I almost forgot to post some stuff about our last trip deeper into Warsaw!

Last Saturday we decided to take a bike ride along the "Royal Route" and head up into Old Town.  Little did we know it would rain most of the day, and be sunny and clear on Sunday – but Sunday’s reserved for grocery shopping, since the shops are a bit less congested.

Anyways, we went with Jess’ social buddies, John and Rachel, who led us up there, since we only had a vague idea of where we were going (as usual).  We took a slight detour to see the US Ambassador’s house.  Wow, that’s a nice place.  I didn’t get any photos of that, unfortunately.  Maybe next time we go out.  It sits on a hill overlooking a beautiful park.  And the place is BIG.  

Once we got downtown we found the street blocked off for what looked like a fair of some sort (I’m thinking like Strawberry fest or the Spiedie fest, back home).  The center of the street was lined with shops selling anything from meat to jewelry to honey and alcohol.  John and Rachel stopped to buy a bowl they liked, and I debated some kielbasa, but in the end decided it wouldn’t sit well in my backpack for then next four hours or so.  

After weaving our way through the crowds, we entered old town.  We were near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which we didn’t get very close to on our last tour, so we decided to check it out.

The tomb is basically at the end of a large, open square, and is under a few shattered columns.  The columns are remnants from either an Orthodox Church, or a palace, I forget which…  But they were all that remained of the structure after WWII.  I want to say it was a palace, because the Church was torn down by the Polish government after Poland became a nation after WWI.  It was torn down as a symbol of independence from Russia.

Behind the monument was a large park none of us had known about.  The main walk of the park had a huge fountain, surrounded by statues that seemed to depict academic subjects, or possibly some Greek or Roman dieties.  I wasn’t quite sure, but most of them were fairly naked.

Just past the fountain was a small sitting area beside a crystalline pond with willow trees framing it like curtains on the window.  There was a small structure across the pond that reminded me of a small Greek temple.  Anyways, it made for a great photo and would be a great place to sit and read.  We sat and read a bit, but we read a map instead of some great work of literature.

Afterwards we took a ride through old town.  There were many things I would have liked to photograph, especially going through the castle-y area, but it was pretty damp so we kept the camera stowed.  Plus we didn’t do much stopping, and did a lot of pedaling.

After old town, we headed up to new town.  I learned from John that Old Town was rebuilt using the bricks from the ruined city, but new town was rebuilt from all new material.  Both look fairly similar, as they are set in the style of the old buildings and city.  We stopped for lunch at a small cafe, and I ordered a "mulled beer with honey" which I was hoping was mead, but that’s miòd pitny.  Turns out it was just warm beer with honey.  Not too bad, but it came with a straw…  Beer through a straw?  Why not.