the survey, although limited to a few people who want to learn or improve their English in a couple of different companies, is balanced and relatively diversified in the sense that it is from people from Warsaw and from other cities around Poland.

I asked them the question “If you had a person from outside of Warsaw visit you, where would you take them?”

So here is my top ten:

1) Koło Sunday Antique Bazaar (If we can get out of bed after drinking with our guests on Saturday night this is the best fun in Wawa, probably also because most Poles never go!)

2) University of Warsaw Library (a great view soon to be greater with the Copernicus centre!)

3) Chimielna (for a Pączki)

4) Wedel (to bathe in chocolate)

5) Old town and confines (nice to give a history lesson and see how Wawa looked pre WWII)

6) Uprising Museum (if they like history and interactive museums)

7) Old Praga (if they don’t have anything valuable)

8) Hale Mirowskie (a nice market to stroll through and it is a nice starting point for a walk in Wola see next one)

9) Wola Ghetto (To talk about the ghetto and see glimpses of buildings and history)

10) The “Centre” (Although there is no true centre, I mean a stroll around the Palac of Kulture, a look at the beautiful Central Station, and its fancy brother the Złoty Terasy shopping complex)

Now then, in the next few days, I will write up a compilation of my students top ten’s and a few selected other locations that I find interesting.

What are yours for people from or who have visited Warsaw?