Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Warsaw

  • Warsaw – Fryderyk Chopin Museum

    Warsaw – Fryderyk Chopin Museum

    I’ve never managed to visit this museum during my previous visits to Warsaw, but it’s a popular tourist destination and it opened in the grand Ostrogski Palace in 1953.

    My first impressions weren’t particularly positive as I went to the ticket desk and waited for just over five minutes with some others in a queue. Neither of the two staff acknowledged anyone waiting, and they then just casually threw over some cards. The problem with doing this in a careless manner was that the staff member didn’t give me one and then seemed most put out when I asked for a card, asking what I had done with it. It was an unusually sloppy welcome from a Polish museum.

    A staff member at the entrance to the main part of the museum gave a quick introduction, explaining that the card provided operated the multi-media displays throughout the museum. I chose to visit on a Wednesday as there’s free admission for all, so I arrived early before the crowds.

    Many of the displays were like this, so they needed the card to operate them. I have no idea why they’re using cards and not just getting visitors to press a button on the display, it seems like technology for the sake of it. I had thought that they were encoded with the preferred language of the visitor, but since the man at the ticket desk just handed them out without checking, that didn’t seem quite as likely.

    One of the large rooms full of displays, although I was more interested in the room itself which is mostly obscured. And, unfortunately, I had to be interested in the room as I was struggling to find much else of interest to engage with. One exciting element of curating a museum should be to make it accessible to those with no knowledge of the subject that is being explained. I had little prior knowledge of Chopin and his life and I left the museum with the same lack of knowledge.

    This museum to me was like giving a detailed biography in book form to someone who just wanted to find out more about an individual. It’s impractical for them to read something like 300 pages, so there needs to be some flow of information to get the basics out and then build on that for those who are interested. Books can use timelines, summaries or even just a list of contents, whereas I had no idea of what was going on in this museum.

    “The exhibits follow no obvious timeline and are hard to follow. If you want to listen to an audio of Chopin telling you what colour he wants his wallpaper this is for you. You will leave the museum having no clue how he died, why he went to Paris, what kind of person he was or why his music is so special. But don’t worry you will have seen several letters and illustrations to his family members none of which readable.”

    I do agree with this review, I had no idea what any of the letters were saying or what relevance they had. But there were sweeping amounts of information about trivialities of Chopin’s life and works.

    “This museum is absolutely nothing but a collection of miscellaneous facts and pictures presented to visitors without any context whatsoever and unless you devoted a good part of your life to a detailed study of Chopin’s life and biography. none of those pictures, names and dates will mean anything to you and will not be able to piece them together to find any connection to either the museum itself or, indeed, Chopin as a person and as a composer.”

    And I agree with another reviewer, the museum had letters by people who seemed to have no link to Chopin at all, or at least, that link wasn’t explained.

    “There is absolutely no order to this museum. Usually a museum which showcases a person is ordered chronological from birth to death. In many museums, the direction in which visitors should proceed are clearly marked. In this museum, we first observe an exhibit which explains something about Chopin’s birth, and after that it is like a maze with mass confusion and no sense of direction. Lots of musical scores, old photographs, letters, etc. but little information provided. For example, I am aware that Chopin was born in Poland, but spent most of his life in France. But I have no idea where or if this information was explained. Does the museum assume that we already know that?”

    There are hundreds of reviews like this, but I agree again, the museum is assuming that the visitor has a significant prior knowledge of Chopin. But, those with a deep knowledge of Chopin, or a wider understanding of classical museum, will no doubt find the museum a treasure trove of information.

    The museum building, the Ostrogski Palace, was the highlight of my visit, although the museum displays did obscure some of it. Work started on the building in the late seventeenth century, although sadly it was destroyed by the Germans during the Second World War. The building was reconstructed between 1949 and 1954, although some of the original cellars appear to have survived. I was mildly disappointed that the museum didn’t make more of the building and its heritage, although it might well have done on some random screen that I didn’t see.

    A room full of screens with headphones attached for those who wanted to listen to Chopin’s museum.

    Dried flowers from Chopin’s death bed.

    Chopin’s death mask.

    Chopin’s hair.

    I managed to lengthen this visit out to 45 minutes, although I’m sure anyone really engaged with Chopin’s music could make it last much longer. Personally, I thought that the technology in the museum was overdone and made it harder to access information, although the exhibits seemed to be all over the place in any event.

    “Lacks coherent and clear narrative from any (musical/biographical/historical) perspective. Almost all information is buried under convoluted and slow interactive gadgety screens for which you have to put on different headphones each time. A lot of handwritten letters on display tell you nothing about Chopin because they are not transcribed into something legible. The music section lacks deep analysis and background of what makes Chopin’s music special. Half an hour on Wikipedia will teach you more about Chopin than this museum.”

    Another review sums up what I thought of the museum, which is that Wikipedia is perhaps a better source of information for anyone interested in Chopin. So, in summary, I agree with yet another reviewer, who wrote:

    “Only for the most fervent Chopin fans… not recommended for the casual tourist. The museum could definitely be much improved.”

  • Warsaw – Footprint of Ghetto Wall

    Warsaw – Footprint of Ghetto Wall

    There’s little remaining of the city’s former ghetto wall (although more on that later) which was constructed during the Second World War during the period of German occupation. There were over 450,000 people forced to live in the area when the ghetto was established, with nearly 100,000 dying of starvation and hundreds of thousands more dying when the ghetto was liquidated and the residents despatched to concentration camps.

    A plan of the ghetto.

    It’s easy to follow the remnants of the wall, which stood from 1940 until 1943. A permanent reminder of the atrocities which took place here.

  • Warsaw – Train from Chopin Airport to City Centre

    Warsaw – Train from Chopin Airport to City Centre

    The final part of the journey for today was getting from Warsaw Chopin Airport to the city centre.

    Fortunately, the signage is clear throughout the airport, despite it being quite a walk to get to the trains. It irritates me, like many things do, when airports seem to keep these things a secret. Warsaw airport’s green line is easy even for idiots to follow, and I can personally attest to that….

    The situation is moderately complex insomuch as there are two ticket machines and two operators to get to the city centre. I just bought a standard ticket and went with KM (Koleje Mazowieckie) as their train was already at the station, but ZTM (Zarząd Transportu Miejskiego) are the main transport providers in the area. There’s pretty much dual acceptance of tickets, although there are some exceptions and I am no expert in what they are. Not much can go wrong with seeing which train is going first and buying a single ticket (or whatever suits) on their machine (KM are green, ZTM are red). The ticket machines have English, and numerous other languages, available.

    The platforms, with the signage being clear so that passengers don’t end up getting on the wrong train.

    There’s the train, rather lovely.

    I won’t mention his name here, but a friend was fined on Warsaw trains last year, on his first visit to the city, for not validating his ticket. Validation is the key   🙂

    Inside the train, with the journey to the central railway station in Warsaw taking just under thirty minutes. There are also other stations which the train calls at, with the service never getting that busy. There are regular announcements, in Polish and English, to ensure that customers don’t get confused at any stage. I didn’t have my ticket checked during the journey, but there was a guard visible at one end of the train if customers wanted assistance.

    And safely in Warsaw railway station. The ticket costs just under 4.50zl, meaning that the single ticket cost me around 90p. Which I think is a bargain to get from an airport to a city’s central railway station. Very lovely.

  • Flights – Heathrow T5 to Warsaw (British Airways)

    Flights – Heathrow T5 to Warsaw (British Airways)

    This was the clearest photo that I could get of today’s BA850 service from London Heathrow T5 to Warsaw Chopin Airport in Poland. The aircraft was G-EUPH, an Airbus A319, which British Airways have owned since April 2000 when it was new. These A319 aircraft are gradually being withdrawn from service, but they’ve served the airline well.

    As I was at B Gates lounge I asked the staff member if she could see where the flight was departing from before it was announced, to save me walking back if the departure was at B Gates. It was at Gate A23 in the main terminal and I was the first to arrive there, primarily since the gate number hadn’t otherwise been announced.

    And here’s the packed waiting area, although it soon got much busier. The staff were pro-active in trying to get customers with two bags to put one of them in the hold, as the flight was nearly full. Some people refused and so a different staff member, who was more forthright to say the least, went round and politely told customers that it wasn’t really an option. The amount of bags that customers are taking on board is becoming ridiculous, something will need to be done at some stage about them.

    The boarding process was otherwise orderly and well managed, with groups called forwards carefully and customers were despatched back to the seating area if they tried to jump the queue. I like organisation.

    I had an exit row aisle seat and there was no-one next to me, so it was a comfortable flight in terms of the space available.

    We were delayed on take-off, partly as the inbound flight had been a few minutes late, but primarily as the crew had problems trying to fit all the bags on. Some customers, mostly those who were trying to bring on a bag the size of a small hippo couldn’t find anywhere to store them. At one stage there were eight customers standing in the aisle of the aircraft with bags not fitting in anywhere, but the crew did their usual jenga tactics of moving and restacking bags, with another going into storage elsewhere.

    The flight eventually arrived into Warsaw twenty minutes late, so no real problem, with the crew members being conscientious with their announcements and updates. There was a buy on board service which went up and down the cabin, but I saw only a few customers buy anything from it. The fare was £55 return plus 2,500 Avios, although I get 1,350 Avios back with this flight.

  • Warsaw – Prince Józef Poniatowski Monument

    Warsaw – Prince Józef Poniatowski Monument

    This is a monument to Prince Józef Poniatowski, located within the courtyard of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw.

    Józef Poniatowski lived from 1763 until 1813 and although he was born in Austria and initially joined the Austrian army, he later became an important Polish military leader. He must have been good at this military thing, since he was also invited to join the Russian army at the invitation of Tsar Alexander I. He later supported Napoleon in his military efforts, with Poniatowski managing to judge his allies well and ensuring that his actions were in the interests of Poland. He died in action and he became something of a Polish hero for his bravery and courage.

    A monument in honour of Poniatowski was designed by the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen and installed in Warsaw in 1832. It moved about a bit, primarily due to the Russians not liking it, with the monument being located in what is now Belarus between 1842 until 1922, before it was returned to Warsaw.

    Like most things in Warsaw, the monument didn’t survive the Second World War. The Germans initially hid the monument behind scaffolding, before destroying it on 16 December 1944. A copy was made after the war and was unveiled at Łazienki Park in 1952, before taking its current place outside the Presidential Palace in 1965. It seems that some remnants of the original are still on display, I shall hunt them down…..

  • Warsaw – Palace of Culture and Science (Observation Deck)

    Warsaw – Palace of Culture and Science (Observation Deck)

    I have more to write about the Palace of Culture and Science, but for now I’ll limit myself to my visit to the observation deck. In short though, the Palace is what I consider to be an eyesore which was forced upon the people of Warsaw by the Soviets in the 1950s. The building is 237 metres in height and is, according to Wikipedia, the sixth highest building in the European Union (it’ll be the fifth soon, as the Shard in London is higher).

    In terms of the observation deck, it’s a professional little operation, with visitors being transported by lifts to the thirtieth floor of the building in around nineteen seconds. There’s an admission charge that equates to around £4 and it’s the highest observation deck in the city, with extensive views over the area.

    I had a little look at TripAdvisor to see what other visitors thought.

    “The tower has 33 floors or so and the local employees suggested buying tickets for the viewing floor. I was disappointed that it was too foggy to see anything and expecting the employees to at least mention it.”

    Personally, I think I might have looked to see if it was foggy before going up…..

    “It was cloudy day and no view at all but they were selling expensive tickets to see whole Warsaw from 30 floor of this ugly building. Shame of them 🙁 I was with kids and asked before if there is option to see something today. Answer was: I have no clue, I’m working here, downstairs.”

    It’s hard to deny that a staff member inside a ticket office downstairs probably isn’t going to know how cloudy it is….

    “Do not go up with the elevator. First you wait in long line than you come up there and the only landmark of Warsaw is the one you are on. Then you wait in the line for going down.”

    I’m not quite sure what people expect to see other than Warsaw city centre from an observation deck overlooking Warsaw city centre.

    And, below are some of the views.

  • Warsaw – Drugie Dno

    Warsaw – Drugie Dno

    Unfortunately, my visit here in February 2018 wasn’t particularly well photographed, so I might have to go back….

    The beer selection was decent, with a well measured range of options, including a few dark beers. I went for a dry stout, which had a richness of flavour, although my memory doesn’t allow me to write further than that.

    The prices were towards the higher end of the scale for Warsaw, but not unreasonable. The staff were busy and helpful, with a friendly barman taking the time to explain the beer options which they had. The beers are nearly all from Poland, but there were a few options from further afield, although the quality of the local beers was high.

    The stairs downstairs were an exciting challenge when others were trying to come up…… I liked the whole modern decor of the bar though, it felt contemporary, on-trend and interesting.

    I was with a group of people when I visited, which was on a weekend evening and the bar was busy to say the least. The food being served looked well presented and generously portioned, although we didn’t partake on that occasion. Anyway, I think I might need to return to try the food, but at least my last visit was all very lovely.

  • Warsaw – Mausoleum of Struggle and Martyrdom

    Warsaw – Mausoleum of Struggle and Martyrdom

    Rather appropriately in some ways, in terms of never forgetting what happened here, this museum is located within the building of the Ministry of National Education. Before the Second World War, the building was used as the Ministry of Religious Beliefs and Public Education, but during the Nazi occupation of Poland, the basement was repurposed as a prison. On the floors above, the secret police set up their offices and began their work in trying to oppose the work of the Polish resistance, the influence of the church and those who sought to damage the rule of the Germans in the city.

    A visit starts with a video presentation, with the staff member helpfully putting on an English translation for me. I was the only visitor for much of the time (I visited in February 2018, at a time when it was cold and starting to snow…) and the staff were warm and engaging, but otherwise let me get on with visiting the museum. Although this did mean that I was then walking around the cells and former torture areas on my own, which does allow for a more atmospheric visit. By atmospheric, I mean slightly unnerving.

    A corridor between offices used by the Nazis, with torture and killings being commonplace in the cellars. One of the rooms used by the officers has been restored to as it might have looked and there’s a radio there, a reminder that this was played loudly during some periods of torture, to drown out the sound. Torture was also often performed in front of the victim’s friends and family, with the individual sometimes being dragged back unconscious into their cell.

    A corridor with located cells off it. During the period of the Warsaw Uprising, a large number of people were executed here and their bodies burned in nearby buildings.

    Graffiti scratched into the wall by the prisoners, usually by using their fingernails. Over 1,000 inscriptions were found in the cells, including prayers, names and details of those who had been killed.

    One of the cells, with some of the rooms having bullet holes in the wall, a reminder of the horror which took place here. Prisoners would be seated in some areas and have to wait in silence for their interrogation.

    After the Germans left the city, a decision was made relatively quickly to preserve the basement area as a museum, dedicated to all those who suffered there. There have though, at the museum’s admission, been some structural changes made to the building since then, so I’m a little unsure of just how much looks the same as it did. Given that so much of Warsaw was destroyed by the Nazis before their departure, this remains though one of the best preserved of the buildings which the Germans used during their time here.

    The TripAdvisor reviews are nearly all positive, with few exceptions, although one Canadian was really pleased with their visit:

    “A dark corridor and rooms with a bed, that’s what we could see.”

    Hmmm…..

    It’s a small museum, with a low admission charge, with everything being well curated and there was plenty of information about what happened in the basement. Much of that information is presented on video screens, with English translations available, a sobering reminder of the past.

  • Warsaw – Monument to Janusz Korczak

    Warsaw – Monument to Janusz Korczak

    Located at ul. Świętokrzyska, in the shadow of the ridiculous Palace of Culture and Science, this monument is to the author Janusz Korczak. His real name was Henryk Goldszmit and he was not just an author, but also an educator who was heavily involved with orphanages. Korczak served as a lieutenant in the Polish army during the First World War and he tried to join the army once again at the outbreak of the Second World War, but he was 61 years old and thought to be too old.

    Korczak ran an orphanage when the Second World War began and he went with it when it was moved inside the Warsaw Ghetto, but he did his best to protect the children in his care. When the ghetto was liquidated in August 1942 all of the children, around 192, were rounded up to be sent to concentration camps and Korczak had two opportunities to leave the ghetto, both of which he declined. It’s not known what happened to Korczak and the 192 orphans, but it’s thought that they were all murdered at Treblinka.

    Władysław Szpilman saw Korczak and the children being marched out of the ghetto and wrote:

    “He told the orphans they were going out into the country, so they ought to be cheerful. At last they would be able to exchange the horrible suffocating city walls for meadows of flowers, streams where they could bathe, woods full of berries and mushrooms. He told them to wear their best clothes, and so they came out into the yard, two by two, nicely dressed and in a happy mood.”

    Some of Korczak’s writings in the ghetto survived, and they aren’t in the form of a descriptive diary, but are more of a literary bent. I particularly liked this text, of which there’s no shortage of existentialist meaning. The PDF of his book is available here.

    “I know that many are dissatisfied at my clearing the table after meals. Even the  orderlies seem to dislike it. Surely they can manage. There are enough of them. If there were not, one or two always could be added. Then why the ostentation, the obstinacy, and even maybe I’m nasty enough to pretend to be diligent and so democratic.

    When I collect the dishes myself, I can see the cracked plates, the bent spoons, the  scratches on the bowls. I expedite the clearing of the tables and the side table used for the  little shop, so that the orderlies can tidy up sooner. I can see how the careless diners throw about, partly in a quasi-aristocratic and partly in a churlish manner, the spoons,  knives, the salt shakers and cups, instead of putting them in the right place. Sometimes I watch how the extras are distributed or who sits next to whom. And I get some ideas. For if I do something, I never do it thoughtlessly. This waiter’s job is of great use to me, it’s  pleasant and interesting.”

    The monument was unveiled in 2003 and was jointly funded by the Shalom Foundation and the Janusz Korczak Association. One of the underlying principles of the monument was to ensure the words of Korczak weren’t forgotten:

    “Sorrow is too cold for the children, so they quickly run into the sun of joy”.

    His sacrifice meant that many children had just a little bit of hope in their final days.

  • CNN – Warsaw In List of Best Beer Cities

    Well, how lovely, Warsaw has been listed as one of the 15 best beer cities in the world according to CNN. I haven’t previously given much attention to craft beer in the Polish capital on my previous visits, but I shall fully investigate this matter in a few days when I arrive there…..