Hi Loves
Today’s post is another installment of my recent travels to
Europe. Today I am sharing photos and my experience visiting Poland. I have
never gone to a country where English was minimal in communication and this was
an exciting adventure to embark on. I enjoy traveling and one thing that is
important to me is to ‘have no expectation’ when I go to a new place. I find
that expectations can set you up for disappointment more so than satisfaction.
I also like to create my own memories form direct experience.
With that said, Poland took my breath away. I was wowed,
astonished, and captivated by its beauty, the even temperedness of the people,
and the polite yet vibrant atmosphere. We spent two days and we flew from London
to Warsaw (capital of Poland). Upon arrival, our taxi driver was so friendly
and gave us good information as to where to eat and what to do. We didn’t waste
any time, as soon as we got to our hotel we were booked for our first tour. I’m
usually the kind of traveler that likes to explore and figure stuff out on my
own but since we were only spending two days, we figured a guided tour would be
lovely.
We spent all of our time in the capital,Warsaw and we got to see pretty
much all of it. Poland is so rich with history and it channeled through the
conversations we had with our tour guide. I won’t necessarily go into the history
but I am sure if you are intrigued you can find lots of historical documents
online.
Before our tour departed we went for a quick lunch at Stixx and enjoyed a delicious meal and great wine. I noticed that people were well mannered, ate quietly and the service was overall excellent.
The famous composer Chopin was Polish and they had this cute little bench in the park that actually plays his music. How cool?!
There was a lot of Chinese influence present all over the park. I did ask why but I cannot remember what I was told.. oops! Hehe!
We also stumbled upon the very first “White House” which was home to a sitting King’s Mistress. It was said that they couldn’t be married because the mistress was not from a noble family. Well, there is then and there is now, hello Kate Middleton.
This round structure is called the Water Tower and I had to go up close and take a good look at the gorgeous details. It now houses jewelry.
We also caught a pretty view of Myslewicki Palace and it was breathtaking.
Once we toured the park, we made our way to the central area of the town but before we got there we stopped at a few monuments, one particularly being The Jewish Ghetto Wall Monument. A monument put in place as a memory of those who were slayed by Nazis. This is not to be confused with the Holocaust, but rather a separate event where thousands lost their lives. It was sad to hear the stories and It makes you remember or realize that all over the world there was and there still are suffering.
We are now in the area where it seemed the most movement was happening, Old Town, and was greeted by the beautiful Royal Castle. We dined at one of the beautiful eateries set up in the local area. I just love how the ‘restaurants’ in that area are simply canopies with beautifully laid flowers and neatly assembled tables and chairs.
After we were done enjoying our drinks it was already night fall and we strolled around the area. There were so many churches in one area and that tells that this is a very spiritual nation. People were entering the church at night casually. There were also many ice-cream shops (I’m not sure the Polish Translation) and many many people were out in the hustle and bustle hanging out and socializing.
Once we walked through the entire locale, we make our way back to our hotel.
On our second day we simply wandered around walking and sightseeing. I had to put my camera away at this point because I wanted a few hours to be fully vested in the experience. We enjoyed some really delicious coffee and yummy pastries I cannot pronounce. Haha!
I know this was a long read and a lot of pictures but I do hope you enjoyed reading it and that I have inspired you to visit if you have not gone before.
Thanks for swinging by loves and stay tuned for my Paris photo diary next week. If you haven’t seen my London posts, see them here & here.
xoxo
Keyma.